Hi everyone,
I’ve been performing poorly in school over the last 6 years, finding less and less energy and willingness to participate in class and finish the assignments that I try to sit myself down to do. After talking to my university advisor and support center, they told me to get checked for ADHD. I met with a general practitioner who told me I displayed a very obvious case of ADHD after giving them my entire life story, and after a brief call with my pediatric care doctor about her observations on my development, she says she believes I could have it as well.
I’m already on thin ice. I’m at risk of losing my visa, and I had a little breakdown yesterday because I couldn’t make myself focus properly on an assignment and I missed the submission deadline. These are classes I used to be excellent at, I was a great student in essay writing classes and presentations back in my sophomore year of high school. I’m declining hard and it feels exponential at this rate.
Now I’m frustrated even more because the general practitioner told me that although they fully believe me when I say I have ADHD, they need me to get evaluated by TELL or Tokyo Mental Health. I’ve been using GeoBlue for everything so far at clinics and hospitals, but neither of those two places will take GeoBlue with a guarantee of payment. I do not have the money to just pay upfront for the full session either, nor do I have the time for such a drawn out series of evaluations since my current semester will likely be over with before I’m done being diagnosed by them. They want what is essentially a full month of rent and I do not want problems with my landlord, and GeoBlue already takes forever with processing reimbursements for out of pocket expenses.
Is there some clinic out there that will bill insurance before seeing me with an invoice or take a guarantee of payment? Even if I have to go to Hokkaido or Fukuoka, I am done going untreated. All of the advice I’ve been given only works for the first week before my ADHD just finds some new way to wrap itself around that solution and start me off back at square one. I want to be able to finish my assigned reading. I want to be the student I used to be. How can I get diagnosed and medicated ASAP?
P.S. I have tried going to Yotsuya Yui clinic, and I asked the staff at the desk if they had any doctors or providers who could help treat my ADHD, and they said they “never provided that.” So what’s the deal with everyone online saying that Yotsuya Yui clinic has folks who treat ADHD? Is the staff trying to turn me away or am I supposed to use some kind of secret password?
6 comments
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I went to Mejiro Sola Clinic in Tokyo. They were kind and fast in giving treatment and medication (ADHD). I had to get a written and signed letter from my parents saying what kind of person I am? Even though I’m an adult. They only have one type of ADHD medicine too btw, Concerta. I had a good experience with it though it was different to what I was used to. I don’t know much about insurance stuff but their staff can speak English so I would recommend calling them. I wish you good luck.
One issue I noticed is that you are using Geo blue, which I had to look up is an international health insurance, so you have to pay up front to get reimbursed for costs. If you had the national health insurance, which pays 70% of the costs and the rest is on you.
Do you have NHI? I don’t know what GeoBlue is, but generally, hospitals and clinics won’t accept international travel insurance. You either have to pay out of pocket or use the NHI and then submit your receipts for reimbursement.
Also, r/JapanMentalHealth had a lot of resources for ADHD in Japan.
I first got suspicions when my therapist at Tokyo Mental Health brought up that I could have ADHD. Their testing is extensive and expensive at the same time. I was willing to pay for it but they would need to interview my pattens and both don’t speak or understand English. And obviously no NHI.
I was looking around to find a psychiatrist and found one in Shinjuku. The name of the clinic is Saijo Clinic. Testing was done fairly easy, covered by NHI and I had to mention my old school reports my mom actually found and that was enough for him.
IMO he is really nice and caring but that also depends on the individual person. He might start you first on the two available non stimulant medication before moving up to Concerta. I hope this helps
There is a YouTube channel called How to ADHD. There’s some great stuff there, things you can do to help manage your life.