I’m exhausted and awaiting a diagnosis

Upon being told by multiple professionals that I may have some type of autism I began looking into it and if I believe it is true. I used to just think I had severe anxiety and got triggered over things others found odd, for example I moved house and for the first 4-5 months had to was my hands after I touched anything I thought was ‘unsafe’ to touch, which resulted in my hands cracking, but it was the only way I wouldn’t panic.

Now that I and my family strongly believe the test results for autism will come back positive after extensive research for the past 4 months have realised how much it affects me.

I am so tired constantly, I am in a never ending cycle of anxiety, depression, obsession over the smallest things, however I also worry about my behaviour when I feel this way. I get irritable and upset easily and therefore when I communicate come off as harsh and angry even though it isn’t how I feel, just how I express myself, this regularly results in arguments or distance from close people around me, which then causes the cycle of worry. I don’t think the people around me take into account how I feel and see things differently to them even though they are aware of this potential diagnosis. I feel so different, I’m tired, I just want to know how others feel and if anyone knows how to cope.

Parents
  • Hello Gracie, you are certaily exibiting some classic autism indicators, but to be sure it is this and not one of the other conditions which share some symptoms with autism I though recomment taking an online test:

    https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/autism-test

    This should give you a decent indication if it is worth focusing on autism as the issue or not.

    The next steps would be to get assessed - you can do it on the NHS but wait times are over 3 years in most places or you can ask your GP for a "right to choose" in which you get to go via a private assessment instead. They don't like advertising this as it costs them a lot more money although wait times are still up to 6 months from what I hear on here.

    You can go privately - I've seen prices of £500-2,000 from people on here but I had only 2 weeks wait to get mine so it was worth it or me.

    Post diagnosis you may feel quite adrift and there is little or no support available on the NHS - you should ideally budget for a therapist with experience of treating autists which start from £50/hour - expect at least a dozen sessions spread over many months as a rough gauge of a quick process.

    This site is possibly the single best support respource out there with a lot of experienced autists who can offer advice and opinions or simply support.

Reply
  • Hello Gracie, you are certaily exibiting some classic autism indicators, but to be sure it is this and not one of the other conditions which share some symptoms with autism I though recomment taking an online test:

    https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/autism-test

    This should give you a decent indication if it is worth focusing on autism as the issue or not.

    The next steps would be to get assessed - you can do it on the NHS but wait times are over 3 years in most places or you can ask your GP for a "right to choose" in which you get to go via a private assessment instead. They don't like advertising this as it costs them a lot more money although wait times are still up to 6 months from what I hear on here.

    You can go privately - I've seen prices of £500-2,000 from people on here but I had only 2 weeks wait to get mine so it was worth it or me.

    Post diagnosis you may feel quite adrift and there is little or no support available on the NHS - you should ideally budget for a therapist with experience of treating autists which start from £50/hour - expect at least a dozen sessions spread over many months as a rough gauge of a quick process.

    This site is possibly the single best support respource out there with a lot of experienced autists who can offer advice and opinions or simply support.

Children
  • Thankyou for this, we didn’t go private but I may consider it as it may help my support in my upcoming education in a new space along with stressful tests and other things along with the support for my diagnoses anxiety. And I agree that this site has helped me a lot as I was looking at the community part of it and feeling like many others understood how I felt, my friend recommended it as she got diagnosed a few years ago and it has really helped her.