Posted by katekite on May 26, 2002, at 20:57:07
In reply to Mood stabilizers first - Absolutely! Positively!, posted by BarbaraCat on May 24, 2002, at 0:47:30
Hi,
Wanted to add on to my previous post. I wrote that yes agreed mood stabilizers first.... but want to clarify that should only be for the case where ADD and BP are suspected to coexist.
If there is any question that someone is one or the other only, or if its just not clear, get an expensive ADD work-up by an independent learning and attention disorders tester, AND do some sensitive testing for BP disorders. Do the MMPI or some other personality inventory. The money is worth it absolutely over the potential lost year or so spent trying the wrong drugs and reacting poorly. Insurance will often pay. Docs can't request all the testing on every person because insurance companies would scream. So unless you ask you may not get referred for it. The more insistent one is on getting tested, the more cautious you are, the more likely you are to get a correct diagnosis in the first place and skip months of the wrong meds.
Be assertive and ask to have the tests that you know exist. Doctors generally just talk to you for an hour, have you fill out a checklist, and then guess. Plus we all present ourselves in particular ways in an office to an authority figure such as a doctor that can be misleading: there are objective ways to assess us where testing is combined with personal opinion. The more information they gather, the more likely they are to be correct.
Sorry for the harangue, just hope someone can be saved 6 months if they get good testing done.
kate
poster:katekite
thread:106220
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020525/msgs/107673.html