So. Looks like we need a Mortgage jsut for my damn health/mental problems

[ernads]

Here is a list of the Quotations I got – either for a Psychiatrist, for a BRC checkup, or both.

One private institute I called claims to make a total checkup, including for PTSD-related ADD problems. The price includes a single consultation: 3200 NIC only.

The Psychiatrist that Ilana referred me to – 1500 NIC per meeting – consultation only.

The one Hadas referred me to turned out to be a total Antipathetic and I hung up on her.

I tried to call Geha to make an appointment through the Clalit – no answer. Am trying for over an hour.

I tried calling Bit Ham בית חם since those guys are slightly cheaper than average- they get donations. No answer.

So, am still stuck in the same place. Will keep hunting, though.

Also, why I think I have some kind of ADD: Here is a list of my sympstoms. I don’t know what kind of salad they create, but:

Difficulties to focus on details and making silly mistakes; check.
Difficulty holding attention over time: half check – I can conenrtate on books for hours. But not on manual details, studies, or work.

Hearing or reading only part of a sentence – oh yeah, check.

Poor organization skills – oh yeah, double check.

Losing things – I am a legend in Checkpint for that particular talent. Check.

Losing concentration easily: check.


To those symptoms, that I took from the Clalit websight, I add –

Missing words and letters when writing, missing details like dates and shipping methods, confusing between + and -, misshaping names and words. There are a few more but I don’t remember.

So, I don’t know what profile I fit, but all those some up ans some kind of problems that needs handling, or else I will never improve in work.

But doing it private is Thousands of NIS, and going through the Kuppa is – hell. Can’t reach them.

Frustration.

Comments

[miss_lucy21]

Just to let you know, in case one of the sites you looked at didn't mention it, generally speaking, you'd only get an ADD/ADHD diagnosis if you've had all of those issues since early childhood and that has much more weight on the diagnosis than current issues (I wasn't formally evaluated until I was about to turn 30, although I'd had a preliminary diagnosis when I was about 25. And actually, the only reason I had a formal evaluation was because I could do it through my school and it was free. It would have been too expensive to do it otherwise). If you're getting an eval, they will definitely ask you things about your early childhood and primary education, like if you ever had behavior problems (i.e., got into trouble for talking in class, couldn't stay in your seat, couldn't keep your things organized) and things like what kind of grades you got, etc. So you might think about any examples ahead of time, particularly if you think you might freeze up during the eval.

Also, the evaluation is pretty long. They actually split mine into two 4 hour sessions on different days, because yeah, can't really expect someone with suspected ADHD to handle an 8 hour evaluation in one session. The evaluation tests a number of things- I remember an attention test (obviously. I kind of flunked that one), several memory tests, a basic math and literacy test, some spatial mechanics tests, some find the pattern tests (I suspect there was an IQ test in there someplace, but I don't recall them telling me what my IQ was).

Don't know if that helps you any, but you can ask me things if you like. I was diagnosed with Inattentive type ADHD and I've been on a couple different medications as well as learned to manage without medication, too (I'm not currently on ADHD meds).

[ernads]

That was extremely insightful and instructive, actually. Thanks.

And I do have a question or two:

When I was a kid, I was told off a great deal for not being able to concentrate on anything but reading- I learned to read before I was four and was obsessive, and would read for hours, and at a very fast pace too - 120 pages per hour – but I would not concentrate on homework and stuff. Does that count as ADD do you think?

Also, I would just sit in the class and daydream for hours at a time.

Also, if you are willing to elaborate what are the common symptoms of Inattentive type ADHD - That’s the one I think I might have.

[miss_lucy21]

I don't have time this morning (well, it's morning for me) to go into depth, but yes, some people with ADHD do have hyperfocus on things that catch their interest, and daydreaming is a common trait. Attention deficit is something of a misnomer- a bad phrasing. It's really more like being unable to distinguish what one should pay attention to at any given moment.

I'll try to elaborate on the rest when I get home tonight. If I don't remember, poke me and remind me.

[miss_lucy21]

Okay, now that I don't have to get to work.

Like I said, yes, some people with ADHD will hyper focus on things. Generally they are things that are interesting to them, but not always (I can fall into hyper focus on things that are definitely uninteresting. It's one of my quirky coping mechanisms).

As far as common symptoms go, this is a pretty reasonable checklist. You don't necessarily have to have all of those symptoms to have ADHD- I don't have most of the hyperactivity ones, and I've managed to train myself out of most of the impulsive ones, at least in public- but those are probably the most common ones. But again, the last criteria have a lot of weight, where the problems need to have been present in early childhood, have to happen in more than one setting and can't be explained by other disorders. I do have anxiety and depression, but neither is severe enough to explain my ADHD symptoms and they mostly manifested when I was older (possibly as a result of trying to cope with the ADHD issues without help. And possibly as a result of some of my coping mechanisms, not all of which are helpful or healthy). I definitely have always had ADHD symptoms. It's just where and when I was born, they didn't know as much about ADHD and didn't realize that girls present differently than boys and that it's not always linked to a learning disorder (I do not have a learning disorder). If I was an elementary school kid now, I'd have been diagnosed by third grade, probably earlier.

So, yeah that's what I can tell you. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know. If it comes to it, I may be able to tell you some about treatment options, but since I've been broke for so long, I haven't had much actual treatment outside of some medication. I know there are non-medication therapies out there, but I haven't really had the resources to try anything official. I do know I do better when I'm working out regularly and that meditation is supposed to be useful, but uh, I spend all my meditation time reminding myself that I'm not supposed to be thinking, so I don't know how helpful that really is.

[ernads]

Thanks for the link:)

(I have a good part of those symptoms mentioned, but also sever PTSD that comes from abuse and neglect, and some of those symptoms precede the PTSD onset, so I don't know what's comes from what and from where. But

I am supposed to have a formal diagnosis soon so will see.
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Also, I see I don't have your mail.Is it OK to exchanged mail address with you? (mine is shiri.drugan@gmail.com)

[miss_lucy21]

Sure thing. It's misslucy21@gmail.com

I hope things go well for you!

[ernads]

Thanks!

Also, one other thing - if you know the difference between T.O.V.A tests and B.R.C tests, and which one is more accurate. (my insurance is willing to cover TOVA, not the other, and private places claim TOVA is not accurate, and I would love to have an independent opinion

[miss_lucy21]

I had to look these up because honestly, I don't know if anyone ever told me the name of the tests they did with me and if I have paperwork on them, it's in a box with 95% of the rest of my belongings. But judging from what I could find online, TOVA is one of the tests I did (the really annoying attention test that I did not do well on). I couldn't find very much on BRC, other than the fact that it's used like the TOVA. I couldn't find a description of the test though. The information I found online about the TOVA basically said it shouldn't be used as the only thing in a diagnosis, that there should be other testing done as well (probably like the memory tests and the reading/math/spatial mechanics testing I had).

I can tell you that I didn't do the TOVA with Ritalin (methyl-whatever), which I think you mentioned being something the doctor would want to do in another post. I don't know if that was because that's not how the psychologist who was doing the testing does it, if that's not how they do it in the US, or if it was because I'd already been on Ritalin and knew there's a major difference in my ability to focus when I'm on that medication (I had a preliminary diagnosis years before I did the formal eval. It was enough for my doctor to be comfortable with prescribing ADHD medication for me, but then I went back to grad school and in order to get accommodations from the school- meaning the clinic would prescribe my meds, mostly- I had to have an evaluation and a formal diagnosis. Which I could get done through the clinic without paying, so I went ahead with it).

[ernads]

thanks! that was very helpful:)