Greetings From a Potential Aspie

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Hello all. I'm new here (obviously) and I'll try to keep my introduction relatively brief. I'm 25 years old and have had a consistent history of social difficulties. I always found it difficult to make and keep friends, didn't understand many non-explicitly stated jokes and had troubles with body language. Neither of my parents really believed in psychology or psychaitry and so never thought to get me tested for much of anything when I was a child.

Fast forward to near present day when I met my current bf, who is officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Naturally, caring about him as I did, I decided to research it in order to learn more about it and, hopefully, more about him in the process. What I didn't expect was just how closely the symptoms matched my own history and my own life. The more I looked into it and the more I compared the way I acted and thought to how he acted and thought, the more convinced I became that I might just have Asperger's myself. He agreed.

I have just started the process of going in to get a pre-assessment clinical interview to see if a full assessment is needed. I'm a little nervous and not entirely certain what to expect. Nor am I entirely even certain why I'm doing it, except for the peace of mind, I guess. Nevertheless, here I am.

*waves*

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Thanks for the welcome

I just got officially booked for my first pre-assessment interview tomorrow morning. Hopefully all goes well although I am fairly nervous about it. Do I have any reason to be?

Hi and WELCOME!

Of course You're nervous! - You're about to have an examn. Are Your conclutions correct, does You really have a diagnose hanging over Your head, ect.?

I had exactly the same speculations half a year ago. After i found out that i had diagnosed myself, as being AS, and consulted my MD as to be preassessed.
What i did, were to take the tests i made on the net (AQ, SQ, EQ, and Aspie-quiz), and print them out. Then i made a brainstorm, turned it in to a nice little novell, about my life, and all the fazettes of it that substantiated my suspicion.
Told tthat there were certain treats that i recognised from my father, his brother and their mom...
And 4. mar. i got my "new identity" as Officially dx'd Aspie.

Hope You can use this little story to calm Your nerwes a bit! - And remember You are who You'we always been, no matter if you're diagnosed, or not!

Best regards
And best of luck!! !

Thanks for the comment about your experiences

Hmm, although I've taken many of the tests I never thought to print them out. Mainly I've just been going over everything in my head again and again, trying to remember different traits and life events that made me suspect. Maybe it would be a good idea to write some stuff down because I have a tendency to make a whole lot of sense in my own head and sound very articulate and confident, but when it comes to conversations in person I often forget everything that I was going to say.

I don't really have too long to prepare as the pre-assessment interview is tomorrow morning, but I may just spend some time tonight writing things down that I really want to hit on when I get there. Its so much easier to think in writing rather than in speach. I almost wish I could do this thing through email rather than in person, although I underand why that's not really possible.

Welcome to WP!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Less than half an hour before I leave for my pre-assessment interview and I'm super nervous. I hate dealing with nerves, especially when they don't seem to really serve much point. I talked to my bf in depth about things last night to try and get all my thoughts in order and then wrote a bunch of stuff down in point form that I'm going to bring with me, so I don't forget anything. Wish me luck

Hi! - I really hope it worked out for You!
And if you need support or advice, we're here for You...

Best regards!

Welcome. Sit yourself down and pull up a chair.

Well I have gotten back from the interview yesterday. I was basically told that I do have many of the Asperger's traits, but he was hesitant to actually put the label on me because I had basically learned, more or less, to deal with them and live a reasonably functional life. Which I did understand and is more or less true. I am self-sufficient, for the most part, have a steady job and am in a long term relationship (although that isn't without its problems). I have always been highly introspective and very proactive in trying to better myself when I saw a personal deficit and its only in the last year and a half that I really feel like I've finally managed to get my life together and even then only through a very great amount of personal effort.

That said, there are definately still areas in which I struggle, particularly socially. There are situations in which I have irrational anxiety relating to interacting with people. I will sometimes get completely overwhelmed in croweded areas and absolutely have to leave, as if everyone is pressing in on me and I feel suffocated. Even when I'm acting relatively normal socially, social interactions often completely exhaust me.

I'm not sure if I should go back and see him again or not. There are things that I forgot to mention the first time I saw him because I was nervous and when I'm nervous I forget things, even though I wrote everything down so that I wouldn't forget. I'm not sure if its worth going back or not, if there's anything that can be done to actually help with the problems I have. Honestly, I'm pretty much just as confused now as I was before I actually went in. Are the problems I have just normal problems that everyone deals with? Is it a matter of degree rather than kind? Is the fact that I internalize my problems rather than externalize them the reason why they are less extreme? Or do they only seem less extreme to the passive observer? I have absolutely no idea at all.

Welcome!

Welkome to WrongPlanet.

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