A Canadian woman says that a doctor “gaslit” her at her visit after being previously diagnosed with ADHD via telehealth, sparking debate in the comments about telehealth and access to stimulant medication.
In a multi-part storytime posted by TikToker Jasmine Lorimer (@jasmine.lorimer) on Aug. 19, she says that she was “treated so shitty” by the doctor she saw to get a prescription for ADHD medication.
@jasmine.lorimer Part 1: my worst doctor visit ever. #canada #squamish #adhd #messytiktok ♬ original sound – Jasmine Lorimer
“I was diagnosed earlier this week through an online telehealth appointment with a physician who talked to me for about half an hour. It was very clear to him that I had moderate ADHD,” Lorimer explains in the clip. “So he actually sent me a little assessment form to fill out because I would need to be referred to another doctor to talk about treatment because on telehealth they don’t like to prescribe certain medications over the phone.”
Lorimer continues that she scheduled an in-person visit with a doctor in Squamish, British Columbia, to discuss medication. She says that on the day of the appointment, the doctor “came into the room absolutely pissed” and asked, “What is this about?”
She says she explained to the doctor that she had been previously diagnosed with ADHD but wanted to discuss the research she had done on medications, including the one she thought was “suited for” her needs.
Lorimer continues that she handed him the self-assessment from her Telus Health appointment, which is a Canadian provider of digital health technology and services, and as he read it he said, “Tick, tick, tick. Everybody ticks,” in response to one of the symptoms she had checked on the form.
In the second part of the storytime, Lorimer says she asked the doctor “what he meant by that,” believing that he was “insinuating” that she was “making up” her diagnosis.
@jasmine.lorimer Replying to @Raychel 🚑 Van Life & Travel ♬ original sound – Jasmine Lorimer
“Before I started to record, he said, ‘It just seems like a lot of people in Squamish have ADHD all of the sudden,’” she says in the video. “Dude, It’s not like you can take a blood test. I understand that people could incorrectly fill out this form, but it’s not like we’re dying to have ADHD.”
The first part of the storytime has reached over 2.8 million views as of Aug. 23, with commenters discussing whether it should be possible to get an ADHD diagnosis via a self-assessment on telehealth. Many users who say they have an ADHD diagnosis themselves point to the long process they were required to go through before being prescribed stimulant medication.
“Diagnoses take more than a telehealth appointment. It takes hours of exams in person and studying your responses,” one commenter wrote.
“They can diagnose in a 30 min telehealth? I remember as a kid going through hours of evaluations with the psychiatrist,” another said.
“No doubt that this doctor was rude. However stimulants are no joke, and jumping straight to meds without therapy isn’t going to do anything,” a third added.
The #ADHD tag on TikTok has over 14.3 billion views as of August, prompting criticism from many psychiatrists that TikTok has contributed to an increase in “self-diagnosis,” leaving room for telehealth companies that offer same-day or fast evaluations to gain traction. However, Lorimer argues that TikTok coverage and virtual appointments have helped to destigmatize mental health and create a more accessible way for adults to get a diagnosis.
The text overlay on part two of the storytime reads, “Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that many more cases are coming up due to awareness through platforms like TikTok and the underdiagnosis of ADHD in young girls.”
In another follow-up, Lorimer shares clips that she secretly recorded during her appointment, showing the doctor expressing his “frustration with telehealth” when she asked him to clarify his statement that “everybody ticks” in response to her ADHD self-assessment.
@jasmine.lorimer PART 3: Tone changed completely. I think he started getting nervous when he recognized that his behaviour wasn’t appropriate.
♬ original sound – Jasmine Lorimer
“If you could just one more time clarify what you meant by that when I showed you the assessment, and you said, ‘Everybody ticks,’” Lorimer says in the clip.
The doctor then audibly sighs and says he is “frustrated with telehealth” because “the work they did was not fed back to this office.”
“I don’t have any collateral from what you obviously spend some time talking to the doctors about,” he says in the video. “So to move forward, I want telehealth to send me the copies of their consultation so we’re not reinventing the wheel.”
Lorimer then says she’s “happy to send” him the information she was provided after her telehealth appointment.
“When you said ‘everybody ticks’ as I was showing you the form that was provided to me from the doctor as an accurate assessment of ADHD, of course, I understand that anyone could tick the boxes as they would like to,” Lorimer says at the end of part one. “But do you think I want to have ADHD? I’ve never been on medication in my life. I’m very scared about going on medication, and I’d appreciate a little bit more tact from the physician that I’m seeing about this.”
In the second clip of her conversation with the doctor, Lorimer explains that she didn’t know that telehealth is “limited in what they can do.”
“It’s my frustration that telehealth does the easy stuff, and I do the hard stuff,” the doctor says.
In response, Lorimer tells him that it is his “job” and urges him not to “make patients feel like a burden.”
The doctor then says that she “probably has ADHD” and apologizes, saying they “got off on the wrong foot.”
@jasmine.lorimer PART 4: am I in a relationship or a doctor’s office? This was extremely uncomfortable.
♬ original sound – Jasmine Lorimer
In another update posted on Aug. 20, Lorimer says that the doctor “called her in the evening and apologized,” saying that he was “having a bad day.”
She says she asked him if his attitude had “anything to do with the fact that people abuse” stimulant medication, to which he denied, saying that he “just feels like a lot of people in Squamish have ADHD.”
“What that has to do with me because a lot of people in my town have ADHD, I will not understand,” Lorimer says. She also adds that she knows another person that had a similar experience with the same physician.
@jasmine.lorimer Replying to @Jenn Bourbonnais ♬ original sound – Jasmine Lorimer
In the second part of the update, she says that she also received an email in which the doctor “acknowledged the TikTok” and said if it were his choice he would have kept things private for “patient confidentiality.”
While she says she was put on a two-week treatment trial, Lorimer still intends to “report him formally” to prevent others from going through the same thing.
“I don’t believe that reporting him will result in any serious reprimands and that’s not at all my goal,” the caption on the video reads. “But knowing that he has also done this to one other person (that I know of), I have to assume it happens frequently enough that he should be held accountable. Let’s hope that he turns a corner.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Lorimer via email.
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