I’m fairly suspect that I’ve likely got ADHD and/or mild depression and I don’t know if ones causing symptoms of the other or if im personally misatributing symptoms here and I want to know how to go about changing this in the best way possible.
The NHS is a wonderful service but unfortunately it’s run by the British so it’s horrifically overworked and often mismanaged and my area is no exception to the rule.
Mental and physical health services in my area are under funded, under staffed and overworked which means I can’t even speak to a GP about my concerns and I worry I won’t be taken seriously or brushed aside as a low criticality case. Not to mention all the testimonys from people about GPs not taking adult ADHD seriously assuming they even believe ADHD exists. (See the state of gender health and trans healthcare for an excellent example of a a broken system).
However something (whatever it is) is affecting my life and although I absolutely don’t feel like self harm or suicide, etc, I’d very much like something to change.
What are my options here? I’ve heard people talk about private healthcare but I’m in no position to afford this.
I’d very much appreciate the help from anyone whose been in my position and would desperately want to listen to your stories too.
Thank you!
Your experience is similar to mine but I’m a bit further along.
I was assessed by my GP and scored highly enough for them to refer me, I waited over a year only to have my referral rejected with no reason given.
I ended up going private with ADHD360, who were fine, not fantastic but not bad either, I’m certainly grateful for what they’ve done in helping me get my diagnosis and treatment.
Your estimates on costs if going private are pretty much in line with what I experienced, although once you’re through the titration process (working out which meds and which dosage help the most), you can apply for shared care which pretty much passes your care over to your GP and as a result, your prescriptions over to the NHS (this was somehow an almost completely painless part of the process for me at least).
It is expensive going private, and I realise I’m fortunate I was able to, but I really ended up feeling like I had no choice as the NHS’ response of just “no” left me nowhere else to go. But it’s not necessarily expensive forever, I now just pay my £9.65 every month and that’s that.
I know I would have appreciated having someone who had been through this to talk to/ask questions when I was going through it, so to you and anyone else reading this, if you ever have questions or anything about this process do get in touch, reply to this, send me a message (honestly no idea if this is even a thing on Lemmy, I’m still learning), I’m not a doctor, I’m not a medical professional but I’ll help anyone in anyway I can.