Going To Professional For Diagnosis Didn't Go Well

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I'm at the point where I feel I really need to seek a diagnosis in regards to my suspicion that I may have Aspergers. I currently do not have a doctor let alone a family doctor, but I am planning on going to a walk-in clinic tomorrow to talk about this and get the ball rolling.

The thought of having to explain myself to a professional is causing me a lot of anxiety today. My mind is cloudy and I just don't know where to start and what to say.

I don't want to go in there and start blabbering incoherently and the doctor just writes me off as being neurotic and tries to prescribe me anti-depressants or anti anxiety medication. I've been down that road and had those experiences with doctor's in the past and I don't want that to repeat.

I just need a referral to a professional that can do an adult assessment for Aspergers. That's all I'm after.

Last edited by Jasper1 on 26 Jul 2013, 8:19 am, edited 2 times in total.

Write down everything that makes you feel you are on the spectrum, every reason you can think of. That way you will have something to refer to if your nerves get the better of you and you start to blabber.

Oh and good luck

I've been writing my list and it's turning out to be a lot longer than I thought. I'm on my 3rd page of a mid sized notebook and feel I have more to write still. I don't want to overwhelm the doctor with info. Are there key areas I should focus on to grab their attention perhaps?

Edit: I just finished. I have 4 and 1/2 pages in point form. I went back to my childhood to present day issues. It's not ordered in a timeline. It was written as things popped into my head. Any ideas perhaps on how I should organize this if I decide to re-write?

It also helped with abating my anxiety a bit.

I'm no expert on that so I'm not sure. But if you look at the DSM -V criteria and check off those characteristics that seem to fit, you might be able to thin it down a bit. Having said that, the very fact that you have a 4 1/2 page list is ASD in its own right LOL.

I'm glad it helped your anxiety anyway

Edit: Organising in a rough timeline would be good as it gives them a chance to consider your childhood separately from present day

I think I may do that a little later. It's actually up to a full 5 now. It's actually giving me a different perspective seeing it all layed out like this.

Yes its quite shocking when you actually start to list all the little things that affect you!

I had my 1st discussion with a Doctor today. Didn't go to well. He wouldn't look at anything I wrote down. Just sat there with a laptop and took notes as I spoke. Wasn't able to properly convey what I needed to and felt let down. Pretty much stumbled over my words and had a loss for them.

He said that he knows people who have Aspergers and I don't LOOK like one of them. One of my pet peeves with dealing with people and professionals. Why does everyone assume I don't look like I have major issues so I must not have any? I ran down some things I could remember from my list, and of course it wasn't any of the important ones, cause I got flustered when he wouldn't even acknowledge that I bothered to write anything down.

I mentioned bullying first in school and following me to the workplace, and his first assumption was that I was the one that was doing the bullying. It's like WTF, I'm a bigger dude, so I HAVE to be the bully? I didn't really get beat up ever it was all mental, emotional, social ostracizing abuse.

Anyways, it all boiled down to the fact that I don't have health coverage and couldn't pay for services and that he couldn't think of a place for me to get a proper diagnosis for free or cheap, but referred me to somewhere local that has a free program at a local hospital that might help.

Called that place up when I got home. They said they primarily just deal with people who have serious mental issues. I'm guessing stuff like schizophrenia, bi-polar etc. They said that I am welcome to come in for a screening and they may be able to help point me in the right direction. I made an appointment, but I just don't know. It feels like it might be a waste of time. At least they seemed really nice and understanding on the phone and weren't in a big rush to get me off the line.

My main concern is that they are going to try and lump me into one or a few of the disorders they primarily work with because that's what they are accustomed to dealing with everyday, and not try to see the big picture that I always find that professionals always skirt around in order to just deal with you quicker and shut you up with meds so they can go on their lunch/coffee/smoke break.

I figured I'd just edit this thread instead of starting a new one.

I'm really starting to get the impression it's extremely difficult to get an adult assessment done for anything remotely related to autism.

Based on my finances and my location (not being near any major cities at all)...is it even realistic for me to pursue this at this time? I live in Northern Ontario. Am I going to have to move or travel pretty far just to get to the right resources? Is my lack of medical coverage and $ pretty much going to be the main barrier wherever I go anyways?

I'm really starting to wish I stayed where I was and never moved out here.

jasper,
yes that is a side effect of ego whoring doctors unfortunately,they think theyre so good they can throw out diagnoses based on stereotypes of the condition but the majority of people on the spectrum do not fit the stereotypical view of their severity and functioning level smoothly.

this is just one arrogant twonk though,there are plenty of good doctors, the good ones know theyre not specialist trained in specific conditions and will refer on to a specialist to investigate.

there is a point to seeking a assessment [regardless what label they give] if are struggling to deal with life in any way.

You went to a Doctor. At a clinic. Of course he doesn't care; to him, you were likely just another walk-in with a dumpload of complaints.

Try to go to a psychologist who specializes in developmental disorders.

Yeah, I know! I went there cause I don't have a family doctor and just needed a referral. He said that there were only about 30 psychologists/psychiatrists in the city (North Bay, Ontario), and I would need either health coverage or quite a bit of money to see the ones that would be better suited to help me. He also said the mental health professionals in the city also only really tend to major psychological issues like Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia, etc. and seem to turn others away.

Actually, when I called the other place that is more local, they straight up said the same thing. They primarily just treat people who are severely depressed, Bi-Polar, Schizophrenic, etc.

Your doctor sounds like a jerk. I was told similar things by the first person I went to. I was lucky in that my nurse practitioner was very supportive and I had my adoptive parents' support in seeing someone who specializes in AS and particularly with so called "high functioning" women. We found her by doing an internet search for adult ASDs, assessment, and southern Ontario and then e-mailing several people personally asking if they could recommend resources. The approach that seemed to work best was to have childhood experiences written down, and the to have gone through the DSM and used that as a guideline to emphasize what my most pressing current concerns were. I also had someone with me who went just so that they could point out that I needed to use what was written down because although I have a large vocabulary I still have difficulties with language. My support person did a fair bit of reading and talking to me beforehand so that they were prepared with an explanation when I ran into language difficulties. This wasn't as necessary once I got in to see the specialist, but it was certainly helpful when dealing with people less familiar with autism. I also had to tell myself not to try to hide my natural behaviour around the doctors like I do around most authority figures because this causes more anxiety and then all the doctor wants to focus on is the anxiety because it is more familiar to them. All of that being said, finding someone who specializes in diagnosing adults is incredibly hard. It sounds like the people involved with the free program are at least willing to listen so that's a start. Best of luck in finding support.

This is a common misconception among even psychologists and psychotherapists educated in autism (or so they believe), and especially people with high functioning autism, who try to get diagnosed at a mature age, have learned to mask their disabilities so well towards the outside world, that people will not be able to understand that below all armor you carry there is a weaker core.

My current coach understand this, and described this as me going to the doctor with a problem, but also showing the doctor that I have about 80% of the solution, so the doctor will assume that I can figure out the other 20% by myself, while not being able to understand that I ask help for that 20%, because I lack the tools to create the rest of the solution.

Do not let this influence what you believe that is wrong with you, because you simply will have to find a better specialist, one who is actually qualified to determine these things.



I am a big dude myself and been bullied in that exact same way for 10 years straight trough school, the doctor you visited sounds biased and influenced by stereotypical thinking.



While this may be true and while they may be able to determine if you have autism or autistic traits, you have to be very wary they do not misconceive autistic traits, combined with your verbally strong character, as a personality disorder or a variety of such.

I was misdiagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder, combined with an evasive personality disorder, combined with traits of borderline and paranoia, by the conventional psychological care institute in my country, and 2 years later when I opted for a second opinion they removed all the diagnoses, and said there was a possibility of autism, it then took me a few years until I was diagnosed, and in fact my mother who always fought for me to get diagnosed got hers before I got mine (funny how life works sometimes).

I wish you best of luck when you get tested, and hope you find someone who can look beyond the obvious.