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adult diagnosis - woman in her late 40s

Guinea Pig Fan

It was suggested to me by my psychotherapist in the summer that I might be autistic.  I have since done a lot of research and can identify with some of the signs but not all of them.  Although my GP has agreed to refer me for an assessment, I sense that he has not taken it that seriously and doesn't believe that I'm actually autistic.  I have learnt that girls and women are good at hiding their difficulties and, being in my late 40s now, I will have learnt to adapt to survive so far.  Does anyone have any advice they can give me about what it's like for a woman in her forties to pursue a diagnosis?  Also, does anyone share my sense that they can really identify with some symptoms of being on the spectrum but not all of them?  I feel I would benefit from talking to someone who has already been through the experience and any help or advice they can give me.

Parents

  • Try 50s pushing 60, lol. Diagnosed yesterday.

    If anyone had suggested to me last Christmas that I was autistic, I would never have wrapped my head around it. In fact, I ignored it as a potential source of my problems for a long time. What have I got in common with a kiddie in melt down on a supermarket floor?

    ...that was until 'melt down/shut down emerged as the only plausible descriptor of what I was going through. I then did a good old dig and dive into autism and yup! The childhood indicators were all there - I'd just gotten might good over the years at finding ways to cope such that you wouldn't easily see them all now. 

    God, life has been exhausting.

    Let the professionals dig and what you don't think is there - it might be. 

    Emotional understanding, say. Hey! I'm good at that....errrr I'm analysing my way to understanding others, not reading instananeously their body language cues. Others just read the cues???? Really, who knew? .The whole damn NT world apparently, but not me. I thought everyone had to analyse to the nth degree what people say and their circumstances to know what they think and feel. Apparently not.

    Try really questioning the processes you're going through to manage the bits you don't think you fit. How are you really doing it? Is it the same or different to how others are doing it?

    Remember there are some criteria which have to be met for diagnosis, but other symptoms are present in some people with autism but not others, or swing between extreme; say problems organising yourself to being hyper- even rigidly organised.

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  • Try 50s pushing 60, lol. Diagnosed yesterday.

    If anyone had suggested to me last Christmas that I was autistic, I would never have wrapped my head around it. In fact, I ignored it as a potential source of my problems for a long time. What have I got in common with a kiddie in melt down on a supermarket floor?

    ...that was until 'melt down/shut down emerged as the only plausible descriptor of what I was going through. I then did a good old dig and dive into autism and yup! The childhood indicators were all there - I'd just gotten might good over the years at finding ways to cope such that you wouldn't easily see them all now. 

    God, life has been exhausting.

    Let the professionals dig and what you don't think is there - it might be. 

    Emotional understanding, say. Hey! I'm good at that....errrr I'm analysing my way to understanding others, not reading instananeously their body language cues. Others just read the cues???? Really, who knew? .The whole damn NT world apparently, but not me. I thought everyone had to analyse to the nth degree what people say and their circumstances to know what they think and feel. Apparently not.

    Try really questioning the processes you're going through to manage the bits you don't think you fit. How are you really doing it? Is it the same or different to how others are doing it?

    Remember there are some criteria which have to be met for diagnosis, but other symptoms are present in some people with autism but not others, or swing between extreme; say problems organising yourself to being hyper- even rigidly organised.

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