New here and waiting for ADHD and Autism assessments

HiCurious Panda and welcome

I hope you don’t have to wait too much longer for your assessment.

Its never to late to start your journey and with your new found knowledge I hope you get the opportunity to live the life you deserve.

in my experience its the worst thing ive ever done im 52 in a complete burnout and been past around by the mental health team as there unsure what to do. 

due to burnouts ive lost my job and dwp might force me back into work,which I cant handle. my life asnt got better the help and support  isnt there. 

Ive had what sounds like similar experiences to you in my life. I got diagnosed with inattentive type adhd and asd approx 2 yrs ago , struggled with looking after myself all my life , and suffered with situational depression for many many years ,and have been on anti depressants for almost as long , I do think medical professionals should try to rule out autism / neurodevelopmental issues before just issuing out ssri/snri like candy , I think many things were missed in my development, they labelled me with “learning difficulties “ when I was just 2 I hate the term learning difficulties like what does that even mean , such a vague term. It makes me angry abit. I get sad about my missed potential,  I had some extra help in primary school with learning. But that vanished at secondary school and spent my years there hiding from bully’s and basically shut down from learning, and left with one C at gcse in media studies. My saving grace was doing a vocational qualification in catering but professional catering is something I’m feeling that isn’t the right environment for me anymore. I love researching how things work and learning about sciency things . If I was an animal I’d see Myself as a panda most people describe me as a gentle giant lol don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing , all the best Dom :)

Welcome to the community,  Curious Panda! I relate a lot to what you described and I'm also waiting for my assessment. I hope you enjoy being here.

Morganeee 

Hello Morgane,

Thank you for taking the time to explain that a bit further, and for sharing the link. It helps make more sense. 

As I said above to 73231 I agree and think that hearing other people share similar sounding experiences can be very invaluable; feel like we are not in this alone. 

I have been recently signing up for ADHD UK webinar sessions where people come together online in order to share and discuss the sessions topics. Have you happened to find a similar thing for Autism or AuDHD?

Best wishes,

Curious Panda

Cinnabar_wing 

Hello,

Thank you for the welcome.

I completely agree and resonate with your comment about clinical / health professionals considering or being more active in looking out for neurodivergence rather than the first line approach to be diagnosing anxiety or low mood. It is a missed opportunity both in time (not being aware to explore diagnosis and investigation) and in self-understanding. I do believe it somewhat creates a period of feeling "lost" or "something not quite right" because the strategies, tool kids, or treatments suitable for anxiety and low mood often felt not appropriate or simply not working. Now I know better, and I wish I had not lost all this time.

I can understand what you describe as making sense - hopefully the understanding and clinical research around neurodivergence and related fields continues to grow and be embraced. 

I am sure we may cross paths in other conversations and when sharing journeys.

Best wishes, 

Curious Panda

 73231 
Hello,
I agree and think that hearing other people share similar sounding experiences can be very invaluable; feel like we are not in this alone. 

I have been recently signing up for ADHD UK webinar sessions where people come together online in order to share and discuss the sessions topics. Does anyone know if there is a similar thing for Autism or AuDHD?

Best wishes,

Curious Panda

I went through something similar and found that connecting with others who understand can be really helpful. Sharing and listening made a big difference for me. You’re not alone!

Hi Curious Panda!

I just wanted to say welcome to the community! You really wish professionals would actively look out for neurodivergence in people with a history of anxiety/depression. Instead it quite often seems to be the person finding out by chance which must be so hard for the missed opportunity. 

I can't really complain as I had avoided help until it got too much later l last year, and then discovered about autism and suddenly it made sense and eventually diagnosis. But so many have had the chance for someone to spot it sooner and didn't. I think that must be really hard. I hope you can enjoy speaking hear about connecting to others with similar stories!

Hi Curious Panda,

Thank you! Getting diagnosed has honestly changed my life for the better! Not that everything has been easy (it definitely has not!) but I think I finally am given the opportunity to understand myself and ask for what I need, at work and from my personal support system. After feeling different in a negative way for most of my life, I now feel that me voicing my differences allows my close ones to understand me and know me a lot more. I've also felt a lot of fatigue in the past year, which is sometimes difficult.

I've found this Instagram post really useful in explaining concisely what skill regression is: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZuxv92jGbX/?img_index=1 Just in case you don't have an Instagram account, she explains that skill regression is where you experience a loss in previously acquired skills and abilities, usually after getting diagnosed. To me, it comes from getting suddenly aware of where I've been forced to not listen to my own needs, in order to conform to society's and my family's/friends' expectation of what is "normal", and building skills to mask this. I see it a bit as a wake-up call, that I need to be more gentle with myself. That's why it's really important if you are able to give yourself time and patience once you're diagnosed! However, not everyone goes through this of course, and this is just my personal experience!

All the best for your diagnosis journey!

Morgane

Hi Morganeee, 

It's nice to browse through the threads and share a sense of resonating, that others maybe are experiencing similar trials so it helps to feel not too alone in this.

I do however, turn off the notifications (I generally do for almost all things on my phone) as I have found that for me it takes a layer of pressure off, so I'll see these threads every once in a while when I purposely log on.

I never know whether congratulations is the right thing to say when I hear someone say they've received a diagnosis. So, I'll just say, I hope it helps  I look forward to being able to better understand my brain and how and why it works as it does, once I know for sure.

Do you mind me asking you to clarify the skills regression? I'm not familiar with this.

Thank you for sharing you resonate with my thoughts. It's somewhat an odd one I've been realising I've started to have.  I appricate your framing of it: "in an ideal world, this would have made our lives so much easier, in helping us see our needs as reasonable, not excessive or "abnormal".

Can I ask, how has the past year been since having your assessment/diagnosis?

Best wishes

Curious Panda

Hi Curious Panda,

Just joined the community as well and already loving reading all the contributions.

I was diagnosed last year at 36, and currently going through skill regression, which has its pros and cons (it can be hard but also makes it easier for me to honor my boundaries for the first time in my life!).

I relate to the experience you share in your post. I've often wondered what my life would be like if I'd been diagnosed earlier. Where I stand now is: in an ideal world, this would have made our lives so much easier, in helping us see our needs as reasonable, not excessive or "abnormal". Sadly, I think the world wasn't ready for that when we grew up in the 90s/00s, so not being diagnosed earlier might have sheltered us from a very ablist society at the time? As a French person, I know this is the case for me, France being an extremely ablist country.

Hi Anna Mod,

Thank you for replying and for sharing the link. I have found it helpful. 

I look forward to finding my way around and will be sure to reach out with any questions. 

Best wishes,

Curious Panda

Hi Curious Panda, 

Love the name and the reasons behind it!

Welcome to the forum. I hope you find support and friendship here. 

Wising you lots of luck with your assessment and diagnosis. 

In the meantime please do read through some of advice and guidance sections about autism and diagnosis. 

Please find the link here:

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/diagnosis

With best wishes, 

Anna Mod