Hello Jonners

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

I considered your reply and decided it might be worth phoning the
psychiatrist's secretary.

And, I am happy to report that there has been a breakthrough! The
pyschiatrist's secretary has said that they might be able get me
referred to CLASS (Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service)
without me having to have an appointment.

To this end, I wrote to the Secretary yesterday, making it clear that
I gave them my consent to contact CLASS on my behalf. CLASS had sent
me a leaflet so I enclosed this so that everyone had the background
information.

If anyone wants to learn about CLASS, try the following link:

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com

So, this is good advice for anyone else who is following my story.
You do not HAVE to get an appointment in order to try for a referral
to CLASS. I am now waiting for some sort of response from the
pyschiatrist's Secretary and have made myself a diary note to call
her again on Monday, 31st March 2003 if I not heard anything by then.

Also, In the process of further browsing I have stumbled across an
absolutely amazing website called

http://www.as-if.org.uk

This has been put together by a 26 year old lady called Suzie and is
packed with information about Aspergers and original thoughts on the
subject.

Anyway, thank you again for your help.

I will keep everybody on this forum updated with any developments as
and when they happen.

Kind regards

Jannie
***************************************************************
--- In aspiesdugout@y..., "Jonners" <jonmartin@b...> wrote:
Hi Jannie,

This sounds outrageous, and you must not give up. Psychiatrists are
renowned for only looking at how to treat symptoms and how many pills
they can chuck at you. They are never interested in underlying
causes. Your GP, however, should always place your best interests
first. So, several things I would attempt.

1) Go and see your GP again. Tell him/her that you are quite sure
that AS is the underlying cause, and that you would like to have a
referral to CLASS. Also point out that IT WILL NOT COST HIM A PENNY.
Many GP's are frightened to refer because of the risk of passed back
costs. Assure your GP that there will be none, and see if you can get
one of the CLASS leaflets to give to the GP.

2) If you get no satisfaction, you need to start raising complaints
against your treatment. Ideally get some support from
family/friends. They won't be presented with the line "you're under
treatment, therefore I cannot deal with you direct". This webpage
www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/concernabtcare) seems to have some
information about the complaints procedure. Your GP should also have
a complaints process you can work through.

3) At the same time, it would be worth writing to your MP about
this. State very simply that you have suffered for a long time, you
have been undergoing treatment, but that you now believe you have
identified the root cause, and that you want to rid yourself of being
a burden on the NHS, since an appropriate diagnosis would allow you
to address the cause more effectively. Get as many other people to
write to your MP as well (hell, I'll join in if you like).

(Incidentally, I'm not saying you are a burden on the NHS, I'm just
saying that by using that sort of language, you stand a good chance
of getting their attention).

4) You could also consult a solicitor about your situation. Again, it
might be worth taking someone as support. But it would be worth
finding out where you stand.

I wish you all the luck in the world with this, and please keep this
forum informed, as I'm sure we can all have some ideas as to the next
step as you go along this road.