Upcoming diagnosis/assessment

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!

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

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I kept getting that 503 message for the last few nights. I couldn't log in. Glad that I could help you with it!

Don't worry about it Robot. I went into the assesment with very little knowledge about Autism at all. If you are seeing "J" she will piece the information together for you. I got asked some questions that I didn't have a clue why she'd asked. Just be honest and be yourself. Take your notebook and if she brings up something that you have wrote about then tell her what you wrote. She won't mind if you take your wife to fiil in gaps. It helps to have an "observer" from the way my assesment went.

I've seen many a mind doctor over the years! "J" is very nice and it's not intense. I found her quite easy to speak to, quite calming in fact!

Lol, you are already excelling at being Autistic! Your overthinking and planning are certainly top marks! It's things like that that she will notice too. Honestly just go in and be yourself. You hardly ever get an assesment if the people reffering you don't have a strong inclination.

All the best and I hope it goes well!

Lol, yeah I could only get on just myself. Everytime I've checked over the last few days 503!

No problem at all, glad I could help! Hey, I overplan overplanning! If people were to see what's inside my backpack they'd know! It's a window into my mind........

It doesn't matter that you self-refferred, just getting an assesment is pretty hard if your GP doesn't think you fit the criteria.

No problem! Ask me anything you need to know about it. They never told me on the day but I did have an inclination because she went down a lot of lines of enquiry. The questions she was asking seemed to lead somewhere, some were a little strange but those were mainly things she asked my mom. I went back about a 5 days later and "J" gave me my diagnosis. She also sat and we talked about what to do next. She gave me a few numbers and some advice on what my diagnosis entailed and who to contact. I got a paper report and a diagnosis letter with just the condition on it, in case I needed to inform someone of my condition and not show them all the personal stuff on the report. I think it took about 3 or 4 weeks.

Don't worry about it too much. Like I said she is very good, the follow-up appointment after the assesment was very thorough. I think you feel a bit like I did. It's more about getting answers to certain things that you need to know than the Autism question. I didn't know much about Autism when I was referred but I knew that I had some issues to say the least! "J" explained how the things were related to my Autism. The relief of not being schizophrenic was the main thing that I felt that day.

Good luck with everything and feel free to ask me about anything else.

I’ve been getting the 503 message the last few nights too..

Thanks for the help and support, I do over plan things I guess :-) 

Thats the thing, I referred myself basically just by going to the doctors and saying I want to be assessed, I don’t know my GP that well and he said fill in the AQ and we’ll go from there! So I don’t really know anyone that tells me I’m autistic..

Just wondering if you could answer one more question though, did you find out any hints about whether they thought you had ASD on the day or did you have to wait for the report, and did you actually get a paper report yourself?

thanks so much

Ade

I’ve been getting the 503 message the last few nights too..

Thanks for the help and support, I do over plan things I guess :-) 

Thats the thing, I referred myself basically just by going to the doctors and saying I want to be assessed, I don’t know my GP that well and he said fill in the AQ and we’ll go from there! So I don’t really know anyone that tells me I’m autistic..

Just wondering if you could answer one more question though, did you find out any hints about whether they thought you had ASD on the day or did you have to wait for the report, and did you actually get a paper report yourself?

thanks so much

Ade

Lol, yeah I could only get on just myself. Everytime I've checked over the last few days 503!

No problem at all, glad I could help! Hey, I overplan overplanning! If people were to see what's inside my backpack they'd know! It's a window into my mind........

It doesn't matter that you self-refferred, just getting an assesment is pretty hard if your GP doesn't think you fit the criteria.

No problem! Ask me anything you need to know about it. They never told me on the day but I did have an inclination because she went down a lot of lines of enquiry. The questions she was asking seemed to lead somewhere, some were a little strange but those were mainly things she asked my mom. I went back about a 5 days later and "J" gave me my diagnosis. She also sat and we talked about what to do next. She gave me a few numbers and some advice on what my diagnosis entailed and who to contact. I got a paper report and a diagnosis letter with just the condition on it, in case I needed to inform someone of my condition and not show them all the personal stuff on the report. I think it took about 3 or 4 weeks.

Don't worry about it too much. Like I said she is very good, the follow-up appointment after the assesment was very thorough. I think you feel a bit like I did. It's more about getting answers to certain things that you need to know than the Autism question. I didn't know much about Autism when I was referred but I knew that I had some issues to say the least! "J" explained how the things were related to my Autism. The relief of not being schizophrenic was the main thing that I felt that day.

Good luck with everything and feel free to ask me about anything else.