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I do not officially have Asperger Syndrome but I have a lot of AS characteristics. I was diagnosed as Dyslexic & having ADHD sense I started school & when I was re-certified for dyslexia in high-school, the psych thought I could of had AS but he couldn't diagnoses it. I was also born with a rare vision disorder where I have some colorblindness & problems seeing fine details at distances; it was not diagnosed till my senior year of high-school. I've had a lot of social & learning problems as a kid & I was bullied a lot. I think one of my IEPs from when I was in Kindergarten or 1st grade said something about how I watched a group of kids play with blocks but did not participate; I was part of the group but yet somehow not part of it at the same time. I also have been accused lots of times of being rude when I believe I am being honest. When I was around 21(I'm 27 now); I was having a lot of emotional problems with depression & mood swings & the 1st psych I saw also suspected I had AS & refereed me for testing. Asperger Syndrome got ruled out in favor of Schizoid Personality Disorder instead. I think the doc felt that some of my problems could of been caused by my low vision instead of a developmental disorder. He also said something about how I had learning problems as well. I was also given diagnoses of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Social Anxiety, & Post Traumatic Stress disorder in addition to lots of other contradictory things. My mom researched Aspergers a lot & she believes I have it & that the docs wer quacks for not diagnosing me with it. I've had lots of problems with docs/psychs thou. I've quit the meds & docs over a year ago & am feeling much better than I was.

Anyways I'm here because I'm really lonely lately & I'm wanting some friends & a relationship. I only have a couple friends offline & don't get to spend much time at all with em. I keep to myself a lot & am a loner. When I'm around people offline; I feel like I'm not myself. I don't understand all that social stuff & lots of people take things I say the wrong way. I'm also very immature in some ways & am kind of dependent. For the most part I don't want to socialize with people & I am relatively comfortable with myself the way I am. I feel a lot of my issues/problems are because people do not think the way I do & people misunderstand me. I knew a couple people years ago who had AS & I felt that I could relate better to them than a lot of so-called "normal" people. We lost touch years ago thou. I've heard a bit about this place from a couple people on some other sites & I'm hoping that I can make some friends on this community.

Its' unfortunate you've had to endure the wringer treatment from mental "health".
A lot of people are misdiagnosed. The smallest misunderstood detail can result in misdiagnosis, if you're even lucky enough to acquaint a professional who truly understands what A.S. is. Follow what you believe to be true about yourself.

Welcome ..

Your are very rite about that. I've done a bit of research on lots of mental stuff & lots of things can overlap & it can be extremely confusing. Everything I have relates to everything else. I haven't research AS or autism much in years thou. In some ways I don't care what I do have because I'm fairly comfortable with myself but I feel that lots of people do not understand or accept me. I wish society could be more accepting of differences instead of labeling anyone who's different as suffering from some kind of disorder that needs to be corrected. I'd like to find people who I can talk about stuff like this with & be myself around instead of feeling like an outsider because I am different

Hello, Nick. Well, you sound normal for an aspie.

And it's not at all uncommon to have all sorts of other things along with being an aspie. You'll find plenty of people here who can relate to you.

It helped me a lot to find an aspie friendship group in my city. I go to support groups too, but not really for the advice but rather just to be with people with wom I feel comfortable. They don't expect everyone to be formally diagnosed -- in fact, one of the main contacts for our friendship group is a guy who was first 'diagnosed' by his wife! Similarly, you don't have to be formally diagnosed to feel comfortable at WrongPlanet.

Greetings, nick007, and welcome to the WP community.

Thanx for the warm welcome guys I've read a few post & this seems like a good community. Years ago after I started seeing docs I found out about a bipolar support group here. When I 1st went to my GP(general practitioner) he suspected I was bipolar cuz of the mood swings & I had just hurt myself at my lowest point; I was having lots of emotional problems & probably suffering psychotic depression. I'm over that now & it was a one time thing. Bipolar was ruled out but I've been given a few different diagnoses of emotional disorders like Borderline Personality & Codependent witch seems contradictory of the Schizoid label. I think some of it was the depression stuff. But anyways I liked going to the bipolar support group even thou I didn't talk much I still liked listening to others talk & it was good to get out of the house a bit. We shut down thou cuz of lack of members. I wish there was a support group for AS or something else around me cuz I would defiantly be interested. My mom keeps nagging about how I don't have friends because when I didn't want to socialize when I was in school. She feels I'm not putting forth any effort to change anything in my life because she believes I am lazy & selfish; comments like that only make me feel worse.

Have you tried meetup.com?? Sometimes people have support groups for A.S. through meetup

I just checked but there's only a couple things listed. Something for knitting, Mustang owners, & mom's. The town I live in is kind of small & the big town & city near by don't have much either. I could try expanding the search but I cant drive due to vision & possible attention problems so transpiration is a problem for me. One of the rezones I spend a lot of time online because I cant get out on my own

Nick, something which may help your mother is if you get the Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome, a book by Tony Attwood. Suggest that you are thinking of getting it, and that you read it together. Find the things which you see in yourself, and point out the things in the book which you think would help you, or which illustrate how you feel. This way she will get an objective perspective and may be able to understand you better. It will also help you to understand how other people see you from the outside.

It is not always essential to find an exact fit to a specific label. I have had some of the traits of bipolar disorder myself and I am being treated by my psychiatrist with the same mood stabiliser which they prescribe for bipolar disorder, even though I don't have every single symptom required for a bipolar diagnosis. (I'm not very depressed -- just hypervigilant, mood swings, anxiety; no real manic states.) I also have also had some of the symptoms similar to dyslymbia (what they used to call borderline personality disorder), and a friend of mine who has 'proper' dyslimbia has given me some tips to help me regulate my emotions. So tips from people with different labels can be helpful.

The one thing I can't get is schizophrenia -- I have ADHD, which involves a neurochemisty which prevents it!

You're not alone, man. Not even sort of.

I've been through a little bit of what you've experienced, and I've seen many a thread in these forums about people who have gotten on the wrong side of psychiatry. One thing to keep in mind is that adult psychiatrists are not trained to diagnose developmental conditions like AS; they are trained to diagnose adult psychiatric conditions. Many of the symptoms of AS and related ASDs can look an awful lot like bipolar, schizoidal, or even schizophrenic tendencies from the outside, and when you try to explain that you are *not* crazy and that your thoughts are rational the psychiatrists just don't believe you.

I am intellectually gifted, so I was never diagnosed with AS or any other developmental condition as a child. As an adolescent and now as an adult (I'm 26) I have had periods of emotional disturbance. I was depressed as a teenager (for good reasons; my life really did suck), and now I seem to be having about one manic or hypomanic episode each spring or summer. I recently went with my girlfriend to see her psychiatrist, who says that he does not see AS in me, but that he does see symptoms of biploar 1, schizoid personality disorder, and nonverbal learning disability. The long list of diagnoses you've received is simply ridiculous. All of those disorders have symptoms that can overlap with those of AS, but often for profoundly different reasons. You obviously are not schizoidal, and neither am I; if we were, we wouldn't be here in this forum, talking about ourselves and others like us. To people who don't understand AS, however, we can look very schizoid, since we tend to communicate most effectively in a factual, non-emotional way, and we often avoid eye contact and other neurotypical indicators of friendliness. At times though we do have episodes of extreme emotionality, and these periods tend to be very confusing for us since we are normally so disconnected from that area of our minds. From the outside we might look depressed, manic, or even psychotic, but this is not the same brain-damaging process that occurs in schizophrenia.

You have been treated medically as a neurotypical person exhibiting mental disorders, when you might just be an Aspie acting totally normal for an Aspie. Welcome to WP.

Do you have any links to information about that? I would really like to see it.

I'm not to hung up on labels either Alphabetania but I do like researching things because I like analizing how & why I am the way I am. I also like talking to others about stuff online & having terms to use makes it easier. I'd like to find like minded people or people who have things themselves because I find they are more sympathetic. That book thing could be a good idea. We haven't discussed things like AS in a while. My mom's kind of busy lately so I won't suggest it anytime soon. I think some or the issues are that I'm to dependent for someone my age. She's worried about what will happen to me after her & my dad die. She's frustrated by the whole situation.

I have done a bit of research on Schizoid Personality Disorder & it seems like a very controversial thing. Some people think Schizoids do not feel strong emotions but others believe that they are extremely sensitive inside but do not express it often to others unless they are close to em; that sounds kind of like me. Schizoids are also usually very passive, directionless & unmotivated in life. They also tend to fantasize & daydream a lot. They can be extremely curious & confused by others & may secretly desire relationships but they tend to keep to themselves because they find people intrusive, emotional & unpredictable. They feel overwhelmed when they are close to people so they rather avoid em. Schizoids tend to be cynical/pessimistic/negative & they may have very low opinions on others & society. Schizoids generally do not care if others see em as suffering from a disorder because they do not see themselves as having a problem, they think there problems are from others instead. All that stuff sounds a lot like me. Aspergers seems to be more about an inability to connect to others because of being obsessed about very restricted interest & Schizoid is more about being extremely introverted & lacking desire to socialize due to the problems mentioned. I kind of think that Schizoid could be an adaptation thing due to not being accepted because of other disabilities. The psych who did the testing said that my learning profile did not fit the typical AS pattern but I was on meds then that wer recently changed; plus the test did involve some visual stuff & sense I have vision problems, I think that could of threw a few curve-balls in things. I was also told that AS had to be diagnosed before the age of 21 & I was almost 21 so maybe that also had something to do with it I saw a few other docs/psychs for things after that & they all believed I did not have anything on the autism spectrum because I communicated well verbally; I'm an auditory learner. I think Schizoid Personality Disorder mite disapear with the DSM V & I hope it does due to the controversy surrounding it.
What really ticks me off thou is the fact that I can not qualify for any social services related to developmental disabilities because I do not officially have anything on the autism spectrum. My state's having major financial issues & is cutting funding for things like that as much as they can get away with so I don't see the point in spending a lot of money I don't really have to get tested again.
I'm also generally not a happy person & my parents think I've always been depressed. People ask me what's wrong or why I'm upset a lot when I'm not in a bad mood but they think I look mad. I have a lot of anxiety issues as well so I'm kind of surprised that no doc ever mentioned Avoidant Personality disorder

That was a lot of rambling

Welcome to WP!

My source is Dr. Shabeer Jeeva, a psychiatrist who specialises in ADHD (he also has ADHD himself). I was at his seminar on ADHD and I asked him a question from the audience, about some hypnagogic hallucinations and auditory hallucinations that I was having. I told him I was concerned that I might be developing schizophrenia. He then explained something like that the brain chemistry of schizophrenia was the opposite of ADHD -- they cancel each other out or something like that. I am misquoting him badly now, but that was the gist of it. My own psychiatrist said the same when I asked him. It all led to me being treated with Risperdal and Epitec (can't remember what they call the latter in America).

Dr. Jeeva's Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=695626497
and his group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=173229797979
(He has a most dreadful looking Web site. I am reluctant to send you there, lest you have a seizure from the nauseating aesthetics.)

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hello nick007, welcome, enjoy your stay on the Wrong Planet!