Can somebody please help me?

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Hello again,
no the first GP I saw wasn't much use, when I went the first time I saw a locum I'd never seen before and got the impression he wanted shot of me and didn't much care for my own self-diagnosis. He passed me on to a psychiatrist who in turn passed me on to CBT which did me no good at all. I went back to my GP (another locum I'd never seen before) and told her I wanted to take the ten question diagnostic test. After some web-browsing she found it, I scored 10/10 and she referred me. I had to give her the contact details for the adult autism people as she was unaware of them. It was a frustrating and time consuming experience but I got there in the end. It felt like I had to jump through all the hoops before they would listen.
The people at the autism service seemed to take me seriously though. The man who diagnosed me had to do so 'under supervision' as so little was known of my childhood.

You can always see another GP, and in my opinion, the younger the better as they tend to be more familiar with our quirks. The older ones are a bit s**t. sorry old GPs.

Hi,

Oh no, that's a very discouraging experience, some Professionals think that if you gain awareness of yourself and your symptoms then you can't have it, it's stupid. It's pretty good that your GP listened to you and your instinct was shown to be correct when you passed all the questions. Well done for persevering with them, sometimes you really do have to push to get people to listen. Yeah, some of them seem to be set on their opinion of you and that you can't have it because you don't fit their description of what an Autistic person is like, then it's very hard to change their mind. Ah that's fair enough, I guess they have to be careful when making these decisions.

Yeah true, I could and lol I think you're right, as there wasn't much common knowledge and awareness of disorders such as ASD until fairly recently, so perhaps the older GPs don't know what to look for.

Damn right.

Just remember that GP's never have the final say on matters such as these. People are prone to arrogance and GPs are people, sometimes we have to sidestep them.
Great to meet you VR.

That's true, hopefully the Psychologist I've seen doesn't either, getting a second referral on the NHS will be a challenge I expect. That is true, their ego and/or arrogance can sometimes get in the way of making a decision that would consider the view of the patient a bit more and not make us feel like we are exaggerating or imagining our problems.

It's great to meet you also.

Unfortunately, I think that sometimes the arrogance is part of the training.

My impression is that if you see a Psychologist, you'll be told you have a psychological problem; if you see a Psychiatrist, they'll tell you it's a psychiatric problem, and a Neurologist will tell you it's all the wiring of your neurons. No doubt, if you were sent to a Sociologist, they'd tell you it was all society's fault! If they don't think you fall into their area of expertise, then you're dismissed, and get sent back to the start of the whole process.

There never seems to be anyone who's job it is to look at the bigger picture, and categorise in more general terms, so that there's a good idea of where to look next - it always seems to be "trial and error", and we are passed from one blinkered specialist to another in the hope that one day we might stumble across the right explanation.

My experience of evaluation tells me that my autistic traits are obvious to anyone who knows what to look for, and could have been diagnosed easily at any time in the thirty years I've been using mental health services. The NHS desperately needs some kind of mental health "triage" system so that patients have a better chance to see the right person on the first attempt.

Hi, Rose.

I don't think most people in this forum would really be able to give you a proper diagnosis, even if we all in here are very interested in helping you. You seem to have read enough about the ASD subject and you probably know why. If you don't trust the diagnosis, you should seek for the second opinion from another professional.

For the time being I think you should stick to this first diagnosis and assume you aren't in the spectrum.

It could be that you think you are - or would like to be - found in the spectrum because that would explain everything about you and suits so well but what you really have is anything else.

Group-diagnosing others is a very tempting internet sport these days. Take whatever people tell you online (including me) with a pint of salt.

I'm sorry Trogluddite for not replying to you sooner.

Yeah, I would have to agree with you on that, as my experiences with various mental health professionals reflect that as well. I suppose that they want to play it safe and not think outside of their particular area of expertise, still though, if they doubt their own opinions then they should express that to their patient. Even if it means the patient may lose some confidence in the professional in question.

Yeah because they make these judgements and diagnoses with only some information, not always taking into account the full history of the patient, which would help the Professional to make a more accurate Diagnosis of the patient. I've heard or read a lot of people who have been through the mental health system that have been given various different diagnoses, at least 3 or 4 maybe to one person, who have tried many medications which do not work or have exacerbated their real, possibly underlying problems which weren't noticed or addressed at first. I think that this may be a flaw of the mental health system which cannot be fixed because it is subjective and each Professional will have their own views and biases which influence the treatment of their patients.

I'm so sorry it's taken so many years before you were given the correct Diagnosis, it is a real shame that you were not seen sooner by a Professional who had some knowledge or even expertise of Autism. I'm glad that someone eventually got it right. I think that it's about time that there was system like that put in place, it would certainly be a system which was working more efficiently if there was.

Last edited by VelvetRose on 19 Mar 2016, 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hi MagicKnight,

You do make a good point, as much as the people here probably do know a lot about Autism, it would be unwise for me to think of the opinions expressed here as correct instead of what the Professionals have said. I think I will, it's not that I necessarily think that that the Psychiatrist and Psychologist are wrong, it's just that I have Autistic symptoms which I feel need an explanation. Whether it means that I have a lot of Autistic-like symptoms which are actually caused by something else or another Disorder, I need to find out what it is.

Yeah, for now I will think of myself as not having it, I guess I'm just very confused at the moment.

I think that part of me does want to have it as I feel like I understand people on the spectrum (or hope that I do) more than many others I've met in life, it would mean that I have a reason why I don't seem to fit in. If I don't have this then I'll have to accept that I'm wildly different and my personality makes me a bit non-social, so I don't have much luck with making friends.

That is some good advice which I will heed, asking people online can't always be that reliable.

I see what you mean. Anyway I hope it's not Asperger's. I hope it's something you can fix. Regards.

Here's what you do, and it may not be easy for you, but I still recommend it.

First google "adult women autism diagnosis" and you'll find some websites that talk about how differently the symptoms present in adult women. Print off a nice concise summary if you can find one, or a whole website if you can't find just one.

Then you take some of the online autism quizzes, print off each page with your answers showing, as well as the scoring page.

Take all of these printouts to your last session with the diagnosing specialist. If she fails to diagnose you with an autism disorder, you could ask her to explain her conclusions. Then show her the literature you brought, and ask if she is familiar with this school of thought. If she sticks to her original conclusion, say you respectfully disagree and ask what your options are for arranging a second opinion.

You know, it's just possible she may be right. A person with a combination of high innate anxiety and attentional or learning disorders could conceivably mimic the symptoms of Aspergers or autism disorder. So please try to keep an open mind, but don't let her show you the door without a good strong discussion of the issues.

Good luck!

I was diagnosed a couple of days ago in a town not far from London. I was very bubbly and smiling for the most part of my assessment and it didn't prevent the right diagnosis. Also we didn't really talk about my traits that much. Two ladies run the assessment and the one who was in charge seemed (as I can see it now) very knowledgeable. I could give you more details if you PM me.

Hope you will be fine and get the support you need soon.

Hi Bea,

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, there is a lot of sites and articles online that say Autism looks very different in women and I've read that because of this it can be difficult to diagnose them, as some of them have become so adept at mimicking normal behaviour in social situations. I will make sure that I do, if not I will definitely make a point of mentioning that to her at my next appointment.

I may even have to ask her to write down her conclusions as of my last appointment with her, which I imagine she will anyway because I'll probably walk away with a slanted, misinterpreted account of what she said, as this often happens unintentionally. To add to my original post, the Psychologist told me a couple other of her reasons for thinking that I don't have a form of Autism were because I don't demonstrate much inflexibility or rigidity of thought and she can't see much evidence that I've displayed of this during my life. Even though she may be correct about this, I still have a number of Autistic symptoms which have wreaked havoc in my life that really need to be addressed, I have to know what is causing them. If she doesn't diagnose me with an ASD or refer me to a learning disabilities specialist then I'll have to persuade her to, that's if she doesn't do this off her own accord, otherwise I'm screwed. The demands and expectations people place on me I cannot cope with like someone who is equipped to could.

Read About autism, asperger and woman. Read all sites about this topic. Watch video's, get all information there is. Than go for à 2nd opinion. To Someone with lots of experience with woman and ASD.

I am woman, over 50 and recently diagnosed

While I can't exactly offer advice to you, I hope I can offer you comfort in knowing that you're absolutely not alone. When I read your account of events, it sounds like I could've easily written it myself. I have been misdiagnosed several times, generally in the vein of "manic depression" or severe anxiety disorders. Three separate physicians tried to prescribe me Lithium, among other drugs. I have been off any kind of medication for approximately 5 years. Through my own research and interaction with others, it became quite clear that I was on the spectrum. When I found others like me, it's as if everything that never made sense became crystal clear. I found this forum years ago, but I didn't join until 7 months ago - and it has taken me that long to post. In fact, today I started posting for the first time.

It isn't easy. It won't ever be easy. But I can promise you that the mere existence of communicating with others on a forum like this will make you feel much less isolated and alone.