ignorant doctors

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There are a lot of doctors who really don't know what they are talking about, it doesn't necessarily make them idiots or bad people though, a lot of them know only what is in their manuals if that.

Either way a diagnosis of Bipolar sounds completely wrong, the word 'irritable' would be considered an understatement of the centuary by most sufferers, its characterised by extreme mood swings from Depression to Mania over different periods of time. Some of the things that people I know with Bipolar have done are inconceivable.

If you don't like or trust her then go see someone else, but if you built up a relationship then maybe try rework it, it sounds like you only saw her the once though.

When I first told my doctor my and my psychologists thoughts I went with all my notes and 3 books, one by Tony Attwood, one by Luke Jackson and then one by Kathy Hoopman- the picture book All Cats Have Aspergers which I think describes it wonderfully and I told him, he looked at the last book, flipped through laughing at the pictures and preceded to tell me there was no way I was on the spectrum as I was nothing like Dustin Hoffmans character in Rain Man.

I just stared at him and ran away.
My mum made me go back though and he apologised and did a ton of research and soon im going for an assessment.


So definitely go and get a second opinion if you are not happy or think there was a mistake made

I think I was really lucky that I just so happened to go to a psychotherapist that not only knew exactly what AS was, but also understood the anti-cure perspective. I think he might of prescribed something in case my anxiety got too much, but I never used (or even saw) it.

I'd say you need to get a second opinion. Some doctors don't have an adequate knowledge of HFA and AS, since when most people think "autism" they think of low functioning individuals and don't take enough time to consider the other end of the spectrum, even if they know it exists.

Go to the doctor and ask for your records. Keep in mind that Federal law in the United States makes it illegal for them to refuse.

I just realized I did not check to see if you are in the States. oooops.

Pops

Ha ha, yeah, I am in Canada I can't see it being a issue getting a hold of my medical records, but this event happend 20 years ago, I wonder if they keep information for that long.

this is my worst fear. actually, i've always feared ignorant head doctors.

Aww thanks for the replies, it's helped calm me down and not feel like I overreacted too much or something.

When it comes to social interaction, I have no friends irl and I absolutely hate big crowds and bars and parties, etc. I DO want someone that I can talk to and see and be close to in person but I just find it impossible to meet people and if I ever did see someone I thought might be a good friend I'd have no idea how to do it. Even when it comes to my friends online, there are only 2 or 3 that I really talk to because I have trouble finding things to talk about with people who don't share my interests. I have no idea how to do small talk right and I'd rather be friendless than have to try it >.<

I've run into some doctors like this and have felt, after dealing with them, that I should be entitled to a complete refund of my money...

This doctor is very mistaken about Asperger's and who is she to take your money and not even read the DSM?? You could file a formal complaint against her for incompetence...

ya i'd go for a second opinion. that doctor sounds crappy

I hate going to the doctor even today, I know they are not bad people, but past experiences have only shown me the curiosity that they have.

I have tons of memories being at the hosptial when I was small, spent a month or more there for tests. I was frustrated because I did not feel sick and had no idea what all these tests where for, I felt like a science project or something.

I go once a year for my check up and blood-work, even during those gives me bad memories.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3096248.stm

BBC NEWS
Doctors 'fail Asperger's patients'

People suffering from Asperger's syndrome are not getting the help they need because doctors are not accepting the diagnosis, it was claimed today.

Asperger's - a condition similar to autism - was only recognised relatively recently by experts.

Conservative MP Angela Browning says that too many psychiatrists do not have the right training to recognise it.

MPs have the chance to use a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Patients with Asperger's have a normal IQ, but often have particular obsessions or preoccupations which lead to unusual behaviour.

They can have trouble with social skills, perhaps in interpreting body language - although occasionally the syndrome manifests as a remarkable talent in a particular creative area.

The problem is that there is a generation of people in mental health services for whom it wasn't a part of their training
Angela Browning MP
Asperger's patients can also have heightened sensations of touch, taste or smell which may disturb them.

Their social problems may not be as pronounced as those in children with other types of autistic disorder, and it is often hard to distinguish between Asperger's and some milder examples of autism.

While the syndrome was first documented in the 1940s, it is only in the 1990s that it has been classified as a distinct disorder, and psychiatrists have started to make diagnoses.

Refer on

Mrs Browning told the BBC: "The problem arises when Asperger's sufferers come into contact with health professionals, and psychiatrists in particular, who don't recognise, or even worse, refuse to accept the diagnosis.

"The problem is that there is a generation of people in mental health services for whom it wasn't a part of their training.

"I want the government to recognise that right through mental health services, from community psychiatric nurses to doctors and psychiatrists, if they haven't had a specialist training when they are dealing with an Asperger's patient, if they haven't got the experience, they should be required to refer them to someone who has."

Louise Spritz's daughter Claire spent 13 years trying to cope with the condition before a diagnosis was made.

Louise told the BBC: "The problem is quite acute among child psychiatrists.

"Some appear to be abominally unaware about Asperger's."

Amen! I'd love, love, LOVE to go out and socialize, but my interests and values are so different from all the folks in their 20's here that I've never had a good friend who lived closer than an hour away. For instance, I hate going to movies because it's dark in the theater and I always feel like I've wasted that time. However, I would happily spend a day canning or freezing food with a friend because it's meaningful work and most kitchens have windows. Now, am I weird or what?
Thankfully I also love going on long walks...and I have found people who love to do that

"So after years of practice and trying to fit or find a comfortable place in the world, some adults with AS have put together a life and many live with the worry that it could all come apart because of how precariously it is crafted. Working so hard to fit in, to understand or hide your neurology comes with a very high price tag. In addition to the exhaustion, mentioned before, there is often a huge overlay of depression and anxiety on top of the basic neurological condition of AS."

"Adults who have learned how to compensate, learned tricks and strategies, crafted some sort of life for themselves, may be denied the diagnosis because they do not quite fit the criteria. They may look too good or, because of the overlays on the Asperger neurology, they look like something else is going on."
(quotes from article linked to below-from AANE site, about living w/AS for adults)

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt61400.html
Thread along similar lines in which my comment was-
http://www.aane.org/about_asperger_synd ... dults.html
"It is especially difficult to diagnose based on presentation in a therapist’s office since that is a setting that would be comfortable to many adults with AS: one on one, talking about oneself, with low environmental stimulation. With anxiety in check, traits may not be evident."
Encourage you to read the above feature-had plenty of "aha" reactions to the material within. Sorry I don't know how one can find a "good" doctor (in one's locality), specifically, though.
See also-
http://www.aane.org/about_asperger_synd ... dults.html
Been sticking these links around a lot lately, but that's because the articles meet my approval.

Belfast, great quote.

As a Registered Nurse for over 15 years, I can safely say MD's are a lot like auto mechanics. Same ratio of competentness. For psychiatrists, I don't have much contact with them as a profession, and even then, most are from a non-English speaking, 3rd world nations. What do they know about growing up in rural Ohio?

I believe the 3 broken disks in my neck are my "high price tag" from this "exhaustion...depression and anxiety..." related to working so hard to put together my so called life.

No one believes that I am autistic because I talk to people and enjoy it. But I don't like going to parties or bars or anything else like one person on here said, they still want to make friends but choose not to go to these types of places. I am autistic not Asperger's, even though if you met me now I would appear to be more Asperger's than autistic. I have limited interests and talk to people mainly about my interests and nothing else because I don't know what else to talk about. I had a language delay. I didn't start really talking until I was around 5. I didn't have eye contact. I do much better with that now though. Many years of practice. I would scream if something wasn't perfect or something changed. I still hate change. If we have something planned and it was canceled, I get all stressed about it. When I was much younger I had almost every symptom of autism, even though I had high functioning autism. If I went to a doctor now, they would never believe that I was autistic at all!! ! I just went to the hospital on my birthday this year (feb 19th) because I was suicidal. They didn't believe I was autistic either. They called it "childhood autism" meaning it was only in my childhood and not adult life. The doctors at the hospital were real dumb because besides not believing that I was autistic, they didn't believe I had real mental disorders but rather that simply by reading it on the internet, you "come down" with mental disorders. To make things clear I actually had the disorders when I was 13, well before I started reading about them on the internet. At that age many years ago I don't know if the internet was even a big deal to me. I had many problems when I was 13 years of age and that was 12 years ago! I had early signs of schizophrenia, severe depression (I guess that would make it schizoaffective disorder), horrible panic attacks, and bad anxiety. Now I have those things plus 2 years ago I had something known as conversion disorder which means you could get blindness, deafness, or seizures with no known medical reason. They are determined to have a psychological cause. I had the seizures. I also got DID ( multiple personality disorder) but I think that one was fake because anti psychotic medicines stopped my switching. One person said online (and she was a doctor) that my DID might just be a delusion and part of schizophrenia instead! I am just plain nuts! If I have to go back to that hospital, I will demand another doctor who believes that my symptoms are real and not made up or I "caught" them while going on the internet because they said I was "highly suggestible and have a vivid imagination". Let me tell you about my "vivid" imagination. I have NO imagination what so ever. When I do my art work, I have to work from a photo because I can't come up with things out of my own head. I can't come up with stories to write. I can't come up with real designs of anything even though I want to be a graphics designer for a game company. Back to my problem, I get mental disorders and symptoms when I am really stressed. When I was 13 and first had these symptoms, people were attacking me at school everyday, verbally and physically. There was also something traumatic that happened to me around that time and I don't feel comfortable telling people online, even though you can pretty much guess what it is. Like I said, people were out to get me then. And when I developed symptoms again 2 years ago, I felt like I had no purpose in life and felt real down. I was out of school and had no job so that is why I felt that way. I still feel that way a little bit. So, doctors are not just ignorant, some of them are just plain stupid!

Wouldn't it be funny if that was almost all the problem? I mean I feel the SAME way! Some people might think I think they are my friends, etc.. but I don't. I would LOVE to marry, but my goals are kind of high. It seems they are ALL married.