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Social ability is blocking my chance at diagnosis.

Sarracenia

Hello

I joined this site today because I'm trying to pluck up courage to return to my GP and request diagnosis for being on the autistic spectrum.  I have enormous difficulty getting out and about at all so the last time I managed to get to my surgery was in the spring and I presented to my GP a written summary of why I thought I might fit this diagnosis.

She pretty much brushed it off saying the things I describe could just as easily be due to my diagnosis of social anxiety and depression.  But I feel that if I have social anxiety and depression it's only because I can't manage the world well due to sensory overload and exhaustion from the effort of trying to 'appear normal' when I'm out in the world.

I feel I only have one more shot at this before I run out of energy for it.  My husband has said he would make time to go with me but I'm not sure it would help as I try to hide from him the extent of my difficulty a lot of the time (he doesn't know that in private I'm likely to huddle on the floor rocking or any number of self-soothing behaviours that I wouldn't be seen dead displaying to another person having been punished for them severely as a child).

My AQ assessment is 34 but I feel some of that is skewed because of the level to which I learned to focus attention on learning social skills to avoid said punishment as a child.  So I'm pretty good at reading people and making social conversation but as I've got older I get more and more exhausted and tolerate less and less contact.  A meeting of half an hour can take me days to recover from.  I haven't been able to work for fourteen years.

Is there any way I can get support to help me get though the GP appointment again?  I find it difficult even to phone up and make an appointment let alone get to it Undecided  I'm so afraid she's just going to use my apparent empathy and social ability against me again.

Thanks for listening.

  • You can ask to see a different GP at the practice.

    They cannot refuse you a referral.  Cite the Autism Strategy at them, complete this GP screening tool: http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG142/AQ10Test/pdf/English

    Tell the GP that females with autism are often overlooked for diagnosis because they present slightly differently to males and that misdiagnoses of social anxiety disorder and other misdiagnoses are not uncommon before the correct diagnosis of ASC is reached.

    Stand your ground.  You have a right to be assessed.  If you need to, speak to the NAS Helpline about what your options are for getting support to go to the GP.  Perhaps you could get an advocate from MIND the mental health charity to back you up.