I have begun my diagnosis journey..failing already!

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So I had my appointment yesterday with a 'mental health nurse'...'useless ignorant nurse' would have been a more appropriate title. First she was kind enough to tell me that Asperger's wasn't possible in adults that it was a childhood developmental disorder (I should have realised then not to bother going any further with the appointment). Anyway after scanning through my very long in depth printouts (passing back all the aspie quiz/checklist ones I'd printed out) on my problems / childhood problems some of which she openly laughed and shook her head at she smiled and said "right so I can see from this you have an obsessive compulsive disorder coupled with anxiety problems". I just sat gobsmacked, I tried to delve further into the social side which for me was the major problem. My hand patterns, vocal outbursts ect I can keep hold of in public, at home it doesn't matter if I'm pressing my fingers over and over, or shaking my legs or flapping my arms or shouting out "f**k 'em" (my latest word, it used to be zebra) over and over but not being able to interact socially is a hard thing for me.

She didn't want to know at all, didn't even mention my calling out or my social problems, she glanced again at my printout (which is basically the same as this post link) and asked about how certain words make me feel when I say them. I said it was hard to describe that they just make me feel wrong and weird and I can almost taste them and my mouth feels just yuk, then she started asking if I was worried about vomitting or others vomitting near me...what?! At first I thought maybe she was about to puke or something so I looked to my husband for guidance who half shrugged and I just flatly replied no.

She was really pushing the OCD, asking about routines, my husband chipped in that I like my routines and plan everything, so she said "Oh..and what if things don't go to plan then?" I told her I get kind of upset or edgy and anxious but it depended on how much things changed or didn't go to plan as to how severe I might freak out, it was like I just screamed the word anxiety at her and she nodded and said "Oh yes definitely OCD and anxiety...right so I'm going to refer you for help with your OCD and anxiety..."

She also came out with some classics such as "what's the point in getting diagnosed when there is no treatment?, it's pointless"....yeah maybe to you! But not to me, I would like to know if I have it, so I can maybe understand just a little why I act / think / feel this way. Also apparently if I had it I would have been referred by my school as a child...okay so in the late 80's early 90's Asperger's was so well known not only with doctor's but throughout schools<-sarcasm. I did mention that I did not speak in school throughout my entire primary (elementary) school time (which was due to me taking the term learning not talking in school too literally) and that one teacher asked my mother to take me to a psychiatrist because something was clearly wrong with me...that was met with half a smile and the nattering on about OCD again.

I also mentioned my daughter that I was concerned she may have it too (post about her here), apparently all kids have obsessions and hate tags and certain fabrics...what to the point of crying hysterically over them? Her reasoning is that if my daughter's school life is not suffering then leave her alone, if she starts having problems in school then take her to the doctor's.

My husband did warn me this would happen though, he knows just how bad the mental health care system around here is (not just from personal experience) his best friend used to work for them and quit because he was sick of being forced to misdiagnose people to suit targets. That it was a case of right we have a budget of £££ we have X amount alloted to Anxiety disorders so lets try and focus on that this month, if someone shows any sign of anxiety then label them with an anxiety disorder so we meet our targets.

I'm so angry, it took me all afternoon/evening to completely process everything that was said in my morning appointment and I'm really upset by one thing she said about me and my daughter. That any problems she may be suffering from are learned from me and my OCD / anxiety disorder rather then it being any underlying condition. At the time I didn't completely get what she was saying but now I've had time to process it I get what it is she said to me, that I'm screwing up my child because of how screwed up I am...wonderful because I don't already feel bad enough!

I just feel so down about it all and like the nurse was laughing at my problems and not taking them seriously and was focusing purely on the obsessive traits rather then taking on board everything combined. I wasn't expecting her to say oh yes you have AS but the way in which she quickly jumped to a conclusion of OCD from the first paragraph of my 3 page printout just because it mentioned my hand patterns and the fact I was obsessed with the number 4. If she'd have read down just a little she would have seen the bit that says the hand patterns are not as bad now but the verbal problems have increased. Not once did she ask me about my noises / vocal outbursts so I know she did not read it properly and just focused on one thing which as my husband rightly stated is more easily treatable (probably pills and CBT) then something as complex as AS.

Oh and for any of you who ARE diagnosed if you did not have severe problems with walking / talking as a baby then you DO NOT have AS <-logic of that stupid nurse!

I wonder what this nurse imagines happens to those aspie kids that grow up? does she honestly think it just dissapears when you grow up? uhh I hate that kind of ignorance. I think that would be where I would just leave....as self concious and unassertive as I am.

I hope the next person you see is better educated. She sounds like she was really pushing to make you fit into the OCD box.

I don't think failing is the right word to use, just FYI and all (I mean, even if the nurse was right with it all).

As soon as she said that an ASD is only possible in children, you should have stopped there.

The lack of education about AS in many mental health professionals is staggering. It's a sad thing when the patient knows more than the doctor, but it's often true.

Makes me feel relieved that the first therapist I went to had had quite a bit of past experience with Asperger's Disorder in adults. The more I read these boards the better idea I have of how rare that must be.

She should be fired. In a perfect world you would have been her last patient.

Well I plucked up the courage to phone the national autistic society, after 5 attempts I finally spoke to someone, I was so relieved afterwards I was shaking and had a bit of a cry. She completely understood everything and was disgusted by how I'd been treated by that nurse, she's given me the details of two diagnostic places (amazing considering that the nurse said there was no way for an adult to get a diagnosis in this area) one which is NHS the other which is NHS and private so I'll be going back to the doctors and asking to be referred to one of them.

It's astounding the difference it makes talking to the right person, I was feeling so down, lost and doubting my self-diagnosis. After speaking to the NAS advisor I feel so much more confident, she just got it. When I was trying my best to explain about how certain things make me feel she said she understood and even offered ways to explain it which were bang on. Even little things like how I found the nurses nails irritating yesterday she had long nails except for on one thumb, I didn't even have to explain myself, straight away the advisor said "it distracted you right?" and that was spot on. I swear for 10 minutes I kept looking at her nails trying to figure out why they were like that (had she just broken one, was it some kind of fashion thing?) but it just irritated me more because the long ones were all different lengths and then I started to do my hands because it made me think what if mine were like that?! I'd have to cut them all straightaway!

The advisor reassured me about my daughter and that alot of the things I was saying about her did sound like Asperger traits. Again she was shocked and disgusted about how the nurse completely dismissed my daughter's obvious traits and tried to declare them as normal. I asked the nurse yesterday if it was normal for a 6 year old to watch one particular film over and over, not like 2 / 3 times a week but all day everyday and the nurse said yes most kids obsess over a favourite film etc wheras the NAS advisor said it was not typically something every child does and again it's sounding like an Aspie thing(coupled with the other things I told her about my daughter).

Do you know what the worst part is, that nurse said she'd previously worked as a diagnostic nurse with autistic children(in a sort of I know what I'm on about way), how many kids has that woman said are fine and left the parents thinking they are imagining it. I'm going to make an official complaint against her, my husband thinks I should wait and get a diagnosis first to make more of a point...but then how many more people in that time will she be misdiagnosing / ignoring?!

My first appointment(s) went horribly the same-ish

I walked in told her the whats,.. when's etc etc. She then had to ask me to just sit there for nearly 10min while she read out of her little cheat book what aspergers is.
I knew I had a real idiot when she exclaimed that "you can not have it because you can look me in the eyes".
What a waste of time... listening to someone who couldn't even pronounce it She kept saying "Auschburger" I wasn't rude but reitterated it correctly several times tactfully,.. just a bit louder than the rest of my words. The next non phd was a little better. this guy could at least pronounce it. We talked for an hour, he had me take an online test, never gave me the results. I finally got an appointment with an actual Phd. recently and just from talking with him for 45min he realized that I've got some issues. For now I'm dealing with an intern while waiting for my first appointment. I can't wait till I'm done with him as he's got a really bad BO problem which is multiplied by the closet sized office he's in. .

Some people just shouldn't be in their profession. Sounds like she may have been prejudice from the start.

I kind of understand how you feel. Once a long time ago I went to a clinic in a hospital because my neck bothered me and gave up after two visits because all the nurse practitioner I saw would do is go on and on about how I needed to either be working or going to school and made me feel really awful about myself.

My 1st appointment was with a woman who asked me So many stupid questions, when it came to social situations i said ill go out sometimes but i have to have to have had a few drinks maybe 4pints before ill start interacting with people and thats probably once every 2 weeks or so. In the report she said i had a growing alcohol problem that needs to be adressed before it goes any futhur. Other than that i was perfectly normal who had a little social anxiety. i doubt someone nuerotypical would sit and fill a a4refill pad with random workings out at 2am.