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Help - I’ve just realised I might be autistic

Arwen

Hiya all

im 44 married and have a young daughter and over the last few weeks I’ve slowly been realising I might be autistic. I just thought I was very introverted but am realising that I think and understand things differently than other people. I find that at times I’m really missing the point in conversations and answering questions that the person asking doesn’t feel they have asked. It’s so frustrating as I think I’m responding to the question but the other person thinks I’m being defensive or stupid. I’ve done one of the online tests to see if I might be and it’s coming out quite strongly that I have a variety of autistic traits. I’m a bit lost and have watched a number of videos of people talking through their autism and I recognise so many symptoms in myself. I’m not entirely sure what I do next I’ve told my partner and he agrees Im likely autistic but he doesn’t see the point in getting a diagnosis but I feel I need to know for sure. Does anyone know how I go about it and do you think it helps and is there anything else I should be thinking about. Apologies for the ramble and thanks in advance for anyone who responds.

  • in reply to GPK26

    Thank you so much for the advice 

  • Hi Arwen

    It does sound as though your symptoms are very much aligned to autism.

    If you would like to be assessed and have the potential diagnosis of having autism, you have 2 options

    1. Speak to your GP. Hopefully he/she will be understanding and help you start the process of referral for assessment
    2. Look to be assessed privately - I think you'd probably be looking at a cost in the region of £1,000 - £2,000

    I went the 1st route (NHS) and I won't lie, it was a struggle and took a long time. It also had a really negative impact because of all the hoops that you have to jump through.

    What I would recommend in the meantime is to look at various autistics Vloggers (I think that is the correct terminology) on YouTube. Try to find one or 2 that you can relate to in terms of your personal circumstances. For me, being a 52 year old male, I was looking for someone of the same generation. I did manage to find a couple of guys who although probably 10-15 years younger than me, they seem to resonate with me.