My Diagnosis Story, Part 5

Okay.

At this point I've now talked to my general practitioner and two psychologists about my situation, remember? Well, before I left my first appointment with Dr. A she told me that she wanted to refer me to an ADHD specialist. Apparently she hadn't had much experience with ADHD, especially in newly-diagnosed adults, and didn't feel comfortable prescribing meds for it period. Which was probably also why Dr. Shady had wanted to give me some ridiculously expensive computer assessment - he didn't feel comfortable prescribing most ADHD meds and therefore didn't want to have to shoulder that responsibility on his own. Of course, instead of telling me as much and referring me to someone else, he robbed me of $150 and then tried to convince me to come back!

Anyway.

Dr. A scheduled our next appointment for two weeks from that day and told me she would be referring me to Dr. I. She knew he was in my insurance network and said that his office would contact me. I honestly got a bit nervous that something else had gone wrong when I didn't hear from Dr. I that week - but 6 days after my appointment with Dr. A I finally got a call and set up an appointment. Unfortunately the first opening they had was in November :-/ Thankfully Dr. A was still helpful - I went to my second appointment with her, she made sure they'd contacted me, and after our talk she gave me some "exercises" to try. Basically she wanted me to be able to sit and do 20 minutes of work without stopping, breaking, getting distracted. I knew that usually I could rarely do even 10 minutes without one of those things happening, but I promised to try. I did try. I even succeeded a few times. But far more often...I didn't succeed. I honestly felt like crap when I returned to Dr. A for my third appointment, but she didn't seem very surprised that it had been difficult for me to accomplish that 20 minute goal on a regular basis.

"You don't need therapy, per se," she admitted. "I think that you're ready to take medication for your ADHD and Dr. I will be able to help you with that. If you feel the need to talk to someone, you can always come see me - but if not, this is where we part ways. I'm sure you'll like Dr. I, though."

Yes I felt a bit...abandoned, when she told me this. I know that it was silly to feel this way - I'd only sat with her three times, after all. And I knew that I had to go see Dr. I if I really wanted to figure this ADHD thing out. But Dr. A was the first truly helpful person I'd encountered in this journey, so yes - until I met Dr. I, I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to completely move on and not see Dr. A at all.