How important is the diagnosis to you?

#1

If you’ve been formally diagnosed with ADHD, how important is that diagnosis to you?

What would you do if someone ever took that diagnosis away?

I was previously diagnosed with ADHD but now a new provider disagrees. How have other brains handled that in the past? Shopping around for a new provider doesn’t seem like a good option at this point because at least this provider is continuing my medication. I just feel a lot of negative emotions about having the diagnosis questioned or taken away.

Update:

I met with the provider who seemed to be questioning the diagnosis. I confronted them directly about the issue and what was in my chart. They reviewed it and noted the ADHD and agreed to continue to treat it as valid. It was such a huge relief. So, I just wanted to pass along the advice, from my own experience now, to speak with your provider if you have questions or concerns. If you advocate, you may get your needs met.

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#2

I… would seriously question the reason this provider is taking it away. That is… odd to me.
To answer the question, it is the world to me. It means I can reliably get my meds. I can talk to my workplace and and have an informed conversation on accommodations. It validates me as a human and employee that I am not broken in character, but have a physiological disorder that affects my ability to do anything. It is very close to a part of identity, if only because it informs me on something I am NOT (Lazy, rude, etc) and so greatly affects me both treated and un-treated.

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#3

I don’t have a diagnosis (it’s still being considered) but if I do have ADHD it would be very important to me to have the diagnosis as well. I think it gives additional security in dealing with the healthcare and insurance system, especially since stimulants are more restricted meds

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#4

While I was still being diagnosed, pretty much everybody I know tried to convince me that I didn’t have ADD, I was just being dramatic etc. and I should calm down and get a life or something. I was almost ready to believe it right before the diagnosis, or at least to accept the possibility of not getting diagnosed. I knew that a lot of the tips and advice I’d picked up in connection with ADHD were already helping, brain or not. So at least I could keep that up. For a while, anyway. You know how it is with keeping something going when you’ve lost the faith that it’s the right thing for your particular needs…

I was really just bracing myself for the worst possible case: a doctor, pretty much the only one in town who diagnoses ADHD, telling me I just suck and that’s all there is to it. Seriously, any diagnosis would have been better than nothing. I really don’t know what that would have done to me.

The diagnosis turned all those doubts into an action plan. It meant there was something I could do to get back in control of my life. I had something not-so-vague to work towards! And I’d be able to afford it, too! Because needless to say, both the medication and the therapy just wouldn’t have happened without the diagnosis.

So, yeah, it meant everything at the time. If it was taken away now - I don’t know. Aside from the obvious (the parts covered by health insurance), it would probably raise a few doubts again, at least in the long run. I don’t know if it would it wreck me the way a non-diagnosis would have back then, but it would certainly slow me down. But I’ve spent over a year getting bits of my life back since the diagnosis, so it would take a little more to almost convince me I just suck than it did before the diagnosis. I hope.

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#5

the diagnoses of ADHD to me was not that important due to the fact i was diagnosed in 4th grade so 8 years ago however it explained a lot of my behavior.
I would seriously question and no longer communicate with them.
It plays a role in my identity so it basically taking away a small part of my identity that I am trying to understand. It like asking anyone how would they feel if their identity was not valid in the world or if there identity was attributed to the loss during the war.

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#6

It means a lot to me. It means that a lot of my behavior episodes in childhood weren’t nearly as in my control as I was told (and punished as if) they were. It means that I can seek out targeted treatments that are effective in guiding me through life. It also gives me a large body of peer-validated research to draw on when I have trouble with something.

If someone took it from me, to be honest, I would do the same thing that you did, and if that didn’t work I would probably go back to self medicating. The bottom line is that the way my ADHD impacts me creates a ton of instability in all areas of my life and when I self medicated I created a level of instability that I could manage.

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