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Hi ! Nice to meet you all. Looking for some advice?

domx17

Hi there nice to meet you all, 

I've recently thought about my life in the past and present of how I deal with situations, sensory, social interactions etc and they all tick the boxes of autism and maybe a bit of ADHD. I'm 27 and looking at how to start getting a possible diagnosis?

My sister who is 24 has had autism since she was very little and when I've communicated with her I feel like she 'gets me' on a personal level through autism if you get what I mean. The way she acts and sees life is the way that I see it, I must admit I'm not at the same spectrum level as her but I've always felt inside personally that there's something just not right, my symptoms started when I was around 14 in high school is when I started to REALLY notice my actions, particularly behavioural. I'm unsure of how to word the rest but it feels like autism crossed in with ADHD. I've never been able to stick to a job for more than 2-3 months, I've never had a job where it's been permanent and that I enjoy. I also struggle to find hobbies that I'm interested in, the only one I have and ever had is gaming, and everything else bores me. I've been on UC for quite a while on LCWRA, not worked for around 2 years. (I live at home with my father). I also suffer badly from anxiety and do not want to leave the house for anything.

I have had trouble with GP in the past so I've sent a self-referral letter to my local autism centre place who deals with the assessments (can't remember the name but it is in South Wales UK). As I can't afford to go private either.

Any help, advice or even just someone to say that it sounds like I have or just so I know I'm not crazy will be a big help. 

Thank you,

Parents

  • Hi and welcome to the community!

    Many of us here are "late realised" and/or "late diagnosed", so you're in good company! :)

    Whilst the information that you've shared could be consistent with autism and/or ADHD - and ADHD can certainly co-occur with autism - we're not allowed to offer medical advice here, and the professionals involved in assessments also consider a lot of additional information.

    If you haven't yet seen them, you might like to read through the various resources in the NAS's recently revamped diagnosis hub:

    NAS - diagnosis hub

    They cover all stages of the process for autism, with each section containing several articles relating to that stage:

    • Before diagnosis
    • Assessment and diagnosis 
    • After diagnosis 

    For example, these articles (from "Before diagnosis") would perhaps make for a particularly timely read:

    NAS - Signs that a child or adult may be autistic

    NAS - How to request an autism assessment

    The NAS articles include links to some screening questionnaires that you might like to complete, to get a better idea of whether your suspicions might be correct. You might prefer to use the website below for this, rather than the versions linked in the NAS article.

    The site provides some very useful commentary for each questionnaire, and also enables them to be completed online (with scores calculated for you), saved as PDFs and - if the results support your suspicions and you decide to seek a formal diagnosis - printed off to take with you to the GP.

    For autism, the AQ-10 or AQ-50 seem to be the most frequently used / required by GPs in support of NHS referrals. (RAADS-R might also be helpful, although some recent research has thrown doubt on its validity as a screening tool). For ADHD, the ASRS v1.1 can also be used.

    Embrace Autism - screening tests

    You might also find the advice here helpful:

    ADHD UK

Reply

  • Hi and welcome to the community!

    Many of us here are "late realised" and/or "late diagnosed", so you're in good company! :)

    Whilst the information that you've shared could be consistent with autism and/or ADHD - and ADHD can certainly co-occur with autism - we're not allowed to offer medical advice here, and the professionals involved in assessments also consider a lot of additional information.

    If you haven't yet seen them, you might like to read through the various resources in the NAS's recently revamped diagnosis hub:

    NAS - diagnosis hub

    They cover all stages of the process for autism, with each section containing several articles relating to that stage:

    • Before diagnosis
    • Assessment and diagnosis 
    • After diagnosis 

    For example, these articles (from "Before diagnosis") would perhaps make for a particularly timely read:

    NAS - Signs that a child or adult may be autistic

    NAS - How to request an autism assessment

    The NAS articles include links to some screening questionnaires that you might like to complete, to get a better idea of whether your suspicions might be correct. You might prefer to use the website below for this, rather than the versions linked in the NAS article.

    The site provides some very useful commentary for each questionnaire, and also enables them to be completed online (with scores calculated for you), saved as PDFs and - if the results support your suspicions and you decide to seek a formal diagnosis - printed off to take with you to the GP.

    For autism, the AQ-10 or AQ-50 seem to be the most frequently used / required by GPs in support of NHS referrals. (RAADS-R might also be helpful, although some recent research has thrown doubt on its validity as a screening tool). For ADHD, the ASRS v1.1 can also be used.

    Embrace Autism - screening tests

    You might also find the advice here helpful:

    ADHD UK

Children
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