artmid5
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Post by artmid5 on Oct 5, 2018 21:33:56 GMT
MY 33 year old son has, in the last 6 weeks, been diagnosed with ADHD. He had a private assessment by an NHS Consultant Psychiatrist as he was aware that it could take upto 18 months for an NHS assessment. He has been prescribed Elvanse by the consultant and a very comprehensive detailed care plan was sent to the GP with the prescription schedule. My son's GP did not want him to go privately and has since declined to prescribe the medication and says he is not " registered "to prescribe it. The consultant supplied him with a private script which was dispensed by a local chemist at the cost of £80 for a months supply. He has been told by the surgery that he has had a referral sent to the local ADHD service for assessment and that it will take 18 months and only they can prescribe the medication. So for the foreseeable future his medication will cost £80 monthly if the private consultant is happy to keep supplying the scripts. My son is going to change his GP and hopefully they may be happy to prescribe. I am furious that this is the position he has been put in and want to ask everyone out there if there is anything else he should try. Oh and the meds so far are helping him , he can now focus and concentrate is much happier. Many thanks for any forthcoming advice
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2018 12:41:02 GMT
Hi
My (very basic) understanding is that the prescriber must 'titrate' before handover. Your son needs to be 'stabilised' on the tablets before the GP can entertain shared care.
Typically 3 months. Probably not 1 month.
For anyone going private hoping to be transferred to the NHS, you need to budget for at least 3 months of private prescriptions.
You'll probably get 10x this amount back financially and emotionally once they're on the correct regime and are able to find their place in the world.
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Post by vagueandrandom on Nov 29, 2018 13:00:09 GMT
As @boost says. . . .
GPs are able to prescribe under instruction of the specialist under a shared care agreement,
but not usually until the right medication and dose have been established.
This is an agreement between the specialist and GP and the GP doesn’t have to agree.
There are also some areas of the country where the local NHS don’t allow shared care
for certain meds. The psychiatrist just needs to ask the GP and a form needs to be filled in.
Any alterations to dose and medication reviews must be done by the psychiatrist.
The GP can only prescribe exactly what the specialist says.
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artmid5
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Post by artmid5 on Jan 6, 2019 17:24:26 GMT
Thank you both for your advise. This is more or less what has happened. He has changed GP's and his new one is willing to prescribe as he has been taking the medication on and off for 3 months. It is not the "cure" we or he thought initially and in fact he is thinking about not being medicated as the main side effect is not sleeping. He struggles to sleep sometimes only getting 1 - 2 hours a night. He the starts to drink to try and sleep and becomes overwhelmed and goes on a massive episode of binge drinking. He has recognised the fact that he is addicted to alcohol and this at the moment is causing more problems than his ADHD although it is all very intertwined.
His moral and self esteem are as low as could be, he currently has no work , he has a gardening business in the season but now 3 months of no work due to winter conditions. He has had a bad year with binge drinking and being diagnosed and it is taking him time to come to terms with it all. My son is a lovely, highly intelligent man who is really struggling at the moment. As his parents we are struggling to know how help him. His long term girlfriend is very supportive of him so he is surrounded by people who care for him but still this is not enough . We have been talking-to him about CBT/ Mindfulness but he does not see that they might help him. He would not go to a support group because he can be socially awkward. He did attempt to go to AA for a few meetings but wasn't comfortable with that type of help .
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 4:03:26 GMT
I think 2018 was the shittest year ever for work, so I can relate a little.
2017 wasn't much better.
I think the UK has been in some sort of recession/depression thing for the last two years.
If he's anything like me, getting a job will sort all the other problems out.
For example, what's the point in going to bed if you don't have to get up for a job? What's the point in remembering to take your tablets early enough so you feel tired at the 'right' time? What's the point in not drinking?
All of these things kinda lose meaning when you're out of work.
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george
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Post by george on Jan 24, 2019 11:10:55 GMT
I think 2018 was the shittest year ever for work, so I can relate a little. 2017 wasn't much better. I think the UK has been in some sort of recession/depression thing for the last two years. If he's anything like me, getting a job will sort all the other problems out. For example, what's the point in going to bed if you don't have to get up for a job? What's the point in remembering to take your tablets early enough so you feel tired at the 'right' time? What's the point in not drinking? All of these things kinda lose meaning when you're out of work. I couldn't agree more. My life goes to pot when I'm not in work. Just taking a week annual leave messes my routine up. Poor self care, not taking meds properly/regularly ("it's 12pm it's too late to take my meds now"), don't eat properly, stay up all night and sleep all day etc. I notice a big difference in myself when I don't have work/routine, I'm sure others notice it in me more
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