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Here goes. Finally have been putting together the pieces of what has been causing me problems all these years... Grew up pre-internet, probably would never have found out about others with the same issues had it not been invented. Whew. Didn't know what Asperger's or spectrum disorders even were until around half a year ago, just found this forum. So here I am. I haven't been diagnosed and don't really see the point in doing so, I don't even know what they would say to me... I have spent a LOT of time and energy trying to pass as NT for the last dozen years so maybe I would (or could) even fool a psych. I can look people in the eye and even nod knowingly when they go on about their kids' sports and such. But I still slip up rather spectacularly once in a while, I'll be relating some of that to you all in the future I'm sure. I've been relatively lucky in earlier jobs but for the last 4 years have been in a hive of strident, fearful, hyper-conformist NT's and it has caused me tons of stress and my bruxism has been hard on the 'ol teeth. It's kind of funny when the dentist is frantic that you are grinding them at night and you are trying to explain that you do it during the day as a result of trying to cope.. I could probably do with some anxiety treatment but have never had a Dr. take me seriously about that-I live in the rural upper midwest and the mentality here is "suck it up", etc. We have the alcoholism rates to prove it of course....

Last edited by Neurocog1 on 19 Feb 2009, 11:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hola! Nice to meet you. I think you'll feel very at home here - I know I already do.

welcome im fairly new to this whole seen myself . i have just bin diag. about 10 months ago. fishing around these forums has giving me new insights and perspectives, happy trails to you.

Welcome to the forums.

Hello to you.

Weeeeeeeeeeeelcome to WrongPlanet
xoxo

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

Excellent choice of avatar, but I may just fractionally prefer Being There.

"Hello," Neurocog1. Nice to see you aboard Wrong Planet.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Thanks all! Good to be here, I can explain the avatar... DrSL has always been a favorite movie of mine and I am pretty convinced most of my NT co-workers (the few that could actually sit through an entire movie as opposed to, say, an NFL football game) would probably figure I WAS Dr. Strangelove...

I *really* love the bit where Turgidson asks someone in the War Room, "Strangelove? that ain't a Kraut name..." and the other guy says "He changed it when he became a citizen"...

LOL

Hello Neurocog1 and welcome to the WrongPlanet. Like you, I have been putting the pieces together for my eccentric life. I am 44 years old and was diagnosed with AS this past November. Now, I am analyzing my life history---and it has been most interesting. I took and old cassette tape recording of me when I was around six years old to a speech expert and was told that it was typical AS speech. I got my parents' old home movies transferred to DVD and now I can watch myself as a child---and the AS traits are there. I showed them to my therapist today, and he noticed those traits too. He called me a very methodical child. Whether or not you want to be diagnosed is entirely your business. For me, I just wanted to know. Now, I am getting some helpful coping skills from my therapist, and it is making a difference in my life with my wife and two sons.

I hope you enjoy the WrongPlanet. Feel free to communicate with me anytime you like. I like discussing AS issues with others as I often learn more about myself in doing so. Good luck to you, and I hope to hear from you soon.

welcome aboard the boards

Hi Neurocog1 welcome.... I spent half my life thinking I was nT but it never really worked, so along came Aspergers and self

but once computers arrived my new found friends

Glider... one of the realizations that freaked me out about my past has to do with speech patterns. I used to repeat sentences under my breath after I said them when I was young, I found through online research this is a prime indicator (correct me if I'm wrong) but I remember peers getting seriously upset and bent out of shape about it. It's one of the first things I learned to attempt to suppress, of course there have been hundreds more things. I don't do it any more but I'd love to. I was also a 'hypertaster' EVERYTHING with the exception of really bland stuff like bread and butter overwhelmed the hell out of me, I could hardly eat until I was in my teens, bugged the heck out of my Home-Ec teaching Mom, lemme tellya...

Believe it or not, my brother (who, I think, is as f***d up as I am, just doesn't show it as much) has a doctorate in psychology, and he was the one who (he's quite pragmatic) was of the opinion, well, why get diagnosed, it's not like you are messed up enuf to get disabilty or anything, and then you just have this THING on your record... and I think he has a point.

What do you all think? My main gripe is that no one, and I mean NO ONE as far as doctors are concerned take my anxeity complaints seriously at all. If they say anything at all about it, it's usually telling me to a. quit drinking coffee or b. quit my job (whatever that is at the time) so that is definitely the biggest bummer in my everyday life. I wonder if an AS diagnosis would help, but as I mentioned before, I've been struggling 'to pass' so many years, I don't even know who I AM, who knows what a shrink would make of me...

Any advice considered!

asplanet... yeah, thank goodness for the internet! I see you are from New Zealand... if one of your national heros, Burt Munro, (subject of The World's Fastest Indian) didn't have AS I'd be pretty suprised! A lot of serious motorheads are on the spectrum methinks...

I did the same, the hardest part often is not understanding why you are being bullied...

Being diagnosed should be a choice, but for me there wasn't one I had to know for real... personally one of my better decisions, as feel no one would believe me if I didn't get diagnosed, as have become such a great actor, pretender over the years, but slowing finding self, un-muddling the mess... it helps me explain to others why I do things, as with out a diagnosis they just think I am making excuses...

I have found quite often the people who are most pragmatic are often not ready to face true self!


One of the better explanation and another reason to be diagnosed..., and more likely to get taken seriously in regards to difference: Donna Williams - Anxiety Exposure:
Exposure Anxiety has many faces. By defeating it at its own game, Donna demonstrates how the person can progressively be inspired to fight for themselves and attempt to emerge, from the undercurrent, as the tide. - http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book.php/i ... 1843100515

Many of us think that when we start our journeys, then we start to Make Sense: http://asplanet.info/index.php?option=c ... Itemid=129

I live in NZ, but I am from the UK, so would be even more cut off without the Internet - I like to see myself as global, as cyberspace has no bounds.. and I agree lots of ASD people are still in the shadows lurking, but feel the tide is turning..