Published on 12, July, 2020
I've gradually come to believe my husband has asd and that this underpins our problems. This may sound arrogant, which is partly why it's taken so long for me to speak up.
He finally agreed to raise it with gp but 2 questionnaires later and the gp says there's no hint of asd showing.
This is crushing for me and I'm wondering what experiences other people have had?
Were you actually involved with those questionnaires? Most of the real authorities on this issue would say it is extremely important that family stakeholders have their say, as they are almost always heavily impacted, Hopefully you were there for the filling in of those questionnaires, whether at home or at a GP practice; and in some way contributed to them or motivated your husband to be realistic in his responses. It's perhaps a possibility that your husband might have had a nice cosy little chat with his GP, and together they might have decided to gloss over matters somewhat. But, of course, you might have been present and participating throughout.
Those questionnaires were probably only designed to establish whether a referral was a possibility. UK GPs are not widely famed for giving much support on this issues; in fact they're frequently very anti- the whole idea of a referral. They tend to see it as yet another burden on their admittedly heavy workload.
Although not actually now in the UK, I do know what it is like to have practice staff trivialize issues lived with for decades. Did you at any point actually communicate with the GP yourself? What I don't know however, is what your legal situation now is. I expect other posters here will know a lot more about that.; regarding the possibilities of an appeal or a change of GP. I'm told it is an entitlement.
Was your husband satisfied by what occurred, or is he still inclined to see your side of it?
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I wasn't involved, because part of the problem is that my husband has in the past said I'm controlling and I think he needs to take more personal responsibility.
I think the gp has agreed to forward a referral, so I guess I just need to wait for now, but it's unsettling to be so sure he is at the same time as a professional being so sure he isn't!