Not sure what to do

Hmmm...sounds like a high number of traits there. And the love or can't stand other autistic people is something Attwood points to in parent /child relationships where both are autistic: either eachother's best friend or can't get eachother at all.

At the end of the day you sound like one of us. Your question now is, does it matter to you to know for sure. Self-identification is more than fine. Not everyone wants to go through the stress of an assessment, not everyone wants to wear the label. But there are a ton of advantages in a diagnosis too. If you want one and your GP isn't getting it, try another GP and don't take no for an answer. Your right to your truth is yours alone and yours in absolute.

Diagnosed or self-identified, the community is here for you.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and its helped me realise a few things and has pushed me to go forward with it i did an AQ50 and got 33/50 and also did the RAADS test as well and 225 so called my doctors and he has sent me through some forms to fill out including an AQ50 so he can refer me to Phychiatry-UK as their process is quicker than the NHS thank you again for all your help.

Hi, I can only reiterate what others have said, you could pretty well reuse what you have written here. I used the NHS app and booked a face to face with my GP. Telephones make me very anxious. I had to wait a couple of weeks so used the time to write down why I think I’m autistic and how it affects me. There is no reason now why GP’s aren’t doing face to face. My old GP had just retired and I didn’t know how I would get on with a young new one. It was my son who put me right and explained that a younger GP would have been to school with openly autistic people and be much more receptive, he was right.  I had typed a letter and on the morning my printer wouldn’t connect, I hastily hand wrote it in my best dyslexic hand writing, the GP could see me referring to my letter and asked if he could read it, I showed to to him and he just said, “ oh” and gave it back to me. If you have done an AQ 50 or Radds-r rest then take it with you.

I fully get the touch issue, I’ve been married for over 30 years and my wife always asks before touching me.

I notice you hate boring tasks, I’m very similar, I can spend ages finding everything else to do so I can delay that task. Have a read into ADHD it accompanies about 70% of autistic people. Good luck with whatever you decide. You can ask any questions you need to here and no one judges.

I say lean harder on your GP. Failing that, go and see a different GP. You have valid concerns that are effecting your health. Period.

Also, once on the waiting list you can contact the right to choose NHS service - for me this vastly accelerated the time frame for an ADHD diagnosis, which you may want to consider? But the waiting list for UK NHS ASC assessment is 2-4 years in most places, so if I were you id fight to get into that as soon as possible. Once on it you can continue the self work and your own research, but at least you're on it.

Good luck. Stay positive. Self diagnosis or self knowledge, and ultimately in many ways just as valuable as someone else's opinion

Hi

You should seek being diagnosed. It sounds like you've already self-identified. The strongest indicator that you're autistic is that you find company of autistic people more comforting than company of allistic people.

Alll those tiny issues you've described affect many of us, not all in each and everyone, but some in each, after all each of us is different

I did go to my GP to ask for referral with my ex-partner, we've been together back then, and she did the talking. I don't think I would make sense to him. It's not easy to talk about those issues with a stranger, when you're unsure if they're friendly.

I went through my GP and he ignored the response from the diagnosis service for months on end, eventually I found out who they were and went direct to them. They couldn't understand how it had taken so long for the referral to turn into an appointment, but after direct contact, it only took a matter of months. 

I second the idea of presenting the list, I did something similar myself

When I approached my GP about getting an autism diagnosis (which was also by telephone appointment), I read a prepared list of the reasons why are thought I had autism. I believe that if you present the list that you have posted above, they should take you seriously and put you forward to the next to the stage of the process, as they did with me. Unfortunately, I 'fell through the cracks' before the next stage of the process (no fault of the GP) and rather than start the process again, I went down the private diagnosis route (which I could luckily afford). I understand that a phone consultation can be difficult, but it will be worth the effort in the end. Good luck.

Thank for this hopefully my area isn't too backed up and I can get through quite quickly, but this is very good to know and helpful so thank you.

That's the main reason I put this on here to get a second opinion before going through with it, in the hopes of some insight on my issues and how things work. 

One of my bigger est things for getting a diagnosis is to try and understand why these things are how they are me so I can get a better understanding of myself and how to deal with certain things. Nothing worse than having these feelings and not knowing what's causing it.

Cheers 

Thank for this hopefully my area isn't too backed up and I can get through quite quickly, but this is very good to know and helpful so thank you.

That's the main reason I put this on here to get a second opinion before going through with it, in the hopes of some insight on my issues and how things work. 

Cheers 

Hi.

Unfortunately there's lots of stories of local GPs who resist referral. In some cases this might be due to a lack of understanding of autism - especially in adults who appear 'normal'.

It also seems like the availability of local services for assessment and diagnosis varies massively - some areas have reasonably efficient services with levels of demand they can cope with, some areas are struggling.

When I first started researching diagnosis I was told to expect a waiting time of at least two years. It took less than that - but weirdly that was partly because the waiting times in my area were so long that local council had stepped in to get things improved.

The two best bits of advice I got were 1) Make a solid case to your GP that the possibility of undiagnosed Autism is having a negative impact on your day to day life and give them real life examples to back that up 2) Be prepared for a long haul through a system that can be incredibly slow, inefficient and frustrating.

The other part is that even if you're diagnosed - you still have to work out how to live with the symptoms and how to interface with the neurotypical world and that's most likely going to come down to you.

I hope that info helps somehow. Good luck.

Thank you for this but unfortunately I have looked privately but haven't got the money, especially with the current issues in the UK.