Getting a diagnosis: Should I write an essay about my life?

Post Reply New Topic

There's a difference between adult and child diagnosis for Asperger's Syndrome. Adult diagnosis focus on the adult's history. I have been trying to get a diagnosis but have extreme difficulty doing so because people in my family who hear Asperger's automatically assume someone with a condition called Asperger's Syndrome most likely has low IQ, cannot talk, blah blah... Although oddly enough they have always seen the long list of symptoms since I was young. They just won;t accept the name.

My family: You don't have Asperger's syndrome!
Me: Do you even know what it is?
My family: No.



The next day they might complain about my stims, or wy Im spaced out or why I laugh or smile to myself or why I talk to myself or why I walk around aimlessly for no reason, my special odd interests and my high level of compulsion, why I dont have friends etc etc

So would it help if I wrote an essay about how I experience the world, my development as a child and other strange things I do?
I will also write about how I eliminated other possible mental health disoreders: Ie. ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, Tourettes, Social Anxiety Disorder, etc.

I think that would help, if anything to convince your family that you have it. I would also, if you want them to understand, buy a book (there's loads of them on amazon, google etc) which explains aspergers to NT people, and helps them understand. If they actually educate themselves, they might see you're right, and actually be a bit supportive about you trying to sort it out.
Just my opinion of course, they might not react like that (since I don't know my family)

my experience is that they won't read it. just answer the questions that are asked.

I've read more than one post on here where providing a few pages to read makes the doctor/GP take one look at it and then do a referral. They might not read it or understand it, but they can't ignore it either so it's a very effective tactic.

Jason

My GP said there was no way I had Asperger's but gave me a referral anyways. I brought a copy of DSM-IV with me with comments after each item on how it applied (or didn't) apply to me. I also brought a list of traits I had that were not typical NT, like my tendancy to "think out loud". I rehearsed out loud in private what I would say and tried to anticipate I i might be asked. (I did this for 3 months!). I always told the truth and never exaggerated. Took the shrink only 2 appointments to get diagnosed.

That may be a good idea. Also, maybe you could show them some videos of high functioning people that have Asperger's Syndrome. I didn't realize that you could be really high functioning and have AS until I researched You Tube. A good example of this is the AnMish on You Tube.

The AnMish on YouTube

Writing it down will also make it clearer in your own mind and you can use it as reference to make sure you don't go to doctor and just forget what your issues are. After years of going to GPs for all sorts of thinks I've taken to writing symptoms down to stop the recurring mind-goes-blank-till-I-walk-out-the-door issue
I did this when I first asked GP about Asperger's, and got referred without delay

My psych found it incredibly helpful that I provided him notes and insights on myself. I think I gave him nearly 20 pages of traits, anecdotes, etc. He found them invaluable.

I did the same thing, though mine was only 4 pages. I wrote it because when I mentioned ASD my psych asked if he could talk to my parents to discuss my developmental history - my mum lives 120 miles away and doesn't have a car so that wasn't really an option, so I just wrote down all the anecdotes she'd told me and anything else I could remember as well as current issues. My psych read it and took it away from the appointment to discuss with the ASD specialist at the hospital, at my next appointment he said my traits were "blindingly obvious" and seemed astonished that no-one had picked it up before. My mum is heavily anti-psychiatry and I think she just hoped that if she ignored my more "weird" behaviours and social problems that they would magically disappear one day, hence why I didn't receive a diagnosis until adulthood.

I would very much like to read your essay.

I would write down every single detail about your life, all of your interests, fixations, stims, and every possible thing. The more detailed the better. I did the same thing and it helped tremendously.
I want to wish you good luck with your essay.

I probably wouldn't have been referred for a diagnosis if I hadn't written a few pages of notes first.

Talking to my doctor, I was nervous and had trouble articulating my needs. Having notes to hand to her were so much easier than trying to tell her why I thought I was on the spectrum. Same with my psychiatrist - she was hesitant as to why I wanted a referral until she read my notes, and then said, "Now that you mention it, you do seem to fit an autism spectrum diagnosis." And she agreed to refer me to a specialist.

Both of my doctors photocopied my list for my file, and when they sent in the referral, they sent my own notes to the specialist. He said usually they do a phone call screening before setting up a diagnostic appointment, but my notes were detailed enough that they didn't have to do that.

iggy64
cathylynn
Jtuk
DaBeef2112
lostgirl1986
bnky
fragileclover
Tixylix
JonAZ
Psygirl6
Dots

Thank you very much for your replies. I actually didn't write an essay yet . I realized that it has affected my entire life and it could easily turn into an autobiography. However I did refer lots of journals with my personal notes and lists and lists of traits and symptoms to my psychiatrist.

Although something bothers me. Barely anyone in the psych department of the hospital seems to have any idea of what Asperger's Syndrome is about. Is it really that poorly known? Estimates show that people with Asperger's only make up between 0.01 - 0.36% of the population.

I wrote several pages, single-sided, single-spaced, and brought them with me to potentially help with my diagnosis. I ended up not needing to give it to anyone, but it helped me explain myself much more clearly than I could have otherwise. I didn't have to refer to it, just writing it helped order my thoughts.

I am actually poor at explaining anything verbally but I gave my psychiatrist a list of tests and traits. And a big envelope of all my research.

I am usually poor at explaining things verbally, but if I have a framework in which to work I can recite from that more clearly than I could explain verbally.

Hope it all works out for you.