Can I ask you guys a question?

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I'm new, and i wanted to ask a few questions. For some odd reason, I started becoming really interested in brain disorders. I found Aspergers while looking at Autism. I'm not saying I have it, because I know the importance of a doctor's diagnosis, but I wanted to know if any others discovered they had AS before being diagnosed. If you have, what was your life like? See, I know the symptoms include an inability to express one's self with body language, but I'm able to do that. I'm not able to express myself verbally. I can't interpret what other people are thinking and most of the time I feel like they're making fun of me. When they're being sarcastic, I can never tell and take them literally. I'm always angry. I'm not anti-social, rather, I'm overly-social, only because I can't tell when to shut up. For example, I'll often talk to much, often about things no one I'm talking to cares about. When they tell me this is rude, I don't see the problem. My parent's jump down my throat for being too literal and not understanding when they're joking with me. i'm always tripping over things and what not. I don't know if this is just teenage awkwardness or AS. Can someone help me/

Hi weclome to WP

Probably AS.

Hello. In these forums it's not unusual to find many who are self-diagnosed. The primary reason for this is that there are a limited number of professionals who truly understand Autism and Asperger's... so even if you HAVE the ability to see medical professionals, quite often those within the Autistic Spectrum are misdiagnosed.

Other diagnoses may be technically accurate, as other conditions may exist comorbid with AS and ASD, but if the dx stops short of truly explaining a patient's symptoms a lot of Doctors/therapists just don't catch the clues.

Therefore it can take years to obtain an accurate diagnosis. However, within these message boards you will find loads of information and a lot of really great people who are Aspies, Auties, and those who love Aspies and Auties.

Either way, you've come to the right place.

<3 Edit:
BTW... I'm one of those who is self-diagnosed, and prior to making that discovery my life never made sense to me. Now it does, and understanding WHY certain things about me are the way they are has been beneficial in uncountable ways.

I agree with sistersunshine, a professional diagnosis isn't such a big deal. Do some searches on the web for AS symptoms, try Wikipedia for instance. Not everyone manifests all the signs, but if you're like me, the more I read these boards the more I identify with the problems everyone talks about. I love WP!! !!

Hi welcome.
A lot of people have been diagnosed after finding out about it.

The unfortunate thing is that my parents use "the shrink" as a joke or a threat. I don't believe I'll see one anytime soon.

Unfortunatly, what has been said already is very true. There are very few specialists that TRULY understand autism and those disorders that are on the spectrum with it. Take it from me, I was in the air force for a year and a half and they diagnosed me with a comorbid disorder(PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder). When I brought up my research and my belief of being AS, I have been told "you're too smart to be autistic" or "asperger syndrome is ONLY diagnosed in young children". Truth be told, most of these doctors and shrinks are absolute idiots. Hell, even my own mother/family in general don't believe me when I have told them about it. They insist that Im different but not different enough. They don't know what it's like to look out my eyes or hear through my ears. They don't understand the inability to control extreme emotions(rage, depression, etc.). I've been told I might be Bi-polar but I dont have manic episodes. I've been told I might have several other disorders or syndromes but they dont fit as well as AS. Its hard, but just knowing for yourself what your limits are and why they are set that way helps a lot. You learn to work around your difficulities and get help with them. You see your abilities more as gifts and start to use them more in a talent way, try to mature them. You will face many people who just wont want to understand why you're different and tell you things that no one should hear, but you just have to fight through the bad to get to the good.

Well, see, I just don't like diagnosing myself because then I feel like it's wrong without a shadow of a doubt. I can't turn to my parents...I have no idea. I work with a guy who was a psychologist's assistant for 8 years, he told me I was "too social" (which I've explained about) but then he followed that up with "I actually met Mr Asperger himself a few years back" I'm pretty sure that is impossible. So I discredited his opinion.

Hello and welcome

If you've studied up on aspergers, you probably already know more about it than most mental health professionals. Also, it's not the same as getting a professional diagnosis about whether your ankle is broken.

Your self description sounds pretty aspie to me. Well, actually the rest of the world is messed up because they can't understand that chinese poetry is much more interesting than the other stuff they talk about... guess you know what I mean.

Another consideration is that there's not much the professionals can do about asperger's anyway. I'm not saying nobody should ever get a diagnosis. A lot of people here think it's a good idea. If you think it would benefit you, by all means go ahead.

You'll also notice here that asperger's varies quite a bit from one person to the next. The obsessive interests and the problems with non-verbal communication are pretty universal. So enjoy this place.

i am not nor will ever be DXed.

i've always known i was weird and after finding out about AS... i feel much better. autism is a spectrum and you'll prolly never see two people who have all the exact same traits (nor do you have to have X/X traits to be considered autistic) so it's kind of subjective to DX people anyway. I am content to finally just identify with people... DXed or no.

that being said, im prolly just affected more socially and whatnot, so I don't really need a lot of the benefits of getting DXed. and i'm about done with school (plz just let me make it through), so i don't really see a point.

but to help decide for yourself... you should take a look back to your early childhood and maybe talk to others who knew you.

i never used to bat an eye at any of the projects i was doing while growing up... nor did i have any idea that i did things like talk out of turn or have a tendancy to speak loudly. all i knew, was that i had no friends and felt different. and all it took for me to make a connection between all these things was to come here and read what others had to say... and it was like words falling from out of my mouth... i know im somewhere on this spectrum. no doctors needed.

a dx can help with some of the more maintenance aspects of life, but at the end of the day, you are who you are.... and whether or not someone DXes you one way or another... you're gotta know/accept yourself