Aspies For Freedom

Sorry, but I just gotta rant here.

A big while ago I went to my GP because I think I have Asperger's Syndrome. He was very understanding and he wrote stuff down and he advised me to go to the psychiatry clinic of the hospital here, where they can test adults on ADHD and Asperger's. Soon after that I got a letter from the hospital, saying that I was put on a waiting list that would be approximately 10 weeks....It's now been fifteen f*cking weeks since I received that letter. Not a word from the hospital again. 2 weeks ago I called them to ask how long it would take, and they couldn't say! I'm really starting to go crazy here. I can't do any work because my thoughts about AS and stuff have pretty much dominated my life the past few months and they're very distracting. I'm also starting to get paranoid that they might've forgotten about me, or made a mistake or something. And I'm starting to wonder if I should go to an expensive private clinic instead and just forget about the hospital.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to call my GP the first thing monday morning. I'll ask him to call the hospital to ask how long it will take. I'll tell him it's stressing me out and that it's taking way too long.

Well, I called my GP on monday, and his assistant called the hospital that afternoon. And guess what? The next day I receive a letter from the hospital, including some forms I have to fill in. Friday next week is my big day

I just find it odd that they only sent the invitation after my GP called them. It kinda looks like they DID forget about me

I'm fairly certain now that they did forget about me, and that they had to send out the letter in a hurry. Here's why:

I showed up yesterday alone, and the psychiatrist told me I actually had to bring my parents too. This wasn't in the letter. I'm pretty sure they just sent me the standard letter without mentioning bringing your parents.

Anyway, I did talk to the psychiatrist for about an hour, talked about my problems mostly. It seems that most of them are probably related to ADD/ADHD, and I got the feeling he is leaning towards diagnosing me with PDD-NOS. This all depends on the next appointment in August, when I bring my parents. After the meeting I spent about 90 minutes filling out a dozen surveys and tests on a computer.

They were quite similar to the online tests for Asperger's, only these had various different topics and ranged from 20 questions to well over a hundred. The topics included ADHD, autism/asperger's, my general physical and mental health, depression, etc. You just had to answer by clicking on agree/disagree, or picking the answer from a range of 1 to 5 that best suited you.

I think they can't get a diagnosis.

It is what it is. The psychiatrist said that in order to diagnose someone with AS he needed 2 vital symptoms: social and communicative problems, and problems with empathizing. I just couldn't tell him if I had problems with empathizing, because I never really thought about it. This could either mean I'm naturally good at it, or I'm horrible at it. Personally, I'd be satisfied with a PDD-NOS diagnosis, because that would at least give me confirmation that I have mild autism. It says nothing about my intellect either. I've finished the highest level of high school here and I can learn new skills faster than the average person.

Hello people,

I just got my 'official' DX, I think. Because I never had any serious problems at school or living on my own and stuff, my psychiatrist doesn't think I have an ASD. I have a more schizoid personality or something. However, he did suggest to get treatment for ADD and to get behaviour therapy.

I'm not really looking forward to social skills therapy, because it's going to be group therapy with a very mixed group (aspies, schizoids like me, and people who are over-assertive). But I'm gonna try anyway.

I have no idea, really. The reason why he didn't want to diagnose me with an ASD is that I never had any big problems in my life. I had no problems at school, and I can live on my own without any problems. Also, we figured out that my empathizing skills are probably normal because I can see how other people in a group behave and adjust my own behaviour to it.
But you're right, it doesn't really answer why I stim and dislike changes. I have another appointment with him in a few weeks, and I'll try to ask him about those things. I'm also worried about what he meant by 'having a schizoid personality', because I read about Schizoid Personality Disorder and I really hope I don't have that.
I do have ADD, though. At least I was right about that.

update:

I had an appointment with the psychiatrist today and we just looked at what to do next. He suggested to either try Ritalin or some sort of psycho-something-group therapy for my ADD. For the social skill stuff, he suggested social skills training. So I decided to try Ritalin, simply because I don't feel like being put on a long waiting list again for weekly group therapy or something, I don't want to wait that long and I don't feel it will work on me.
I had to give blood, test my blood pressure and do a cardio test. In a few weeks I will have a new appointment to talk about the results of the tests, to see if my body can take Ritalin and to make further decisions about the group therapy social skills thing.

I think I'm an NT with ADD and a lack of interest in social interaction, and problems with social skills.

Oh, there are things about ADHD/ADD that I had never heard of, and that are quite similar to Asperger's/ASD. One of those things is hyperfocus: the ability to focus extraordinary well on one thing, and forgetting everything else around you. That's a bit like the narrow interests/obsessions thing in ASD. I also read about people with ADHD who have problems with eyecontact, and things like that.

A small update:

I got Ritalin on thursday. 10 mg pills that I have to take 3 times a day. I feel very calm and relaxed with this stuff. The insane, constant stream of thoughts is still there, but I can block it out more easily and I'm not as restless as I used to be. I totally lost my appetite as well, which is good cos I need to lose some weight

I hear you. I also feel kinda bummed that I didn't get an official DX, even though there's lots of things about my behaviour in the past and present that I can't describe in any other way than 'autistic'. Even my brother's girlfriend, who has studied (and finished) psychology thinks I have Asperger's syndrome. She knew even before she met me because my brother described lots of odd things from my childhood. I really hope that one day I will get a DX.