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Suspected autism help

angelfish

Hello, i’m 17 years old and biologically female i highly suspect im autistic but my parents treat me as a joke when i explain why i think i am and its overall extremely overwhelming for me. im in therapy at the moment and have had highly suspected bpd for the past three years but the main traits that i have are ones that also link with autism, i personally dont think i have bpd i think the possibility of me having regressed autism is higher… i was hoping to speak to the gp about this but it seems so scary to do so but i cant keep on living like this as some days for me are totally unbearable, i turn 18 in a month so im not sure if its just better to wait till then? any sort of advice is highly appreciated! Slight smile

  • Your GP should take you seriously now.  You'd be 18 way before you got an assessment anyway.  I am so very sorry to hear that your parents aren't being at all supportive over this.  I'm a mum and I can't imagine hearing your child in distress and not wanting to take them seriously and do everything you can to help.

    BPD?? Hmmm...well, I'm not a clinical psychologist and can't comment on your situation; autism and BPD (or EUPD) aren't apparently mutually exclusive and a person can have both, but you do very well indeed to be alert to the possibility of misdiagnosis here.  That happened to me too with a diagnosis of EUPD secretly slapped on my file by a very unprofessional psychiatrist who never actually discussed my mental health with me and took a two minute 'flick and tick' approach. It can be very damaging to have MH try and treat the wrong condition as I know only too well.  I found out it was there by accident in the end and had a devil of a battle to disprove it and get that corrected.  Indeed, BPD is one of the most common misdiagnoses for unrecognised women on the spectrum and is the condition most likely to be rescinded post autism diagnosis. 

    I can also very much empathise with the fear of speaking to GPs.  I got around that issue by writing to the surgery.  I did some online tests from reputable sites, including the AQ50 and sent them the results and explained in detail all the reasons why I believed I might meet the ASC criteria.  The GP referred me without me ever actually having to have a verbal discussion.  In your case, you might want to pull up the BPD criteria too and also detail where and why you don't think that fits and then just state that you want to get better but that you are concerned you can't get the right treatment without an accurate diagnosis.  There is some interesting recent research on that if you google for it.

    When you get to the assessment stage, you could also ask your assessors if they are expert in co-occurring conditions and ask them to explicitly look for PDs and rule them in or out.  

    Good luck.  I think you are very brave to be pursuing your truth so actively at your age and I hope you get your answers sooner rather than later.  You have a whole life ahead that could be so much better than it is right now.