Evaluation appointment next week, struggling with anxiety

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Brittniejoy1983
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30 Mar 2016, 7:11 pm

I have my evaluation appointment next week, but I'm struggling with being anxious. I have tried to distract myself, but am feeling detached from everything I try to do. So I'm doing a lot of 'things' but am productive at none of them.

Tips for distraction?


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androbot01
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30 Mar 2016, 8:20 pm

Distract yourself by making a list of things you want to discuss with the professional...examples of things that trouble you ... anxiety?...___, etc.
Go prepared. They don't know what specific issues you have. For me, I made notes regarding anxiety, depression, self destructive behaviour, sensory overload, meltdowns, etc.
Don't tell them you think you're autistic. Tell them why you think that ... tell them the symptoms.



christophelambypie
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30 Mar 2016, 8:38 pm

Anxiety is a natural part of being on the spectrum, there are always things that make each of us anxious and those things are as unique as each of us.
My personal coping mechanism for it is to identify the triggering causes and break them down into bitesize chunks that don't appear so worrying on their own. Then I make a list of tasks to deal with each of them in a proactive way, I find this works in a indirect way of dealing with the anxiety in a direct manner.. (I do hope that makes sense!! ! ).
Its difficult when you're mind is working in a thousand different directions at once, but with practice it becomes easier and will help focus you away from the anxiety in hand.
I hope this helps, and good luck with everything :D



ConceptuallyCurious
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31 Mar 2016, 7:02 am

I'll be honest, I found that nothing could distract me properly. My wife became frustrated because all I wanted to do was rewatch videos of mini-me and look over my family reports.

Despite all my worrying, the appointment itself was quite relieving. My wife said she knew I'd be diagnosed by part way through as she said she shared a 'knowing smile' (that I'd completely missed) with the speech therapist.

I then spent the next few weeks very anxiously waiting for my report... and was diagnosed.


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Diagnosed with:
Moderate Hearing Loss in 2002.
Autism Spectrum Disorder in August 2015.
ADHD diagnosed in July 2016

Also "probable" dyspraxia/DCD and dyslexia.

Plus a smattering of mental health problems that have now been mostly resolved.


Brittniejoy1983
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31 Mar 2016, 3:07 pm

ConceptuallyCurious wrote:
I'll be honest, I found that nothing could distract me properly. My wife became frustrated because all I wanted to do was rewatch videos of mini-me and look over my family reports.

Despite all my worrying, the appointment itself was quite relieving. My wife said she knew I'd be diagnosed by part way through as she said she shared a 'knowing smile' (that I'd completely missed) with the speech therapist.

I then spent the next few weeks very anxiously waiting for my report... and was diagnosed.



Yup, this sounds like me. I'm not anxious about anything that I can improve while I wait. I'm anxious about how they may talk to me. My preparation is completed. I could add more, but that would make an already long document longer. I'm anxious that I'll not get diagnosed. Ideally they will talk to me when I get there, and say, "HEY! You are totally this", and I can go on my merry way knowing I don't have to deal with more problems.

But I don't ACTUALLY live in a fantasy world. So I know it will be harder than that.


_________________
Aspie Quiz: 148 ND/50 NT
AQ: 41 (AQ-10: 9) EQ: 17 SQ: 31 FQ: 44 RAADS-R: 178
ASD Diagnosed 4/22/2016


Brittniejoy1983
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31 Mar 2016, 3:09 pm

The sudden life changing realizations haven't helped either. I mean, they ARE helping, but they are completely altering the way I perceive things, which doesn't help me maintain an even keeled mood.


_________________
Aspie Quiz: 148 ND/50 NT
AQ: 41 (AQ-10: 9) EQ: 17 SQ: 31 FQ: 44 RAADS-R: 178
ASD Diagnosed 4/22/2016