just diagnosed

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Hey i'll try to sum it all up in as little as possible. Was born with a legion on my brain which caused epilepsy. Seizure free since I was two. Didn't learn to walk till I was two and a half. Have been fighting recurrent depression and general anxiety since I was 16. I was always really bad in social situations. Have been in and out of art college for five years. I have dropped out a lot but always went back and finished. In those five years I have two one year courses completed and will be repeating my first year of a two year illustration course next September.
Always knew there was something underlying the depression but was never listened to by my doctor.
I have a good friend that I dated a couple of times but I'm such a mess at the moment that I find it very hard to be around him. Have always struggled with developing friendships and prefer to spend time on my own drawing or kitting out my studio.
I was just informally diagnosed with the report to come within the next few weeks.
So now I can get the help and support to navigate my way through life. I can embrace what I would have tried to hide before. I also need to learn more about my Aspergers. What makes me anxious, what routines will make it easier to function. As a book put it, what pushes my autistic buttons. That is a journey I am now only beginning.

Welcome to WrongPlanet maia!

Good luck on your journey in life, and I hope you can learn from others on this site and gather information.

Welcome,

I too had a doctor that never listened to me, he just told me "You have Asperger's, and there's nothing we can do about it".
And it wasn't even why I had an appointment with him either.
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your journey of self-exploration!

Hi maia, I already "met" you on my own Getting To Know Each Other post, but thought I'd repay the courtesy.

Even though I haven't attempted to get a formal diagnosis yet, in at least beginning to realize Asperger's may be behind all of my issues not just present-day but when I look back through years of memories of things that now stand out like a sore thumb, like you I'm thinking how much easier things will be now that I could start to embrace what I've always felt I had to hide before. You put that so well. I feel a bit scared of that prospect yet also know it could make things so much easier for me around people in general.

From another newbie to this site, welcome -- I think all of us newly-diagnosed or newly suspected/self-diagnosed are definitely on a journey here.

Hey maia (and BirdInFlight) welcome to WP! Thanks for sharing your stories with us, I would like to say that joining will somehow make everything better, but I don't want to lie. I can however say with full confidence that you have either been guided to or stumbled upon the most amazing community of people you will ever meet. And to put your minds at ease maybe just a bit, when I was diagnosed and began autism specific therapy my social skills eventually improved dramatically (over several months) and my stress related to these things has progressively become more manageable.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to pm me

Thanks for the welcome and the wonderful words of kindness, techman!

thanks everyone for the words of welcome.
I am glad I found this site, it really does feel like a place you can go when society and life gets too much. Its like a big family. It can help me gain confidence in interacting with people.