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The Body Audit
What your body has been telling you — that doctors keep missing.
Autistic women are diagnosed late with autism. We're also diagnosed late — or never — with the conditions that travel with it. Migraines, GI problems, hypermobility, dysautonomia, endometriosis, autoimmune issues, sleep disorders, ADHD: all over-represented in autistic women, all routinely dismissed as anxiety or stress. This worksheet is a way to gather evidence. Not to self-diagnose — to walk into your next appointment with a clear pattern instead of a vague list.
Why this matters
- Women's pain is dismissed at every stage. Studies repeatedly show women wait longer for diagnosis, longer for pain treatment, and are more often told symptoms are psychological.
- Autistic interoception is its own factor. Many autistic women undersense or oversense internal signals, making it hard to describe symptoms the way clinicians expect.
- Co-occurring conditions cluster. One body can carry several at once. Identifying one often unlocks the rest.
Common co-occurring conditions
- Connective tissue & autonomic: Hypermobility (hEDS), POTS, dysautonomia.
- Hormonal & reproductive: Endometriosis, adenomyosis, PMDD, perimenopause hitting harder.
- Mental health & neurodevelopmental: ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders.
- Immune, gut, and pain: Autoimmune conditions, IBS, migraines, fibromyalgia-like pain.
Who this is for
- Women whose symptoms have been dismissed as anxiety, stress, or being female.
- Women who lose track of patterns between appointments.
- Women who suspect there is something else going on and need data, not just a feeling, to advocate.
What this is not
- Medical advice. This is observation, not diagnosis.
- Internet self-diagnosis. The point is to bring better questions to a clinician, not to skip them.
A gentle note: If anything you're tracking is acutely dangerous — chest pain, severe bleeding, suicidal thoughts, signs of stroke — don't fill out a worksheet. Get help. This document is for the slow, chronic things that have been overlooked, not the urgent ones.
Inventory
Evidence to bring with you. What your body has been saying.
Doctors give you ten minutes and a single chief complaint. Walk in with this filled out and you change the conversation. Don't try to remember everything from scratch — just the last thirty days. Use checkmarks, dates, or short phrases.
Quick key: Frequency: D = daily · W = weekly · M = monthly · O = occasional. Severity: 1 = annoying · 3 = disruptive · 5 = stops me functioning.
Sleep
Trouble falling asleep
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Waking through the night
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Wake unrested no matter the hours
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Pain & Headaches
Migraines or chronic headaches
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Joint pain or hypermobility
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Unexplained body pain
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Digestion
Constipation, diarrhea, or both
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Reflux, nausea, or food sensitivities
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Bloating disproportionate to meals
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Hormonal & Reproductive
Severely painful periods
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Cycle irregularity
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Perimenopausal or PMDD-style mood drops
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Energy & Autonomic
Standing-up dizziness, racing heart
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Crashes after exertion
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Temperature dysregulation (hot/cold)
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Sensory & Skin
Skin reactions, rashes, itching
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Sensory overwhelm worse than usual
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
New food, fabric, or smell intolerances
- Frequency (D / W / M / O): ____________________
- Severity (1-5) (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5): ____________________
- When did it start?: ____________________
Patterns
What to take to your appointment. Connect the dots.
Look back at your inventory. The point now is to surface three patterns you'd like a clinician to take seriously. A pattern is more useful than a list. 'My migraines spike the week before my period' gets attention; 'I get headaches' doesn't.
Conditions known to over-cluster in autistic women
- hEDS-spectrum disorders: joint pain, easy bruising, gut symptoms.
- POTS and dysautonomia: dizziness, racing heart, exercise intolerance.
- Endometriosis, adenomyosis, PMDD: disabling cycle pain.
- Autoimmune conditions: thyroid, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac.
- ADHD: over 80% of autistic women in some samples are also ADHD.
1 — Pattern one I want to investigate
The pattern in plain words
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
How long it's been a pattern
e.g. e.g. 6 months, 2 years
______________________________________________
What I've already tried
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
What I want from this appointment
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
2 — Pattern two I want to investigate
The pattern in plain words
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
How long it's been a pattern
e.g. e.g. 6 months, 2 years
______________________________________________
What I've already tried
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
What I want from this appointment
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
3 — Pattern three I want to investigate
The pattern in plain words
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
How long it's been a pattern
e.g. e.g. 6 months, 2 years
______________________________________________
What I've already tried
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
What I want from this appointment
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
After
What shifted. Notice what shifted.
After you've sat with this worksheet, return to these questions. Honest answers are more useful than tidy ones. You can come back and write more later — leave space.
1 — What has it cost you to be disbelieved?
Years of being told it's anxiety, you're sensitive, you're imagining it. Name one specific cost — financial, relational, professional, internal.
Your reflection
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
2 — What would listening to your body actually look like?
Not pushing through. Not earning the rest. Just — listening. What would change about your week if you let your body's data count as data?
Your reflection
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
3 — What's one symptom you've been minimizing because you've had it forever?
Forever isn't normal. Forever just means undiagnosed. Pick one.
Your reflection
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
4 — Who do you want on your medical team?
A doctor who knows autistic women. A specialist for one of the patterns you found. A friend who comes to appointments. Pick one to add this season.
Your reflection
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Take this to an appointment: A written audit is harder to dismiss than a verbal description. Bring it. If you're not heard, that's information about the provider, not about you.
Go deeper
Ready for more? These lessons pick up where this worksheet leaves off.
- Being Believed, from The Autistic Woman. Why autistic women get dismissed in medical rooms — diagnostic overshadowing, the 'looks fine' gap — and how to prepare, advocate, and be believed.
- The Body, from The Neurodivergent Brain. The physical side of neurodivergence: interoception, co-occurring conditions (EDS/hypermobility, POTS, gut, sleep), and sensory sensitivity.
- Hormones Across the Lifespan, from The Autistic Woman. How the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and perimenopause shift autistic women's traits — an honest, neuroaffirming look, and why tracking is power.