52 & desperate

Hi guys. I've been suffering from something my entire life. I was diagnosed with anxiety and slight depression in my late 20's. I've been prescribed every anti-depressant known to man and Xanax, which I hate to take, except in extreme emergencies. I believe I have been misdiagnosed my whole life and the symptoms (rather than the illness) have been treated. I strongly believe I have ADD. I cannot stop or slow down my thought process. I get overwhelmed so easily and am unable to stick to a task without a lot of trouble and effort. I cannot have anyone around when I'm trying to concentrate. I have difficulty reading medium size emails, I refuse to read longer emails from friends because I can't concentrate and have honestly only read one book in my entire life! I really have to love the subject to endure the pain of trying to read it. I have asked my family doctor about it, who blew it off, gave me Lexapro for my anxiety. I took it and slept and hallucinated for 36 hours. I'm sick and tired of feeling this way. I have trouble sleeping, because my mind (and body) race constantly. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist today and I'm praying for relief. I'm a 52 yr old woman, so docs are not familiar with or seem to look elsewhere for my diagnosis. I feel I've been ripped off my entire life by being misdiagnosed my entire life. I desperately need help and pray this doc is open-minded and will truly listen and take a chance on treating me for ADD. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.....

Hi Velocity, I feel the same 54 depressed for years on meds off meds for years. Wish I had some answers for you, I don't, just know you are not alone in this. Sometimes I wonder if it's to late to keep trying. Then I think positive and say HELL YES!!! Hopefully you will find something out let me know. Hang in there!

I can relate to that. I recently went to a doctor for sleep problems and he said oh, it's probably just menopause. So what? A sleep problem is a sleep problem. His attitude seemed to be that if it is related to menopause then we can simply ignore it.

Since he was not very helpful, I will not go to him anymore (he's not my regular doc). I will try to go to docs who are more familiar with middle-aged women's health and interested in helping these patients. I think maybe an older female physician might be a good choice as she would have passed through this stage of life herself and wouldn't be so dismissive. I am wondering if that might be true for you too with your ADHD symptoms, Velocity?

I have ADHD and for that I go to a female PNP in her 60s. She told me that as many women enter their 50s, their ADHD becomes "unmasked" and they are not able to cope with its symptoms as well anymore, as they have so much else going on with their lives and their health. In younger years, they could cope better with the symptoms and may never have been diagnosed. ADHD often looks different in females, so it may be passed over by docs. There often aren't as many disruptive behavioral problems in youth so that may decrease the urgency for treatment. Diagnosing ADHD is often beyond the expertise of a family doctor, so I think it is good you are going to a specialist.

Good luck. Hope you can find a practitioner who can look at the whole picture of your health.

The only other thing I would add is don't be dead set on getting a stimulant prescription on the first visit. If the pdoc wants to start you on a non-stimulant med, give it a try. She will monitor how you are doing on it, and if it doesn't help, will be more likely to progress to then prescribe stimulants for you. If you go to the doctor and insist you need stimulants, they may suspect an addiction problem. So demonstrate your willingness to work on getting your symptoms under control with non-stimulant ADHD meds, if that's what they want to start you on. That will show you are a partner with them in your care, and trust their expertise, and they will be more likely to trust you that you are not an addict. I started on Wellbutrin for my ADHD after the first visit to my PNP. It did help somewhat, but after a couple of months she decided my symptoms were not being adequately controlled so she prescribed a stimulant. I am not sure she would have prescribed me stimulants the day I walked in the door because she had no relationship or trust with me.