Getting Diagnosed?

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Hey guys, I've just joined, and posted an introduction in the 'getting to know each other' section a minute ago.

I wanted to ask a few questions about getting a diagnosis for Asperger's. I'm not diagnosed myself, and to be honest until recently didn't really know much about what Asperger's was. Despite being a little 'quirky' right throughout childhood, I was never taken to see anyone about my symptoms. My parents tended to play-down and ignore problems, and in school I was OK at getting the grades, so even though there were clearly problems going on I feel like I managed to slip through the net.

Now I'm 22, and I feel like I fit the profile of Asperger's to a 't'. I've been reading over people's threads for the last couple of days, and kept having eureka moments and thinking "goddamit - I thought I was the only one with this!" But I don't want to diagnose myself, nor do I think it's really possible.

So I'm wondering if any of you have any tips or advice when it comes to getting a diagnosis as an adult. I'm in the UK, and I've had enough experience with doctors to know roughly how the system works. And I know for a fact that if I stormed into my doctor's office and said, "Doctor, I think I have Asperger's Syndrome!" they'd simply roll their eyes at me. At the same time, I think if I went in and discussed symptoms more broadly, they'd say I'm just depressed, as I've been depressed a couple of times (albeit through the kind of social problems that come with the AS territory).

So how would I go about this? Do I try and get a referral to a general psychiatrist? Are there specialists? Do doctors even diagnose people as adults, or is it always children they deal with?

If anyone can help me out on this, I'd really appreciate it.

Toco

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I don't have an official diagnosis but I'm sure I have it. I just don't see a benefit in a diagnosis. Sure, I can spend money and time on various doctors but in the end, they'll just tell me what I already know. It's not like getting a diagnosis would be a preclude to a cure or anything.

if you want to get help with things you do need a doctor to put the diagnosis in writing and if you do not have that little piece of paper from a doctor with a diagnosis then you can forget getting any kind ofhelp for your problems

many doctors will try to force you to fit a mental illness diagnosis and want to put you on all kinds of medicine even when you do not fit any diagnosis of a mental illness and then the doctors will keep telling you that it is not the medicine that is giving you new symptoms and try to make you beleive that it is really you having the new problems

i know this from experience and when you try to show them the side effect list of the medicines and try to make them tell you that if the new problems is really you then why they did not start until after on the medicine and if the medicines never make problems then they need to explain in reality why there is a side effect list that has the exact problems that did not start until after the medicine

the truth is that doctors will only want to find things if it is their idea and will refuse to consider things that do not fit what they want to find and if a side effect can be used to prove what they want to find then they make every excuse on how this is you and never possible to be the medicine and will ignore all things that do not support what they want

i have doctors that instead of asking me whati like or wantto do or the reasons whyi do not go to rock concerts or join a sports team they instead decide for me what the reasons are going to be and what they decided is not close to what the truth is

you need to watch doctors since they will find what they want and if the truth does not support what they decided then they will invent the truth to fill in the details and ignore what you try to tell them and this is what they did to me for years and i am still trying to get some of my records fixed since doctors still insist that what one doctor 10 years ago decided for me is still the truth and will not listen to it was never the truth but only that doctor deciding things for me

doctors need to start asking you what you think and not tell you what to think or why you want to do things

Bataar asks the rhetorical question.

Short of helping you out with some of the co-morbid conditions of AS (such as depression, for instance), there isn't a way to "treat" AS. You would be, in fact, treating who you are, and how do you do that? You can learn coping strategies, etc. but that's about it.

Also, a professional can only give you their opinion about whether you have it. Some people need this validation in their lives, and others do not. While no one will give you a yes/no answer here, you can gain a lot of insight about yourself. At the core of it, you are still you, and that hasn't changed by suspecting or knowing why.

that's very true fiddlerpianist...I've been thinking the same thing about getting a diagnosis and the only benefit I can see to it, is if you have problems in the workplace that are AS related. Otherwise, you really don't need that piece of paper to tell you who you are. Even if a doctor tried to tell me I didn't have it I wouldn't believe it.

A good place to start is the National Autistic Society (NAS) website: Diagnosis: The Process For Adults

They have plenty of information on all kinds of autism issues and can also offer advice.

Thanks for the tips everyone. After thinking about this a little harder, I've decided I'm not going to go for a diagnosis as soon as I planned. If I get some free time to explore this later in the year, then I will do it. But as for the immediate future, life is too hectic to do much about it.

For now, I know I have some of these traits, and definitely have a 'quirk' to how my brain works. Getting a diagnosis will solidify that and allow me to talk this through with someone, but short of having a brain scan to 100% confirm everything, it'll likely only tell me what I already know.

A few months down the line, though, I may well have gone for it.