Wootton

I've posted here a few times about different aspects of my ADHD and received some good advice and sure hope that someone can help me figure out what’s going on now.

I’ve now been on LTD since October 2010 due to depression/anxiety caused by ADHD, bringing my life to a crashing halt. It took until last June for the specialists to figure out that I have ADHD. I'm 58 and I also have Fibromyalgia.

Add to this that a hole in my heart that was successfully closed up when I was 4 is now causing extra heartbeats; of itself, it is not a dangerous condition. Combined with psycho-stimulant medication however, it could cause cardiac arrhythmia or even a heart attack. My cardiologist put me on a medication that might have eliminated the extra beats, but only reduced them by 50%. So, after 6 months of medications and testing he has decided that I cannot take psycho-stimulant medication.

The insurance company’s specialist, a psychologist, has told me that in his opinion, I can only go back to work if I am on psycho-stimulant medication and have weekly psychotherapy sessions with him (@$165 each-so far the insurance company has paid for all of his bills since last June). He has of course shared this opinion with the insurance company.

Despite this, the insurance company is insistent that I can go back to work on a gradual back to work program, over a six week period. I am a legal secretary, and my job is very high stress.

I know my only alternative is to go along with what the insurance company wants or I won’t get paid. I know that I’m going to crash and burn again, but it’s not going to take me 20+ years this time because all my nerves are at the surface and even now I have anxiety attacks (for which I take perfectly adequate medication - ha!). My only solace in this is that I can't legally be fired within that 6 week gradual back to work period.

Does this all sound really crazy? Is this normal business practice, to put someone back to work who can't focus on a crossword puzzle for more than 10 minutes? I love reading fiction-it now takes me months and months to finish a book because I can't read for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time.

Okay, this is long and I'm even bored myself, so I'll stop now. Actually I started this in Word, and stopped about 10 times throughout the day.

Any opinions, however short or longwinded would be appreciated. Thanks very much.