to be rather shocked by letter from hospital about adult Aspergers possible assessment/dx??

[GreensleevesFlouncedLikeAKnob]

I posted this in SN first but then realised lots of people have it hidden because you have to opt in

I asked my GP a while ago to look into the procedure for an adult with suspected AS being assessed possibly diagnosed

he had no idea whatsoever but said he would write to the staff psychiatrist at the hospital

I have a copy of the psych's letter to my GP in response, here it is verbatim

"Essentially, XXX Partnership NHS Trust has no current provision for specialist assessment or investigation of Aspergers Syndrome. The diagnosis is one which I or my consultant colleagues would certainly take into account as part of a general functional assessment of somebody's mental health within the context of a referral to Adult Mental Health Services. However, neither I nor my colleagues would consider ourselves as expert in this field and such an assessment would need to be viewed in the context of a generic mental health assessment.

I am aware that our colleagues within the Learning Disability Service do take a specialist interest in this area but are not in a position to offer assessment to high functioning adults (basically anyone without a clearly defined learning disability)

While I should be happy to offer your patient an appointment if you were to request it, any assessment would therefore necessarily be somewhat limited. Additionally there is no specialist service currently available to patients with a diagnosis of high functioning autistic spectrum disorder"

Is this a normal response? It basically says they won't assess, diagnose or support an adult with a possible ASD?

I think the depressing thing about AS is that nobody is going to wave a magic wand and enable you to transform your life easily 9and that goes for the professionals helping our children too). If you are fairly sure of your own DX trust yourself and do your own research, try things that you think could help, well tried therapies that work for anxiety, depression, phobias etc, could help a lot and are unlikely to do harm. Accept yourself as you are and do more of the things that make you happy and give yourself little rewards when you make yourself do something that you find tough.
Hope that didin't sound patronising, trying to simplify my rather waffly ideas.

hmm why do you all mention the phone? I generally dislike answer the phone or making calls if I don't feel prepared. Even if it's me best mate or my dad etc?

I'm also rubbish at maintaining friendships that require usig a phone am ok if I see someone regularly.

Greeny - if you can get a referral from where you are (it is possible, though improbable, to get referred outside your area on the NHS), the CLASS Clinic in Cambridge is where adult diagnoses are made. I think it is the only specialist adult clinic in the UK, though presumably there are some other clinics that will deal with adults.

I was diagnosed with moderate ASD recently under circumstances similar to yours. I too have a ragining inner hermit and a loathing of phones

As a family we suspect my dad has Asperger's. He is 75 now, but displays all the typical markers (I used to work with autistic and asperger's children). He doesn't understand emotions very well, is a bit of a hermit, HATES making calls, he has an obsession with labelling things, and putting things in bags! We all joke about it, but I seriously think if he was a child now he would be diagnosed. He's very intelligent, and won many chess competitions. He's just a bit different,

smallwhitecat

Under the English Mental Health Act Autistic Spectrom Disorders are considered to be a form of mental disorder.

Mental Health Act code of practice page 314

Something can be a mental disorder without being a mental illness, eg learning disability.

We were all convinced my late father has ASD. It was only an issue when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He had a sweet tooth, hated needles and was uninterested in taking his pills, which meant that he was unable to manage his medical condition, although he could continue to do all his many hobbies.

We spoke to social services about the ASD and how we thought that this contributed greatly to him neglecting his health. They were very understanding and agreed with what we said, and arranged for an appointment with a psychogeriatrician for assessment. (We needed a diagnosis in order to get help from the SS with his care.) They said we would have a chance to speak to the Dr on our own and we prepared some written information.

The meeting was nothing like we had been led to expect. The Dr looked at us as if we were barmy when we mentioned ASD, was dismissive, didn't read the notes we had prepared and we didn't have the opportunity to speak to him alone. He reluctantly wrote one ambiguous sentence along the lines of "the daughters think he has ASD but it's difficult to tell." We did get funding for the care but I was mightily unimpressed with the Psychogeriatrician, although I suppose almost everyone he sees would be being assessed for dementia.

This thread has made me realise that what we experienced was quite normal.

Well, at least we got what we wanted. Dad had care which helped his diet a little, and got him taking his pills a bit better. He lived another couple of years before the diabetes got him. He wasn't even insulin-dependent, all he had to do was take his pills, watch his diet and monitor his blood sugar and he'd have had another 15 years, but he just couldn't .

Greeny... what part of the country are you in?

The mental health NHS Trust that I work for has just started an Adult ADHD service. The new specialist consultant took up the post last month and outpatient clinics have now started. The clinics are in Boston, but the service is for the whole of Lincolnshire.

bigstripeytiger, you are quoting a law created in 1983. ASDs were barely recognised then, unless it was something along the lines of Kanner's.
And as we all know, the law lags a long way behind on everything.
We've all learned a lot in the ensuing 26 years, and the terminology has changed, if not the law...yet.

I was not giving an opinion on the law, simply saying that someone who describes ASD as being a mental disorder is entirely in keeping with the legal definition of 'mental disorder'.

'I find if I kind of surprise myself with making a call rather than thinking about it I can do it.
' yup me too lol

on online tests I come out quite markedly as tbh, Mum is the samea nd you can trce it back, though my 2 boys are the first DX's

I'm fine now in my semi hermitty sort of way, but battled eating disorders through my teensand an answer then would have probably changed an awfullot as I have low confidence now. It's prevented me following the path I was probably creatd for (left wing politics- the parties ask me to stand but I panic) and it is a shame.

I just hope my understanding of what it is like helps prevent the boys having the sameproblems (though ds1 does have eating disorders already) and we are woried about ds3 long term as although he doesn't have a low IQ he has what tehy call 'accessibility issues'- ie he can only access hes ability in certain ircumstances due to sensory and obsessional issues. We realised that if by 20- he still hasn't got input, we will ahve tolive off DH's wage whilst I put mine into fighting SS for care for him, otherwise his siblings will be landed with lifelong care, or he will be alone and probably starve.

Oh and Greeny etc one thing I have learned:

Whether or not I have a dx does not affect whether or not I fort the AS diagnosis. That's fairly clear tbh, and it is helpful iof you can just 'label yourself'

If I can think (and it is still a learning curve' that the reason I struggle with X is not becuase I am shit but because of a genetic quirk, I feel afr less abd about myself.

Not always easy- DH was angry that I am not keen on an activity he does that I cannot manage (I can manage it when only a few are in the eam as in years gione past, but now it involves 40peoples shoved into a smalla rea to cplete the thing it is beyond my coping startegies sadly)- and I broke down in tears becuase I felt so very bad about myself, although once I explained dh was a lot more understanding.

But for me, it is soemthing I am needing to understand