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Masquerade
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05 Mar 2010, 7:40 am

Hi, I am sure this has probably been brought up before, but my son has just been diagnosed with ADHD and showing "traits" of Aspergers, the doctor has started him on medication that is making his Aspergers symptoms worse and making him more hyperactive, I am going to take him off the medication as I am read that Aspergers people should not take this medicine as it will make them worse.

Right, what I really want to know is how I can convince the Dr to give a full diagnosis of Aspergers? Has anyone else had success in doing this? The reason she is not happy to fully diagnose is she see's his play as imaginative when all he is doing is copying what cartoons etc he has watched, and also he will make eye contact (which I have always encouraged since he was tiny).....it is obvious he is not comfortable with eye contact.

The school is going mad about his diagnosis as from their experience their opinion is he is def Aspergers,

Any advice/help is appreciated



Last edited by Masquerade on 05 Mar 2010, 8:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

ursaminor
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05 Mar 2010, 8:03 am

You could just tell her this if you have not already.
You may want to edit your post because it says 'so' which may me misinterpreted as significant other which is confusing, regarding the rest of the post.



Masquerade
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05 Mar 2010, 8:14 am

oops, sorry about the typo, corrected it, I have told her, but she is not listening it seems :cry:



pandd
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05 Mar 2010, 8:23 am

I would dump the doctor personally. If imaginative play were intended to be an exclusionary criteria, it would be listed as such in the DSM; it is not. If your doctor were competent in this area then he or she would be aware of this. After all, I am not clinically competent to assess for or diagnose ASDs but even I know this much. Indeed anyone who reads the DSM criteria can see that an absence of imaginative play is not necessary for diagnosis.



Electric_Spaghetti
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05 Mar 2010, 9:17 am

pandd wrote:
I would dump the doctor personally. If imaginative play were intended to be an exclusionary criteria, it would be listed as such in the DSM; it is not. If your doctor were competent in this area then he or she would be aware of this. After all, I am not clinically competent to assess for or diagnose ASDs but even I know this much. Indeed anyone who reads the DSM criteria can see that an absence of imaginative play is not necessary for diagnosis.


^^^THIS. Look around and find a specialist if you can. Try the local chapters of whatever patient centred (ASAN, NAS etc) autism charities are active in your country/state for advice, there may be people there who can recommend someone decent. Good luck!



Masquerade
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05 Mar 2010, 9:24 am

Thanks for your replies so far, I am in the UK and we have one of the worse mental health systems in the country, I am going to try and find out how to get a 2nd opinion, but after 6 years of assessments to get fobbed off with a very obvious misdiagnosis I know we are in for a long journey



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05 Mar 2010, 2:04 pm

It's weird he's doing it on the basis of him having imaginative play. I did practically nothing but imaginative play at that age, and yet I was so Aspie it was ridiculous.


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Masquerade
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05 Mar 2010, 3:20 pm

She is a typical lets sit on the fence Doctor and hands out nasty drugs, 2 years ago when she met with his school she asked then did they think he was adhd, and they all said no way!!

After another major melt down tonight (the worse kind) there is no way I will let him take another tablet, te last 2 years have been 1.5 years of lost paperwork and two more appointments in the last 2 months does not give me great confidence in her diagnosis when everyone including myself are sure it's Aspergers, I just want a happy son one day.

Made some phone calls and looks like we have to go back to our GP and start the whole process over and it may be rejected as apparently there is no right to a 2nd opinion in the UK.....I will fight though, he needs the right help for a better quality of life, and in my opinion surely they cannot reject that human right???

Again thank you to all who have replied, my heart is with you



MsTriste
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05 Mar 2010, 3:33 pm

Check out the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc/default.asp

If you disagree with a doctor, you cannot convince them of anything. As other people said, and I'm just restating it because of its importance, if you don't like your doctor, find another one. I don't know how easy that is to do in the UK.

Also, I see you're new (welcome) but you should look for stickied threads here on WrongPlanet, on how to find a doctor who knows what they're doing. Child/adolescent psychiatrists can be a good place to start.



Masquerade
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05 Mar 2010, 4:06 pm

Thank you, I will check it out, always been the kinda person to think I could sort it all myself, but after finding you all here today in my despair I know I need help, thanks again :)



Tollorin
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05 Mar 2010, 7:09 pm

Aurore wrote:
It's weird he's doing it on the basis of him having imaginative play. I did practically nothing but imaginative play at that age, and yet I was so Aspie it was ridiculous.


Me too... Except when I was daydreaming. :lol:


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