Adult Diagnosis Questions

[Jgr1010]

I am 28 years old. My husband just recently sat me down and brought up the possibility of talking to a psychiatrist about the possibility of a high-functioning autism diagnosis.

He brought this up because I:

• am incredibly sensitive to smells and loud noises.
• have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
• have previously had months and months of research into medical issues (GERD and Vertigo) with doctors unable to find anything wrong.
• hate going in public.
• am not a huge fan of talking to new people.
• prefer to work from home.
• sometimes won't leave the house for weeks at the time (& love it that way).
• need routine.
• need to know every detail about an event before attending (hate the surprises).
• prefer to watch the same few shows on repeat.
• sometimes hit myself when I get too overwhelmed.

There are more, but these are the ones he pointed out to me.

Questions being: 1) do you any of you guys deal with similar symptoms? 2) if I should talk to a doctor, how do I go about that as an adult?

 

[Bolletje]

I deal with many of those symptoms. My autism wasn’t discovered until I was in my late twenties, by the psychologist who was treating my depression.
If you want to go about a diagnosis, I’d suggest talking to your GP/family doctor and telling him you suspect you’re on the spectrum and tell him why you think that, and ask him to refer you to a health care professional with expertise in adults on the autism spectrum.

 

[Isadoorian]

Welcome to the Forums! I hope you make new friends and enjoy your stay in the process!

 

[clg114]

Welcome to Autism Forums! You should have your GP refer you to a psychologist that has experience with ASD. I was diagnosed as a adult myself and that is how I got my diagnosis.

 

[Peter Morrison]

Welcome to the Forum! I think a lot of us here can identify. It's best to see a qualified ASD professional. Enjoy the forum - there are a lot of helpful people here.

 

[tducey]

I was diagnosed at age 6. To me you should make an appointment with a professional to discuss your symptoms. Oh and welcome to the forums.

 

[Wolfnox]

Yep. I relate to most of that. I have aspergers or high functing autism officially diagnosed.

 

[Rectify]

1) do you any of you guys deal with similar symptoms?

Yes, definitely some of those.

2) if I should talk to a doctor, how do I go about that as an adult?

I found a list of autism specialists and chose one in my area. She turned out to be nice so we continued to do the diagnostics. It was relatively painless.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Suzanne]

Many of what you detail, is how I am, accept that I cannot watch repeats, which is a huge bind to me and endless searching for things to watch, which causes anxiety.

If you feel that it will benefit your marriage and your life, to be formally diagnosed, I would say, go through the process.

It took me about 5 month's to receive my formal diagnosis this year.

 

[OrangeSquash]

Hi there.

Under the assumption that you're from the UK... I am 33 and have suspected that I have ASD for a few years, perhaps 4/5.

I found some quotient tests online, (i forget what they are called) completed them and visited my GP with the results and a list of my symptoms, if that's the right word.

I was refereed to the local NHS organisation and was on a 9 month waiting list. I have my assessment next week. I perhaps could have found a way to speed this up with a private assessment, but if i'm honest I am in no rush with all this.

I can relate to the symptoms you have described - just be patient with the process and be kind to yourself.

Peace

 

[disconnected]

I don’t like reruns and enjoy leaving the house. But most of the other items sound familiar. Any previous discussions about OCD too?

Welcome BTW!

 

[Noba Loney]

Can vertigo be related to ASD or correlate in some way?

Perhaps that was just in the OP as an example of an otherwise inexplicable condition, but interested to know if that's a thing.

 

[Apleba]

Hi!

I have all those symptoms, except of ADHD. I was tested for that, but the outcome was that I have a different kind of attention problems, which led to searching about autism (which is said to cause attention and concentration difficulties as well) and receiving diagnosis at the age of 26. I simply searched for a clinic where they did adult autism testing. There weren't many options to choose from, but I got diagnosed. They asked why I am wanting to do the testing. I had a reference from another doctor, however, even if you don't, I think that the 'entry' consultation (which in my case was an interview) will prove the assessing doctor whether it is needed to further assess you or not.