The wait is over!

2 hours ago the letter confirming my diagnosis as Autistic dropped through the letterbox... the relief is ENORMOUS! I'm 52 now and have always known that I was different but couldn't explain it. Years of trying to understand my past and fix myself with the wrong service manual (I'm an electronic technician by trade) are over. I'm sure I'm gonna experience many different moods over the coming days and weeks but for now I just wanted to officially say hi to my new tribe and celebrate!

Aspie n proud!

Parents
  • Hey Aspie you! How long was the wait from self referral to postal delivery? X

  • Hi Ellie... it was just under 14 months. My last of three 1 hour sessions with the psychiatrist who assessed me was 11 weeks ago, the wait since then has been awful he said it would only be 4 - 6 weeks. Still can't grumble really as I know from reading others experiences here that some wait longer or are refused NHS diagnosis altogether.

Reply
  • Hi Ellie... it was just under 14 months. My last of three 1 hour sessions with the psychiatrist who assessed me was 11 weeks ago, the wait since then has been awful he said it would only be 4 - 6 weeks. Still can't grumble really as I know from reading others experiences here that some wait longer or are refused NHS diagnosis altogether.

Children
  • Hi been following this thread,well done Jonesy and”and” for achieving your diagnosis, apparently in my area it isn’t easy to get funding, i enquirer about private diagnosis and received a reply

    total cost for everything was £1.500 .A local centre for ADHD,it explained the whole process,1) speak to their doctor for initial assessment,fully qualified in this field,head of the centre.

    2) meet two health professionals who are specialised in this area,.there findings get passed onto the a psychiatrist who specialises in this field. A diagnosis will follow shortly after by post.

    no real times apart from how long each part takes, the gap in between is not stated.

    I am yet to ask the nhs for my diagnosis.()x

  • Ellie... I'm guessing that a private assessment may be quicker than an NHS one.... the wait for me at times was horrible and quite stressful so if you can afford a private one and it is as I suspect quicker then I'd say go for it.

  • "and"...yep it seems a real postcode lottery, both in the time it takes but also in the ways the assessments are done which seem to vary widely... glad your experience was quicker and more efficient than mine!

  • I don’t know what will be less challenging ....I don’t really have back up here! X

  • There seems to be some very wide variation in the time taken for the diagnosis process, mine seemingly being very short by comparison to many others: I spoke to my GP, three days later I was assessed by a mental health nurse and put forward for formal diagnosis. Five months later I spent six hours at the diagnostic unit (including two one hour breaks), so after four hours of diagnostic assessment I was told my diagnosis there and then. The full diagnostic report arrived two weeks later.

  • Well obviously its early days and I appreciate official diagnosis isnt for everyone but I think its generally a positive thing and I reckon you'd benefit greatly from knowing. My life makes way more sense now. I'm 99% sure both my parents were on the spectrum too. Dad passed away in 2013 but Mum was still alive when I approached my GP for a diagnosis but she suddenly got ill and died last Feb. I didnt tell her about my suspicions about being on the spectrum I was going to wait until I had it confirmed but I wish she's have lived long enough for me to tell her... we had a difficult relationship and knowing would have helped both of us make sense of the past and perhaps come to peace with it.

    Like you I have had depression and anxiety on and off since childhood, never really got into alcohol though as it doesnt really suit me. Had enough of drugs when my child psch prescribed my Vallium for 18 months when I was 14 after my first breakdown.

    So yeah I say go for it! Do you have to use the private route? Can you not get an NHS diagnosis and save the expense?

  • So pleased for you.....my New Years resolution is to look into a private referral....I shall be spending 2018 saving up my pocket money! Lol.....wish me luck.

    As you said, from so many years of reading from the wrong manual...it is time Tom put things write...as it has caused so many comorbidity issues such as anxiety, bouts of depression and using alcohol as a means of self soothing etc......