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Awaiting assessment but learning a lot

BristolSteve

Hi everyone

Thought I'd say hi as I'm new to the group, 42, male. I'm currently awaiting a formal assessment following a referral to BASS from my GP. But upon discovery that I may be on the spectrum my eyes have been opened wide. Until I get a formal assessment it's difficult not to jump the gun and run with it but the more I read from websites and particularly testimonies from this forum, the more I can't believe that it has taken 42 years for someone to even think this about me. It feels like the signs were obvious, and actually I'm annoyed that healthcare professionals and therapists have always treated the symptoms rather than consider the possibility that there might be a deeper cause - I've been in and out of therapy since my early 20s and had depression and anxiety since I was 9. Anyway, I won't delve into that now but I have 2 questions I was wondering if people could comment on please?

First one is does anyone know how long BASS take to get back to you with an assessment appointment? I was told it could be 12 months but some people in this forum have waited a lot longer by the sounds of it.

Secondly is a more general query about how people deal with 'rewriting' their history once being diagnosed. My brain is going 100mph looking at the whole of my past through different eyes and actually realising that certain things did or didn't happen because of the possibility of being on the spectrum. Friendships, relationships, life choices, emotions, all suddenly look very different when viewed from this angle. It's an odd mixture of terrifying, disappointing, sadness, relief, and confusion and whilst trying not to let it take over my thoughts it's very difficult. You get reminded of something and all of a sudden you look at it and go "I wonder if it happened like that or I reacted in that way because I'm on the spectrum". Does post-diagnosis care help you understand and deal with these things?

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this and I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts.

Steve

Parents

  • I think mixed emotions are a standard response to an adult diagnosis, particularly a very late one. I realised, through my daughter being alerted to her possible autism by her CBT therapist, that I might be autistic, and then had it confirmed by diagnosis at 59. My main reaction was one of profound relief, I had a reason for my strange sensory issues, my difficulties and limitations in social interactions and my almost constant heightened levels of anxiety. I also had regret about opportunities missed in the past, due to my lack of self-knowledge. While an earlier diagnosis would have been very useful, in retrospect, I am relieved that I was not diagnosed in childhood, as I feel that without my struggles to fit into the rough and tumble of ordinary school life I would not have developed the resilience that I have always had. 

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  • I think mixed emotions are a standard response to an adult diagnosis, particularly a very late one. I realised, through my daughter being alerted to her possible autism by her CBT therapist, that I might be autistic, and then had it confirmed by diagnosis at 59. My main reaction was one of profound relief, I had a reason for my strange sensory issues, my difficulties and limitations in social interactions and my almost constant heightened levels of anxiety. I also had regret about opportunities missed in the past, due to my lack of self-knowledge. While an earlier diagnosis would have been very useful, in retrospect, I am relieved that I was not diagnosed in childhood, as I feel that without my struggles to fit into the rough and tumble of ordinary school life I would not have developed the resilience that I have always had. 

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