...and I am new to the forum so I suppose the first thing I'd better say is hello!
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the wrong bit of the forum but here goes...
After several years of wondering if I might be dyspraxic, I went to a GP three weeks ago to discuss it. I fell over and hurt myself on my way there (not something I do all that often - I bang my head quite often and bruise my legs but this is the first time in a couple of years at least that I've actually fallen over. I turned up at the GP surgery with blood on my hands and pretty shaken up, struggling to speak or act normally, so I am wondering if I came across differently to usual), and I saw a locum doctor who I hadn't seen before, and he agreed that I probably am dyspraxic and sorted out a referral to the neurology department of the hospital.
I got my appointment through pretty quickly - it was meant to be next week - but yesterday I got a letter saying my appointment has been cancelled. So I went to the GP surgery today to ask the receptionist if they could shed any light on why it's been cancelled, and she pulled something up on the computer and said that they were saying something about the GP's letter not being clear and they didn't know what I would gain from seeing a neurologist. The receptionist said she'd arrange for a doctor to phone me tomorrow evening, but then later today I got a phonecall saying that a doctor had said I needed to see someone in person, and asked me to make an appointment.
I feel like I am going round in circles. I feel a lot of doubt over whether or not I really am dyspraxic, or if I am just trying to find excuses/explanations. I recently quit a job because of the difficulties I was having, and I am really feeling a lack of confidence that there will be any work I can do. I found a part-time cleaning job but even that is difficult for me because of the need to work at a certain pace and get things done to standards and in a time frame.
So...can anyone please advise me on what to say to the doctor when I see him next week (it will be a different doctor to the one that referred me originally) and what to expect at this stage?
Reasons why I thought I might be dyspraxic...
- As a kid, I couldn't hold my pencil/pen properly, found it painful and difficult to write that way. I remember having a plastic molded thing on my pencil that was meant to teach me how to hold onto it properly - I'm 30 now and i still hold my pen a bit strangely - I'm not sure how to describe it but I sort of rest the pen between my thumb and index finger, support it with my first two fingers, with the bit near the nib resting on my middle finger - my writing is much neater this way than with a 'conventional' grip. My handwriting is ok but I find I sometimes forget to finish writing a word, especially if I'm in a hurry - don't know if that's normal though? (for example, writing down someone's name and address as they tell me it, I recently wrote Mr instead of Mrs) and sometimes I will get ahead of myself while I'm writing and miss out a number or word.
Terrible at PE - difficulties throwing, catching, understanding the rules of games, keeping up with the other players. Struggle with riding a bike (I learnt how but couldn't get the hang of gears, or going uphill, and I would fall off quite a lot)
Sensitive to noise, but difficulty with hearing what people are saying when there is background noise. I struggle to follow what people are saying if they aren't facing me, and I find myself getting quite stressed out when people are talking to me and turn their head away. I often find it hard to talk to people on the phone, particularly if I don't know them - I've always had a slight phobia of using the phone and will avoid it whenever possible, though I am better with it than I used to be.
Struggled with learning to tie my shoelaces as a kid (they are still prone to coming undone now, but I avoid laced shoes and tend to just lace them up and then pull them off still laced up to save myself the bother!) At secondary school I had special laces for PE that were like a spiral you twisted together, to try to make it easier for me getting changed.
(BUT I learned to tie my school tie quickly.)
I tend to struggle to get changed quickly - it was a problem in PE at school and even now I still notice that I take longer than other people to get changed after I go to aqua aerobics (I have been trying to go to improve my fitness and lose some weight - I enjoy the classes because it's not so important to do the exercises the right way.)
I struggle to follow exercise instructions though - I know my left from my right perfectly fine, but if I'm watching someone demonstrate an asymmetrical movement, I struggle to get my head around what to do with what limb!
I am very forgetful - terrible short term memory (eg I forget what I've just been told sometimes, or will miss part of a list of instructions - I'm sure there have been times when I've even missed just the word 'don't' which I think sometimes which can cause problems!) Sometimes I forget events or information I've been given completely. But my long term memory can be very good. I get deja vu a lot and also episodes of something I think is called jamais vu, where I don't recognize things, places or people around me...(I'm not sure if that's a dyspraxia thing but since it relates to memory I thought I'd say it here)
During my training in the job that I quit, I struggled to get my head around the rules and procedures. Using a touch screen computer posed difficulties for me because I'd accidentally press too hard and skip ahead on the menu. I also struggle in environments where there is a lot of things going on at once - background noise and activity can distract me easily...but I can also get really absorbed in doing a task and not notice things going on around me (is that weird?!) Also, I got interrupted while I was doing a task in the old job, and I just couldn't re-focus afterwards - my memory is a blank on what happened exactly, all I remember is feeling very confused about what it was I was doing and where I was up to, and feeling a bit strange, like I'd been switched off for a moment, and couldn't function, while I had a customer there waiting. (I have wondered in the past if I might be epileptic)
I've been told that I can take ages to get to the point when I am explaining something and have trouble with being concise... (errrrm...)
Difficulties with driving - my instructor told me to quit after about 20 hours worth of lessons, saying that he would never be able to teach me. Problems I had were knowing when to change gear, controlling the speed of the car, and making sense of junctions (twice I went up the wrong side of a dual carriageway because I couldn't figure out where the turning was) - I used to say I was 'road blind'! The instructor told me to quit after I'd been driving too fast down a country lane and panicked when a van came towards me and I'd swerved the car, almost crashing into a wall)
I have good and bad days - I studied art at uni and would sometimes get a good grade for an image, and sometimes a terrible one. Some days I can draw fairly well, and some days not well at all and I get frustrated with how I seem to get worse at it the longer I work on it. I get tendonitis in my wrists (it started years ago in a supermarket job) and it seems to get worse when I am feeling stressed.
My mum has also told me that as a kid I struggled with 'up' vs 'down', and that I couldn't skip across the room in ballet classes and the teacher thought I was much younger than I was (age 4) It took me longer than other children to learn to read - but then my reading age shot up - about age 10 or 11 I had a reading age of 14, and I think English was my best subject at school though I know I struggled to organize my essays. It's a lot easier being able to type and edit what I've written now!
I have poor posture (though I think it might be better than it used to be) and I remember struggling to stay sitting upright on the school bus or in the car - had a tendency to gradually start sloping over to one side, if that makes sense?