Feelings in the run up to formal diagnosis

[ZackSkylar101]

Hey people,

So after a year and a half wait I've finally got my diagnostic appointment with a neuropsychiatrist (something I am particularly happy about because neuropsychiatry is an excellent speciality and the more neuro side of it sits quite nicely with me ) coming up next week. What I'm curious about is for people who got diagnosed when they were not a child, what were your feelings coming up towards the diagnosis? Currently I'm feeling, well, a lot of things. It would take quite a lot of writing to explain how I am feeling at the moment, but the simplest points of it are that I am currently worried about what is going to happen ultimately, whether the result confirms or doesn't (ironically the more worried I get, the more it is potentially confirming the diagnosis and making an outcome more certain, destroying the need to be worried, which all in all makes things amusing XD), I don't really know what to expect from what is happening, and the part that isn't worrying about the whole thing is a little excited to find out the process and have a bit of fun with it.

But yeah, what were other people's feelings heading up to diagnosis? If anyone has any useful advice about how to approach the session that would be handy, but I imagine it's just be yourself and let what happens happens.

Hope everyone is doing alright otherwise

 

[unsurewhattoname]

Interest. With each step I learned more about myself so I enjoyed the process.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I'm nearing a diagnosis too. Fortunately it's with my psychiatrist and he knows me and is already convinced I have asperger's so I think I know the outcome. So far they've gotten me to do both the AQ and the EQ and while I haven't scored it, looking at the other times I've done it (see my signature) I know the answers. Still, I'm a little nervous but I really want it done and for this to be in black and white that I have this condition to stop the endless circle of do I or don't I.

 

[clg114]

I was 60 years old before I ever heard of Asperger's Syndrome and 62 years old when I was diagnosed. After I found out about it, I researched and found out everything I could about AS. I was 99% sure that I was a Aspie, but I wanted to know for sure. I got my GP to give me a referral to a doctor with a lot of experience with AS. I made a appointment and after three visits, he diagnosed me with Asperger's Syndrome. This was almost eight years ago, so I was diagnosed with the DSM-4. In the time leading up to the diagnosis, I felt confident that I was going to be diagnosed with AS. The whole idea that there was a name for people like me and other people like me was quite a revaluation. It did not really change my life, I had already spent all of my life learning to live in a NT world. But at least I knew.

 

[Naturalist]

I have the first part of my formal assessment in one week. It took me nearly 3 years to find someone in my area who would assess an adult, so I am really excited. I am also getting nervous but I know what you mean, the more anxious I am, the more my "Aspie" tendencies become apparent Also, my current therapist, while not offering diagnostics, works with several adults and children on the spectrum and says he would be shocked and skeptical if I came away with any other diagnosis.

I need a diagnosis at this point so I can move forward with life. Without the diagnosis on my charts, doctors are very dismissive of my needs and concerns (especially sensory sensitivities) and frequently think I'm overreacting. Also, I find that many resources for autistics here are managed by organizations that seem to require an official diagnosis, even to attend support groups etc. So without a formal diagnosis, I've been "spinning my wheels", stuck in my head wondering what to do next and where to turn and whether everything I am thinking is real or imagined. It hasn't done my mental health any favors, that is sure, to feel locked out of so many means of understanding myself and bettering my life.

 

[Hester]

Lurked for a bit, first time poster - I wanted to give a contrast.
I was disbelieving and dismissive! I had been diagnosed with ADHD after a nervous breakdown and the practitioner asked me to come back for an autism screen. I actually thought it was a formality and so did no reading and saw the appointment as a thing to be got through. I was knocked sideways by the diagnosis and it took months to accept it myself.

 

[Progster]

I was extremely worried about what was going to happen, whether I'd have to do any tests, I was was really scared of those, especially an IQ test - I know you can't fail them, but I was worried in case they would show that I don't have AS and it turns out that there's something else wrong with me, that I have a personality disorder or something, or worse still, that they'd find nothing wrong with me and I'd be left to conclude that I'm just a bad, incompetent, useless person. In the end, I received my diagnosis on the strength of the assessment interview alone after just one visit, and I wasn't asked back for any testing.

Intitially I was relieved that I hadn't been asked to do any tests, but I then began to wonder why just about every other person who was assessed for ASD had to do fairly extensive tests, but I hadn't, and I began to worry that the assessment hadn't been thorough enough or wouldn't be accepted as valid by other doctors or services.

 

[wanderer03]

For me it was a roller coaster of emotions. I got diagnosed at 37

 

[ZackSkylar101]

Thanks for the contrast of thoughts guys, it's kinda what I expect with it I guess as it is quite a subjective event in life. I'll post about how it goes on Wednesday once it happens, because it will hopefully be at least a little interesting. But we'll see