Adult Diagnosis - Embarressed

Scorpion is absolutely right you need to keep going until you get seen by someone who knows what they are talking about. It's no good seeing someone who has no training on ASD's as they will not pick up on the right things and you could end up with a mis-diagnosis.

To give you an example my own diagnosis could have gone badly wrong if it weren't for the great NAS advisors support and my own determination to get to the right person.

I went to see my GP, explained that I thought I had Asperger's, told him why, I had a long (3 pages) printout of all the various traits I have as well as things from my childhood. I printed out my AQ scores, aspie quiz score etc etc and some info from this website that is aimed at GP's. He was very honest and said he had never come across Asperger's so he'd need to consult with the other GP's to see what the next step is. The next day I get a call to say I've been referred to the mental health team and I got an appointment in the post to see a gateway worker (which is probably the exact same thing as an access clinician just different wording).

So off I went to the apointment with all my printouts, again I explained why I thought I had Asperger's, gave her all my test scores and list of traits etc etc. Before she looked at a thing she told me that I couldn't possibly have Asperger's because it's a childhood develomental disorder and I was an adult....she then said what would be the point in getting diagnosed anyway because there is no support(I did say I just wanted to know, I had coped so far so wasn't so much interested in support as just having an answer for why I am the way I am).

Then she read the first paragraph of my printout which mentioned my obsessive rituals and hand patterns (stimming), she quickly flicked to the next page and skimmed through a couple of lines..laughed! and then said it was clear that I had obsessive compulsive disorder, handed me all my stuff back and said she'd have to speak  to her manager to see who to refer me to as my OCD had been going on for so long that I'd need quite intensive therapy for it so she wasn't sure which psychiatrist to send me to. I'd also mentioned that I thought perhaps my daughter was on the spectrum as she had alot of traits and her sensory probelms are worse then mine, she laughed that off and said "all kids have little obsessions and funny ways, she's fine, any problems she has she's learned from you" I wanted to punch her at that point, how dare she say my daugter's probelms are my fault but I kept my calm and just screamed and raged in the car on the way home.

So yeah all in all she was an absolute disgrace and only that I'd read alot about ASD's and had gotten alot of great advice from NAS did I not come away from that appointment completely deflated and agreeing with her 'diagnosis' of OCD. So I waited to be referred thinking okay she was terrible but at least a psychiatrist or whoever will have a bit more of an idea of what they are doing. I wasn't referred to a psychiatrist I was sent a letter regarding cognitive behavioural therapy which was an opt in service and that was all.

So fuming I went back to the GP armed with the knowledge from NAS that he could refer me directly to an autism diagnostic centre, he was absolutely brilliant, he apologised for how I was treated. He called the gateway worker up, had a go at her saying she had no right or even the right credentials to diagose me. He then referred me to a specific dianostic centre in my area, few weeks later I got a letter and alot of forms/tests to fill in. Sent those back and was told I could wait up to 3 months but they had a cancellation about 2 weeks later, I went to the clinic and 2 hours later I had my Asperger diagnosis.

So don't take any BS from whoever you see, have you contacted the NAS to see if there is an autism specialist in your area? Get the info of the closest one to you, if they take GP referrals go back to your GP and ask for a referral if it has to be via a psyciatrist or similar professional then get yourself referred to one of them and then get them to refer you.

Good luck :)

Scorpion is absolutely right you need to keep going until you get seen by someone who knows what they are talking about. It's no good seeing someone who has no training on ASD's as they will not pick up on the right things and you could end up with a mis-diagnosis.

To give you an example my own diagnosis could have gone badly wrong if it weren't for the great NAS advisors support and my own determination to get to the right person.

I went to see my GP, explained that I thought I had Asperger's, told him why, I had a long (3 pages) printout of all the various traits I have as well as things from my childhood. I printed out my AQ scores, aspie quiz score etc etc and some info from this website that is aimed at GP's. He was very honest and said he had never come across Asperger's so he'd need to consult with the other GP's to see what the next step is. The next day I get a call to say I've been referred to the mental health team and I got an appointment in the post to see a gateway worker (which is probably the exact same thing as an access clinician just different wording).

So off I went to the apointment with all my printouts, again I explained why I thought I had Asperger's, gave her all my test scores and list of traits etc etc. Before she looked at a thing she told me that I couldn't possibly have Asperger's because it's a childhood develomental disorder and I was an adult....she then said what would be the point in getting diagnosed anyway because there is no support(I did say I just wanted to know, I had coped so far so wasn't so much interested in support as just having an answer for why I am the way I am).

Then she read the first paragraph of my printout which mentioned my obsessive rituals and hand patterns (stimming), she quickly flicked to the next page and skimmed through a couple of lines..laughed! and then said it was clear that I had obsessive compulsive disorder, handed me all my stuff back and said she'd have to speak  to her manager to see who to refer me to as my OCD had been going on for so long that I'd need quite intensive therapy for it so she wasn't sure which psychiatrist to send me to. I'd also mentioned that I thought perhaps my daughter was on the spectrum as she had alot of traits and her sensory probelms are worse then mine, she laughed that off and said "all kids have little obsessions and funny ways, she's fine, any problems she has she's learned from you" I wanted to punch her at that point, how dare she say my daugter's probelms are my fault but I kept my calm and just screamed and raged in the car on the way home.

So yeah all in all she was an absolute disgrace and only that I'd read alot about ASD's and had gotten alot of great advice from NAS did I not come away from that appointment completely deflated and agreeing with her 'diagnosis' of OCD. So I waited to be referred thinking okay she was terrible but at least a psychiatrist or whoever will have a bit more of an idea of what they are doing. I wasn't referred to a psychiatrist I was sent a letter regarding cognitive behavioural therapy which was an opt in service and that was all.

So fuming I went back to the GP armed with the knowledge from NAS that he could refer me directly to an autism diagnostic centre, he was absolutely brilliant, he apologised for how I was treated. He called the gateway worker up, had a go at her saying she had no right or even the right credentials to diagose me. He then referred me to a specific dianostic centre in my area, few weeks later I got a letter and alot of forms/tests to fill in. Sent those back and was told I could wait up to 3 months but they had a cancellation about 2 weeks later, I went to the clinic and 2 hours later I had my Asperger diagnosis.

So don't take any BS from whoever you see, have you contacted the NAS to see if there is an autism specialist in your area? Get the info of the closest one to you, if they take GP referrals go back to your GP and ask for a referral if it has to be via a psyciatrist or similar professional then get yourself referred to one of them and then get them to refer you.

Good luck :)