My date with the doc.....

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So I had made an appointment to see my general practitioner after butting heads with my new psychiatrist. My shrink kept pushing for treatment using anti-psychotic drugs that turn me into a zombie and I had enough, so I dropped him and decided to lean on my regular doc I've been seeing since I was a kid.

He asked me whats up, and I told him about some of my anxiety issues I've been having and how I'm nearly housebound. Then when I told him how about having autism he was completely taken back and had this look on his face like I didn't know what the hell I was talking about. He asked me a million questions about why I think I have autism and I told him as best I could.

He told me he doesn't buy it, he said he has a son with autism so he is familiar with it. He said the hallmark of having autism is being socially awkward and asked "do you think you're socially awkward" and I said I know I am and I've even overheard someone say how they don't like when I'm around because I"m so awkward (I was in the other room and she was talking to my friend that I came to the party with). I also told him about my sensory issues and he said well everyone is socially awkward to a certain extent, I don't think anybody has it totally right, and all of these other issues you are describing you can have with out having autism....

I was getting a little frustrated especially when he suggested getting me on another anti-depressant to help with the anxiety. I told him how I think I would really do better with a benzo, as I've read up on it a lot and even have been prescribed some from him in the past with a great amount of relief. He finally agreed to it and prescribed me clonazepam and citalopram. He said I can't just take benzo's for my entire life so he said were going to try the antidepressant for long term treatment...

I was just relieved that he finally agreed to try a benzo, I took it an hour ago and already feel 10x better. My thoughts are not racing and I don't feel riddled with anxiety and paranoia. Still kinda upset he doesn't believe me about the aspergers though.

If you have autism-related concerns, you might try making a short list of your specific impairments caused by autism and ask for a referral to a clinical psychologist to be assessed.
Doctors can't be expected to automatically agree with your thinking that you have autism.

I've probably seen about 10 different psychologists and psychiatrists in the last 10 years. There was only one that seemed to take me seriously when I suggested autism, and he still didn't seem to want to discuss/treat the issues related to it. Instead they seem to like to chalk up all of my symptoms to bi-polar disorder and pump me up with anti-psychotics

I think hearing autism kind of scares them away from taking steps to try and treat me because it's such a new area in the psych department and there isn't much research done into treatment intervention.

How did you bring up the issue of autism to the 10 different psychs?
Perhaps your approach is wrong, or perhaps you come across as unlikely to be autistic.