Just Chuck

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Hi. I have reason to suspect that I am on the Autistic Spectrum. I went to see a doctor for diagnosis last year but instead of diagnosing me he had me see him for four visits, at great expense, and then finally said that he would not diagnose me because if I had to be admitted to the hospital for another disorder that I have, the hospital would not admit me.

I need to know why I act the way I do, talk the way I do, and think the way I do. I took the "Aspie-Quiz" (don't want to mention website because of TOS here) just to see what it might say, 168. I disagree with some of the questions and the means of answering the quiz, but I may not be alone in those thoughts.

Yes, I know online quizzes are not reliable but I need to know if it is even worth pursuing.

Firstly, I have been verbally and physically attacked and abused for the way I am since I was a small child, even by my own parents. People have taken advantage of my naivete and gullible nature more times than I am aware of and I am aware of quite a few.

I guess that I am more on a quest than anything. If it turns out that I don't belong I will gladly move on. I really need to know how a 49 year old man can find out if he has Autism. They suspected something in high school but it was not looked in to.

If anyone could clue me in and/or give me some other helpful tips I would be very much in your debt.

Sorry for such a tedious post. Thanks for reading and cheers.

Not tedious at all! Welcome to the forum. I'm sure someone can give you sound advice here.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I am surprised that your diagnostician declined to diagnose you with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) because of your inadmissability to a hospital based on another disorder? Why didn't he decline before your four meetings? Very strange on his part. It almost seems as if he would have diagnosed your AS only if you were a potential patient for his hospital.

Regardless, there is much you can do in a self diagnosis: There are online screening tests (those at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre are among the best), Tony Attwood's list of AS characteristics http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.php/about-aspergers is a good way to compare your own, and, finally, consider and research your other diagnosed disorders to determine if they might also be co-occurrent AS factors.

Good luck!

Thank you, Matthaeus.

AspieUtah, co-occurrent AS factors, something I had not considered. I should probably go ahead and mention the disorder that the doctor was referring to. I also have Bipolar I. I have been reading and it seems that the two can be co-morbid. The hospitals in the state I live in, Texas, seems to dislike having patients who have both ASD and Bipolar or so says that doctor.

Having to see him four times before he would tell me this just seems like another way to take advantage of me.

I will be more vigilant about this in the future but gathering the motivation and the strength to get to the doctor is a big issue for me.

The resources you mentioned might help me to make up my mind one way or the other. I have noticed that a lot of good research comes out of Australia.

Hey Marduk1965 welcome.

hi, chuck, welcome.

here's another very brief test based on criteria docs use for diagnosing asperger's.

www.iautistic.com/test_AS.php

Thank you all so much for the info. This website is much more helpful than other sites I have tried, not to bash them.

I will keep looking into the links all of you guys have posted and see if I can get someone to help me find a doctor. I don't know why this is so hard but I've been trying to for a few years now.

Welcome!