Awaiting NHS assessment - my head is in an odd place

Hi, noob here so please bear with me if I speak out of turn

I'm 51 years of age and male, over the last thirteen years I've become aware of the fact that I might be on the spectrum. A few years of denial followed by some more years of largely ignoring it. Did a couple of online tests during periods of emotional distress, one around 2012, another at the end of last year, both said there was a likelihood that I was ASD. Read up on the subject in more depth after the last test and found that things that have seemed odd all through my life make more sense from the perspective of ASD so went to my doctors. Got referred and was asked to fill in a more extensive multiple choice test, this has been reviewed and I'm apparently going to be assessed professionally so guessing the screening questionnaire suggests that I may be ASD but I'm still waiting for the appointment

I wasn't going to hit up any forums until I'd had confirmation from a professional assessment because a) I don't want to waste peoples' time and b) I might yet be assessed as not being ASD, however, since starting this process my head has been in an odd place and I just wondered if anyone else had gone through similar feelings so here goes:

I feel like the fundamental underpinning of who I am has been shaken. I notice things about my behaviour now that I hadn't done before. My head is mixed up between a new-found clarity of why I may act in certain ways and a feeling of no longer being the person I've always thought I was. I feel like I'm in limbo until I get assessed. I've been on this planet for 51 years and am a functioning member of society with a job, a partner, friends, yet I might have had a disability that impacts these things? I'm confused, is this common?

Also, my 'symptoms' seem worse when I'm under more stress, is this a thing?

Parents
  • So, further to my original post and still waiting for an appointment, what if my assessment is not on the spectrum? Where does that leave me? I've still got all this stuff going on in my head and it has got me into an odd state. Can I just go back to 'normal'? Can I still chat on here??? I've been waiting since January, when I chased it up at the doctor's recently they said I'd been accepted for assessment based on the questionnaire. I appreciate that mental health services are underfunded but I could do with resolution. Part of the process, I guess

  • That's a pretty common fear, the answer is that just because you don't 'tick the right boxes' during an assessment and are diagnosed as not having ASD it doesn't mean you don't have ASD...

    You can self-diagnose.

    You are 'normal' but, you now have more information and need time to adjust to the 'new normal'.

    You can chat here whether you are NT, ND, self-diagnosed, mis-diagnosed, professionally diagnosed - this is intended as a safe, supportive space.

    If you want to speed things up, consider seeing a clinical psychologist privately - my NHS referral was for an appointment in 'at least' 20 months time...

    By going private I speeded things up and was able to see someone who specialised in ASD in older patients, rather than being hit with the questions and expertise based around children...

Reply
  • That's a pretty common fear, the answer is that just because you don't 'tick the right boxes' during an assessment and are diagnosed as not having ASD it doesn't mean you don't have ASD...

    You can self-diagnose.

    You are 'normal' but, you now have more information and need time to adjust to the 'new normal'.

    You can chat here whether you are NT, ND, self-diagnosed, mis-diagnosed, professionally diagnosed - this is intended as a safe, supportive space.

    If you want to speed things up, consider seeing a clinical psychologist privately - my NHS referral was for an appointment in 'at least' 20 months time...

    By going private I speeded things up and was able to see someone who specialised in ASD in older patients, rather than being hit with the questions and expertise based around children...

Children
  • It's not any better for children unless they can clearly see they tick every box and traits are highly visible. 

    My daughter has been passed around departments for 4 and a half years with still no assessment! Private is not an option for us. It's just a waiting game which is bad for everyone.

  • 20 months? Blimey! That's bad. They told me around 18 weeks but that was 22 weeks ago. Think I'll chase it up at the doctor's, see if I can move it forward. The private route might be an option. I get the focus on childhood ASD and subsequent lack of adult diagnosis support, it's not the first time I've heard it mentioned. I guess the NHS isn't fully geared up for it, suspect there's an element of luck in quality of services and skills of particular practitioners, whereas, if you go private, you can choose a specialist

    Thanks to you both: need to adjust my mindset, whenever I go round the loop on this I come back to the point of thinking I am 'normal' because this is how I am and that is normal to me but then I'm conflicted by the fact that I may have a disorder that isn't 'normal' in the wider context