Brief Answer:
Adult ADHD

Detailed Answer:
Good evening. I am a neurologist and consult many patients who are sent with symptoms of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and other symptoms which I'm sure you are familiar from your description of your problem. However, I'm not sure if you're looking for an opinion of some sort since the wording of your statement is not really in the form of a question but rather it sounds as if you're already decided on an action. Perhaps, you can clarify that aspect of things for me. Also, just a clarification that on this network physicians are not capable of prescribing medications or sending lab orders, etc. for patients. I can't tell from your blurb whether you thought we had prescriptive capabilities or not.

Whenever I see someone in my practice or the hospital who I'm told has either been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD my protocol is to look into how those diagnoses were actually arrived at. Over the years we've discovered through many different studies that the "diagnosis" of ADHD is often times propagated from impressions that begin when a person is in school and most often children are not properly screened or tested before a teacher, principal, or even teacher's aid in some cases places a label. The danger is that once the student has it said in the record they suffer from ADD or ADHD then, that almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for teachers, students, parents, friends, and relatives. However, in actuality there could other issues that need to be screened for and addressed which are either metabolic, chemical, psychosocial, family related, or psychiatric...sometimes even neurological. And the numbers that are recently published about how ADHD's landscape is changing in terms of people we really believe fit the published criteria. A whopping 96% of people diagnosed at a young age with ADHD who are then, placed on medication actually do not fit criteria either at all or meet less than 50% of the recognized parameters as evaluated by experts in the field.

Now, that's not to say that you DON'T have the diagnosis but rather it's a statistic that even many physicians and educators are unaware of....96% of people diagnosed with ADHD who then, go on to be on medications such as Concerta, Strattera, Adderall, etc. do not meet either ANY of the specific criteria or meet less than 50% of the criteria. And the vast majority of those people have NEVER been screened for at least the basic laboratory and chemical deficiencies including thyroid, adrenal, and other tests that are sometimes positive and can explain odd or fragmented behaviors as seen in ADD/ADHD.

Again, none of this is to say you DON'T HAVE ADHD but it is information that you should be aware of since the goal is to properly diagnose you which then, helps know what the best intervention would be.

So, now I'm going to give you a very short set of questions that are actually an official subset of a longer questionnaire published by the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION in order to screen for ADHD in adults. Also, please describe for me what you recall of how it was determined you had ADHD, if you had any blood work, or other types of testing to rule out other things, and when the last time was that you saw a physician for your condition?




Please answer the following questions with the choices of:

NEVER, RARELY, SOMETIMES, OFTEN, or VERY OFTEN.

1. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details
of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?



2. How often do you have difficulty getting things in order
when you have to do a task that requires organization?


3. How often do you have problems remembering appointments
or obligations?



4. When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often
do you avoid or delay getting started?



5. How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet
when you have to sit down for a long time?


6. How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do
things, like you were driven by a motor?




I hope this answer satisfactorily addresses your question. If so, may I ask your favor of a HIGH STAR RATING with some written feedback?

Also, if there are no other questions or comments, may I ask you CLOSE THE QUERY on your end so this question can be transacted and archived for further reference by colleagues as necessary?

Please direct more comments or inquiries to me in the future at:

bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi

I would be honored to answer you quickly and comprehensively.

Please keep me informed as to the outcome of your situation.
All the best.

The query has required a total of 58 minutes of physician specific time to read, research, and compile a return envoy to the patient.

Cheers!

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