this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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ADHD

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Disclaimer: I'm referring the the US medical system, but I imagine people in other countries may encounter similar things.

I cannot be the only one who has had this experience, but all my dealings with the medical industry feel like they were refined by a group of psychologists to exploit the weaknesses of those with ADHD.

The volume of calls, appointments, and paperwork I had to full out to get a diagnosis and prescription for treatment is completely unreasonable to expect someone with poor working memory and attention issues to navigate.

Then, to stay on medication, you need to schedule and make appointments with a psychiatrist every month, for the rest of your life, and if you miss a single one, you will run out of meds (and likely charged a fine), which will make it even harder to remember to make the next one. If you miss too many, that psychiatrist will refuse to see you again and you have to go back to your PCP to get a new referral.

Look, I understand that their time is valuable, but this system couldn't be designed any other way to be more accommodating to people who clinically forget things?!

It's like designing a wheelchair ramp that's actually just stairs that are 3x as steep as the regular stairs. Also, if you fall to the bottom, someone takes your wheelchair until you can climb back up.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I'm extremely happy with the process I've had, but I understand it's very likely not representative of the rest of us here.

By and large, you're right though. My wife has gone through similar struggles and hasn't been medicated for over a year because of it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

"Zocdoc" is a great app to make appointments when possible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is why I got off the schedule 1 stuff. There are other options.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Not really. I’ve tried some other solutions like antidepressants and they didn’t help because they don’t address the core issue. AFAIK only stimulants are proven to be an effective treatment for ADHD.

Also, that only alleviates one of the problems I mentioned.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Damn. I don't know where you live but I live in VA and my pcp just refills my prescription every month. We check in via what are basically text mesages and I do telehealth visits every 3 months.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Healthcare shouldn't be political currency. Healthcare care is an inherently political issue, as each government has to determine the best strategy for them, but like many things in the US politicians see it as just another talking point and something that actually impacts people. This leads to policy being made by people who aren't knowledgeable about healthcare for people who have strong about healthcare but often aren't impacted by these policies and don't have a strong understanding of the topic.

While it would still be a horrible thing to have happen, I'm starting to think that having a bunch of LLMs run/control the government wouldn't necessarily be worse than what we have now (at least in the US).

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