Advice Needed - seeing doctor tomorrow

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Hi Peeps

I'm finally taking the plunge tomorrow and seeing a GP about AS. I have left the surgery I went to as a kid, because I was always too hung up on what they were thinking of me since they thought they knew me, and have signed up at the best place in the area. I work for the NHS and asked the advice of a colleague on what place to choose so hopefully they'll be really modern and au fait with AS. They have their own website, which is encouraging.

A little background:

- AS was first mentioned to me by my counseller at university, who had been on a course about it and said she'd been struck by how much it sounded like me.
- I saw the people at the university support centre who gave me a test and concluded I had something like 9 of 12 traits (I dunno what they were basing it on - DSM-IV?)
- After that I should have been referred to a psychologist to be officially diagnosed but I was about to graduate so the uni wouldn't pay for it.
- Since then I have done nothing about it except recently contact Sacar and The National Autistic Society, both of whom have advised me and the latter have provided me with some info they say I should take to the appointment.

I was just wondering/hoping that you guys could provide me with advice, tips, warnings, suggestions, ideas - anything like that from your experiences. Especially those of you from the UK. I'm very nervous!

F x

Yeah I'm just ahead of you in the diagnosis pipeline as I just got a referral to a psychologist.

A referral is what you need to ask for. Be clear about wanting that. If you can, have a prepared list of your traits and be forthcoming when asked about them with concrete examples of how they affect your life.

Basically just be open and honest. Hopefully you'll be asked questions which allow you to elaborate on how your traits or difficulties manifest specifically.

Don't let the GP fob you off with sidetracking. That happened to me the first time and the second time I was better prepared. Ask specifically for a referral to a psychologist who can diagnose autistic spectrum disorders.

Good luck!

edit: something I did do was make sure I didn't fight my natural mannerisms too much while in the appointment. Rather than straining to appear as NT as possible, I didn't force myself to mask my physical traits which I think is probably the way to go. Some GPs don't understand the AS disorders much and so if I wasn't comfortable with eye contact, for example, I didn't push myself in order that the GP would understand that was difficult for me.

Thanks very much. That's a good idea, not masking my aspie traits like I normally do. I'm going to try hard not to let them fob me off, that's why I've switched doctor.


So guys, you could just say good luck...

I wish you much luck in your quest Keep us posted!

Good luck, F!

I also started along the path to diagnosis by asking my GP. The first thing she asked me was "why do you think you have Asperger's Syndrome?" I had been thinking about it for a while (and actually posting about it on this forum for about three months prior), so I was fairly well prepared - but very nervous, which caused my eye contact to suffer. I think that really helped to convince her.

It was important to me to write about as many AS-related incidents as I could remember from my childhood - in as explicit detail as I could manage (engaging all the senses, describing my feelings, etc.) I'm not very good at talking when I'm nervous, so the extra preparation helped - I could use phrases that I'd already written. It was a bit like working from a script.

You're an excellent writer, so I'd encourage you to do the same.

Again, best of luck!

HONESTY is the best policy. Do not try to get an AS diagnosis, just be yourself and hope your doctor is not a schmuck.

Hey you Thank you for that. x

Just 3 hours till my appointment! I'm going to have some cereal, look over the material I got from the National Autistic Society and then start writing down childhood stuff and examples of what traits I have. I am going to let myself be fully aspie - low eye contact, inappropriately forthright comments etc - but I'm not going to put it on. As ShogunSalute said, if I act like me the doctor should see it, I don't need to pretend or anything.

Please say more if you can! I won't be going for another few hours and all support is very appreciated.

Ta for the luck anxiety25

Best wishes, Touch.

Good luck with it.

So, this how it went.

I arrived at 3:25. After checking me in the receptionist said "You know your appointment is at 4:40...". Bum. I had heard her say that on the phone the previous day and somehow interpreted that to mean twenty to four. I used to do this as a child. Silly aspie.

So I waited, reading Dante (how apt) and watching a small child amble about. At 4:30 I was called. The doctor was young and African with a strong accent. He had a nice nose. I told him I was there to get referred for an assessment for Asperger's and that they had said at university I might have it. He asked "Why do you think you have Asperger Syndrome?" I got out my list and started bla-bla-blaing.

"I'll tell you what the plan is going to be now." He said, after I rambled for a while, "I want to be fair to you."

My mind was going Uh oh, here it is, the fobbing off.

"I want you to book a double appointment." He continued, to my absolute astonishment, "These kind of mental health issues are not so good covered in 10 minutes. Tonsilitis - no problem! But these things we need to look at properly."

He found that he was free all day Monday and told me to book in then, for a twenty minute appointment.

"Then we can see if you have Asperger Syndrome and see how we can help you. And if you don't have it, we can see what you do have and how we can help with that."

I left with a big smile on my face. He even asked if I wanted to leave my notes for him to look over. I said no but still!! What a lovely man!

What a lovely supportive man!!
My GP isn't even sure what it is. :p

It's great that you got such a supportive response. At least you can feel now that you will be taken seriously in this issue!!
Brill!

Congratulations!

You have successfully completed Step One: getting a GP to take you seriously.

Somewhere along the line, you will need to see a clinical psychologist for a proper evaluation - which is likely to take several hours (mine was about 4 sessions, over the course of two months - some are several hours in one go.)

But - yay! You weren't sent on your way because "women don't have Asperger's."

At the first session of my evaluation, I handed the psychologist a 14-page bio, in which I related incidents in my life to the DSM-IV criteria. He was very gracious in accepting it. Then, over the course of about 3 and a half sessions, he asked me questions that were almost identical to those found on the Aspie Quiz. I got my diagnosis at the end of the 4th session.

I really hope this works out for you, because it's incredibly validating to hear that there is one reason to explain the difficulties of your life (and also some of your strengths that set you apart from the majority of society.)