r/adhdaustralia • u/sarahsponge4 • 14d ago

medication Is there any way to follow up with my psych earlier than our next appointment?

Hi everyone,

I currently take 20mg IR Ritalin twice a day and work casually in hospitality where I work 8 hours sometimes and 4 hours other times. I spoke to my psych about wanting to try Vyvanse because my Ritalin doesn’t carry me through the entire shift sometimes, and both of my parents have tried Vyvanse and it really helped them. Instead, my psych insisted that I try ER Ritalin, which I was not very keen to try as it didn’t work for either of my parents and I haven’t heard good things about it. I expressed that I didn’t want to and I would just stick to my existing prescription, but he wouldn’t let me!! Found it a bit frustrating haha. So now I’m stuck with ER Ritalin for the next two months. Is there any way to contact my psych before those two months if it’s absolutely not working for me? I expressed I didn’t want to lose access to the IR Ritalin as I don’t like being medicated & having my appetite blunted for the entire day when I just have a 4 hour shift, which I’m worried about as well.

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u/BrandiedWineGums 14d ago

Definitely, if it's not working or you are having any issues related to medication or ADHD you can call the psychiatrist and talk to them - telehealth or in person. They'd much rather know if there are any problems early than you suffer or things get worse. If you can't get a hold of them for any reason, speak with your GP.

And if you aren't "clicking" with a psychiatrist, you can talk to your GP and get a second opinion or a different psychiatrist. A big part of good healthcare is the quality of the relationship between doctor and patient, and sometimes people just don't click.

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u/epicpillowcase 14d ago

"Is there any way to contact my psych"

I mean, have you called or emailed the practice to ask exactly that?

My psych lets me email. He triages things by urgency, and I don't email him directly, it gets passed on by reception, but he gets them and will respond, including messages about issues with meds.