this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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Autism

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Apprehensive about diagnosis (lemm.ee)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Tomorrow morning is part 2 (of 2) of my diagnosis. I am 42 now. I am pretty sure myself that I am autistic, I have not found a better explanation for my life being the "shape" that it is.

I would be gutted if a professional decided that I do not belong here though. Fingers crossed that I have guessed right, and that the doc see me as I am, not just my mask.

Edit: just to follow up on this. I have just been diagnosed with Autism. I am extremely relieved. He was very casual about it, and very supportive. We also talked a lot about PDA, he said that describes a lot of my work and life challenges. I'm seeing him again in about 10 days where hopefully he can give me a bit of advice about what to do with this info. Thanks to all of you that commented.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

And, an answer of “get out of here you lazy git” would be a bit crushing at this point, precisely because the symptoms seem to fit and explain my life so well.

Been there, done that, was, as you suspect, crushing. But I was early in my journey and knew I was both new to the world of autism, and struggled to advocate for myself, so I kept at it, because like you say - everything just clicked, the more I read from and interacted with autistic people, the more I felt like my real self, and it perfectly explained everything I was struggling with (and also run wild and underdiagnosed in my family), you just know. Eventually I got "recognised" by a therapist and a gp, rather than go on a waiting list again for another year or two or pay privately to try and be "diagnosed" by different specialist. I've never been questioned about it since.

I am going to the appointment tomorrow though, no matter what. Will report back!

This is the best thing to do of course, it may very well go completely smoothly and you'll get the diagnosis and maybe even some support, but it's always good to be prepared in case it doesn't, and (easier said than done, for sure) try not to catastrophise.

Will definitely keep an eye out for an update!