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I went to a psychiatrist to be evaluated for ADHD. He diagnosed me with anxiety, saying that being anxious made it hard for me to focus. Uh. I went to another

I went to a psychiatrist to be evaluated for ADHD. He diagnosed me with anxiety, saying that being anxious made it hard for me to focus. Uh. I went to another doc who diagnosed me with and started treating me for ADHD. Boom. Anxiety gone. Turns out I was just super anxious about having a hard time working on the un-shiny things I needed to be working on.

patates 1y ago
I'd kindly point out that anxiety is usually a side effect of ADHD and usually the link is not as obvious as the one you point out. However, I'm glad things are working out for you :)
- kstrauser 1y ago
  It’s different for everyone, of course. In my case, it was almost entirely about me being stressed out that it was impossible to get starting on big, looming projects before they became emergencies. “If I don’t do this, I’ll probably get fired. I know I have to do this. Why can’t I just do this?” is quite anxiety producing.
- PaulHoule 1y ago
  I'd say anxiety is a symptom of mental health problem like having a cough -- the underlying cause can be very different in people. Since I was little I suffered from terrible schizotypal anxiety which somehow cleared up completely in middle age [1] I never got along with a person I knew who had panic disorder despite trying hard: some if it is that my anxiety makes me move towards dangerous things (I've been seen going into a building when the fire alarm was on) and his anxiety makes him want to banish every possible source of anxiety from his life but the more he does that the more fragile it gets. [1] I don't know if it was Gabapentin, or a few years of attempting business developer, or meeting my "evil twin" or discovering my schizotypy or just getting old enough that I don't give a fuck.
  - cindyllm 1y ago
    [dead]
kmos 1y ago
What medication do you take? Stimulants seems to create more anxiety.
- kstrauser 1y ago
  I tried Focalin, and ended up on plain Adderall. For me, they didn’t create any anxiety at all, or any other noticeable side effects or adverse reactions. I count myself very lucky.
johnbellone 1y ago
Both can be true.
- kstrauser 1y ago
  Of course! And everyone is different. In my specific case, only one was true. Treating the root cause fixed all the related symptoms. Others will have different experiences.
skeezyjefferson 1y ago
It makes me uneasy how people with ADHD shopped around until they got a diagnosis like this. Surely you let the doctor tell YOU whats wrong with you, rather than you tell the doctor?
- swiftcoder 1y ago
  If the medical system was infallible, you'd have a solid point. In practice, medical professionals operate within their own biases, rather than being purely objective observers of your symptoms
  - skeezyjefferson 1y ago
    but you believed that same system when it told you ADHD exists... is there any contradiction in that?
- voakbasda 1y ago
  There are a lot of bad doctors out there. Like, dangerously bad. If you think a doctor is wrong, they very well might be, particularly if you have already done your homework. This is not the old days, where medical knowledge is exclusively available to doctors. In fact, it is a huge risk to go in unprepared and ignorant of the possibilities, because misdiagnoses are not uncommon if critical symptoms get overlooked due to the patient not presenting them. Ask yourself not how many doctors graduated with honors. Ask yourself how many barely graduated after cheating their way through the program and are now faking their way through life.
  - skeezyjefferson 1y ago
    > Ask yourself how many barely graduated after cheating their way through the program and are now faking their way through life. id probably still have to take his word over yours. and didnt these same doctors discover ADHD in the first place? at once theyre reliable and "dangerously bad"
- kstrauser 1y ago
  No way, no how. It’s called advocating for yourself, in the parlance of our times, and it’s not remotely limited to just this one aspect. Doctors are extremely busy and don’t have the time to go Dr. House on your specific case. If you go in with symptoms A, B, and C, and they stop listening at A and diagnose you with something that causes A, insist that they consider B and C, too. Also, a good doctor won’t take issue with this, so long as you don’t insist that your 5 minutes on WebMD is right and they’re wrong. Analogy: If someone at work says they can’t log in, and also that their already logged in password queries don’t work, it could mean that the login service is down and the database is down. It could also mean that AWS is down, and rebooting those other services isn’t going to fix the common root cause.
DANmode 1y ago
It’s so nice when you finally feel okay. I received both of these diagnoses, and then ended up finding mold toxicity, Lyme, high levels of EBV, mycoplasma pneumoniae, and staph in some dental work. Resolving all of those (a long process!) has left me cool as a cucumber, in comparison. Higher bandwidth, effective. No easy feat - but it was better to work on that list than a permanent list of conditions like I was left with!
- kstrauser 1y ago
  Wow, I definitely had the easier of our two ordeals! I'm glad you got that all sorted out.
- Aerbil313 1y ago
  Dude, that's wild. I can't imagine what you could do to get infected with so many different organisms. Are you sure there isn't some underlying unifying reason, like rare genetic disease that makes you more prone to infections or something?
  - DANmode 1y ago
    It’s all opportunistic infections, compounding on each other’s impact on the total capacity of an immune system. Mold exposure drives immune dysfunction (including gut dysbiosis, and weakness of important barrier-type tissues) that allow these common infections to really thrive. The environment described above leads to impaired cognitive function, and, if the glymphatic impact (detox inefficiency) is left unaddressed long enough, stuff like Alzheimer’s, dementia, more. What you believe to be rare, reading my case, is quite common - but simply yet to be fully understood. Slowly the lonely anecdata of hidden, missed chronic illness is being joined by data, and scientific fact: ChangeTheAirFounation.org
robocat 1y ago
> went to a psychiatrist to be evaluated for ADHD It almost sounds like you were anxious? Anecdotally I see a high correlation between taking antianxiety meds and having health issues that require doctoring. Plus I see a lot of abnormal self-diagnosis of ADHD going on in my social circles. Rationality is hard when it comes to labels.
- kstrauser 1y ago
  Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that I went through the normal channels and saw a doctor who did the full standard-of-care evaluation and assessment as part of the diagnostic process. The only slightly unusual thing I did was get a second opinion from a qualified, in-network physician instead of taking the first result at face value.

patates 1y ago

I'd kindly point out that anxiety is usually a side effect of ADHD and usually the link is not as obvious as the one you point out. However, I'm glad things are working out for you :)

kstrauser 1y ago
It’s different for everyone, of course. In my case, it was almost entirely about me being stressed out that it was impossible to get starting on big, looming projects before they became emergencies. “If I don’t do this, I’ll probably get fired. I know I have to do this. Why can’t I just do this?” is quite anxiety producing.
PaulHoule 1y ago
I'd say anxiety is a symptom of mental health problem like having a cough -- the underlying cause can be very different in people. Since I was little I suffered from terrible schizotypal anxiety which somehow cleared up completely in middle age [1] I never got along with a person I knew who had panic disorder despite trying hard: some if it is that my anxiety makes me move towards dangerous things (I've been seen going into a building when the fire alarm was on) and his anxiety makes him want to banish every possible source of anxiety from his life but the more he does that the more fragile it gets. [1] I don't know if it was Gabapentin, or a few years of attempting business developer, or meeting my "evil twin" or discovering my schizotypy or just getting old enough that I don't give a fuck.
- cindyllm 1y ago
  [dead]

kmos 1y ago

What medication do you take? Stimulants seems to create more anxiety.

kstrauser 1y ago
I tried Focalin, and ended up on plain Adderall. For me, they didn’t create any anxiety at all, or any other noticeable side effects or adverse reactions. I count myself very lucky.

johnbellone 1y ago

Both can be true.

kstrauser 1y ago
Of course! And everyone is different. In my specific case, only one was true. Treating the root cause fixed all the related symptoms. Others will have different experiences.

skeezyjefferson 1y ago

It makes me uneasy how people with ADHD shopped around until they got a diagnosis like this. Surely you let the doctor tell YOU whats wrong with you, rather than you tell the doctor?

swiftcoder 1y ago
If the medical system was infallible, you'd have a solid point. In practice, medical professionals operate within their own biases, rather than being purely objective observers of your symptoms
- skeezyjefferson 1y ago
  but you believed that same system when it told you ADHD exists... is there any contradiction in that?
voakbasda 1y ago
There are a lot of bad doctors out there. Like, dangerously bad. If you think a doctor is wrong, they very well might be, particularly if you have already done your homework. This is not the old days, where medical knowledge is exclusively available to doctors. In fact, it is a huge risk to go in unprepared and ignorant of the possibilities, because misdiagnoses are not uncommon if critical symptoms get overlooked due to the patient not presenting them. Ask yourself not how many doctors graduated with honors. Ask yourself how many barely graduated after cheating their way through the program and are now faking their way through life.
- skeezyjefferson 1y ago
  > Ask yourself how many barely graduated after cheating their way through the program and are now faking their way through life. id probably still have to take his word over yours. and didnt these same doctors discover ADHD in the first place? at once theyre reliable and "dangerously bad"
kstrauser 1y ago
No way, no how. It’s called advocating for yourself, in the parlance of our times, and it’s not remotely limited to just this one aspect. Doctors are extremely busy and don’t have the time to go Dr. House on your specific case. If you go in with symptoms A, B, and C, and they stop listening at A and diagnose you with something that causes A, insist that they consider B and C, too. Also, a good doctor won’t take issue with this, so long as you don’t insist that your 5 minutes on WebMD is right and they’re wrong. Analogy: If someone at work says they can’t log in, and also that their already logged in password queries don’t work, it could mean that the login service is down and the database is down. It could also mean that AWS is down, and rebooting those other services isn’t going to fix the common root cause.

DANmode 1y ago

It’s so nice when you finally feel okay. I received both of these diagnoses, and then ended up finding mold toxicity, Lyme, high levels of EBV, mycoplasma pneumoniae, and staph in some dental work. Resolving all of those (a long process!) has left me cool as a cucumber, in comparison. Higher bandwidth, effective. No easy feat - but it was better to work on that list than a permanent list of conditions like I was left with!

kstrauser 1y ago
Wow, I definitely had the easier of our two ordeals! I'm glad you got that all sorted out.
Aerbil313 1y ago
Dude, that's wild. I can't imagine what you could do to get infected with so many different organisms. Are you sure there isn't some underlying unifying reason, like rare genetic disease that makes you more prone to infections or something?
- DANmode 1y ago
  It’s all opportunistic infections, compounding on each other’s impact on the total capacity of an immune system. Mold exposure drives immune dysfunction (including gut dysbiosis, and weakness of important barrier-type tissues) that allow these common infections to really thrive. The environment described above leads to impaired cognitive function, and, if the glymphatic impact (detox inefficiency) is left unaddressed long enough, stuff like Alzheimer’s, dementia, more. What you believe to be rare, reading my case, is quite common - but simply yet to be fully understood. Slowly the lonely anecdata of hidden, missed chronic illness is being joined by data, and scientific fact: ChangeTheAirFounation.org

robocat 1y ago

> went to a psychiatrist to be evaluated for ADHD It almost sounds like you were anxious? Anecdotally I see a high correlation between taking antianxiety meds and having health issues that require doctoring. Plus I see a lot of abnormal self-diagnosis of ADHD going on in my social circles. Rationality is hard when it comes to labels.

kstrauser 1y ago
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that I went through the normal channels and saw a doctor who did the full standard-of-care evaluation and assessment as part of the diagnostic process. The only slightly unusual thing I did was get a second opinion from a qualified, in-network physician instead of taking the first result at face value.