Countdown: Diagnosis in 5 Days

Post Reply New Topic

When I was 19, a psychologist told me that I probably have Asperger's syndrome, but I didn't pursue a diagnosis any further. Though it explained a lot of things - the sensory issues, the obsessive interests and the need to go on and on and on about them, the routines and why spontaneity was so difficult, why people would get upset by things I said (or by things I didn't say but... should have?).

Knowing that a lot of the things I did or didn't do were considered symptoms, I started paying attention to how other people did things and what they did differently. I learned that I was doing a lot of things "wrong," but was usually able to figure out the script and use it.

I was laid off in January 2014, divorced in February, started working as a contractor in March. The contract was extended and became a full time position, so I moved 3 hours south. In the 9 months since I'd moved here, I hadn't made any progress like I was making before. I can recognize what I'm not doing right, but I can't figure out the script. The work that I do is very technical and I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk, focusing on the screen, communicating mainly by e-mail, but now I supervise the work of 3 people and delegate tasks to them, and occasionally have to deal with a delicate situation (angry Chief Executive Somethingorothers) - things that I KNOW I don't do well. If it becomes an issue, I can't ask for leniency or coaching due to AS if I don't have a diagnosis... so I found someone who has experience diagnosing neuro/psych issues.

$1000 out of pocket, 2 testing sessions, and 4 weeks later, I'm going to get the report. Next Wednesday, right after work.

Now I'm not sure if I want to know what it is.

She had me give my parents 4 assessments to complete and send back to her. While I started reading my dad's pharmacology reference book in 2nd grade and talking about nothing but that, they say the social issues didn't start until 10 or 11. Mild sensory issues were apparent in early elementary (I refused to wear socks until my mom started turning them inside out because of that line by the toes), but the problems with sound sensitivity and texture weren't apparent until 8 or 9.

I also came across a description of schizoid personality disorder, and the way that I answered some of the questions during testing definitely points to that. Being the emotional equivalent of "room temperature" most of the time, no interest in sex, preference for solitary activities... If that's my diagnosis, what do I do with it? Would it mean that I'm confusing apathy toward social cues with the inability to read them? Could a $1000 schizoid diagnosis possibly be useful in any way?

Ultimately, the most important thing is knowing the truth. So I'm going to keep the appointment, find out what the test results show... then figure out what to do with it.

I am currently undergoing the same assessment with a neuropsychologist ($145 CAD x 4) and the psychologist told me that she never sees anyone on the ASD in 20 years that just has ASD and no other secondary diagnoses and problems that came along with it. You can very well have ASD as well as schizoid. Sometimes certain diagnoses will be nullified if another diagnosis better explains the symptoms. What you described with your schizoid symptoms can easily be better explained by ASD IMO.

Like you I had the same issue with the socks lol, I would only wear socks where the seams had been moved away from the toes. The first time a psychiatrist told me I most likely had Asperger's, I thought that was enough to be official and that it was logged in my charts, but I later found out it was not. I would definitely have been saved a lot of pain and misunderstanding from others if I had been properly assessed from the get go.

Thanks for your reply, Noca. At the time, I didn't know that there was more involved in a diagnosis, either. Though the only people I told were my wife (now ex) and my 2 friends.

I'll find out in ~2 MORE DAYS (42 hours). It occurs to me that there might be a 3rd possibility. What if it's not ASD and it's not SPD? What if I'm just not good at picking up on social cues and rules but there's no real reason?

My dad has a lot of AS traits but I don't think he has it... mostly because he doesn't think he has it. He does the obsessive interest thing, doesn't get most jokes, doesn't use expressions correctly, doesn't watch or read fiction, always prefers solitary activities over social activities, eats the same thing every day, lives by schedules and routines, has problems with certain textures... Maybe these are "learned" traits that I have because he was my role model.

I'm not saying it would be bad to walk away without a diagnosis... but where would I go from there? I guess what I'm most hoping to get from this is some sense of direction.

After all that, it was rather anticlimactic. She showed me a report on 16 aspects of personality (16pf results?), but I didn't get a copy of it. It had career area recommendations at the end, and the top 2 areas were the areas I'm working in now. She went over my scores on the WAIS-IV IQ test. Then she gave me the full report, and at the end it listed 4 diagnoses. The new one is 299.00 Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I'm not sure if I agree with the Emotional Functioning section, but if I do all the things that it says there, then I now know what I'm doing wrong, which gives me direction. I asked what I should be doing instead, but she said that's not within the scope of the report and I would need therapy for that.

The good:

She's going to teach me some social skills. I have another appointment on Monday and a homework assignment: list relationships, my problems, and their problems; list friendships, what I bring to them, and what the other person brings to them. I'm also going to bring a list of questions about the social scripts or rules that I haven't been able to figure out yet.

The bad:

If I ever do need to ask for accommodations, the report lists a lot of things I wouldn't want anyone in the office to see, even if it's just my boss and someone in HR. The other diagnoses are 302.85, 296.32, and V15.59.

Unless your boss is in the medical field, he wouldn't know, offhand, what the DSM IV/V codes mean (and you have a ICD-9 code, too).