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Going to the doctor

Kate Kestrel

Advice needed please. 
If you have a young autistic adult that you are supporting, and they have a symptom that any (in fact every) doctor would say: ‘get that looked at/checked out by a GP to make sure it’s nothing serious’ but the young adult does not want to go to the doctor, what is the best way to approach helping them with that? When they are totally emphatic that they don’t want to go and see the doctor, but the symptom is one that there is a TINY TINY risk it could be something like cancer? What do you do? 
It’s most likely (by far) that it’s nothing serious but there is a TINY chance that it could be? And the young person hates to be put under pressure of any kind (and I don’t think pressure would help but only stress them out hugely). What do you do in this scenario? 

  • Kate Kestrel said:
    the young adult does not want to go to the doctor

    out of interest - have you tried giving them some articles on the health condition in question, especially if it says "go to the doctor" in it?

    It could be that if they comes to the conclusion themselves that it will help overcome the resistance.

  • Just keep doing what you're doing, encouraging and offering support and a listening ear. I know you'll be frustrated and wishing you could do more but sometimes encouragement goes a long way. You sound like a lovely person by the way. If only every friend was like you.

  • in reply to Iain

    Thank you Iain. I think I will just have to keep trying with the gentle encouragement/persuasion, and hope for the best. I don’t want to let this person down by letting their fear and embarrassment stop them from getting this checked out. But I also am mindful that as an adult with capacity it is their choice and I have to respect that. 

  • Kate Kestrel said:
    the young adult does not want to go to the doctor,

    The crux of it is that they are an adult and legally their opinion cannot be ignored in this matter.

    You can only try to encourage or make the situation easier (as Queen said, see if you can get a visit from the doc).

    I believe that it is only if the person becomes a danger to themselves or others can you intervene, and this does not really amount to the more immediate danger that the law refers to.

    You may be able to get her to tell you all the symptoms and you relay these to the doc and work as a go-between.

    What specifically is it that is she stressed about? There may be ways to work around this.

  • Hi Kate, 

    I've some experience of this with my little sister who suffers from chronic stress and anxiety which causes her awful symptoms that often point to more serious health problems. But she gets so worked up she won't see doctors she refuses, screams, has meltdowns. A workaround I've found is to have a chat with the doctor, so she can help reassure her and then see if the doctor can come to the house instead of her going to the doctors surgery. 

    She's still anxious about it but doing it this way is much better for my sister. And it's always worth getting checked, her dizziness, balance issues and headaches which are all symptoms of anxiety turned out to be a brain tumour.

    I hope this helps you.

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