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Psychiatry-UK 2024-08-17 Person 5 5 0

I have known about my ADHD since I was 33 when I was a mature student at university and was then seen by an educational psychologist to see if I had dyslexia. It turned out the issue was more my ADHD which I didn't realise I had. After the onset of perimenopause, I realised that my ADHD was becoming more prevalent again. My initial symptoms had eased after completing university and having a baby. I now know more about the correlation between oestrogen boosting dopamine which of course is a huge part of ADHD. I started to receive HRT which helped alleviate some of the ADHD symptoms but all of them and so I asked my GP if I could be referred to an ADHD service for treatment. They signed posted me in the direction of the Right to Choose pathway. I undertook the paperwork/ questionnaire and chose to be referred to Psychiatry UK (Psych UK). This was number of years ago when I was placed on the waiting list for an assessment (approx 2019) around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and when the waiting lists were not as high. The assessment took place when the country was coming out of the whole Covid pandemic place in November 2022. My consultant psychiatrist at Psych UK was reassuring and friendly (Dr Khadija Masood). She listened to me and was caring and understanding of my struggling with my experiences of ADHD throughout my life. After a lengthy assessment, it was determined that I had a combined/inattentive type of ADHD and she so agreed to refer me to Psychiatry U.K.'s titration services, where I would commence treatment on stimulants. I finally received the go ahead that my titration was ready to start at the beginning of March 2024. I was immediately assigned a titration nurse called Dean. Right from the offset he was humorous, attentive, caring and even replied to me out of normal working hours, answering any queries. He was also happy to regularly reassure me, as I was quite nervous about starting stimulants. Dean came across, friendly, calm and simplified things for me when I got confused (easily done with ADHD) and clarified facts in more detail when needed. This was particularly useful, especially when I was concerned about side effects. Nothing was too much hassle at all. I found that the process was further helped by the working relationship we had, as Dean took his time to get to know me as a person, not just looking at my ADHD as a problem to solve. This is, I feel an integral part of treating somebody with a neuro developmental disorder such as ADHD because it isn’t just as easy as fixing a broken bone or treating an illness like medical doctors would do as such. One hopes that the treatment plan aims to alleviate as many ADHD symptoms as possible, but it’s not always the case that every symptom is addressed. Purely because all ADHD medication is not a one size fits all for the brain chemicals affected that are being targeted. In short, every person is different, so the therapeutic effects will vary. In my case, after trying about three different medications, I settled on a combination of Lisdexamfetamine and Dexamfetamine. At first, I was unsure whether I could manage using two different drugs (one short acting and one long-acting stimulant), but Dean and I worked together to come up with a plan that would address all aspects of how my body metabolised the medication to reach full therapeutic potential. As I said previously, it’s not always possible to manage every symptom of ADHD medically, yet I have found that I am now a better more balanced person since commencing this regime. I believe that I am now, better able to manage my emotions, have more productive days and seem to remind myself of a more functionable, younger, much happier version of the Rebekah that I once was - when the lack of dopamine, oestrogen and the menopause didn’t collide. So, thank you Dean and the rest of the Psych UK Team, keep on doing a great job!