Extra, extra! Greentea going for diagnosis! (of all people!)

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"no time to discuss it??"

WTF?

greentea,
don't listen to this moron.
please see another, more professional doctor if you can.

any doctor who would just brush you off like that shouldn't be practicing.

So how did you find this doctor, Greentea? Are they recognized as an expert on adults with autistic spectrum disorders? Have they worked with other women on the spectrum? Do they have any experience with any of the developmental disorders that make up the autistic spectrum - or do they only work with psychiatric disorders?

One session seems inadequate to determine whether an adult fits the criteria for an ASD - especially since the current research seems to show that women with ASDs often go undiagnosed/misdiagnosed. (And in light of my own experience, that it took 4 sessions over the course of two months to reach a diagnosis.)

I also think it's interesting (but not surprising) that a psychiatrist should assess you within the confines of psychiatric disorders - and completely dismiss the possibility that you might have a developmental disorder, like AS.

Ugh. That psychiatrist sounds like an idiot. I don't see you as arrogant or aggressive at all. At least your personality online doesn't reflect that.

Prince, fire a missile at the stupid doctor !

what the?! ! What kind of person was this? What do he/she mean "NO TIME..." sounds very ignorant to me

How do you feel now about it all? Do you regret it or you want to "try with another one"?

What about the details, Greentea? Did he give you a questionnaire to fill out, ask you a few questions, waved his hand, said you didn't have AS and just dismissed you?
What was the encounter like?

There are only 4 in this country who diagnose AS in adults. He's one of the 4, and recommended by the Asperger's Association.

When I told him I didn't feel that he'd had enough time to diagnose me because I hadn't had time to mention certain things, and I started blurting these things out, he said he's not sure if I have it or not. He said he'd need another session, but he doesn't want me to think that he's looking for excuses to make money. I agreed to a second session in principle, but I don't know if I prefer to just leave him and try someone else...

hmmm, that doesn't sound like he said you aren't AS. Go with what you feel is best. If you want to try someone else it might be a good idea.
lol I skimmed your post quickly and thought it said only 4 people are dxed with AS then I saw only four people actually provide diagnosis in adults.
That does narrow your choices.

GT, I just read this thread, and you know what? The psychiatrist is wrong. That's all there is to it. You fit right in here at WP.

That really sucks, though. I mean, not that you fit in here, but that the psych was wrong. Which he was.


I personally haven't sought a dx, and I also worry that I'd be told the same thing. I'm happily married and have kids. I've "served" in the military (as if I had a choice). I even got a BA in Anthropology. (Managed not to meet a single person the entire time I was there, except for my English professor, who I developed an obsession with, and drove nuts with six years of daily e-mails, long after he explained to me that his "circle of friends" was full, and then obsessed over what a "circle of friends" could possibly be, and how and why a person would get one of those.)

If I saw a doctor to seek an AS diagnosis, though, they wouldn't see the weird stuff. If I have an appointment to talk to a professional about a topic that I am interested in, I CAN do that. I can be articulate, and respond to their body language in a reasonably normal way. They won't know that I forgot to eat lunch, because when I went into my kitchen to prepare it, I stood looking out the window at the sunlight on the leaves, and said to myself, "Bubblicious bubbles bubble. Tonic water. Tonic Clonic. Gin and tonic clonic ginger clonic. Trachelosperrrrrrrrmum. Sperrrrrrrmum. Sperrrrrrrrrmum. Obviously. Our new celebrity. Mister Potter!! Mister Potter!! What can I do? What can I do? The air is full of SPICES!! ! Nutmeg. Winnepeg! You wouldn't think of driving from London to Moscow from London to Moscow. Moscovy duck duck goose. A coin. A leaf. A book. The ARCH BISHOP'S BALLS!" and next thing I knew, it was time to go, and I hadn't made lunch (those kinds of thoughts happen more slowly, with more echos and empty space that it seems like when I write it.) No one sees any of that. Ha ha!

When my son was dx with AS six years ago, I had to fill out a whole bunch of questionairres. Those "sometimes never always" questionnaires tend to really confuse me, so I added a few pages of footnotes, explaining all my answers. I think that probably helped a lot. Or maybe it was just a weird aspie thing to do...but I THINK it helped.

I can't understand how a doctor can make a quick diagnosis, because it's not always that simple. Especially with women, and even more so with women who have managed to look like they are going through the right motions.

At first, I saw the DSM criteria, and thought my son didn't meet all that...because I was looking though my own filters of what "normal" is. I thought he might get a dx of AS, but only with the caveat that it's very mild. Apparently it's not mild at all, though.

I knew I needed to learn more about AS. I practically lived at a message board with other mom who had AS kids, and read everything I could get my hands on, and learned "if you've met one kid with AS you've met one kid with AS."

Then I began reading memoirs from adults with AS, and coming here...and it was like, DUH!! ! That's IT!! ! It explains so many of those vague questions I've had ALL my life, like why can other people come to work and jokingly badmouth the boss, but as soon as I do it I'm put on report? Why, in every single job, do I get told that I need to get with the program, but no one will tell me what the program is, and yet everyone else seems to know? Why does everyone else seem to have this magical ability to get things done and know what to do? Why do other people enjoy going to places where there is loud music blaring and bright lights flashing, with a hundred people all shouting at once? Why have I had to resist the urge to talk about things that are interesting to me, because people around me say things like, "Yeah....er....okaaaaaay?" Why do other people seem to require so little time alone?

I could go on and on, and I know I've "heard" you talking about similar things. If you don't have AS, then that means I don't either...and I'm not ready to go there, because this is the first time in my life I've felt like I've found people who are like me in any meaningful way. I've done the whole "try harder" thing. "You're a smart girl! You can do THAT. You just need some confidence, and to work on your self-talk." People who say those things just don't get it.

Oh, damn, I've written another novel. I'm sorry. I hope there's something useful in there somewhere, though. Of course it took me so long to type all this drivel about ME, that a million other people have responded already.

Greentea, I hope you are able to find someone who will take you more seriously and find out something about you before giving you a quick NOT-AS diagnosis.

Last edited by elderwanda on 27 May 2009, 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Only general questions about my present life, such as occupation, marital status, etc. and "leading questions" to get me to admit that I have a chip on the shoulder and/or depression rather than AS.

Eg:

"So you often feel that people are all wrong and you're right?"
"Do you find that you tend to trust most people or be mistrustful?"
"How's your sleep / appetite?"
"So you think your aggressive personality is what causes everyone to reject you?"
"I understand your siblings want nothing to do with you because you hurt them deeply, is that right?"

Oh dear, Greentea...I just pm'ed you when i saw your thread and said you MUST go to an ASD specialist.
You went to a generic psychiatrist?
My personal experience of you is you are undoubtedly ASD. I would not make such a sweeping statement about most here on WP, not knowing them, but you just reek of it. (compliment.)

Before I was diagnosed by an ASD specialist - who said it was so OBVIOUS in me and he regretted it had taken me 46 years and so much heartache before proper attention was taken to my difficulties - I was told by a generic psychologist that i could not possibly have AS because I am a woman and women do not ever have AS.

my point? go and get a second opinion from a specialist.

Sorry to hear about your appointment, Greentea. It seems to me that since this doctor doesn't appear to have a clue of the many conditions that are common among adults with Asperger's Syndrome, his opinion really isn't worth anything at all. Sometimes it takes a second or third opinion to find a doctor who has a basic understanding of AS. Keep seeking and good luck to you, Greentea.

It sounds like those are the types of questions one would use to diagnos AS, not depression or something else. For instance, the first question sounds like classic black/white thinking pattern. "They are wrong, I'm right and that's the problem". If you answered "yes" to that one it would sound like you are in black/white thinking mode.
Did you answer the questions and get the feeling he thought you aren't AS based on the answers you provided?
The aggressive personality one is kinda off because AS isn't a personality disorder.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 27 May 2009, 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That pyschiatrist sounds like an idiot, Greentea.

Which country are you actually in?

BTW, despite whatever some "expert" says about you, you are still welcome on WP, remember.

and again.