Advice for Doctor Visit

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Hello!

I have an appointment tomorrow to visit with a doctor to talk about a possible Asperger's diagnosis and I'm wondering how I go about talking to him. What do I need to bring up? How do I go about all of this?

Please help with any advice you can offer, I'll overlook nothing.

Thank you so much in advance,

Blue

If the doctor is a clinical therapist or psychologist/psychiatrist, usually the first visit involves an intake interview, which is a list of standard questions asked of all new incoming patients, and consists of things like your family, psychotherapy history, any neurological disorder diagnoses, suicidal thoughts or tendancies, employment, things like that. It takes about two hours, and has little to do with the actual autism eval. After that, he's probably going to ask you why you think you have autism. I know for me that, despite having researched AS extensively for two years and being an expert on it, when my therapist asked me that question, my mind almost blanked. I thought of maybe two or three things to talk about. Fortunately, I had written up a long (ten page) document detailing all my past and present symptoms, and given it to her, so I could fall back on that and say, "I can't think of anything else right now, but it's all in the document I gave you." If you don't have the time or inclination to write out all of your symptoms, it might be a good idea to bring a bulleted list of the most important ones, which you can then use to springboard off of to provide more detailed responses.

If what you mean is that you're going to see a GP about getting a referral to an autism specialist, I'd just walk in and start with,"I'm here because I want to discuss an autism diagnosis." I assume you made the appointment specifically to talk about AS, and not for something else, at the end of which you'd just slip the AS thing in. If you did do that, you should probably make an appointment to talk about the AS by itself, as dropping it in at the end can cause doctors to dismiss your concerns, or take them less seriously, as they're focused on your presenting problem.

Anyway, I'd just jump right in and say, "I came in today because I wanted to talk to you about a referral to an autism specialist. I think I have AS because I show a lot of the symptoms, and they impact me significantly". Go on to list your traits, then use examples of said traits when explaining how they impact you. For example: "I have poor eye contact, can't make friends, and have serious sensory problems. These things are causing problems in my life, for example, I have a hard time keeping friends because they all think I'm disinterested in them when I don't use eye contact correctly." It might be a good idea to think of any objections the doctor could have to the idea of your having AS, or to providing the referral, and do what you can to come up with counterarguments against them. I can't think of any examples, because I live in the US and didn't have to get a GP referral for my diagnosis. It might also be helpful if there's anyone you can bring along with you to help corroborate what you're saying, such as a friend or family member who can provide their own interpretations of, and examples for your symptoms. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

Thank you so much for the great response!

I am seeing a psychologist tomorrow, thankfully. I have read about Aspergers/Autism and think I am. I've taken the tests online and have received scores very telling of Asperger's. As for a list, I have typed up some things based on symptom lists I've found, but only really added to those a little by slightly explaining the details for that said symptom.

Are you (or anyone) able to recommend a list of symptoms or something easy that I can try to base my reasons on so I can explain to the doctor the best way possible? I feel like I'm going to blank just like you did and not really be able to explain anything.

Thanks again,

blue

The most coherent and condensed list of symptoms you're going to find is the DSM 5 listing (located here: http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism ... c-criteria). You can print it off, and list off the symptoms that fit you, along with accompanying examples (eg, "I fit the criteria for deficits in social/emotional reciprocity because I've never been good at communicating with others: I always upset them and never know why.") The doctor will probably ask follow-up questions based on the information you provide (eg, "how can you tell when you've upset people?"), and that, for me at least, was the extent of my initial appointment. All the testing came later. If you need help "translating" the DSM criteria into more accessible language, I've read it enough times by now that I could probably be of help with that.