How Did You Become Diagnosed?

[usa1981]

I was 28 last year. I am looking for work. I want be act but at this point I have very little/no experiance. I do not drive.

 

[Pinky]

I don't know exactly how I got diagnosed because it was at such a young age, but apparently we had to go all the way to London to get properly diagnosed for some reason (?)

 

[CJinherPJs]

I was actually referred for assessment by my school when I was about 5 because I used to play on my own, say strange things whenever anybody spoke to me and do things like lining up toys, and I received a probable diagnosis of Asperger's at this point. I didn't get the official diagnosis until I was 9 though, which was in June 2003. My parents took me to a different doctor to be reassessed, and she was the one who confirmed that I had it.

 

[epath13]

I've been diagnosed after 25 years of struggle with doctors and other so called specialists. I've been diagnosed with some general neurological disoder 1st, then silence, nobody wanted to deal with me any more, kept telling me, there's nothing wrong with you, just some minor neurological issues. I'm like, you know what you are all idiots, go to hell ) I almost gave up then. When my son was diagnosed
With ASD and doctor explained me what it was in very clear terms, I could not believe my ears - he was talking about me. I actually used similar expressions when tried to explain my symptoms to doctors and none of them came to a conclusion that I had something like that. I knew nothing about Autism prior my son's diagnosis so it never crossed my mind. I went to a local Autism organization ( Easter Seals of Chicago) and talked to one of the coordinators about my symptoms, she asked their psychiatrist ( who asseses kids through their organization) to asses me. He did't have any doubts that I had Asperger's. It was a huge relief, finally someone's listened! Now I'm trying to get my older son assessed, he might be on the spectrum as well, even though my husband believes he's got ADHD like he has. But we'll see.

 

[King_Oni]

I ended up at a therapist a little over a year ago because I went to the GP cause I wasn't feel ok mentally. I felt a bit depressed. That ended him sending me to a theraptist. I went through a few in just over half a year (which by then already was september 2011). In between I had to file unemployment cause I officially dropped-out of college, I needed money and I was messed up short of harming myself to get commited to a ward. So "just looking for a job" didn't fly for me. But that in the past never worked for me.

Then, in between cause I filed unemployment I was being asked if I could start a job right away, to where I told them "well... I think I can, but I'm seeing a therapist". Told them the story so they told me "well, take it easy, you can file for disability, but we'll send you through to one of our specialists to see if he can assess your situation. For the time being you can collect unemployment but you don't have to apply for a job until that is sorted out". So 2 months after filing it, I had an appointment with this guy (in between seeing my own therapist(s)). I had a 2 hour talk with him primarily regarding what keeps me busy, he did some tests about how I handle everyday situations, had a test to see how my mood was at the moment. Had an evaluation of that after about 2 months. That document was pretty much "you're not depressed" (and the mood-testing wasn't showing that off either). However with the talk I had he asked me "have you even been tested on autism?" because a lot of stuff I told him in regards to interests, the way I handle things, the things I cannot deal with, as well as some test results made him think that. That however was never written down in the document. But he told me this just face to face.

With that knowledge I went to my other therapist and at some point told him a bit about this employment center chaps findings. So he looked into that where at some point he was like "well, this is the end of the road for us" I cannot deal with people who might be on the spectrum. It's not my specialility, and to be honest, I didn't expect it in the sense that you came in for a chat cause of a depression. However, his diagnosis to get me send through to specialist was; Personality disorder with comorbid autism and he thought I had an internetaddiction (which I wrote about in a blog a while ago; to me he pulled it out of a hat cause we never spoke about it). In the end he did a similar mood test (if only I could recall that test; it was the same one as the chap from the job center gave me), but that came in as only slight depressed. But yeah, his diagnosis got me sent through a specialist. A little advice this last therapist before I went to the specialist gave me was; In your case it would be smart to get a diagnosis. I don't think you're a lazy person, but apparently you have a hard time keeping a job. Or obtaining one for that matter. A lot might be contributed to your mental state. Even if you'd have therapy that can fix it" halfway, so make sure you get a diagnosis and file for disability cause that will get you in the least rough spots in the future.

Sent them an email, usually there was 6 week period to wait, but because they just hired a new therapist (a former intern of theirs) they had new spots so I could go there within a week.

So went there had my intake with a very nice therapist. We sorted out what I was coming in for and she decided to conduct tests based on that. However; the funny thing on my part is... I just told her "I've went to the therapist and a few have hinted that I might be on the spectrum somewhere". I never gave her the note about a diagnosis by former therapists. In a way; yes that might be harsh to let her sort it out, but in the end she even told me "I didn't care for a diagnosis from other professionals in the sense that I dont want to start my research being biased towards disorder X already".

But I went there, had about 8 sessions, some of them were 2 hour blocks (I recall 2 of them even 3 hour blocks with lots of tests). Had two visits with my mom there to talk about my childhood; because AD(H)D (which she thought I might have as well, based on my behaviour I had in sessions, coming across as hyper, moving my arms around a bit and not sitting still, making weird jumps in conversations, things like that) as well as Autism can be traced back to behaviour as a kid. As for tests... I remember doing a sessions where I had to fill in over 600 questions and grade how much I like things. I had a test with word asociation, at some point we had a test with facial expressions. At first I just saw the faces and had to name emotions, then... she gave me 4 choices with 4 faces and I had to mix n match them. I failed that big time. She showed me a drawing of sorts and asked me what I could tell about it to see how I can relate events to each other. And then there's a few other tests that I did that inquired about social behaviour and how I act there, how much of a routine person I am, how well I can function on my own, how much I crave social interaction. But in general with all tests combined, it's easily over 2000 questions I did there.

Then the results came in and she kinda diagnosed me on the new proposed DSM 5 thing already. Well, she did on the DSM IV as well, but to her it was apparent. I had near perfect scores on everything (in general; between 85% to 95%) except for the speech thing because I did that way before I should be able to speak as a child. So that kind concluded her. Due to me rather high functioning level she told me "it overlaps a lot with Aspergers... and pretty severe too"... but if we can't use that, it's safe to say you suffer from rather severe autism while you have pretty good verbal skills in general (based on the informal Autism quotient scale; I could put myself at the 46 mark, where 50 is the most severe you can have) That made it easier for her as well, cause I could express myself really good in sessions.

So in the end I asked her about the depressions and all. That was quite logical. If I end up not being in my comfortzone, I can end up being depressed up to really dangerous levels. She didn't believe in setting me up with antidepressants because we both knew what can be causes of it, and it would be way easier to try and just not let those situations happen that easily. The depression I had earlier (when I first reported in) had to do with a few things; sheer overload of the school-thing, not having a clue what I want with my life, being in a stressful "relationship kinda thing", being with a friend a lot who supposedly suffered from psychotic episodes and being bored a lot (which is something that's NOT good if you're also "suffering" from AD(H)D cause not being busy will make you mind grind to really weird places). But as time passed; I quit school, got my unemployment checks, I started working on a project, that relationship thing eroded away a bit, I didn't see that friend anymore... and thus I wasn't bored and did my own things... no wonder I didn't score good on any tests to see if I was depressed.

 

[Douglas_MacNeill]

I was diagnosed around 15 years ago (1997). My mother noted that the
symptoms I was showing seemed to match a description of Asperger's
syndrome as presented on the CBC radio program Quirks and Quarks.
She took me to a psychiatrist in my home city and the diagnosis did come
back as Asperger's syndrome.

 

[Arashi222]

When I was kid there wasn't an Asperger's diagnosis. There was Autism like Rain Man or just labeld as having learning disabilities. My mom always suspected but no one said anything ( went to private school ). I made it through undergrad and then when I got to grad school I was placed in two separate internships and my teacher and supervisor suggested that I get tested through the school. Yup I have AS. Life made so much more sense. It took me a long time to try to tell people about it, so very few people actually know.:cute:

 

[Roxy]

I was only diagnosed about 6 months ago and I'm 47 so quite late in life for me. I've had severe depression on and off for the past 9 years and have been under the care of a very good psychologist. He diagnosed it after I started telling him stuff I'd never told anyone before. I was trying to work out why I found things so hard, realised I find being in the staff room at work very difficult, talked to him about it and when we put it all together he gave me the diagnosis. From that point on everything fell into place for me and I'm gradually learning how to live my life in a way that doesn't cause me too much distress/depression.

I'd lived my whole life feeling like a freak. Finding out I'm not a freak after all, I'm an Aspie was like all my Christmasses coming at once.

 

[Zo.]

I underwent a six hour evaluation about a year ago, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. My family always knew that something was off about me (as did I), but all of the psychiatrists I saw didn't quite know what was really going on.

 

[Bubblepig]

I had been with the Early Intervention Psychosis team for nearly 3 years - my GP referred me for being socially isolated and having intrusive thoughts - but it was clear that I wasn't suffering from a psychotic illness. When I was discharged from that service the district psychiatrist asked if I'd ever been tested for Asperger syndrome, and from there made a referral for me to be assessed.

 

[smith2267]

Another Aspie spotted me and suggested I get tested. Sure enough...
oh, I was 44, I think.
Up until that point I was convinced the whole human race was crazy, except me.

 

[Csutelan]

I had been seeing a psychiatrist for mood and depression issues for the last four years. She referred me for a psychiatric evaluation at which point I was diagnosed with AS. I was/am 43 years old.

 

[buckyboy14]

I was about 12, and had been seeing therapists galore for my severe OCD, and they tossed around Asperger's a little bit. When my mom did some more research on it, she was convinced I had this, and had me tested.

 

[GoldenRatio]

I was just diagnosed a little under two weeks ago. I am 31 years old and married with one child. I was tested a lot when I was younger but it was passed off as ADHD and weird behavior. I really didn't know much about AS, but what little I did know was from Sheldon Cooper. And, from what it seems, that is a "Hollywood" case of AS. I am extremely happy with the diagnosis, mostly because there are people who truly understand me without even needing to meet me. My son is almost 3 years old, and I think I might see signs of it in him, but feel it might be too young to really tell. I know that if he does have it, I will do everything in my power to make him feel like it is a gift and not something wrong with him, as most of us have been told. The reason I think it can be viewed as a gift is because I see people being restrained by emotions, preventing them in making logical and smart decisions. Maybe this view is askew, so correct me if I am wrong lol.

 

[oscar2012]

It took me 2 years to get mine but i always new i was different my son was diagnosed the age of 3 hes 16 now i new before but because of what i went throu i just carried on but its been a hell of a struggle for me 1 failed marriage and 2 failed relationships And am still learning today about things . But i have a gf now who understands who and what am about Its AWESOME being me

 

[imanerd]

when I was 5 or 6. My mother would know. I'm only 19, she keeps all the records.

 

[Sylar]

A few years ago (second year of college) I finally got fed up of being alone all the time and not being able to talk to other people when I saw other people do it like it was nothing. I went to the doctor about it who referred me to a psychologist, I met with them a few times before they said they didn't know what to do (it was a trainee or something) so I had to go to the doctors again and go back on the waiting list, months went by before I met another therapist who decided that despite the fact I'd said being around people makes me anxious decided it wasn't social anxiety since I didn't fear being embarrassed. So I had to start the whole thing again! Months went by and I met with the same person who had completely forgotten me and despite the fact I said the exact same information decided this time that I might have asperger's. It was almost 2 years later (due to funding issues and no specialist in my area) I finally got to meet a specialist who then tested me and diagnosed me in under an hour.

She was annoyed that I had made it to 20 before even getting there and said that someone in primary or secondary school should have picked up on it.

I'm 21 now and still waiting to meet with a social worker or whoever the specialist said she'd arrange to help me around people.

 

[mfoster]

I was diagnosed under the DSM (the DSM-I) in the early 1960s. Back then, Autists were generally diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia. That did not change until 1980 under the DSM-III.

 

[Ruire]

I wish i had a diagnosis... I had a psych eval when i was younger, to determine if i had a problem, the results were yes, but not what, no one bothered with "what" and I have no idea why they would bother to find if there was something wrong if they were not planning on diagnosing what. =/

 

[DebzD21]

I went to see my psych about ADHD and he just randomly came out with asking questions about my social skills and friendships then after a while he said have you heard of aspergers, then It went from there