get a second opinion
By rowantree
@rowantree (1186)
United States
July 16, 2007 9:24am CST
DISCLAIMER:
This is my opinion only. I am well aware that ADHD can and will go hand in hand with other disorders.
My advice to any parent whose child has been newly diagnosed with ADHD is to get a second opinion and here's why.
If your child is immediately diagnosed with ADHD and no other disorders are considered or spoken of, you might want to get a second opinion.
If your doctor's office gives you a form to fill out of 10 questions or less, you might want to get a second opinion. Or another doctor.
My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive Type. I had well educated myself on ADHD. I tried behavior modification, etc.. Then I tried medication, which didn't work. Tried a second medication, which didn't work.
Made appointment with a different doctor. She was diagnosed with anxiety, which can mimic ADHD symptoms. The forms they had me fill out, two pages long, closely spaced, showed a clear indication of anxiety. The questions dealt with ADHD, depression and anxiety, while the form from her previous doctor asked questions only relating to ADHD.
Her previous pediatrician comes from a large group that is well respected in the community. I did have my doubts at the diagnosis appointment. Just goes to show you that your gut instinct usually isn't wrong.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@taylorblue (1286)
• Canada
22 Aug 07
I know that was the way it was the first time my daughter got diagnosed with it. So I went for a second opinion. This time it was with a pediatric development place. I suggested it could be something else but they told me there was no way that it couldn`t be ADHD. I have her on meds that only help her slightly at school for focusing but do nothing for her at home. I am still fighting to get her reevaluated but no one will even look at us...
@rowantree (1186)
• United States
22 Aug 07
Good luck to you & keep fighting. Everyone wants to diagnose ADHD and nothing else so that makes it hard. Do you have any thoughts on what you think it might be? I'd go with your gut instincts & research online, then find a doctor who will discuss it with you. I really hope you can get help for your daughter and that she feels better soon.
@jbnmom (12)
• United States
25 Jul 07
You make some good points. A diagnosis like this truly can not come from a pediatrician alone. And in fact, many pediatricians are not qualified to make such a diagnosis. When my son was diagnosed, I spoke to his school as well as the pediatrician. The doctor gave me a long checklist for home and another for school. We both filled them out and then compared them. Then I took my son to a child psychiatrist for the diagnosis as well as for the medication decision.
I realize that not everyone has access to a good child psychiatrist in their area. But if you do, that is what I recommend. I love ours, and he knows my kids better than their pediatrician does because he sees the younger two every three months. I have one with Asperger's syndrome, ADHD, and Tourette's, and the youngest has ADHD.
@rowantree (1186)
• United States
26 Jul 07
We had the short checklist from the doctor and two schools provided information. At the elementary school, one teacher filled out a short graph. At the intermediate school, the teacher wrote a few sentences. That was it. The school wouldn't do anything further. I myself wrote out 3-4 pages, explaining our day and what the challenges were.
Your point about seeing a psychiatrist in addition to your doctor is excellent. While I had read other moms stories about how they took their child to many different specialists, it never occurred to me that this was something that I had to do or else my daughter would be misdiagnosed.
It's always better to be safe than sorry, isn't it? :)
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
24 Jul 07
I also had to work hard to get one of my sons diagnosis changed. He has also been diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive Type, and although this diagnosis remains, he has also been diagnoses with depression after I continued to express my concerns to his doctors over an extended length of time. It was obvious to me that his moods were not related to ADHD, and I was getting very worried about him before they finally decided that there really was a problem. Although many children are correctly diagnosed, some doctors are too quick to hand out this diagnosis instead of getting to the root of the problem.
