Doctor: Here, fill out this questionnaire, and please have your mom fill out this one.
Me: Okay
Doctor: Asks me a bunch of questions about my symptoms, so I answer.
Doctor: I’m prescribing you 10mg of Adderall. Let me know how it works in a month when I see you again. Also, bring those questionnaires with you next time.
Me: Okay
A month later…
Doc: Great, you have these all filled out, and yep, it looks like you have it. How is the Adderall working for you?
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I was at appointment with General Practitioner for my back pain. I said I wanted to talk with her about possible ADD ADHD. had me fill out a 2-sided paper of multiple choice questions, She came in and scored it and I was at “very highly likely” score. No mention of a psychiatrist. I was super lucky to mention it and have meds in hand all within an hour!
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My psychiatrist was amazing. Some of the questions she asked I didn’t know were part of the test! For example, when I walked in she was pulling out a pack of gum and she said “would you like some gum?” I said, “No, thank you.” She asked, “Why?” I said, “I don’t chew gum. It is a boring thing to do.”
We carried on and at the end she told me that the gum was part of the test, and my answer was typical for ADHD.
When I couldn’t answer a question (overthinking and had been there too long) she asked me to doodle. I got through it no problem…….she explained at the end that I needed to do something physical with something mental in order to concentrate.
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I went to two appointments with a mental health nurse practitioner, each appointment an hour long. She asked me a lot of questions, but I mostly just gave her a synopsis of my entire life and family dynamics.
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I went through a 14-hour clinical assessment in 10 hours.
1. Chat with doctor asking questions
2. Very long 2-3 hour questionnaire about myself (childhood and adulthood)
3. Shorter (30 min) questionnaire sent to someone who knew me as a child
4. 3-4 hour in person testing on a computer and with a proctor to test stuff like attention, short term memory, different areas of intelligence testing, spatial skills, auditory memory skills, etc.
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I haven’t seen my psychiatrist yet, but I was asked to fill out a couple of ADHD questionnaires, an anxiety and depression questionnaire, a thorough medical and psychological history, including family mental health history, and an ADHD questionnaire for one of my parents.
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654 true false questions about myself. All in one sitting….I ended up doodling on the page
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Psych: tell me about what’s been going on
Me: *word vomit*
Psych: Well. You’ve got ADHD. There’s like no question
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I took Test of Variable Attention (TOVA). My results came back, and they were like, “Whoa! You really ARE ADHD!”
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I just got told it. I think psychiatrists can just tell. If the meds work then that’s proof, I guess
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Went in for an assessment, within a few minutes the physician said, “ Yes, definitely ADHD.”
