Rannoch

Oh nice!! I'll have to update mine since mine doesn't seem to have that feature just yet. But awesome, yeah, that's super fast!

My experience is that psychiatrists have never just asked me "do you experience X", going through those specific DSM symptoms, but instead they'll administer some kind of questionnaire that asks a significantly larger number of more specific questions that give you some sort of score at the end. The score is then used to determine whether or not you rank highly in certain symptom areas, which can then help the psych better understand your symptoms and whether or not you qualify for a certain diagnosis.

From what I've read in various online sources, it seems to vary a LOT between different providers, patients, locations, etc. Even those who live in the same general location seem to have had dramatically different experiences. But, here is what I remember my process being like:

• Made an appointment with a psychiatrist (THIS WAS THE HARDEST PART BY FAR AND I HATED IT - It took me almost an entire year from start to finish to find psychiatrists that were in-network with my insurance, had open availability that wasn't months and months out, I could get ahold of, specialized in my general areas of need (ADHD + other conditions), etc. Part of the problem was I kept giving up when I'd hit these barriers, to be fair)
• Had a consultation appointment with the psychiatrist where she asked me a lot of introductory questions, going over my general upbringing, career, daily life, concerns, symptoms, things that have helped or hurt, etc.
• Completed a few different questionnaires, some for ADHD and some for other things, like anxiety, and also had to share a questionnaire with my partner for him to fill out from his perspective on me
• Had a follow-up appointment with the psychiatrist plus another more senior psych, where we went through all of my results together and discussed my diagnoses, potential treatment options, etc.
• Had to visit a lab to get general bloodwork done, and also an electrocardiogram, to make sure there weren't any health concerns to be aware of (or that could explain my symptoms) before trying stimulant medications for the first time
• Got cleared with all of that, had an appointment where we settled on a first medication to try, and then continued to meet with the psych every 2 weeks while we titrated my dosage and medication type.
• Nowadays, I only have an appointment every ~3 months with a psych to check-in and continue my prescriptions and/or update things, etc.

I hope that is helpful! I know it is scary starting the process, but I can't stress enough how helpful it has been in the end for me. I'm really glad I pushed through and finally got help.

If it helps as well to hear what appointments were like, I found that the psychiatrists I have had (changed psychs occasionally due to moves) tended to be less interested in detailed discussions about feelings, emotions, or symptoms than my therapists have been. Not to say they aren't interested, they are and they specifically ask things about them. But, they have seemed more interested in a "do you experience this", "is it the same as before or improved/worsened", etc, and less interested when I would go on detailed explanations of exactly what I was thinking during a particular event or experience, if that makes any sense. For example, it seemed like they preferred "Most days, I feel like my symptoms are significantly improved during midday, but I tend to consistently get spacey and sluggish around 5 pm every day. Increasing water and protein intake hasn't seemed to fix it." rather than, "Well, it's different everyday, but I usually take my first dose around 9 or 10 AM or so. About an hour after that, I feel less "stuck" and am able to actually get up out of bed and do 'normal' things, like brush my teeth or get dressed. Sometimes I don't get anything done after that, but I still feel more 'normal', you know? I tried changing my lunch to include more protein, and......" I realize reading this back that this seems like generic advice to not be long-winded and overly explain things, not just for psychiatrist appointments, but I hope what I'm trying to explain sort of got across lol.

I now realize I've written a significantly longer (and long-winded, hah) comment than I intended to, but I hope it is helpful in some way to you or someone else!

So pretty! I love plants with these sorts of leaf colorations (I feel like there is probably an official term for this that I don't know).

Agreed. OP could maybe try making an account on a different instance and trying that instead? I'm on lemm.ee and haven't had any issues loading or failing to post (yet). Speed has all been fast and normal so far.

Oh, I guess today is a good day to become anxious that it might be my last day with 10 fingers. 🙃

Got it! That makes sense, thank you.

<3

Glad I wasn't the only silly one!

Great idea! I haven't seen any others mentioning this in all the protest discussions I saw. Hopefully others did similarly, that seems like something that could really help.

To add to this, I think people often underestimate how "easy" it can be to function in society without being able to read well. I know that some folks who either don't read at all or read at a very low level have just gotten used to interpreting the world around them without the language part. For example, visually recognizing a username and password field on a website and knowing what they're for, or recognizing the symbols and colors used for certain objects or meanings, all without the actual words needing to mean anything to them for them to understand what it is and what to do with it. And for those who can read at a 5th or 4th grade level (and would thus be included in the stat mentioned in this post), they're likely then very capable of reading and understanding the majority of text they're going to come across in their day-to-day lives.

Of course, I don't want this to sound like I'm saying being illiterate is easy, I'm sure it creates MANY barriers and difficulties for the person, but I do think humans are also flexible and resilient, and are able to survive using other cues.

I'm a little curious how many folks working at reddit have secretly moved over to Lemmy (or other similar site) during all of this

Thank you!!!! That makes sense - so just checking, Top X is like "Hot", but over a certain time period instead of "recent"? (In that it cares about rating instead of how many comments are being posted?)

Seems like bouncing between Active and Hot is still a good thing to do then maybe. To see whatever people are discussing as well as whatever the most upvoted stuff is.