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Upcoming diagnosis/assessment

Robot

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here so hello :-)

I went to my GP and asked for an Aspergers or autism referral because I think I may be on the spectrum, he agreed and gave me an AQ sheet to fill in, which I did and returned to him (I scored 42 out of 50).

So he referred me on 26th Feb this year 2018.

Having read a lot in several books and online and watched all the YouTube videos to give myself the confidence that I agree and can identify with loads of the traits and problems they have, I am pretty sure I have Aspergers. 

I also thought I had it over 25 years ago (I’m 47 now) but I had little understanding of who I was back then and dismissed the idea, convincing myself that I just had social anxiety and OCD and not Aspergers.

On my journey to my self diagnosis, I started to notice that my wife identified with a lot of the traits too, so she went to the GP a couple of months later and got a referral too.

Both myself and my wife have just received our appointment letters for an assessment with a consultant psychiatrist on the same day, 6th July.

I have a few concerns over this because her appointment is at 11:00 am and mine is immediately after at 12:30 pm with the same psychiatrist. The letters state that it will be about 90mins to 2 hours appointment time too.

I don’t have any close relatives that can give an account of my childhood, all I have is my wife. So my wife will have to help me through my assessment immediately after me helping her through her assessment!!!

My questions are:

Has anyone else had this kind of scenario?

Will this affect our assessments, because if they do any tests to find out stuff, then it won’t be a surprise test for me because I will have already seen it!

Is it normal just to see one single psychiatrist for 90 mins? Shouldn’t it be a multi disciplinary team?

I have terrible memory and also find it hard to think of things like stuff I can’t do or difficulties I have, if I can’t think of things then they won’t see them and they won’t diagnose right.

Getting a diagnosis is important to me because my life would finally make sense, I know it wouldn’t change anything, but at least I would know why my life has been so difficult.

Thanks for reading

Ade

Parents

  • Hello Robot,

    It sounds like a full assessment. You've already done the AQ test and I had my assessment about a month and a half after my AQ test.

    I have my suspicions that you may be seeing the same lady I did. I had my diagnosis in Birmingham and I had exactly the same conditions outlined. I'm guessing the appointment is in Edgbaston and the doctor's name begins with J. The referrals seem to be commonly performed by one or two professionals in Birmingham and the surrounding area. If it is with the lady I'm thinking of she will take at least two hours. She's very thorough and will ask you a lot of questions you may not think are relevant. I didn't to be honest. When you get the report you will see that she is very good at building up a picture of how your condition affects you. I took my mother and my ex partner. Probably the two people that know me best. I'd take your wife in with you if you feel comfortable with it, it does help her have a broader understanding of your condition. Try and be as honest as you can. I had to answer a few difficult ones but it's worth being as open as you can.

    As for the diagnosis don't worry too much. I think you are in good hands. I hope you get the answers you need.

    Again, hello and welcome!

Reply

  • Hello Robot,

    It sounds like a full assessment. You've already done the AQ test and I had my assessment about a month and a half after my AQ test.

    I have my suspicions that you may be seeing the same lady I did. I had my diagnosis in Birmingham and I had exactly the same conditions outlined. I'm guessing the appointment is in Edgbaston and the doctor's name begins with J. The referrals seem to be commonly performed by one or two professionals in Birmingham and the surrounding area. If it is with the lady I'm thinking of she will take at least two hours. She's very thorough and will ask you a lot of questions you may not think are relevant. I didn't to be honest. When you get the report you will see that she is very good at building up a picture of how your condition affects you. I took my mother and my ex partner. Probably the two people that know me best. I'd take your wife in with you if you feel comfortable with it, it does help her have a broader understanding of your condition. Try and be as honest as you can. I had to answer a few difficult ones but it's worth being as open as you can.

    As for the diagnosis don't worry too much. I think you are in good hands. I hope you get the answers you need.

    Again, hello and welcome!

Children
  • in reply to Cloudy Mountains

    Thanks for the replies everyone!

    Cloudy Mountains you are right it is in Edgbaston and the ladies surname begins with “J”. Thanks for putting my mind at ease. 

    The letter doesn’t mention anything or anyone to bring with me so I’ve emailed her to ask.

    I’ve never seen any sort of mind doctor before, so it’s all new to me.

    I just hope she can pick out of me all the things she needs because I’m terrible at thinking of things to mention, although I have been writing in a book since February everything I can think of that may be related to autism.

    I seem to feel like I’m going to blow the interview and fail at being autistic!!

    I guess I have trouble piecing information together.

     Anyway thanks for making me feel better about it all.

    Ade