Approaching the GP for assessment

Hi all, I’m a thirty something year old female. 
my wife has recently undergoing assessment for neurodiversity and asked me to help fill her the forms out and we noticed that while the ADHD side of things seem to be very like her, the autism questionnaires seem to relate more to me so I have approached my GP for a chat.

I have a long history of mental health issues - childhood OCD, health anxiety, depression and generalised anxiety. I was badly bullied at secondary school to the point of feeling suicidal by a group of friends who I guess we now refer to as “frenemies” and when younger (18) was in an abusive relationship. 

I hve been lucky enough to study at uni, go on to get further higher education and have a great job, but I massively struggle with criticism (leads to a crushing depression), I get incredibly paranoid and anxious about things and massively sometimes struggle with social situations (have to have some alcohol etc to be able to cope which I know is maladaptive.) this is not exhaustive but they seem to be the traits that cause me the most distress.

my wife had a breakdown following our sons birth and was sectioned and in a mother and baby unit so I suspect I’m probably carrying some PTSD as well. 

I’m really worried that the GP will put this all down to PTSD which while I agree needs addressing (on sertraline and went through IAPT counselling when everything was happening) I think I have definetly noticed my neurodiversity has come out a lot more since all of this happened.

has anyone A) had an occurrence of PTSD which has led to ND traits coming out? And B) can anyone offer any advice how to approach my GP during my appointment? I did send them a rather long email explaining my reasons/situation for them to triage me. 

I don’t expect a diagnosis will change much for me, but I think it would help me understand myself more and be a better parent for my son. Especially if my wife is diagnosed as well. 

thanks for listening x

Parents
  • My advice would be to take some online autism tests. AQ10 and AQ50 (sometimes called just 'AQ') are the most commonly used by clinicians in this country, but the RAADS-R is the most definitive. They can be found here: https://embrace-autism.com/autism-tests/

    If you score in the autism range it will give you useful ammunition in persuading your GP to refer you for assessment.

Reply
  • My advice would be to take some online autism tests. AQ10 and AQ50 (sometimes called just 'AQ') are the most commonly used by clinicians in this country, but the RAADS-R is the most definitive. They can be found here: https://embrace-autism.com/autism-tests/

    If you score in the autism range it will give you useful ammunition in persuading your GP to refer you for assessment.

Children
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