Told a few people that I spoke to my GP

I think my dad would too; if I hadn't already got fluid on the brain; his whole family don't like to talk about illness....They see it as shameful. Which is ironic as I have deep suspicions that my grandad, who my dad often refers to as selfish and miserable.....and very much a loner, was probably autistic too. My mum has suspected mine for a long time; the only thing that threw her off was my speed at learning to talk.

Yeah, it is amazing how varying responses you can get from letting people know who you really are. 

My dad won't acknowledge it and has let my mom know that he find it to be very shameful and something that has happened to him. So I'm not really talking to him anymore. 

Other than that, the worst reply I get is: "You're still the same". It simple feels like an attempt to close the conversation and force me to uphold the mask I wear for them. No interest in getting to know how I actually am. 

I feel like I can be very intense when I get talking because I jumped around from thought to thought. It might help me to find some structure to what I need to say! 

thats so funny 

Oh glad it's not just me. I write everything down when I go to the doctors and give it to them to read. I just can't explain clearly enough, I get flustered, I get distracted. Writing it down helps doesn't it :)

I did the same. I get very flustered trying to explain how I feel so writing it down to read off of helped. Writing everything down helps.

Yes! Write it all down, I did that and gave it to the doctor to read. It stopped me getting flustered and mumbling just what came into my head that moment.

tbh I assumed I'd be ignored, like every other medical help I've requested, so I actually forgot about it in that time, with everything else going on at the moment. So I was surprised when I was contacted by the NHS to be assessed. A bit funny eh.

I got my mum, husband and sister to do the tests. My husband was my main control sample as he is the furthest away from any "traits" I can think of and would be the most offended if I suggested he had any. Needless to say he only scored 7 whereas I scored 43. My mum scored less than me but still over the threshold and my sister was under but not by loads. 

I found it quite a surprise to score as highly as I did but I would think many of the responses could be selected for other reasons, not just autism.

I feel like I keep learning about new things though because I saw someone post about chewing/eating non-food items and as a child I chewed my jumpers, rubbers, pencils, pen lids, blue tack, paper. I still do chew the pen lids and eat lollipop sticks at times. My friend from school still mentions the pencil eating now in our 30s so it was often enough for it to stick in other people's memories. 

I also wet the bed until I was at least 10yrs old, which I believe can also be more common for autistic children.

I plan to write all these things down but I'm still paranoid I'll just look like I "want to be autistic" as my husband says. 

yes they are an indicator and cover some things u may not have thought of

I hear those online tests were originally created to see if you'd be suitable to work in art or maths.....substitute maths with IT and I was in trouble from the start :D

Hi Michelle, I went through very similar experiences when I told people I was going for an assessment. My partner felt similar to start with, but as I sent him more information about women and autism, and explained why an assessment was important to me, he became a lot more understanding - sometimes it takes time and more communication, however painful the conversations can be. Friends have also ignored me when I've told them about the assessment, and even my diagnosis. Some friends have said "oh I just don't see you as autistic so that's surprising", so I have had very few people feel like they have actually supported me through this. However, I am learning to try to understand things from other people's perspectives, and I have accepted now that I don't think people know how to react, and that any response feels like it isn't the right one. I do think that communicating your thoughts, educating people on autism, and explaining to people why you want to find out can really help to get people to understand you.

And on the note of online tests, I also did these prior to my diagnosis, and I think they can help as a guideline, but there is much more to an autism assessment than the generic questions these online tests ask :) 

The GP said it is faster in my area because of the service compared to neighbouring areas but whether that ends up being the case or not, well time will tell. 

It must have been frustrating to wait for 3yrs. 

Sorry to hear that. It's good you've been told 6 months, my diagnosis took nearly 3 years. However this included the pandemic and lockdowns, which slowed things down a lot of course so yours probably won't take as long as that. Good luck.

I'm going to.

the time will fly by 

wait for a while

Yes, I agree that jumping to conclusions without assessment is dangerous for many reasons. I'm trying to not feel so absolute about it in terms of myself too without a diagnosis, on the chance that there is a different conclusion. I just hope I don't have to wait too long because the speculation has taken over all my thoughts.

I find it hard to hear. He has never been understanding of the anxiety I experience so I was prepared for him not accepting this. It makes me wonder how he would react if I was diagnosed as autistic too but I suppose that could be a while into the future yet. GP told me to expect a 6+ month wait at best but we do have a dedicated autism team in my area at least. 

I have hydrocephalus too and often it's dismissed because brain surgery can cause several issues you often see in autism too....in fact, that was what I was afraid they'd say at my assessment "it's probably the hydrocephalus"....They didn't but it also explains some frustrations I've had about Hydrocephalus itself....in that I attributed aspects of my autism to it and couldn't understand why it was often treated (even by the charity for it....although I suspect that's to do with fundraising) as a mere side-issue for people with Spina Bifida and I just assumed that it caused more issues than it did. The assessors said they'd seen people with Hydro though and their issues were never like mine but I do, to a point understand some of what they say, in that you do look at people differently; like my grandad....he never really made any friends and would never go out (to the point my nan would moan that the British legion didn't do anything for him......he never wanted it) or an uncle who was a fantastic artist but an emotional wreck who sadly ended his life in the '80s.....it does make you think but unless a person has been diagnosed, I think it's a bit dangerous to speculate.