Published on 12, July, 2020
After being diagnosed as non-autistic a few months back by the NHS. I was told in the second meeting not to seek a second diagnosis because ‘you will only get the same result’. I left the room and spent 3 solid weeks in an angry depressive state after being told it was just anxiety and ‘mental illness’ The whole thing cycled around In my head constantly.
I went for a second opinion. It was vastly different to the NHS. They literally have no idea how your autism presents. They just go off the questions and have no interest in you as a person. The questions were also from the last recognised autism assessment questions, so I’m even unsure if my original assessment is even acceptable. I will query this.
They basically sent a person away with blatant autism and adhd and just said I was mental. My assessors were a pair of clowns with no idea what they are doing and I feel as though I should do something about it.....to make sure no one has to go through what happened to me.
Anyway, rant over lol to anyone who gets a non diagnosis on the NHS. They are not infallible and will have hardly no experience with subtle or in my case, obvious autistic and adhd signs. I have some inattentive adhd and I have never even heard of it but if you get the right person they will spot it. I was expecting them to ‘get me’ at the original nhs assessment but they didn’t and this caused me immense distress. Don’t let them fob you off if you have a gut feeling something is wrong.
I photographed my yarn stash and the socks for my assessors and let them make their own mind up about which side of the line I was on. Lol
Never seen a poor pylon wearing socks....you make socks. There’s a market there ♂️
I get you on the excess of a particular hobby/interest. It seems most things can be construed as normal until you dig a little deeper and the compulsive component will then hit them in the face.
I have nothing against them or their enthusiasts, lol.
My obsessions are knitting/crochet and family history. Unless a clinician probed that with an expert eye, they'd see nothing unusual. Once they realised I'd spent 18 months crocheting nothing but sock despite the fact no one had need of them in a pursuit of designing the most perfect pair...errr, maybe a switched on assessor would get it might be an indicator. Lol
Just a note. I was assessed using the ICD- 10 assessment criteria. Which was replaced by the ICD -11 in 2019.
you don’t like pylons or drain covers!?
No need to be sorry. Everything happens for a reason and despite the disappointment of not being heard or understood (the diagnosis was secondary for me) I wanted at least an answer or some clarification on my behaviour, which is extensive.
I wish you luck in your journey :)
No they haven’t replied unfortunately but hopefully they’ll jump on at some point and get the message and all ok. I do they same thing when I join places like this, usually piss people of and leave, I’ve had to learn lol
I'm sorry that you went through this and happy for you for getting proper care after all. I'm not diagnosed yet and reading this helps me a lot in choosing and evaluating my diagnoser. Thank you for sharing
One clinical psychologist with significant expertise in ASC told me she sees a lot of poorly done assessments with misdiagnoses in both directions, actually, and that includes some done by the NHS.
Basically, I think it depends how up to date the assessor's training is. Some are still stuck in the 80s I think, who assume autistic people are all male, obsessed with drain covers or electricity pilons, never, ever make eye contact, and have no friends at all, much less romantic relationships and always have explosive type melt downs. They just aren't equipped to spot the subtler presentations.
Moreover, the NHS services generally can't tell the difference between Autism and a host of mental illnesses, much less pick out when they are co-morbid from when one is mistaken for the other. I should know, I spent 2 years under mental health's care being blamed for not getting better from conditions I never had, whilst everyone failed to spot my repeated descriptions of what are so clearly autistic sensory and shut down/melt down experiences. I've read my notes, they called my experience "delusional".
I find their lack of training utterly incomprehensible in the 2020s and quite frightening. They can do a lot of damage.
So yes indeed, you should challenge them for the sake of the next more subtle presentation to walk through their door. And yes indeed, I'd advise anyone who feels the diagnostic process didn't produce a result they feel genuinely fits them to get it looked at again. I don't know why this isn't routinely done on the NHS. After all, neurological differences and mental illnesses aren't something you can x-ray for and draw an infallible conclusion about.
Glad you got to your truth in the end. Well done for persevering.
Yes, I've heard of her.
Congratulations!
Did you get in touch with Triker?
Just checking they are OK as they have been absent a while.
Sorry Debbie, yeah was autism with inattentive adhd.
i was seen by Sara Heath who knows her stuff. She’s an amazing person.
IndigoMandala said:I went for a second opinion. It was vastly different to the NHS.
What did the second opinion say?
Have you been given an autism and/or adhd diagnosis?
(Just realised that your heading is 'to diagnosis' so I think that answers the question).
Thanks for this.
It will be very helpful for some people.
Maybe share where you received the diagnosis from?