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Can you just ask a specialist?

Elan

I have taken cognitive tests the results of which seem to suggest Aspergers. I've read how it presents in females and I strongly relate. But because of how I appear to the outer world my struggling is either dismissed or not believed. 

I'm in the middle of pursuing a diagnosis but the person who decides whether I get referred or not rejected the test results completely, but honestly they don't really know, I would really like to show the results to someone who does know ASD/is a specialist to ask whether it is really worth pursuing a diagnosis, but is there a way I can do that?

I was thinking of calling the NAS helpline, has anyone found it helpful? Many thanks. 

  • In my case, chasing up the psychiatrist didn't really take terribly long.  It was my GP surgery that did the chasing up, once I'd alerted them.  I think it was just a few weeks or so of waiting and then having my GP surgery chase the psychiatrist up.

    Your situation sounds rather different, though.  The psychiatrist I saw just didn't seem to get round to referring me until he got chased up, whereas, if I understand correctly, the psychiatrist you saw decided not to refer you.

    I think you have the right to a second opinion, though.  Though I don't know how you would go about seeking a second opinion.  Was it your GP who referred you to the psychiatrist?  Perhaps you're supposed to go back to the GP to get referred for a second opinion?

    Perhaps the NAS helpline you asked about in your original post would be able to help.  I can't remember using the NAS helpline myself, except to get a benefits information pack.  Mostly I've made use of the NAS by using this website to try to find out stuff, like how to go about getting a diagnosis.

    As for a cognitive profile for ASD, do you mean like the 'triad of impairments' for Asperger's?

  • Amazing to hear other peoples persistance. How long roughly did you leave it before you chased it up? I was told I'd need another appointment.

    Overall the pyschiatrist wasn't bad, it was only that I could just see where they were leaning more towards mental health, which I believe to be the sympton but not the suspect in my case, and I really would've liked somone who knows to have been the one to decide that, I'm aware of the gulf between how I appear and what I actually expierenece (it's pretty big) and trying to bridge that in a communicable way while expierening an anxiety attack I don't even know I'm having is, ......like having to walk to the hospital with broken legs that need to be looked at XD

    I don't know, it just feels so obstructionalist

    Yes use the skills you don't have to prove you're missing the skills you don't have

    Saying that I actually can't seem to find a general overall cognitive profile for ASD, is there one?

  • I managed to see a psychiatrist on my second attempt, which started a few years later.  For me, everything went okay with the psychiatrist, except that he had to be chased up by my GP surgery.  Other than that, it must have gone okay, because, after just one appointment (and a bit of chasing up afterwards), he referred me to the clinical psychologist who then diagnosed me.

    Perhaps my GP at the time did a good job of referring me to that psychiatrist, after I patiently and stubbornly insisted on being referred to a psychiatrist after being messed around on my first attempt.

    Do you sometimes think that trying to get a diagnosis is like being expected to walk to hospital when you've got broken legs that need to be looked at?  You would walk there, if only it wasn't for your legs not working!

    Anyway, I hope you're successful in seeking a diagnosis.

  • Hi thanks for commenting, sorry to hear about your unsuccessful first attempt, hearing other peoples diagnosis/assesment pursuits has been downright disturbing (like your one and worse) I was almost not going to go through with it.

    Anyway they're a psychiatrist and would be referring me on to specialists. I think. My heart was racing, I difficulty breathing, and I had to remove some outerwear since I was in such a sweat so it's only when I left I realised there were several questions I should have asked. I have a similar problem to you, using communication to effectively communicate, communication difficulties.

  • Hello!

    Like plenty of others, I've also had difficulty getting a proper assessment and diagnosis, but I got there in the end.

    For reference, I've just written a description of my unsuccessful first attempt to get a diagnosis.  I had a social worker tell me that he wasn't able to make a diagnosis - he was a social worker after all - but then told me to my face that it was clear to him that I didn't have an ASD anyway!  On that basis, I wasn't referred on to see the psychiatrist I was originally trying to see.

    My second attempt, some years later, was much more successful, though not entirely without problems.  I've finally got written confirmation of a diagnosis of an ASD.

    What's the role of the person who decides whether or not you get referred?