Aspie- maybe? Newbie- for sure!

Post Reply New Topic

Greetings to all,

New to this forum. I am a 40 year old female who's been diagnosed with ADHD. Due to the urging of an acquaintance with Asperger's Syndrome, I took the A-Q test (score: 34) and have been reading quite a bit on the subject.

The more I read about AS traits, the more I feel that some-- but not all-- of them are pretty descriptive of me. I am not sure that I have AS, however, as some of its traits are also often ascribed to ADHD. Still, I feel there are some things about me that aren't really explained by the ADHD.

I don't know what the next step is from here, but perhaps I should get a formal evaluation from my doctor. Whether I am or am not an Aspie, I have found lots of good reading and comraderie here just from my lurking of the past month. I can relate to a lot of what I've read here, and I finally feel like I've found the "right planet"!

Hey Buzzygirl, and welcome here to WrongPlanet.net , the right planet for you . Looks like you've been making a lot of self-discovery lately, which is awesome to here. ADHD may be combined with AS in some individuals, so I wouldn't count that out just yet... you may happen to have both! I encourage you to read more about Asperger's and decide for yourself -- you know yourself best -- and then see your doctor about it in due time. I have tried many times to disprove having AS within myself, but have not been able to yet . I do not have a formal diagnosis myself.

I don't have a formal diagnosis either; I diaganosed myself when my son was diagnosed. I felt it was important to get my son diagnosed in order to get help for him at school, but I don't know that getting a formal diagnosis for myself would accomplish anything. I have known all along that whatever my son turned out to have, I had the same thing, because he is so much like me it is scary. When my son was diagnosed with ADHD, I thought that was what I had; a few years later I learned about AS, and I knew that would be a more accurate diagnosis of our problem.

The way I see things, ADHD and AS are in many ways opposite, but they can present in ways that look very similar. For example, people with ADHD are easily distracted from what they should be doing by outside stimuli, while people with AS are more likely to be distracted from within their own minds. But to the observer, both appear distracted (off task). While I'm sure there are many people with both ADHD and AS, I think it is probably more common for Aspies to be misdiagnosed as ADHD because of the apparent similarity of the symptoms.