Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I am 41 year old Spaniard who has been living in the UK for almost 10 years now.
My wife convinced me to seek professional help last year. She was pregnant and I was having a very hard time coping with anxiety, stress and suicidal thoughts. Things got worse when our little one was born. After initially being diagnosed with general anxiety disorder I was finally suggested to go through autism assessment and as a result of that I was diagnosed at the beginning of this year.
Once I got my diagnosis everything seemed to make sense to me and my wife - being so strict about schedules and time boxes, strong routines, explicit communication, lack of friends, no interested in social interaction, etc.
And here I am wondering what to do next. It has been a wild ride. My wife has been wonderful all this time and she is making all that is possible to make sure that I don't get panic/anxiety attacks again. But these still occur from time to time, and suicidal thoughts have come back sometimes, especially after periods of great stress/frustration with the little one.
I am at the moment contacting different organisations to get some therapy/counselling. But given the current pandemic things are moving slow, and in the meantime I keep having attacks from time to time and I feel more and more like a burden for my wife. I don't know how should I tackle this in the short term. As a result of a 111 call my wife did during one of my latest episodes I was contacted by my GP, who suggested medication. I am considering taking that path.
To be honest, I don't know what to expect from this forum. I guess that I just need to find somebody out there who has lived through a similar situation and share experiences. But I thought that introducing myself would be the very first step. So here I am.
Welcome! I hope you find this forum a great place to discuss your thoughts around autism and hear other people's stories and ideas, I've found it so helpful. I was diagnosed at 30 (I'm 32 now), and one enormous thing that has helped me recently, that I can't praise enough, is recent advancements in hearing technology. My ears themselves are fine but there is something to do with the hearing / language parts of my brain where I can't follow speech very well and usually can't join in with conversations as they move quickly for me. There's some sort of sensory delay. About a month or so ago I tried some new hearing aid technology which is SINC (Speech In Noise Control), and the improvement was instant - my family said I was speaking better which was because I could hear myself clearly, and I could follow what they were saying and join in better. The tech dampens background noise and amplifies speech, which you can adjust for different environments, and it's been life-changing. Do let me know if you have any qs, wishing you all the best and welcome again!
wow Rach i think I need this SINC thingy -- my ears are fine, tested dozens of times but I have issues with certain people talking to fast, or at some rhymn. I cant "hear" want they are saying. Where do I start with my GP ?
do u have a company name