Stimulants How not to feel like a criminal when being treated for ADHD?

[harsh]

I moved to a new city about 8 months ago, and had to find a good doctor in the area to treat my ADHD. Unfortunately, the doctor I chose turned out to be sub-par compared to the doctor I had had before I moved.

He was just very impersonal, did not listen to my issues concerning attention, and lowered the dosage I had been on for years - without calling me in for a visit and consulting me first. I know medicine is different, but as an engineering project manager, I would never change an important part of a customer's order with absolutely no communication. Anyway, this prompted me to ask around and find another doctor more specialized in the field and who would treat my issues a little more seriously.

I read some reviews online, checked my insurance coverage, and found another doctor close by. I met with the new doc and explained that I had recently been seeing another doctor in the area for my therapy (I went so far as to give the specific name of the doctor I had been seeing). I also mentioned that it had been about 4 or 5 weeks since my last prescription refill, which was what I thought was the truth.

The doctor left for a second, and a nurse returned without my prescription. The nurse explained that they had run a pharmaceutical check on me, and I had refilled 27 days ago - and since the prescription was written for the standard 30 days, the doctor would NOT write me another one. They asked me to please leave.

Completely shocked and feeling like a criminal, I've done some research to figure out (1) how the doctor discovered the specific date of my last refill without my having told her the pharmacy, and (2) why am I at fault for coming in 3 days early?

I made a doctor's appointment a few days early, just as most people do, so that I could work it into my schedule. However, I hardly feel I was being dishonest or manipulative.

I came here to the forums for some guidance on finding another doctor because I'm a bit hopeless after that experience. Do all doctors now assume I'm a drug-abusing addict on the prowl for easy scripts?

In summation:

• I live in Texas, and I know we have a prescription drug database. However, I have refilled my script several days early in the past and have never had any problems in 4 years. Why now?
  
• How do I find a good doctor that will assume I'm legitimate and willing to work with them from the beginning? I have been through 2 or 3 doctors since moving to this area in the last 8 months and they would either not treat me because they were uncomfortable prescribing the medication, or because they thought I was trying to cheat them out of a prescription.

I appreciate the help. Feel free to point out any faults I may have overlooked, so I can be sure I'm not breaking laws or abusing my privileges.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Your state apparently has a state-wide database, so that a doctor can run your name through the system to see if you have gotten medication in that state before.

If you mentioned to him about having gotten a lower dosage by a non-compassionate doctor 27 days ago, and that you have since run out of it (because the lowered dose didn't work right, and you know what you needed for it to work right) - then the doctor might have helped you out.

Also, because there's a state wide database, because you filled a prescription for 30 days, the doctor must have thought that coming in before 30 days had passed is doctor shopping. When, in reality, doctor shopping is more like hitting multiple doctors in one day, collecting multiple prescriptions, and then filling them at different pharmacies.

I guess because you didn't mention to the doctor about the most recent (lowered dose) prescription you filled, he probably thought he shouldn't give you any medication, and probably expected you to pay a second time to come in another whopping 3 days. 8)

My advice: if you don't have one already, get a diagnosis. This will help, and will also signify to the doctor how impairing ADHD is for you. Without this, relying on GP's to adequately medicate psychiatric symptoms/disorders is very hard to expect, as they are often undereducated and misinformed more often than you would think.

Do all doctors now assume I'm a drug-abusing addict on the prowl for easy scripts?

Yes, yes they do. They especially make very baseless assumptions, like relying heavily on one prescription drug for any given problem (ADHD, or sleep/anxiety) and one specific dosage for all people.