Dismissive GP

Hi - I would look into the Right To Choose pathway. You choose a provider and ask your doctor to refer you. As you’ve already seen a doctor I would speak to the surgery and explain how dismissive the GP was and ask to go down this route. More can be found here: www.autism.org.uk/.../how-to-request-an-autism-assessment

I think there’s a website called embrace autism that you could also look at for information to help you get diagnosed. I think there’s a long waiting list for tests and it cost NHS 2k for each test roughly. So I think it’s down to the cost of the assessment. Ps my thinkings not the best so that might not be the right reply to your post. Take care

I agree with what others have already said about doing an online test for autism, and it was a good idea to take lots of notes and show them to your GP. But I had a similar experience when I tried to get a referral from my own GP, I had carefully prepared a page of notes which he barely looked at. He said there were no adult diagnostic services in our county and he couldn't refer me elsewhere. I nearly gave up, but thanks to some advice I was given here I found out that what he'd told me wasn't true. I saw my GP again and told him about it, and after that I got my referral.

But some GP's just aren't as knowledgeable about autism as they could be. And some are just in a too much of a hurry, or possibly having a bad day. What kind of diagnostic services are there in your area, and is it possible for you to self refer? Self diagnosis is also a valid choice, but if you would like to make it official you might have to look at all the possibilities where you live. There is the NHS of course, though their waiting lists are long. A private assessment would probably be available if you can afford it.

I'm sorry to hear that your parents aren't supportive, it doesn't make your feelings invalid though. (I know that can be easier to say than to believe sometimes.) I wish you all the best in your journey.

Do the AQ-50 test and see if you score 32 or higher. It's a recognised test and 32 is the clinically significant score, if I remember correctly.

You can find it online at various places or embrace-autism.com

They shouldn't ignore that.

There are other tests there as well that will help to firm up the position.

If you have some money you could see a psychologist privately. It shouldn't take many sessions e.g. 3 or 4 or less, for them to have a idea, if you are able to be open and tell them your real issues without masking.

What EP said! What does an autistic person look like? In my experience we look just like everybody else. You could also write to your MP and the GMC about this doctor, it shows appalling ignorance, the sort of thing I would of expected 30 years ago. Is there another GP in the practice you could see?

One possible alternative is:

1. Go to a psychologist trained in neurodivergence

2. Take a few sessions, and ask for his/her view or analysis

3. Send it to the GP as the report of a specialist.

Another option is the same steps but in place of psychologist use an Autism Screening by an NHS approved entity. There are many.

They can directly send this to the practice also as evidence.

Ideally you can use both. Note though that the process is long an tedious in the sense of involving family members and so on.

It isn't possible to look autistic. I would be putting in a complaint to the GP practice. They should be better trained than that. I'm sorry you felt dismissed.

Hello and welcome to the community.

clolouise2001 said:

I’m just stuck to be honest.

You describe many autistic traits so in your shoes I would do my own assessment to see if there is a good probability that you are actually autistic.

The easiest way to do this is to use your favourite search engine to look for "free online autism test" and take one or two of these to see if you score above the threshold to be classed as austistic.

I would recommend making a printout of your results and also to list which of the autistic traits you recognise strongly in yourself. The list can be found here: https://thespectrum.org.au/autism-diagnosis/checklist-adults/

Maybe create a document with each trait you identify and a few lines about how it affects you most. This will be useful later in the assessment.

Armed with this "evidence" I would go to your GP, show him the test results and your document and ask him to refer you for an assessment using the Right To Choose path (assuming you are in England) so you get a quicker assessment.

It is worth noting that you may have more than one "condition" present so not everything may be related to autism. Comorbid conditions as they are called are not uncommon - things like ADHD and biploar being the more commonly seen ones, so it is worth doing a bit more research if you find traits that don't fall under the autism umbrella.

clolouise2001 said:

my parents don’t even want to support my feelings of possible autism

This is quite common I'm afraid. You are unlikely to change them so you may need to look for support elsewhere, the best option being a psychotherapist with experience of helping autists.

Taking control of your own support situation is a good way to empower yourself in the long run, starting with doing your own research, telling the GP what you want then seeking professional support in dealing with the issues that you want to change.

It sounds easy when written like that I guess, but we are here to support you and offer any input you want to ask for.