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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

  • Well both my wife and I went to the assessment today, it’s been a hard day!

    My psychiatrist said my wife could go back for another appointment to talk more but it wouldn’t be until the end of August, we both said we couldn’t stand the wait and she said she would give us our diagnosis now verbally, and send a report to both us and our GP.

    Anyway she believed my wife doesn’t have ASD but instead social anxieties. But she said that I definitely have ASD and she will be writing Aspergers in her report..

    So as from today I am officially autistic!

    im a bit numb at the moment and tired and we are still digesting the assessments.. which were carried out one after the other, so both of us effectively went through two assessments today.

    Initial thoughts are that she was very nice and seemed to work with us good, although the assessments felt maybe a little rushed, and it makes me wonder how anyone can assess someone’s ASD in 90 minutes.. but apparently she did and I am, so that’s that!!!

    Thanks

    Ade

  • in reply to Robot

    Good to hear everthing wasn't too stressful. "J" will probably explain it all in the report. I must say mine was pretty spot-on as to what related to her diagnosis. Hope you got the answers you needed and welcome to the club, I guess!

  • in reply to Cloudy Mountains

    Thanks Cloudy,

    I guess I will get more answers when I get the report.

    My wife however I think feels disappointed that she wasn’t diagnosed with ASD, she was offered a further appointment to explain herself further but refused because it wouldn’t be until the end of August.

    In my opinion she is at least borderline ASD, with more than just social anxieties, it’s confusing as to why “J” didn’t think she had ASD too. She’s so confused now, thinking “what’s wrong with me if it’s social anxieties then why don’t I ever get over them”.

    Im just worried I guess that she has been missed as a woman on the spectrum.

    I suppose it’s looking for a reason for why you are the way you are, because I have that reason now, I can look back and say “That’s why I have been like this all my life” it explains myself to myself.. I’m rambling now lol.

    Thanks

    Ade

Reply
  • in reply to Cloudy Mountains

    Thanks Cloudy,

    I guess I will get more answers when I get the report.

    My wife however I think feels disappointed that she wasn’t diagnosed with ASD, she was offered a further appointment to explain herself further but refused because it wouldn’t be until the end of August.

    In my opinion she is at least borderline ASD, with more than just social anxieties, it’s confusing as to why “J” didn’t think she had ASD too. She’s so confused now, thinking “what’s wrong with me if it’s social anxieties then why don’t I ever get over them”.

    Im just worried I guess that she has been missed as a woman on the spectrum.

    I suppose it’s looking for a reason for why you are the way you are, because I have that reason now, I can look back and say “That’s why I have been like this all my life” it explains myself to myself.. I’m rambling now lol.

    Thanks

    Ade

Children
  • in reply to Robot

    Hi Ade, 

    You're describing my fear about going forth for assessment; that as a woman I'll be told that it's 'just' social anxiety and my other 'quirks' will be overlooked or ignored completely.

    I've added social anxiety as an area to read up on in addition to ASC so that I can more clearly probe the differences and areas of overlap between each. I also hope that it will mean I'll be in a better position to clarify why I think I have ASC and not 'just' SA.

    It must be very difficult for clinicians to diagnose especially at the edges of the current understanding of ASC which seems to be where the difference in gender presentation sits. 

    I am heartened to hear that the clinician has offered your wife a second appointment and would encourage her to accept it. With an August appointment date, this gives her time to read up and reflect more closely on her experience. It's time to try to identify where she thinks her challenges lay and how she thinks she fits the diagnostic criteria. 

    Chatting with women diagnosed with ASC on community forums and seeking out the work of researchers  /authors who write about the female presentation of ASC, for example, Prof. Tony Attwood & Sarah Hendrickx, would be of benefit too (videos on YouTube). The NAS module 'Women and Girls' is also excellent and may help her recall more details from her childhood etc.. 

    The Royal College of GP's 'Autism Toolkit' is helpful and has female specific info:

    http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/resources/toolkits/asd-toolkit.aspx

    Hope that's of help. 

    Saz