Hi Community! Hi Mods! I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Andy!
My journey started a couple of years ago when my wife & I recognised signs of ADHD in our then 9 year old daughter. We did the usual online questionnaires, and decided to go to our GP to get her checked out. Low and behold, 12 months later paediatrician diagnoses her with Inattentive ADHD. You know how things go, though - you're filling in these questionnaires and answering them for yourself - my answers were quite similar to hers... Intrigued, off I went to our GP down the right to choose route - and 12 months later diagnosed with Combined ADHD - but the psychiatrist was also ASD Qualified, and told me there and then he thought I might be Autistic, and asked for me to be re-referred for that route. I wasn't convinced. Along came the questionnaires, and then the appointment (11 weeks after my ADHD diagnosis) - a different psychiatrist added Autism to my wrap sheet.
My ADHD diagnosis I'd met with "nothing's changed, I'm 44 and I've made a pretty good career with it", but the Autism diagnosis has hit me HARD. I think it's the combination of the two more than just Autism. So my head's fell off completely - I'm feeling quite lost as I'm now looking back at 44 years of my life with masking, and wondering now what is mask, what is me? I want to be able to unmask as much as possible, but it's hard when you don't know where you're masking. Apparently, I'm supposed to be being referred for "therapy" to help me figure it out, but I'm not holding my breath at the moment as Mental Health services in my area are absolutely shocking. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking back at those 44 years and certainly some stuff makes sense - friendships (or lack of), social awkwardness, day-dreaming, creative, struggled academically but amazing fact recall, ability to find answers where others can't, hugely logical mind (but also chaotic).
So I guess for now I'm just going to have to try and figure it out myself... What makes it worse is that I've spoken to a couple of people who I've known for up to 6 years and told them of my diagnosis and they replied "I thought you knew already?"
I'm not down, or depressed - just extremely confused and a little lost at the moment.
Thanks for listening!
