[AnthonyDerBlaue]

So I mentioned last year on this site that I thought that I might be autistic. Well, over the course of the year I've become much more certain that I am, and am willing to tell other people so even though I don't have an official diagnosis yet.
I was referred to a counsellor at my school after having a meltdown due to being around too many people and the noise (although I didn't tell the school that that was what it was). I didn't suggest that I was autistic until this Thursday, even though I've had sessions with her since October (Initially it was just about social anxiety and panic attacks). We've gone through the criteria (an alternative set written by autistic people for autistic people), and she agreed that it really sounded like me, especially the hypersensitivity to noise.
However, I went to the GP on Friday to get a referral to CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services). When I mentioned the autism thing, he didn't seem to agree with me, and said that they would have picked it up sooner through school grades and things since I'm 16 now. He seemed to have a very set idea of what autism is, and I didn't fit into it (being a relatively well-spoken, if shy, person who does fairly well at school), although he didn't outright dismiss what I was saying and did refer me in the end (but more for social anxiety I guess).

Since then, I've been more unsure about being autistic, so I haven't gone through with my plan on discussing this with my parents. I should get a phone call from CAMHS within the week, but I'm anxious about this whole thing now. It's silly, because I was just so sure about it all. Everything I read about the experiences of autistic people just really resonated with me, and there's a lot of things that are different about me which aren't explained by social anxiety alone, like hypersensitivity to sensory things, meltdowns/shutdowns, need for stimming behaviour and social communication problems (like not properly understanding facial expressions and the moods of others, and rarely making eye contact with others.)

I'm not sure what I want from this post, but is there anyone who can share their experiences of bringing up the possibility of being autistic and being dismissed, or of the process of getting a diagnosis? Thanks for reading.

[CANDC]

Hi Anthony, thank you for sharing your story. Congrats on being so committed to working things out. Maybe you are trying hard to convince everyone it is autism. Maybe it is best to tell them what is happening and let them do the diagnosis.

To me what might be more important is how to stay functional, no matter what they call it.

Keep in touch here at PC. Many people here care.

[Lexi232]

can you get a different GP? or maybe someone at ARC or another autism advocate awareness type foundation would enlighten him? he sounds very misinformed. aspergers is often over looked until the the teen years and a lot of people who are adults arent diagnosed because that diagnosis wasnt something known much about until the early 90's and even a year or two ago, the dsm changed the criteria some. i hope you can get some help and some solutions soon!

theres no way he could know that you arent. his opinion is based on what his beliefs are, and what he believes those people in your life should be like. in reality, theres no way he can be a mind reader and intpret everything and from everyone that has ever been in your life..

so i wouldnt give up.

[kim_johnson]

Sometimes it can help if you focus on your symptoms rather than focusing on a diagnosis. Clinicians like to feel smart by coming to their own diagnosis and they sometimes take offense to patients / clients having their own ideas on the matter. If you talk about how you have trouble processing sensory information etc... Then they might put 2 and 2 together all my themselves... Things are so much more meaningful for clinicians that way... I hope you get the help you deserve.

[rosska]

To add from my own experience, I wasn't diagnosed with Aspergers until I was 28. That was two years ago. I'd been in and out of psychiatrists since I was 12 because of having so many problems with social anxiety and depression but none of them ever picked up on it. Two years ago I kind of 'lucked out' I guess as I was referred back to psychiatry by my GP because of other mental health issues and the psychiatrist I saw this time had done a lot of work with autistic people and within the first hour of our session she said she thought that could be the root of a lot of my problems and then referred me to an Autism specialist for diagnosis. Turned out she was right, I officially got diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, OCD, and DID.

Sometimes, it really does matter who you see. I'd had so many useless psychiatrists who just didn't listen/care and pawned me off with anti depressants which never made any difference.

As others have pointed out, it's sometimes (depending on how arrogant your Doctor is) not a good idea to suggest what you think may be wrong. I had an incident a few years back now (I was 23) where I was pretty sure the pain I was getting was caused by gallstones. I suggested this to one of the GPs at our practice and he actually laughed at me and told me there was "no way a male of my age could have gallstones". After a year of constant pain and being taken in to hospital three times, I eventually convinced someone to do an ultrasound and it turned out I was right! I had a LOT of gallstones and they were completely blocking my bile duct. After that they decided to remove my gallbladder at last and for the first time in a year I could eat without excruciating pain.

[AnthonyDerBlaue]

I only had to see him for the referral, which he was already going to give me for social anxiety, so I don't think I'll have to see him again. I don't know what he wrote on my record though - I only saw social anxiety and social withdrawal before I left.

And as to the whole "telling the doctor your symptoms and letting them come to the conclusions" thing, I had done that with my counsellor. I talked about the things I was experiencing, and then a few sessions later said "I think I'm autistic, these are the criteria, don't you think this fits in with what I've been saying?".

But when it came to talking with the doctor, I panicked and only could think of a few symptoms to mention, and completely forgot to show him everything I had written down
He initially kept asking if I was depressed, and then if I was schizophrenic (not directly, but asking questions like "Do you ever think that thoughts are being taken out of or put into your head". I thought that it was interesting he jumped to that quite quickly.)

[kim_johnson]

I only got diagnosed after happening to see a psychiatrist who (it turned out) specialised in Autistic Spectrum disorder. It wasn't something that I thought of prior to that. To start with, I didn't believe him.

But he asked a bunch of questions and stuff started clicking into place. Things I never thought of before. How I was slow to learn to feed myself. How my Mother used to lay out my clothes and I'd have a screaming fit about that most days. How I used to collect toy horses and spend hours lining them up and learning random facts about horses. Even my interest in English Literature, later. Apparently that is quite common for girls, too... I didn't think any of this was relevant to my mental health. Nobody had ever asked me about that stuff before...

And how they let me into the DBT program but said I didn't really seem borderline... But might find learning the skills useful for coping. I didn't have the whole fear of being alone thing... But my sensitivity to environmental stimuli surely did trigger sensory overwhelm / meltdowns / something perhaps akin to borderline upsets...

Anyway... I certainly remember that feeling of knowing which part of the diagnostic stuff the clinician is feeling comfortable ranging over (ooh there are the psychosis questions... Checking out the mood... Checking about the manic thing again, I think this doc really wants me to be manic...)

(when all you have is a hammer - everything looks like a nail).

Is there any way you can get referred to someone who specialises in Autistic Spectrum? Maybe try contacting a consumer group. I had trouble finding a GP / clinic where the nurses weren't trying to grope me to weigh and measure me all the time etc etc and the local group here gave me the name of a GP and clinic who turned out to be really terrific. Luck.

Thanks so much for sharing your story.

Your case illustrates exactly why people have redefined autism in the form of a spectrum - simply because of the fact that every autistic person has a unique combination of autistic traits (and others that may even be unrelated), some more pervasive than others. It is because of this realization that these changes in understanding of autism have occurred.

Not everyone who is autistic shows ALL of the symptoms ALL of the time. It is possible that your practitioner is still familiar with the way he knew autism - a rigid set of symptoms and qualifiers/criteria, and thus if not met, he rules out autism. Things have changed very much nowadays, but it will still take a lot of time for many professionals to accept it as such. This is an unfortunate, but all too common phenomenon in almost every professional field you encounter in the world. People, especially experts, can get very set in their ways and views.

I know from my own life that I did not display several of the "qualifying" criteria for autism, for example the whole delayed speech thing when you're a child. But, looking back at my life, there is no doubt it now makes a lot of sense, and all it means is that I am sitting somewhere else on the spectrum when compared to someone who did have those characteristics.

All I can say is, it's good you find out now in your adolescence, so that you can process and accept it while you're still quite young. You don't want to find out the hard way like I did at 24, once you totally screwed up your whole life and had no idea why it was happening and why people constantly rejected you - it is thanks to that happening that I had to struggle with depression for over 3 years. There is no doubt, that I may be over it now, but I can literally feel that I will never feel the same again, I have changed. I wish I was diagnosed at your age, or when I was a child, that would've made things so much easier.

Originally Posted by rosska

Sometimes, it really does matter who you see. I'd had so many useless psychiatrists who just didn't listen/care and pawned me off with anti depressants which never made any difference.

That is so true! For me, it was also after changing psychiatrists a few times that I finally found one who almost immediately identified ASD with me, after asking me simple things like what I used to do as a child, what my hobbies were, and so forth. It literally took him 5 minutes, whilst I spent months with the others and got no real answer.

[HiCCup]

A therapist, i had, caught my aspergers when I was almost 25 years old. It's on the spectrum but I think a lot of aspies tend to go undiagnosed because of being able to somewhat adapt to NT life and seem almost "normal". Maybe continue on more help with your mental health from a therapist/psychiatrist. They seem better versed in understanding the mind. I see a psychologist for the therapy part and a psychiatrist for medication. Works really well

[AnthonyDerBlaue]

My mother just mentioned in passing that my biology teacher (who apparently has an autistic son) thinks that I'm autistic? This meeting was a few months ago, and I'm kinda suprised my mothed hasn't said anything till now.

In other news, the referral still hasn't happened. The doctor originally said he would get back within a week (which seemed way too quick tbh), so my mum contacted them today and apparently it is happening.
Does anyone know how long referrals to CAHMS through the NHS usually takes? Also, if they're any good for autism-related things?

Thanks to everyone who's offered their support and advice on this thread so far.

[rosska]

Originally Posted by AnthonyDerBlaue

My mother just mentioned in passing that my biology teacher (who apparently has an autistic son) thinks that I'm autistic? This meeting was a few months ago, and I'm kinda suprised my mothed hasn't said anything till now.

In other news, the referral still hasn't happened. The doctor originally said he would get back within a week (which seemed way too quick tbh), so my mum contacted them today and apparently it is happening.
Does anyone know how long referrals to CAHMS through the NHS usually takes? Also, if they're any good for autism-related things?

Thanks to everyone who's offered their support and advice on this thread so far.

The 'usual' time is up to 6 weeks for receiving a confirmation of the referral and it can be anything up to another 6 weeks after that to get an actual appointment.

When I was waiting on my referral I thought it was taking far too long, it'd been about 8 weeks and I still hadn't heard anything. I called my PDoc to chase it up and it turned out she'd forgotten to even send the letter to them... After she did send it, my mum ended up contacting the specialist on my behalf to explain that I'd been waiting so long because of the PDoc forgetting and the specialist managed to fit me in much sooner than normal.

[EllieGreene]

Some regular docs don't realize that autism includes asperger's now. So he may think that because you have no language delays and have a normal or high IQ that you don't meet the criteria for autism. But now with the Diagnositic Manuel V, asperger's is not separate. Don't worry about that doc just keep working with the ones that are helping you.