The long wait for assessment

I was referred for ASD assessment in December 2016 and told I could expect an appointment in Summer 2017, maybe earlier. Almost 2.5 years later I'm still waiting and I feel like the anxiety and uncertainty have taken over my life. 

I know its NHS waiting times and it's not their fault but not having a set date is stressing me out so much. Every time they tell me 'your appointment will be in April' (for example) then I get myself all worked up for it, I check the post every day from the 1st March and nothing comes. So then I call them and get told it's now not going to be until May and the whole cycle starts again. It's hard not to think about it when it's always 'next month'. I'm currently set for June/July assessment date.

I've had a lot of change and minor stresses going on in my life recently too, which hasn't helped. My GP has put me on anti depressants and has offered to prescribe me something to help me sleep if I feel I need it. I'm trying different things to try to relax a bit but i tend to get very obsessive over things. If I could afford a private assessment I would. I also feel like I can't talk to anyone about it because if it turns out I'm not autistic I'll feel very silly and I don't want anyone knowing about it! 

I know a lot of you will have experienced a long wait for assessment and I'd like some advice on how you got through it. 

Parents
  • I was referred in November last year and told it'd be a 20 month wait...

    Stuff that says I, I'll go private... then I discovered the Lorna Wing Centre wanted £2-3,000 to do it!

    Blow that says I... so I started seeing a clinical psychologist in February - and got my diagnosis 2 weeks ago (I'm 47).

    Now, it depends why you want/need a diagnosis - the caveat from my clinical psychologist was that DWP (Department of Work & Pensions) may not accept her diagnosis if I wanted to try to access services and employers may not accept it if I were to seek 'reasonable adjustments'... I don't feel I need those things I just wanted some answers, so that was fine with me.

    Good luck!

  • That's a third way that I haven't heard of - interesting! I might as well wait for the NHS process to conclude now, but I'm intrigued about how someone would get hold of a clinical psychologist (and so quickly)?

  • That's peaked my interest too (which is a saying I've never actually typed out before and now I'm questioning whether I'm using it in the correct context, whilst comfortably knowing I can make remarks like that on this forum without people thinking I'm overthinking! I digress...)

    I'm just beginning my diagnosis journey... I'm wondering about the private route too but that is quite expensive - especially to confirm something I already know. I still feel I need an official diagnosis...

  • Sikhona! (Nice read, thanks for sharing!)

    I knew something didn't quite look right but spelling it as 'peaked' made logical sense to me, as in the peak or top of my current interest! Everyday is a school day :)

  • I got a little warm glow of mutual recognition from reading what you said about feeling comfortable thinking aloud without people here thinking you're overthinking :-).

    You might have predicted that someone would be along with a link to answer your question: Pique. So - right context, slightly wrong spelling but I think that "peaked" carries a similar meaning which is why the two often get swapped :-).

    Now you've got me thinking about etymology, latin, Susie Dent & any number of related digressions :-).

    Final quasi-digression; the mutual recognition reminded me of something that has stuck in my brain as a "nice" thing. Apparently, a greeting common to South African tribes is "Sawa Bona" which literally means "I see you." There's a lot of web chatter about it, but it lodged in my brain because it carries sentiments like "I get you", "I understand", "You're part of my tribe". In Googling it just now to check my facts, I came across this article, which explains some of this and also hints at other positive associations. Spirit of Ubuntu.  

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  • I got a little warm glow of mutual recognition from reading what you said about feeling comfortable thinking aloud without people here thinking you're overthinking :-).

    You might have predicted that someone would be along with a link to answer your question: Pique. So - right context, slightly wrong spelling but I think that "peaked" carries a similar meaning which is why the two often get swapped :-).

    Now you've got me thinking about etymology, latin, Susie Dent & any number of related digressions :-).

    Final quasi-digression; the mutual recognition reminded me of something that has stuck in my brain as a "nice" thing. Apparently, a greeting common to South African tribes is "Sawa Bona" which literally means "I see you." There's a lot of web chatter about it, but it lodged in my brain because it carries sentiments like "I get you", "I understand", "You're part of my tribe". In Googling it just now to check my facts, I came across this article, which explains some of this and also hints at other positive associations. Spirit of Ubuntu.  

Children