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Has anyone had a diagnosis in their 50's?

Wheeky
over 1 year ago

Hi all, 

Over the past 18 months or so, my wife and myself have come to the conclusion that I could well be on the Autistic spectrum. My wife had a slight suspicion prior, but after I had a heart attack last year, it became more apparent, probably due to me being far too tired to keep masking as I was recovering.

We analysed my meltdowns / shutdowns (as we guess they are now and not just me going off on one), triggers, my aversion to noises (I can hear the hum of lights, fridge, electrical equipment etc. and always thought it was strange that I couldn't filter it out), dislike of bright lights (including sitting in the sun for any length of time) amongst quite a few other things and me being a thoroughly anti-social git (a lot of meltdowns always happened prior to going out to a social function, holiday with friends etc). 

This analysis led us to the conclusion and has helped up change things lifestyle wise and house wise to help me.

I've also been told by a Psychologist that it does sound like I am, but they don't have the qualification / ability to diagnose me and the NHS authority don't deal with adult diagnosis, so it looks like a private route would be needed.

Although I'm only at the start of trying to determine whether I should get an official / medical diagnosis, I'm just wondering if people my age (nearing mid 50's) do ever get diagnosed and what, if any, advantages does the diagnosis have, aside from peace of mind and an understanding of why I am like I am?

Thanks.

Parents
  • over 1 year ago

    Hi, yeah this almost reads like me bar the heart attack. In my part of the world the waiting list for adult diagnosis is 3-5 years, so I suppose I'm in a "slightly" better boat than you.

    I ended up speaking to a phycologist about some other issues that are actually caused by the then unknown elephant in the room.

    When I realised that there was a possible cause and I had a name for it, something clicked and my internal battles greatly subsided.

    I'm on the list for a formal diagnosis but from what I understand is that post diagnosis support is pretty much non existent.(in my area anyway). So it's whether it's that important to your to have that diagnosis. Even though I haven't gotten a formal diagnosis I consider myself to be autistic as it now just makes sense to me. 

    If you can get phycological support to understand and explore how it impacts your life it may be helpful.

    Good luck and stay well

Reply
  • over 1 year ago

    Hi, yeah this almost reads like me bar the heart attack. In my part of the world the waiting list for adult diagnosis is 3-5 years, so I suppose I'm in a "slightly" better boat than you.

    I ended up speaking to a phycologist about some other issues that are actually caused by the then unknown elephant in the room.

    When I realised that there was a possible cause and I had a name for it, something clicked and my internal battles greatly subsided.

    I'm on the list for a formal diagnosis but from what I understand is that post diagnosis support is pretty much non existent.(in my area anyway). So it's whether it's that important to your to have that diagnosis. Even though I haven't gotten a formal diagnosis I consider myself to be autistic as it now just makes sense to me. 

    If you can get phycological support to understand and explore how it impacts your life it may be helpful.

    Good luck and stay well

Children
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