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Undiagnosed Adult - my background and a question regarding racing thoughts.

Undiagnosed32

Hi Everyone - I'm just new here. Abit of background -aswell as having siblings with austim (diagnosed as late teens) I've had many challenges from being young going into adulthood and can remember when i started trying to mask some of my behviours and keeping emotions in around 10years old. Since being an adult and numerous mental health problems, a counsellor told me a couple of years ago that she thinks i could be on the austism spectum. I wish i had got myself reffered then rather then trying to tell myself she was probably wrong. I now keep trying to get the courage to ask my doctor for a refferal but i'm anxious he will want me to list all my reasons why and tell me that is unlikely and not refer then think i'm just wasting his time.  How have others managed a refferal as an adult? I am 32.

Also i would just like to ask if anyone else struggles with racing thoughts and having to know everything about the hobby/interest they have.  I am in a bad cycle which has gone on years and stops me from doing things.

An example being - i would like to try yoga - i start doing a couple of poses - then my mind races off and to be able to countine with trying yoga longer term, i need to research the history, science etc... about it. I then feel overwhelmed at trying to process all the infomation and end up stopping doing the yoga/other activie.  Due to this i dont have many interest. I dont know if this is a part of austism or not. Does any one else struggle and have any advice on how calm a racing mind with the overwheling feelings of needed to know everything?

An other example - I would like some photos for my house - but then i need to research the different kind of frames, what will suit best, what kind of photos to have on the wall etc... that i end up not having any photos at all cause it gets all too much for my mind.  I envy people who can just simply look for what they want and get it without all the research!

P.s sorry about the long post! My mind is mid race and feeling so overwhelmed today.

  • in reply to Ethan

    Thank you - i am the same when it comes to choosing mobile phones etc... even clothes! I get too overwhelmed by the choices in store and online! Same with the books aswell. I hope i'm able to find a away to help myself otherwise i'll end up doing nothing and having no clothes! lol x

  • Thank you for replying!  Yes i am the same when it comes to too many choices. I have a few boxes of craft stuff i got for xmas about 5 year ago and i havent started! 

    Thats good to know about the self referal - thanks, i will look into it. Its good your doctor is understanding, i hope mine is if i need to see him about it. x

  • Undiagnosed32 said:
    struggles with racing thoughts and having to know everything about the hobby/interest they have

    Yes. I've a house full of books on various subjects because I had to know everything about them - although I never seem to stay with something long enough to work my way though them. Reading a book referencing another book was lethal - because I'd *have* to go and buy that book to. I'm getting better but I still have loads to read on big data and analytics, Irish mythology, English civil war, history of freethinking, druidry.... the list just goes on.

    Even a simple thing as buying a mobile phone was a nightmare. I'd have to research every one and became obsessive over the tiniest of details. At one point I was gaming as a distraction (I've since found it doesn't really help to unwind so have deleted them all!) so I looked for a particular type of game. Then that game wasn't enough, so I researched all the other games that were similar. I'd make a purchase, then be tormented by the game I didn't buy because of the features I'd be missing. So I ended up buying all the other similar games I researched as well. Even something as simple as watching a film - I'd become obsessed by the genre and want to see all the films with similar plots or the classics (film noir lasted about a month, but not before I'd crammed my Amazon watchlist! They're still there waiting to be seen).

    For diagnosis- tricky. But your GP is a good place to start. NHS https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/getting-diagnosed/how-to-get-diagnosed/

    If it helps, you could try using a screening tool to open up the conversation. I used the AQ10

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg142/resources/autism-spectrum-quotient-aq10-test-143968

    It's not perfect. So correlations between individuals scoring over the threshold and being officially diagnosed are reasonable, but it also churns out a lot of false negatives. There's also the longer version - the AQ50 https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient

    There's a wait time on the NHS, I went private but it can be costly. If you have the finance though it's a good option. NAS can provide more advice https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/getting-diagnosed/how-to-get-diagnosed/

    Best wishes

    E

  • Hi,

    I'm 32 also and I selected which GP to discuss my suspected autism with who I already knew was sensitive to my difficulties with anxiety. I now think that my anxiety is the result of autism. 

    I have specific hobbies but like you, if I start to think about too much at once then I end up doing nothing. A good example of this is that I have just had my birthday and with £75 I received I bought the supplies for three different knitting projects. It is nearly a month since my birthday and I have felt unable to start any of them. It is almost like having too much choice just throws me off completely, whereas if I can only afford one specific project then I can focus on it extremely intensely. I'm not sure if this is an autism trait as like you I am pretty new to this too (I've been waiting a month for assessment so far). 

    It is worth researching what your local autism services are like though as my GP told me I was able to self refer so I filled out my own referral form. The GP has written on my consultation notes "suspected autism" too which has helped me feel more validated. I'm terrible for thinking that I am a liar/fraud/exaggerator. I never trust what people think of me and I'm always thinking the worst.