First of all, I am not certain I have ADHD. I do recognize myself in a lot of attitudes, hardships and little things, and it’s impacted my life for too long now.
I can’t afford to go on like this anymore. Who should I go to? How long does it take for me to recieve a diagnosis and how expensive will it be? If I’ll have to take meds, for how long and how expensive are they in your experience?
Thank you all in advance
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD (combined).
I am a US resident & citizen. I am covered under Blue Cross Blue Shield. If these details do not apply in your case, what I went through may differ from what you’ll need to go through.
About a month ago, I had a regularly scheduled annual physical with my primary care doc, who is part of a regional physician group. I inquired about what would be needed for exam & possible diagnosis for ADHD. He said I’d need to see a psychiatrist, which their physician group does not have in house, but that I wouldn’t need a formal referral, just find one in-network.
I used the BCBS website to find an in-network provider near me, which happened to be part of a different regional physician group. Called their office to verify they take my insurance. They did, and were able to schedule me for an intake+assessment last week.
I showed up, filled out paperwork, and met with my psychiatrist for a bit over an hour. She had extensive questionnaires to go through with me. On conclusion, she diagnosed me with ADHD combined & offered me my choice of a stimulant or non-stimulant treatment. After discussing my situation in further detail, she prescribed atomoxetine (aka Strattera). I’ve been on it for less than a week. She said it takes time to build up in my system and that it may be a month before I notice any differences. I have a followup scheduled for a month from now, and will presumably have regular followups indefinitely.
My copay for the office visit was $25, and my copay for the prescription itself was around $10-$15. I have very good insurance, so YMMV.
I wish you nothing but good luck on this.
Damn, it was that fast? Everything ive heard is like a 6+ month ordeal with multiple appointments (which leads me to not even trying)
It was legitimately that fast. I acknowledge my experience may well be atypical.
I procrastinated on it for ages as well, having trouble mustering enthusiasm for starting a six month or more journey for a diagnosis.
My FIL recently passed, and he had a terrible track record of not addressing his medical problems in a timely manner. So I figured, fuck it, why not look into it. I already had an annual physical scheduled in the next week, so I figured there wouldn’t be any harm in verifying with BCBS that my specific plan covered ADHD. Luckily it did. So then I asked my primary care doc about it.
Going into my visit with the psychiatrist, I was fully expecting to need several visits over the space of a few months for an official diagnosis, so I was very surprised after the questionnaires were done that she stepped out (maybe to score against reference? idk), stepped back in, told me I was formally officially diagnosed, and time to talk medication for it.
Who knows, maybe it ordinarily does take a few visits but I scored that well (or that poorly) that additional visits would’ve been superfluous. She did note, with the barest hint of a chuckle, that I paused one of my answers so I could lean over to another chair in her office and straighten out the rug that had gotten bunched up underneath.
It worked out far better than my worst case scenario,
Tap for spoiler
which would’ve been along the lines of “Mr Superduperpirate, you don’t actually have ADD, ADHD, or autism. You’re just a lazy shitbag who needs to pull his head out of his ass and stop being such a whiny little bitch.” Which I know sounds crazy. Any doc outside the military who spoke to a patient in such a rude manner would hopefully face severe enough consequences to dissuade them from doing so.