Should I request an autism assessment?

Thank you all for the responses. 

I have been seeing a clinical psychologist, and brought up the topic with her. Sadly she can’t personally assess me through the role she is seeing me in, but has spoken to me in a bit of depth as to why I want to pursue it and is putting in a GP referral.

I discussed a list of traits that I feel warrant a referral and diagnosis, on top of the above I included:

*chewed my cot as an infant/toddler (so much so I wore down my front teeth. 

*bed wetting until 5, had to be reminded to pee by parents when out of nappies as would often not realise I needed.

*lining up toys as a child, setting barbies up in a perfect scene instead of playing with them traditionally.

*excessive touching of objects (both as a child, to this present day) - have to touch objects evenly with full hand, has to ‘feel right’

*obsessed with counting/numbers (again since childhood) - would (and still do) count steps when walking, count when chewing, would mentally count sky satellite dishes during any car journeys as a young child, obsessed with reading car registration plates, reading street signs and counting the number of letters.

*organisation - items/objects have to be arranged in a particular order/way. For example - food items stored upright, labels facing precisely to the front, crockery & cutlery tidied away facing the correct way, bedding/towels folded in a specific way with labels folded at the bottom, money arranged heads up, notes ordered into denomination, then by serial code & date.

*Trichotillomania during teen years (pulled hair our head), resulting in a bald patch on my head. 

*often told I ‘overthink’ - however to me this is just normal thinking  I will consider all eventualities in almost all situations, especially before making decisions. Doing this allows me to be prepared for Al probably outcomes and plan accordingly, also reduces anxiety around situations.

*difficulty in busy environments - too much background noise creates a table and makes it difficult to focus on a conversation. 

*can often zone out of conversations if there are several background factors (e.g. noise, movement, light) - often unaware I’m doing this and will appear to still be focussing by nodding along, and will only realise when I zone back in and realise I’ve missed half a conversation. 

This is not an extensive list - my current list is approximately 5 pages and I am adding more as I remember.

The psychologist did say some of these traits could be anxiety/OCD, but was happy to refer me to the GP to pursue an autism assessment. I just feel so confused as to whether to pursue this - I am so anxious about doing so then being told I don’t have autism and I have wasted peoples valuable time. 

Thank you all for the responses. 

I have been seeing a clinical psychologist, and brought up the topic with her. Sadly she can’t personally assess me through the role she is seeing me in, but has spoken to me in a bit of depth as to why I want to pursue it and is putting in a GP referral.

I discussed a list of traits that I feel warrant a referral and diagnosis, on top of the above I included:

*chewed my cot as an infant/toddler (so much so I wore down my front teeth. 

*bed wetting until 5, had to be reminded to pee by parents when out of nappies as would often not realise I needed.

*lining up toys as a child, setting barbies up in a perfect scene instead of playing with them traditionally.

*excessive touching of objects (both as a child, to this present day) - have to touch objects evenly with full hand, has to ‘feel right’

*obsessed with counting/numbers (again since childhood) - would (and still do) count steps when walking, count when chewing, would mentally count sky satellite dishes during any car journeys as a young child, obsessed with reading car registration plates, reading street signs and counting the number of letters.

*organisation - items/objects have to be arranged in a particular order/way. For example - food items stored upright, labels facing precisely to the front, crockery & cutlery tidied away facing the correct way, bedding/towels folded in a specific way with labels folded at the bottom, money arranged heads up, notes ordered into denomination, then by serial code & date.

*Trichotillomania during teen years (pulled hair our head), resulting in a bald patch on my head. 

*often told I ‘overthink’ - however to me this is just normal thinking  I will consider all eventualities in almost all situations, especially before making decisions. Doing this allows me to be prepared for Al probably outcomes and plan accordingly, also reduces anxiety around situations.

*difficulty in busy environments - too much background noise creates a table and makes it difficult to focus on a conversation. 

*can often zone out of conversations if there are several background factors (e.g. noise, movement, light) - often unaware I’m doing this and will appear to still be focussing by nodding along, and will only realise when I zone back in and realise I’ve missed half a conversation. 

This is not an extensive list - my current list is approximately 5 pages and I am adding more as I remember.

The psychologist did say some of these traits could be anxiety/OCD, but was happy to refer me to the GP to pursue an autism assessment. I just feel so confused as to whether to pursue this - I am so anxious about doing so then being told I don’t have autism and I have wasted peoples valuable time.