I fucking did it! I got diagnosed. I've been "fighting" the healthcare system of my country for 6 years.
It took finding six different psychologists over the span of six years, and countless sessions where I tried to explain how sudden my decision can be, how I always get distracted, how eccentric that makes me and how flappy my whole life is and has been, and all the underlying issues, until I finally met one who understood me and had expertise in the field.
Tomorrow, I will starting with a dose 18 mg of Concerta.
Congrats!
Hope it helps, I’m on a stratera generic and I think it might he having some effect, but I’m still having concentration issues. Only recently started it, going on a bit over a week right now
Like an SSRI, Straterra takes a bit to build up and start having an effect. I titrated up to 80mg over the course of either 6 or 8 weeks, increasing dosage every 2 weeks. It was about a month before I really started to feel any difference.
Im doing 105mg at the moment, and supposed to up to 130mg. Its just I am fighting to get a part of the cost covered by state before I up the dosage (3 months into that process...). Got also a hybrid prescription of concerta since the strattera (atomoxitine) alone is not helping much with concentration, and I have it on hand in case I need it. Atomoxetine has blown away most of my anxiety though, but I can tell the extra 25mg oomph might be needed still.
Please keep in mind that medication does have negative side effects you'll need to manage. It's not a golden bullet. But it's very, very, very helpful to those of us it helps (I'm one)! I hope you get the results you're looking for!
I was diagnosed at 44yo, finally got to a psychiatrist who said to me: you're doing every single life hack/strategy we could possibly ask an ADHD sufferer to be doing to manage their symptoms... Did you want to try some medication?
I was like: "so that means, yes, I DO have ADHD?"
He just smiled and said: "yes, absolutely!"
I was so relieved to finally have some kind of answer I broke down on the spot, and had to defer the meds conversation till the next months appt as it was all too much at that point.
I'm 8-9 months in, and wish I'd been diagnosed 35 years ago!
My journey wasn't anything like yours, it only took 12 months once I decided to pursue it, but even I had to laugh when my GP gave me a list of a dozen psychiatrists and told me to call each one to see if they were taking referrals...
I looked at him and said: you're giving me a list of 12 things to do with no deadline so I can get diagnosed with ADHD... Isn't this a terrible idea?!
I wish you luck. And if I may, my recommendation to you is to look around in community groups for health care in your area or region. Take benefit of the collective effort in your region to find the persons or maybe even establishments who know and work with ADHD specifically