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adhd·ADHDbyFleur_

[Rant] cannot get medication and its so frustrating

Recently started going through the ADHD diagnosis pathway after putting it off for years; as is tradition. Over the course of a couple months I saw a psychiatrist, did the screening, got told I have ADHD and started a trial medication. It was life changing. The greatest improvement in my quality of life on par only with moving out of home.

The problem? My psychiatrist tore her Achilles tendon days before our follow up session where I would receive a written diagnosis and be able to get prescriptions easily and readily from a general practitioner. The only advice I got from them was to have my gp handle my prescriptions (which I can't do) in a no reply text before becoming unreachable for who knows how fuck long.

My trial medication is now starting to run out and I am having to ration it out to try and keep it going. On the days I don't take it I can already feel my pre-medication normal returning.

  • Inability to start tasks on demand
  • Frequent breaks during tasks where I do nothing
  • Uncontrollable/ unstoppable train of thought
  • Anxiety increasing
  • Disproportionate emotional reactions
  • Apartment returning to its cluttered state Inability to put things down in their place or keep track of where I put a thing down
  • Loss of confidence particularly in social situations
  • Forgetfulness in general increasing
  • Sleep cycle deviating from normal circadian rhythm to pre-medication "normal"

And to top it all off

  • Depressive symptoms returning including suicidal thoughts
  • Anxiety driven self harm increasing

Its been one fucking day and already I don't understand how I lived like this for my entire life up until 2 months ago. Its so frustrating.

I felt normal for the first time ever. I felt like I could relate to the experiences of others for the first time ever. I felt like I was progressing my life for the first time since graduating highschool and in a direction that I both wanted and chose for myself for the first time ever.

And now I can feel it all slipping away. Regressing into patterns I never used to realise were avoidable, that weren't my fault.

I've already tried contacting my psychiatrist, I've already tried explaining my unusual circumstances to a doctor. All I can do is wait for an unknowable length of time for my psychiatrist to recover or spend hundreds to thousands of dollars and months of my life going through the diagnosis process again.

That or spend hundreds of dollars illegally purchasing medication risking my health and lawful repercussions in the process. All for a medication that I know works, has been prescribed to me by a psychiatrist and made me feel human.

Thanks for reading.

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33

4 replies

I get the frustration. ADHD meds are not very addictive yet some doctors act like they're prescribing black tar heroin. My GP outright refused because "it's a narcotic!" so I have to get prescriptions from a psychiatrist

15

I feel the pain. After my first diagnosis 20 years ago, the joy of ritalin was...... amazing. But I couldn't afford to keep up the required visits to renew.

I got rediagnosed a few years ago because now I have insurance....... only because of all the damage to my body thanks to undiagnosed ADHD and the lack of social safety nets in the US....... I've had seven heart attacks and can't do stimulants.

I have enough health issues that I finally gave up and am on disability, which fucking sucks, but what the fuck ever, man, I tried my whole life.

I feel the pain.

The only thing I can say: Sometimes I'm able to channel the feeling of ritalin even now. It's not the same, but I can remember how it felt, and if I break down something I need to do into small enough tasks, sometimes it helps. Like I'll say "Don't even do any fucking dishes, just go to the kitchen and look at it. That's it. Then go away and don't worry about it". And someimtes I do that. And sometimes I get in there and I'm like - eh, I can unload the dishwasher. Sometimes load it again. Sometimes make more progress...... and when I can't, I don't beat myself up about it.

Well.

I try not to beat myself up about it.

ADHD is mostly harmless.................................. except when it's not. I'm 51 and I frankly doubt I'll see 60. Thanks to undiagnosed ADHD. And fascism.

I'm going through shit with my nutritionalist at dialysis who is like "Have you tried setting an alarm?" and I have to explain ADHD to her and it is fucking frustrating. I K N O W what to do, it's the D O I N G that ADHD interfuckingferes with. heh

2

That’s pretty unusual that your psychiatrist would just go dark and abandon her patients. Not impossible: Psychiatrists vary widely in quality, and I’ve received very unprofessional treatment from some myself. When it happened to me, I moved right to someone new. The good part is that trlrgealth sites like headway.co or growtherapy.com etc. make this pretty quick and easy. I get that it’s problematic that she still has to finalize her written diagnosis, but I would imagine the results of your screening would be readily transferable to another office, although that may vary depending on what country you are in.

8

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[Rant] cannot get medication and its so frustrating | Spyke