Hi, My Name's Lucy and I MIGHT have Aspergers/Autism?

The GP doesn't make the diagnosis - he will refer you to a specialist mental health team.

Hi Guys.

Update on how the process is going, I have an appointment with my GP and HOPEFULLY have my mother attending with me to give some background into the disorder, i mean i'm so scared of telling the doctor due to already having been diagnosed with mental health before...
I took the AQ test here on the NAS website and got 40/50. which really shocked me.
I am scared but hopeful that my GP will listen and hopefully i can get a diagnosis, i mean the more i chat in the community and research the more i believe i might have it.

This is the same GP who diagnosed me with severe depression and moderate anxiety, so i'm hoping he has an open mind on the matter...

Regards

-L

You scored in the 40s, as I did. I just had my diagnosis & it took 11 months. If in doubt, ask for the referral, what's to lose?

Hi

I am new too. I did the autistic test and scored 43/50. I've known all my life that something was not quite right with me. I've adressed it by talking to my GP and he agrees that i need a referral. He said it couild take up to 12 months. Is that normal?

Because now i've become more aware of my difficulties, i'm worried i'm going to isolate myself, through fear. Aspart of me right now feels that i wish i was ignorant to it but another part of me wants to move forward and 12 months seems too long.

Any advice to cope with this, please!!!

Hi Lucy,

I have just been recently diagnosed and some of the comments you have made sound just like some of the incidents of my life. It was something that I stumbled upon. I knew I was different somehow but not sure why. I mulled it over for over two years before getting an assessment - reasearching everything I could find, talking to people, etc.

I then decided to get the assessment from a professional and find out for sure. Turns out that I had Autism and this has really helped put things into perspective for me. Questions that have worried me all my life, I now have an answer for. Although it has not all been easy it has been worthwhile and I am still on this journey.

Only you can decided if you want to get an assessment but I would suggest reading about Autism and seeing how you fit in with what you find out. Remember it is a spectrum and no two people are the same - we just have similiar traits. Knowing as much information as possible really helped me to decide if I wanted to know for sure.

Wellington

Get an assessment from a professional. That sounds a lot like ASD to me. I too was reading as an adult before I left primary school and wasn't diagnosed as a child - this was back in the 1980s and diagnosis is better these days.

Sometimes it doesn't become obvious until adulthood.

Hello

I spoke to my mother, who told me i wasn't likely to have it as a child considering i made eye contact, responded to my name. if anything i learnt things too fast! I was speaking by 1 and a half, and was reading adult level liteature by the time i was 6 (which when i watched my nephew age 6, i noticed i must've been.. very different), I was told i was difficult and didnt hang round other children in nursery, to the point my mum had to come and sit in class with me.

I weirdly nowadays dont like to be touched or hugged, mostly came when i entered young adsolence, i dont understand my feelings half the time. and its hard to explain..
I've also been told by family and friends since young i "Take what they say too literally" but i do understand jokes, in my home i dont get away with not laughing at them!
If anything i like to make eye contact, but it makes me super uncomfortable! and to be honest i dont understand body language or facial expressions, tone of voice.
I do follow a very rigid schedule, and have a massive hate of change. i literally complain and yell at my parents when something in my room doesn't look EXACTLY how i left it.
I also have quite repetitive habits, such as clicking my fingers, softly banging my heel on the floor, i even suffer from Dermatillomania, a Body repetetive disorder.

It does confuse me as i obviously didnt seem to have it as a child, so i'm confused? what would be the next step?

Have you talked to your parent(s) at all? They may be able to provide some background information i.e. when you started speaking, what you were like as a toddler. That will assist with a diagnosis.