Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I'm 38/F, and after years and years of recurring problems in interactions at work and in personal relationships, and no real diagnosis of anything but intermittent anxiety and depression, lots of therapy, lots of isolation, and another failed relationship due to my 'behaviour', I started looking at asperger symptoms in women (my sister once suggested I was on the spectrum). (*see my list below)
I've made an appointment with my GP to get referrals to get some actual answers and a diagnosis so I can get proper help and support. Feeling pretty alone right now.
Question is - what do I say or ask for when I talk to my GP? Where do people normally get referred to for this and how does it work?
Thanks guys!
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* list...
- don’t do social chit chat, small talk, fitting in with social convention, when I do very formulated and awkward, like rehearsed lines, mask, my mind is somewhere else- always struggled with social groups and dynamics, meta communication, don’t understand how they work, don’t understand or trust their motives, try and keep out of it on the periphery, always ends up failing to integrate somehow- always felt like I don’t belong anywhere particular, like alien, because of my interests and way of thinking that people do not understand or find weird / intense / too much- obsession with theories, analysis, everything is a case study and how I manage social confusion, can talk about it at length while losing people, count everything (colours, patterns, steps, objects), - excellent detail memory when other people do not remember, excellent memory of structure and systems, connecting various fields of knowledge, love systems and categories - repetitive behaviours: pulling hair, touching individual hairs for texture, touching face; thoughts (counting) - can be very blunt, direct, because I think direct line to information makes most sense, not think it’s impolite, but perceived as rude or aggressive - can’t initiate conversations well, like to withdraw from longer social situations- bad at eye contact, always felt people didn’t like me / trust me because of it - can seem emotionless and not show reaction to external stuff, shut it out, just be in my head, way to manage external stimuli, can’t deal with too much social demand or noise- feel very isolated, hard to make and keep friends, always outsider at work despite being nice and competent, people always treat me like I’m weird- struggle in relationships because of emotional overload, uncertainty, problems with change, emotional meltdowns, anxiety- struggle to adapt to change in routine, competing demands, or when something that has been set is altered, really upsetting- staying alone helps manage my own environment without stressors and feel safe, but very isolating- been to therapy all my life, no difference, most problems related to interpersonal problems in work, friends, relationships - problems with touch (overly ticklish or painful, intrusive), sounds, smells, can all be too much- AQ score is 38
Hi there ! Have you found a way to be diagnosed ? are there quicker ways to be privately diagnosed ? Thank you
I have just started the process privately through work (see my recent post). After speaking to a private GP, he gave me a referral letter which I submitted to my healthcare provider, and now I have an appointment with a mental health professional on Sunday where I believe I will be put through a Q&A session. I can keep you posted.
What freaks me out a little is that your username is my daughter's name (even the same spelling) and the letter V is the first letter of my name... this of course is the limit of how much I will give away. But then again I suppose finding patterns and links is classic autistic behaviour!
Haha hi ! Don’t worry I’m 36 years old and pregnant and not your daughter. But I do believe that coincidences are actually maybe synchronicity. Please do keep me posted then. I’m looking to help my partner who asked me to and who doesn’t know where to start with his diagnosis.... thank you
Hey, I said I'd keep you posted... turns out my healthcare provider doesn't pay for diagnoses, so I looked into paying for it.
I found a few places based on the directory from this site, and it costs anything between £850-1,500 approx to do it this way. I thought about pursuing it, but then rang my GP again and he said he'd refer me to my local NHS service. Wait times are around six months so we'll see how that goes. I figure if I pay and have it sooner, it'll be a lesser service considering it's currently all online. In six months perhaps I could do it in person on NHS. If I get impatient I can always try the private route.
One thing to look out for if pursuing a private diagnosis, is that for similar fees you can go from a single two hour session and a couple of questionnaires, to multiple sessions and an interview with somebody who has known you ideally since childhood. So the thoroughness of the process can vary greatly for similar fees, and I think it's better to have a more rigorous process for the good money you can pay.
Hope this helps.