assinine professionals

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Whether you're diagnosed yet or not, have you ever had a professional, like a GP, counselor, psychiatrist, etc., tell you you couldn't possibly be autistic? Was it for a really stupid reason like "Aspergers is a childhood disorder and you're an adult so you couldn't possibly have it" or "You understand humor so you can't be autistic" or even "You're just not weird enough"???

Tell your stories here.

Well not related but the doctor at my college told me thyroid medication is not for
long term use. When infact its allmost allways needed for life(assuming you infact had
hypothyroidism in the first place). Oh what brought the subject up with the doctor is I was requesting to try the next higher dose to put me at the maxium "normal" blood levels (its tested with a blood test). He said their was "not a next size available". Which
he was wrong about to(though in neither cases did I confront him).

I was on 50 mcg and tested too high on 75 mcg levothyroxine. Anyway i wanted to
try 62.5 mcg which I think I saw lised availabel in a genric but anyway I could have
broke 25 mcg tablets in half (their scored) and took half with my 50 mcg at the time.
(oh I take 50 mcg today).

I only went to a psychiatrist(Or was he a psychologist?) ONCE! It was to(get this) find out why I wasn't acting more social. He said something to my mother about my being interested in girls! What was I SUPPOSED to think when I saw a picture that looked like a person, a feather on top, and protrusions in front, etc... I thought indian squaw! HEY, I WAS interested in girls, even BEFORE that, but had NO interest in indians!

NO diagnosis, he wanted me to come back. My mother didn't see the point in just throwing money away. Oh well, they couldn't have diagnosed me with autism anyway. I was too smart, and AS wasn't an option.

I ended up being perscribed ritalin by a GP, and my mother knew what that was and it didn't make sense, so she never filled it.

BTW HOW could ANYONE think that autism or AS is simply a childhood "disorder"? CRAZY!
Oh well, I've heard dumber things! One thing I have ALWAYS said is that psychiatrists need to get THEIR heads examined. I haven't yet figured out WHO could do THAT though.

My mother INSISTED on getting this book for me a year or so ago. The title is "how to read a person like a book". I skimmed through it, etc... MORE garbage about supposed body language. I really hope nobody reads this stuff. They will peg me as so many things I am just NOT!

Did I mention I REALLY dislike psychiatrists?

Even HERE when people speak about going to be diagnosed, etc... I am really the only one that has most of the details about me. I have asked my mother to fill in things from before I was 5, and confirm some things, but that is it. I might be the only one that can fill in the rest. If I am on a street and hear a siren, I will often try to stop, look around, etc... Other people might think I am nuts if they notice(It might look like I am trying to look for something, etc... They may even think I am trying to find where the sound is coming from, even while I am trying to do the opposite.), but it is a simple way to avoid most of the sound without dropping everything and plugging my ears. Sometimes I avoid situations, etc...

In short, I see the psychiatrist,in a case like this, as a kind of lawyer. I have to plea my case, and hope everyone was observant, remembers, and is truthful. I don't like lawyers either.

Steve

I have not yet had a doctor even willing to discuss the topic of AS with me. All i want to do is talk about it and maybe see some similarities between my traits and AS traits, and if so be able to deal with my difficulties through "an AS light" if that makes sense. No idea if I really have AS or not, but how could I ever know how to deal with:
- my lack of social skills in groups greater than 3 people (i feel like i am "lost"),
- my literal mindedness (sometimes don't even know if i am being picked on or not, makes
me have to "be on guard" or try to be "superaware" bc i don't get it naturally),
- wanting to be alone often (forcing myself to go out w/ a lot of people makes me more
miserable than before i went), which makes others shy away from me
- miscommunication between me and others (for some reason i don't understand),
- not being able to follow a conversation (again the "lost" feeling),
- always feeling like there is "something missing" that everyone else seems to have known
from birth
if a doctor won't even talk to me long enough, or about what I want to talk about, to be able to see what it is i am even having trouble with my whole life. it's so hard to talk to doctors bc i am just as lost with trying to explain things with them as i am with anyone else. in another thread someone posted about feeling like people just don't listen. doctors don't listen either. they have their own ideas in their head, but don't take the time to share those ideas with anyone else and what they do say seems ridiculous. i have been "diagnosed" with: social anxiety disorder, ocd, depression, and now bipolar disorder, all of which fit to a degree but none of which really solve what it is that is really bothering me.

I am eager for the day when psychiatry no longer exists and it's all "neurology".

I'm glad somebody else said that. Gives me the chance to say, 'Seconded!'

It really is one of the most obsolete professions. Neurologists can prescribe the same meds and also tend to have a better grasp of the inner workings of the brain than pdocs do. Neurologists, on average, also seem to be better scientifically grounded.

Funny enough the field of "psychiatry" was only begun as a group of superintendents in the old asylums. Neurologists were the doctors with more private practices and who worked at hospitals and the psychiatrists were the ones who ran the asylums. Back in the 1800s they finally made their own little organization called The Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane. This organization later on became The American Psychiatric Association.

That really isn't a problem for me.

Could be worse; they could still call themselves alienists and diagnose hysteria, the treatment of which is to be remedied by immersion in salt water and having large amounts of electric current routed through you.
Not sayin' it's not bad as it is, but.... could be worse

Kinky. Some places you'd have to pay a fair bit for that.

True, I suppose they're not killing off as many patients these days as they used to-- at least not directly. Here's an excerpt from a review by a neurologist done on a visit to an asylum and looking over their death records:

According to that neurologist of the time, these occurrences were inordinately common.

Thirded!! !! I HATE things that are so subjective, ESPECIALLY when it requires third parties that may even have agendas!

BTW I remember relatively extensive schooling(Then again, I WAS younger than 6, so who knows how long it really was) on social graces, and I wasn't even the only one there. I mentioned it to my mother, and she never knew about it. I have to wonder if I wasn't surreptitiously somehow given such classes because someone felt I could somehow benefit. Ironically, one part was about answering the phone. I could see myself doing what that now famous girl did:

caller: Hello, is jane there?
me: (Looks around) NO, bye.(click)
caller: NO.....WAIT!



Steve

They still do ECT btw, and from what I've seen and heard, many are far from using it ethically. They use it too much (too many rounds in one go) and use it too often (total number of separate treatments).

ECT is supposed to be a last ditch effort for those with depressive problems when all other medications have failed. However, this doesn't seem to be the case. Many don't bother to try the full range of meds, and many others use it for a wider variety of conditions other than mood disorders.

I even got offered the opportunity once.

YEAH, they USED to call that Electroshock! It got SUCH a bad rap that they renamed it ECT(Electro Convulsive Therapy!)! It macks about as much sense as kicking a TV that isn't receiving well. SOMETIMES it works, but it really isn't a cure or smart.

Steve

Yeah, the positive effects definitely aren't permanent. Therapy to help depression seems the better route, provided you can find a good therapist.

I doubt it works, more than it bullys the victim into doubling their efforts to seem normal.