[schneidmaster]

Went to my doctor for the first time about what turned out to be undiagnosed/untreated comorbid depression and ADHD. I was apprehensive and avoided it for years but it's easily been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was losing so much time to the vicious cycle of not wanting to do anything but lay in bed, then feeling crappy that I wasn't doing anything, then trying to focus but constantly geting distracted for several hours, then feeling crappy about all of that and just wanting to go back to bed. (And obviously, I have seen enormous improvements in my overall mental health and well-being, not just productivity. But it turns out that not feeling like crap most of the time also makes you a much more productive developer.)

[staller]

If you don't mind me asking: What kind of doctor did you see? What do you say when you want to make an appointment?

Lately I've been wanting to talk to a doctor, but I get very hung up on who I need to see and how to kick off the conversation about how I've been feeling.

[schneidmaster]

I just went to see a general family doctor originally. I made the appointment by saying that I hadn't been in for a checkup in a while and wanted to establish a relationship with a general practitioner (for me it felt even more difficult to talk about being depressed with a random secretary). Then when I went in for the appointment I told the doctor I was there because I'd been depressed for a while and it had gotten bad enough that I wanted to see about treatment options. She was kind and professional from there, recommending me to a therapist in the practice and getting me set up with an appointment. It seems like a huge mountain from this side of things but at least from my doctor's reaction, this is hardly a rare occurrence and they know how to help you without making you feel like a burden or a crazy person or something (which is what I feared before I went in).

[mixmastamyk]

What was the treatment?

[schneidmaster]

For me, it started with an antidepressant (escitalopram, commonly called Lexapro) and weekly visits with a therapist. The escitalopram did wonders for my particular depression. I have dysthymia (also called persistent depressive disorder, I forget which is the official name now) which means I experience ongoing, low-level daily melancholy (as opposed to clinical depression/major depression, which is much more episodic in nature -- you have weeks you just can't get out of bed or eat, and you have weeks when you're pretty much fine). So for me, escitalopram did a ton to even out my daily melancholy and limit mood swings -- I still have good and bad days but my baseline is much closer to neutral rather than consistently feeling down in the dumps.

And then as I talked to my therapist over time she uncovered symptoms of ADHD that I'd never really thought about. There's a lot of debate about whether adult-onset ADHD exists, but her perspective (which seems very accurate in my case) is that people with "adult-onset" ADHD have actually had it their entire lives as well, but they had better coping mechanisms so it wasn't diagnosed at a young age. I was always a good student, rarely got in trouble, could sit still in the classroom -- but I had a terrible time trying to focus on work, I fidget constantly, I always have multiple trains of thought in my head. I'm just also a pretty fast worker and fairly smart so I was able to be unfocused and put things off to the last second but eventually lock it in just in time to beat the deadline. My therapist administered a diagnostic test (basically a multiple choice test asking about how often I experience X, Y, and Z, and a similar test sent to a close friend to be completed separately about their perceptions of me) and it turned out that I do have ADHD. So she started me on Ritalin which has also helped me immensely. I'm able to focus and be productive on a regular basis (rather than in brief but manic spurts) and it also helps my overall mood, because I'm not constantly getting down on myself for being unable to focus on something important. (That's what it means for my ADHD/depression to be "comorbid" -- they feed into each other.)

It's worth noting that this is just my particular combination of neurodivergences and treatment plan. Different people experience success with different treatments, including various medications, ongoing/regular talk therapy, lifestyle changes, etc. But the one constant is that I've never met a single person whose life has gotten worse because they talked to someone about their mental health. It's a lifelong journey but in my experience the needle only moves in one direction and it starts with opening up to someone.

[gcb0]

either therapy and/or drugs. go see a professional and stop using webMD. or worse, hackernewsMD. :D

[jazoom]

In which country will a doctor diagnose an adult with ADHD?

[sshine]

In Denmark, to name one.

[reitanqild]

Norway as well.

That is: they'll forward you to a specialist who is also a doctor and that person will then diagnose you.