I think I should get diagnosed.

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machine explain what you don't understand? as the context is fine...

No beta-blockers are for anxiety as well, Beta-blockers are drugs that are used to treat a variety of conditions. There are several types of beta-blocker. They include: acebutalol, atenolol, betaxolol, bisoprolol, carvedilol, celiprolol, esmolol, labetalol, metoprolol, nadolol, nebivolol, oxprenolol, pindolol, sotalol, propranolol, timolol. Each type has one or more brand names.


Anxiety. Beta-blockers do not reduce anxiety itself, but can reduce some of the symptoms caused by anxiety. For example, they can reduce shaking (tremor) and a fast heart rate.

I mentioned them in the past for preventing panic in people who have social anxiety disorder and have to do some extremely fearfull things. Thats likely why he brought it up. He in general rejects all use of meds for mental health. Which I feel is routed in him having a negative experience with effector. I have had postive
results from meds so naturally I sing their praise. The truth is in the middle.

He is under the false of this been to do with As, it is not but it is a course of why you get anxiety, but it is treatable by destroying the cycle, it is not down to the social skills its your view and words you use...

Edit::: I don't think he has ever been to a doctor for this stuff, do you even know what I mean by cycle, safety behaviours or you just been looking at criteria’s, or not much...


my sheets says
Shyness & social anxiety
asperger's syndrome

Social skills training is the main treatment option for both social anxiety disorder
and aspergers. There is no special treatment your likely to get with an aspergers dx that you would not get with a social anxiety disorder. An asperger dx may only
explain why such social skill training maybe a slow process(because of the physical
impairment of the social cogntive center in the brains of aspies).

Not really machine... it is Drugs to help lower your anxiety related problems - Cognitive therapy to get rid of your negative thinking so on or replace with less neagtive - then social skills - because I know social skills is pointless without dealing with the cycle first have been treated 1 year on social skills - but my negative part is still there, I been on 4 different types of SSRi's over the past 2 years, and I can tell you they did nothing for me... & I am not going into multi drug taking, I am waiting for my cognitive therapy...

Well In fairness I have had close to zero anxiety in social situation on high doses of
SSRI (namely during college 93-96). So I did infact get to the point where I could
begin learning social skills. Though I never had any formal training. Just natural trial and error.

I think while not exclusive to the spectrum, sensory issues are overlooked in this also. Sometimes it is mistaken as anxiety and if you are only working on it from that perspective you may not have much success. And sometimes sensory issues are not exactly something you can control - you may be able to try and control things before you have a meltdown but that is not always possible.

Yes, when used alone, SSRI's can induce (hypo)manic episodes in people who are bipolar and in people who are thought to just have unipolar depression but are genetically predisposed to bipolar disorder. Anyway, I was referred to an Asperger's specialist, who gave me my diagnosis, by my CBT therapist when my CBT therapist realized that there was something going on besides my OCD. I took three different SSRI's over the course of three years for my OCD. Did nothing for my OCD or panic attacks, but I'm a pure obsessional, so that may be why. Pure obsessionals are notorious for being treatment-resistant. I use Klonopin (rarely) for my panic attacks. I take the mood stabilizer Lamictal for my Asperger's-related mood swings. The Lamictal has helped me a lot.
-OddDuckNash99-

Uh to steer this thread back to what I was asking about and to answer one person's question:

I live in Mass and have HMO Blue.


So do I HAVE to get a referral to see a psychiatrist or can I just go to one independently and pay out of pocket? I really don't want to deal with health insurance because it freaks me right the hell out. Last time I had to deal with a referral, I was refused one and had to dodge medical bills for a few years. That was for a broken arm. I just can't deal with the paper work, I actually melt down in the office.

Anyone can pay out of pocket - however it might take a number of visits before the doctor would consider AS and to rule out other things like social anxiety or personality disorders. Also you may have to pay for testing in addition to seeing the psychiatrist. I know some people talk as if they have a couple of visits and get diagnosed with AS but that may be after seeing a psychologist for a while and the doctor reviewing their notes. I would be hesitant if someone just took your word for it and labeled you with AS after a couple of visits unless you had extensive paperwork from other therapists to bring in with you.

Well, I looked up your health plan online, and unfortunately, it doesn't give me much info. What it does do is direct me here:
https://www.bluecrossma.com/member/service/
Which is their "Member Self-Service" page, where you can get information about what your specific plan covers. However, it requires you to create an account and needs to know your Member ID number on your insurance card to give you info about your specific plan.

You could do that, or you can probably just call the phone number listed on your insurance card and ask them if you need a referral. That's what they're there for. You probably would need a referral because it's an HMO, but give them a call anyway. If you can save yourself the copay for that visit, it's worth it.

You could go and just pay out of pocket, but that's going to be insanely expensive. Doctors who specialize in ASDs are few and far between and with the current supposed "autism epidemic" there aren't enough of them to go around (at least not around here). Most of the ones I found weren't accepting new patients, and they all charged tons of money because they were in such high demand.

I personally ended up getting lucky and found a good psychologist who specializes in Asperger's who only charges $100/hour. Compared to all of the others, that's not expensive. The down side is that I have to drive 50 miles each direction to see him. I really can't over-state how helpful he's been though.