Relieved. Got diagnosed today...

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... and am yet another one of those who post such a thread now.

You're probably tired of reading or just witnessing such threads (especially if they contain such a lenght), but I'd like to use this occasion to thank all of you users here on Wrong Planet for the constant (indirect and direct) support (even if most people probably do not know what I mean by this or do not recall me as I didn't visit a lot over the past half year and have been more of a passive user, not logged in, whenever I visited ).

Over this past one and a half year, it has helped me a lot to read up on Aspergers on these forums and to learn from others' experiences, to exchange knowledge, share sympathies and also to ask questions.
It made me more confident in giving a diagnosis a try and with some help of my psychologist I contacted an organisation (Autismo) which recommended a good doctor to me specialising on Aspergers in a psychiatry. That was in April 2014.

Now, today, about 7 hours ago, my diagnosis started and it ended roughly three hours ago.
Now, I'm finally officially an aspie!
It's a great feeling to have one's suspicions be confirmed by a professional!
I also got offered certain special therapy possibilities which I will get a description of later on, I was told, such as several advices by the doctor.

The funny thing is that I was pretty nervous even though I knew there was no reason to be nervous at all and I'd also like to stress that for those who are about to have a diagnosis too (well, at least for the German adult folks, no idea how standards might differ in other countries and at a younger age!):
It's nothing but a simple test, something you most likely already have done a dozen of times online - and some talking with questions being asked!

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Now, I'd like to give back some of what Wrong Planet has given to me, so I'd like to explain the diagnosis process and hopefully calm some other nervous about-to-be-diagnosed-aspies. ;)

To give you an idea on how my diagnosis was structured and to have an idea how you could prepare mentally:

It consisted of two main parts: Some written tests with a small oral test and an interview.

Those written tests contained the following:
A simple Asperger's test (based on ICD-10 for me as I'm German; like most online tests of the same kind it contained 4 tickboxes for each statement: very true, slighly true, slightly false, very false), a questionnaire with statements and tickboxes about your state of character 5 years ago (only simple true/false), an empathizing quotient test (also with the four tickbox options per statement), a systemizing quotient test (four tickboxes per statement again), a small test in which I had 4 to 5 words in each line of which only one was a real word (which I had to highlight only if I truly knew this was the correct word - no guessing allowed), and the mind-in-the-eyes test, where you have photographs of a portion of the eyes of a human showing some emotion and you have to pick what you consider to be the emotion of this person.
Also, one of the tests had a small twist included which was part of it and which I believe was positive on the result when spotted (in terms of Aspergers positive), at least that's what the woman told me once I pointed at that "issue".

At some point, the tester came in and told me to pause what I was doing and there was this small oral test.
I was supposed to read a sequence of letters as fast as possible once she said "Go!" and she took the time with a timer. The sequences were increasing in difficulty by chaining similar-sounding letters at certain points or letters which are pronounced in a complex way. Some of the sheets had capital letters, some had lower case letters. Then there was a small oral part in which I had to repeat what was being said once she was done saying it. At first it was numbers, so I had to repeat a sequence of numbers she said, e.g. 2 3 8 1 8 3 4 (which would be roughly the lenght of the "difficult" sequences at the end). Afterwards, the same was done with letters, e.g. A X E R T S F (that would also be a difficult sequence).
Then it was already over and I was told to continue working on my written tests.

So, what I'm trying to say is:
If you took one of those countless online tests, you're actually pretty well prepared for the majority of the first part. If you're still nervous, go through your most important traits so you don't forget to talk about them later on in the second part.


The second part of the test was a simple interview with a doctor.
The interview could be split into two parts. In the first one, I was being asked questions and was supposed to talk about my childhood, starting with age 3 and the typical question about whether I could already talk at that age, following the timeline through kindergarten, elementary school, etc. until now.
I was asked for certain anormal behaviour, like sensory issues, certain routines and strict habits, how I react on spontaneous situations, whether I am able to concentrate under certain conditions, if I have some special interest I engage in, how long I engage in that interest per day, how I can cope with people and social situations and if I have made up certain schemes to attempt to feign normality (like "fake eye contact" by looking in between the eyes or on the forehead - if you don't get asked this kind of questions, better mention your tricks or talk about them beforehand! It might influence the result if this is not known or recognized by your doctor!).

Then my parents were called in to get to the second part of the interview, which was some talk about my childhood behaviour from their perspective (as they were accompanying me, they were answering this. I believe if your parents can't/aren't able to come for certain reasons, this is done by the patient as well).


At this part my diagnosis ended with a "I think the case is obvious and I think it is just fair to say that you have Asperger's" from the doc with a promise that I'll get the report soon, but I believe that another test was actually supposed to follow, which is to talk about what certain people might be thinking or feeling in short movie clips that are supposed to be shown to the patient and with observations on your reactions, if you show empathy or mirror emotions shown in the movie or alike.
I guess my nervosity just happened to make it a very obvious case for him which rendered that additional test obsolete.
Furthermore, I happened to have a very competent doctor. The organisation truly did not lie, he was really good and even asked me whether I feel comfortable to greet him by taking his hand or whether I prefer to just leave it as a simple "Hello", which, in my honest opinion, made a very competent first impression, showing that he does a lot with people on the spectrum.
I might suggest to search for and contact a local autism organisation and ask for a competent professional for a diagnosis in case you have had bad luck so far (and of course only in case there is an organisation nearby).

But honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I was nervous for no reason.

So, I hope this small insight into how a diagnosis was on my end will allow some on this forum to prepare mentally and be less nervous!

Cheers and yay, I'm finally officially diagnosed!

Congratulations!! !! !

I know the feeling of being so relieved to finally know for sure very well
It took a few days for my diagnosis to sink in and when it finally hit me I thought "OMG I REALLY AM AUTISTIC....... AND I'M OKAY WITH THAT!"

Glückwünsche!

Thanks for your description of what your diagnosis was like.

Congratulations, Sylvastor. I certainly remember you from posting last year, especially since it seemed we saw eye to eye on a number of topics in the General Autism Discussion threads.

I hope the diagnosis will help you further on your way. (Sorry for the short, concise reply, I don't have that much to say/add, just wanted to convey my congratulations)

Hooray!! That is awesome. I know the feeling. It feels so good. Enjoy it. Congratulations.

I made a mistake in the editing format of my post when I added your name in and I was going to remove the redundant post but then I thought, what the heck, I can congratulate you twice.

Congratulations!

Such self-knowledge is a really powerful and liberating thing. Nothing changes but your understanding and that can make a huge difference

Your post combines in my mind with the current discussions in various self-diagnosis and Jerry Seinfeld threads and I thought it might be worthwhile noting a reaction to part of your story:

Having been through this fairly recently and seen a number of discussions of it, I think the nervousness is a natural reaction. The issue is not the procedure of the diagnostic interview, tests, etc., but rather that a defining understanding of one's essential self and nature is at question.

The process of learning a little about the symptoms and having that first moment of recognition--the moment when one asks "could I be...?" is no small thing. One may dismiss the thought with a simple denial at first, but then, more and more matching patterns emerge and the idea becomes more compelling.

In this phase I began to research everything I could find about it, reading about autism for 12-14 hours a day, barely finding time for work or my family... I suspect that many others go through the same thing. The research becomes a special interest. And one begins to recall the moments when others indicated that they thought one might be autistic, or that some behavior was very odd... and many childhood experiences that had seemed incidental begin to seem like possibly significant signs as well. I suspect that many who begin this questioning go through a similar phase of obsessive research.

The end result is that autism emerges as a potential explanation for huge parts of one's life. The pervasive nature of the disorder is clear in the way it touches ones experiences at all ages and in all circumstances. One goes to the professional for diagnosis in the urgent need to have this recognition confirmed or replaced with a better explanation. The assessment is therefore a hugely charged event about which a high degree of anxiety is completely natural--not for the process, but because it touches on so much and so many things of such importance in one's life.

I congratulate you on coming through this process of recognition, research and confirmation. I am sure it was no easy journey. And I celebrate your success in seeing it through and gaining understanding. I hope it eases your way forward and helps you find the best in your life.

Congratulations!

congratulations!

Congratulations!

Bravo, Congratulations, and happy for you that Wrong Planet helped you.
I wish WP existed when I got diagnose and that I knew something about autism and Asperger's syndrome. Because when I got my diagnosis I knew nothing about it, and it hit me like a hammer in the back of my head and I fell in tears and got depressed.
Anyway, you seem to take it very well, great for you.

Congratulations to you!
I didn't even join WP until I got diagnosed, so you were well ahead of me! Heehee!

Grattis! What wonderful news!

Congratulations!!