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Hiya, real brief - my husband is 28 years old and has Aspergers. He's currently not on any kind of medication, although he used to take anti-depressants until we became a couple. He's now very against taking them, especially as he has body/weight issues (if I weren't here to feed him, I very much wonder if he would stop eating altogether) and is extremely frightened of gaining weight. Anyway...

We moved three years ago, and he's only ever used our local GP twice. The second time was just this week, and it was not helpful at all. He's been extremely stressed and anxious due to various issues, and was perhaps seeking some medical advice for anxiety medicine, etc. Rather than helping him, the doctor decided it would be best to tell my husband (diagnosed for the better part of 15 years, by the way) that autism "is not a disabling condition" and pretty much belittling/downplaying anything having to do with his AS. Obviously, I'm getting red flags from this GP already, and I'm desperate to find someone who actually believes autism/Aspergers is a real condition.

Does anybody have experience with doctors in the Birmingham area? Am I too optimistic in hoping to find someone useful/understanding on the NHS? Is private any better? Or in the end, is it just trial and error until you find a good doctor?

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Unfortunately not all GP's truly understand autism, especially Asperger's, and that applies to psychiatrists in my experience. I think plenty of autistic people, or their relatives, will say that autism can be very disabling, though its true that many may not find it disabling and able to live a normal life. Unfortunately, if you are mildly affected by autism then it can be difficult to get help and support - presumably because you don't seem 'disabled', which is unfair. I think its a post-code lottery as to how good your GP is at understanding autism, some are lucky and get a good service but the rest of us don't. My normal GP is pretty useless, luckily there is a second GP that I can see who is much better but still been a challenge to get a diagnosis. All you can do is be assertive with your current GP as much as possible, push for what you think he needs, and failing that see if you can register with another GP either at the same practice or somewhere else. Take a list of all the difficulties he has, and the effects it is having upon your relationship - hand it over to them, so they have it in writing.

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I was afraid this was the case. Coming from an entirely different culture (America) in terms of medical care, I still can't get over how much of a mixed bag the NHS is. It's really depressing sometimes. :( But thanks for the honest answer. I might have to work on some sort of information packet or something that I can show his doctors in the future. It's a real shame some doctors are still so stubborn as to not take autism seriously as a condition.

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It definitely crossed my mind to complain. I've just been told it's a problem throughout Birmingham that doctors are overlooking Autism, so the problem might go deeper than just this one guy.

The good news is I've been given a good lead to finding a doctor who might be a good fit for my husband, so fingers crossed!

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Hope you manage to get a decent GP for your husband. I changed to a different GP within the practice because he told me "you're hiding behind your autism". My wellbeing worker strongly objected to this viewpoint.

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That's such a terrible thing to say. It makes you wonder why some doctors are even in the trade when they can't be civil and understanding to the people they're supposed to be helping. Anyway, hope your new GP is treating you much better.

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