Will an ADHD diagnosis help me get an ASD assessment?

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qwan
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09 Jul 2013, 7:28 am

Because I waffle I bolded the important parts for those that don't want to read it all.


I previously went for an ASD appointment at 20 years old, and the guy only let me speak for 10 minutes, butting in at around 5 minutes to tell me to not refer to my notes I'd prepared so I wouldn't forget or miss anything out or word it incorrectly. And at the end of 10 minutes to tell me to forget about the Aspergers and just tell him my 'problems'.

He didn't want to assess me for Autism, although that was his job. He saw me as an intelligent female and had no recent notes from the last 2 years of which was the referral letter from my psychologist outlining all the traits I had and why it was seen as a good idea to check it out. He only had one quote he clung onto from my mom saying I was 'sometimes hyperactive as a child' which he used to justify all of my social problems might be down to ADHD and my stimming a sign of hyperactivity, and even went so far as to try to shove my bipolar into the labels of depression and ADHD (but on explaining my Hypomania, he sounded kinda sad and said 'No, that's definitely mania.'

He basically asked me load of questions on things he could shove into the ADHD box so I could be referred for an assessment for that.

It's been 2 years since then and I've just had a letter from them saying they have seen I'm on the ADHD list to be seen and would like my details.

My Attention difficulties would probably fit ADD more so than ADHD, but while I have the traits, I just don't see how getting the label would do anything for me. Meds would be pointless unless they might help my weird sleep which seems to mimic Narcolepsy; I understand similar stimulants are used in both things.
Other than that, I don't see the benefit. My hyperactive mind is no where near as problematic as my inability to understand people and their intentions, judge when they're lying or about to take advantage of me, when they're hinting, flirting or trying to deceive me.
This is much more a part of me that I want recognised than 'Oh she thinks faster than us idiots' and to sound blunt and arrogant, I do kinda see it as instead of me 'overthinking' and thinking too quickly, it's more of a case of everyrone else underthinking, and thinking really slowly. It's a good thing, slightly irritating at times, but no where near as problematic as my autism can be. But they won't take my autistic traits seriously enough to even sit down and discuss it...

So I'm wondering if, considering ADHD and Autism are co-morbid, having the diagnosis or investigation of ADHD might in some way aid my Autism enquires. If so, then it'd be worth it. If not, it might just be another thing they can dump every bloody problem I have onto, instead of trying to help.
He even tried to claim because of ADHD I might have been too hyperactive to learn social skills. I have learnt whatever has been said, picking up on social skills that are not directly explained has nothing to do with being too hyper, when I'm more hyper my attention can e divided pretty well. Besides, even when I'm hyperactive my education was never effected dramatically so I don't think it'd be a great excuse.


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2wheels4ever
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09 Jul 2013, 11:31 pm

At CHADD meetings I attend they say "diagnose to treat" which means to get a full assessment so it's known which medications to prescribe and whether meds are even necessary for some symptoms, from what I can tell (I straddle the line between ADHD and ASD) some stimulant-based meds help in some areas but amplify other problems and seem to have a shelf-life on good results on certain meds at given doses. I myself am in the process of 'plugging in' with a new p-doc who sent me to get tested for ADHD and expressed informally that he has a "gut feeling" I am ASD. I'm rather fortunate this doctor agreed to see me and shares my goal of getting to the bottom of things, while I'm not familar with the NHS way of doing things (I'm in California) if it's anything like the state/federal medical I'm on, you may have tough going at finding someone of similar caliber but my personal hope is that my ADHD testing will lead to further assessment, serving as a back-door to a spectrum diagnosis


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qwan
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10 Jul 2013, 5:39 am

See I just DO NOT need to be medicated for my ADD symptoms. It just means my thinking is different to others in speed and number;
I think around 8 things at once on average, meaning one thought process might get distracted by a bright light, and another by some sounds, thus while I'm talking I may mention the things that distracted me because it's like trying to get out all of this info at once.
On the other hand when I hyperfocus I tend to do so in psychological matters; this is precisely because of my inability to understand people as much as other do, so I instead have to over-analyse them to try to make up for the innate ability to understand their strange ways.

So I think it links in with my aspergers to a degree. But it's the most unimportant part of all of this right now. Getting the diagnosis I want would help me be able to access programmes to help people on the spectrum learn and adapt in ways that are tailored to their autism, not explaining things like 'oh you know, this stuffs natural for normies so we'll skip it' and then getting mad at you when you don't understand.

I've had over a decade of GPs blaming an array of illnesses, including hormonal issues, and muscular-skeletal problems on anaemia, because it was an easy way out of treating me and taking me seriously. Due to that I'm a bit apprehensive when things divert in case that will happen again.
And I guess it could be my rigid aspie-ness making me freak out that things are not going according to the right plan. DX

I think I'll send off the form they gave me anyway and I can reject seeing them if need be but I'm only focusing on the Autism reassessment.

I hope it helps with you too. Maybe if during the assesment we link all the ADHD traits with the relevant Aspie traits, they might rub their chin and go 'Ok we can see a bunch of traits but they could ALSO be due to being on the spectrum, maybe we could be smart and consider checking that out too.'

I definitely don't want meds to stop me thinking like me.


_________________
AQ: 34
AS: 136/200
NT: 55/200
Alexthymia: 126/185
Suspected 'Pure O' OCD. (OCI: 64 or 11.6)
And wonderfully facially blind. XD