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Doctors Appointment

mattdens

Hi,

I would like some advice.

I have a Doctors appointment booked for Tuesday to request a formal assessment for ASD. I have read the 'How Do I Get A Diagnosis?' section of this site but would like some tips in regards to presenting my case to her.

I have read through the NICE guidelines regarding the 'Identification and initial assessment of possible autism' and written an outline how I meet the various criteria mentioned. I feel I have given sufficient information to meet the criteria in this document, however, the document is 6 pages long, making it too long to just read and discuss with her. This being said I will still take a copy with me regardless.

In addition to this, I don't want to cherry pick a few of the more problematic areas I have, as I don't want to neglect all of the others because although they may be less of a problem, they are still equally relevant to the NICE guidelines and the ICD and DSM diagnostic criteria.

What I would like to know is, how should I broach this subject with her?

Any tips you may have would be greatly appreciated.

-Matt-

  • It's a win-win situation, either I'll be assessed and recieve a positive diagnosis which will help explain why I seem so out of sync with the rest of the world or I wont recieve a diagnosis but will at the very least, have a much better understanding of myself and my problems.

    I just have to try and remain patient for the next however many months, which I'm not particularly great at lol

  • Brilliant! If only it were that easy for everybody. It'll be a funny year, 'hanging' there waiting for the appointment to come through. The anxiety you felt over going to your GP might come back again but for longer, and therefore worse. It did for me.

    If it does, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it, and it's the thing I wanted to maybe warn you about (if you're not expecting it already) because now, it's all about anticipating the scary unknown. I expect that when your appointment arrives, you'll be back here wondering how it might go...

    If your GP was so compliant, it suggests that you've got a good diagnostic service where you are, and if you're that obvious, you'll get a positive diagnosis. All I can hope for you is that you get it and it makes the same difference for you as mine has for me.

    In the meantime, I'll look forward to seeing your contributions/questions/comments in these columns. Well done, good luck

  • Was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I went in armed with the relevant info and she asked a couple of questions then agreed to the referral. She said the wait could be up to a year but I was expecting that anyway.

  • Hi Mattdens. Excellent, you're moving forward at last, glad to hear it. How did it go at the GP, and do you know how long you might have to wait?

  • Thanks for the responces guys.

    It all went well and I have now been referred.

  • Hi, I went to the GP last week to ask to be referred for diagnosis. My son is waiting for assessment too (which is how I realized I had it too).

    I'm not very good at explaining things so I did little brainstorms. One for childhood, one for adulthood and then one for work linking my traits to them. He has referred me and took a copy of each to help him write his referral. Good luck.

  • I went to my GP armed with an AQ with my responses filled in, with real-life examples.

    www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests

    In the end I didn't need it though as my GP didn't question anything and just referred me. There are some good GPs around! 

    This is probably the most nerve wracking bit of the assessment, so good luck.