The "undiagnosed but convinced I have it" club

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I don't have a problem with it and I don't think you should either. I'm interested in what you've got to say, same as I'm interested in anybody else here.

Somebody telling me they've got an official diagnosis means as much as them telling me they're related to the queen of England.

I'm obsessively interested in obscure topics nobody else is interested in at all. Nobody likes being around me. I have to wear clothes two sizes too big so they don't bind on me. I can't think when there's a radio on. That's my reality, you can call me an aspie or a watermelon, it don't change the circumstances of my life.

So if you've got something in common with me, your ideas might be useful to me. Post away.

I'm definitely on the spectrum somewhere and Aspergers sounds like the most likely thing.
The spectrum seems to crop up in my mom's side of family as other family members are like me or worse...
My brother is PDD. On the spectrum but not specified.

"Hey, hey, the gang's all here..."

Definitely fall into that category; I am very careful to distance myself in reference to AS since I do not have a diagnosis. At the same time, for the first time in 31 years I feel like there is an answer for things, and a place where if I have questions... the answers will be relevant to me in some respect. That's a liberating feeling, and even if I find out that I'm not ASD I will remain appreciative of the information and support I've found here... because a lot of things here make sense to me.


M.

Not formally diagnosed, but I possess some of the distinctive AS characteristics, notably unusual special interests (type and intensity), awkwardness and a good memory for factual information.

I haven't been diagnosed and I don't think my symptoms are really intense enough to warrant a diagnosis, but I act very Aspie-like in social situations. I tend to fill up on social interaction quickly and want to leave such situations early. That and I'm clumsy, and to this day I wear skirts because trousers feel too constricting. I'm convinced I'm borderline NT.

I’ve always wondered what was wrong with me. Everyone else wondered, too.
I first discovered Asperger Syndrome in October of 06 by accident while researching something that I thought was irrelevant. First was a Wikipedia article then other online AS sources. When I read the descriptions and criteria my head almost spun with the discovery that I wasn't the only one in the world with issues like mine! It was a tremendous revelation. From there I looked at even more sources for other perspectives on it. I took online tests, too. I could go on and on gut it would only be describing all too familiar grounds.

For me I don’t see much value in an official diagnosis;

1)Doctors of all kinds including mental health are notorious for misdiagnosing and prescribing the wrong meds. Being a shrink does not make one infallible.

2) I’m too tight lipped to supply enough data on my inner thoughts, issues, and life experiences. I have too many defense mechanisms that I wired into myself at an early age to just open up like that.
In the third grade my school informed my parents that I needed to be analyzed. My folks took me to a child psychologist. As we got out of the car in the parking lot my dad made it all to clear to me that there had better not be anything wrong with me. My mother did not dispute him.
The psychologist was a very friendly old man who asked me a very long battery of questions off of a questionnaire. After the threat I’d received before the appointment I made sure I answered the questions the way I thought a “normal” nine year old would. At that age I wasn’t very good at lying or knowing what normal was so I probably confused the hell out of the psychologist. He talked to my parents after that and I don’t remember in detail anything coming out of it. Maybe more threats which would be the norm.
Anyhow, my parents had gone through the motions of good parenting as the school had asked so I guess they were off of the hook.
Another half assed attempt at intervention was made when I was fifteen and by then I was even more defensive so nothing at all was resolved then either.

3) What would it get me? It's obvious I have it but they don’t have a magic wand to wave over me and make it go away and I’m not going to take meds. I’m not slamming anyone for taking meds for their condition. If it works for you then go for it.

Well, I'll go ahead and post my story. I was for sure off when I wss a child and put into special education with the label "ADHD/Emotional Disturbance but Gifted" I had extreme emotional meltdowns, tantrums, and heh I plan didn't understand teasing wasn't literal for many years. Anyway I had a rough time through high school, but in college and after I really began to accept I might "breakdown" sometimes, and the only other people I liked to be around were the other "nerds"

But the trouble started last fall. I got a job and was told another employee was a bit Autistic, so I should know how to work with him. I thought "What an odd coment, I don't really know, but I'll do some research..."

Well... I quickly put 2 and 2 together, and I started to freak... so I asked people about it, and their reactions included "Duh, I'm an Aspie too", "OMG she didn't really know (meltdown)", "Wow I just thought you dealt incredibally with it" "That's society's label, for smart people that fall outside the standard deviation" and "I don't know what that is, but IMO you have some sort of extreme socal difficulty"

Anyway... umm ended up loosing my jobs and in a psych ward for a week... they had me convinced for a while I was either Schizophrenic, Bipolar, or severe Unipolar depression, but I'm starting to doubt that again.

Moral of the story: This is why employers legally can't tell you of anothers handicapp... overall I fell like crap again. Ignorance can be bliss... so I personally decided never to tell someone again they might have a mental problem, I actually did that before myself and fell horrible about it.