You're crazy. You don't have AS!

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I think I had the opposite experience as most people on this board. I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was 6. I went to therapy for about 3 years for it, Sitting in a room, being explained to-- with flashcards-- (which to this very day i despise flashcards) the ways in which my brain functioned, and the way NT's brains functioned, in an attempt to make me at the very least, an exceptionally empathic AS.

I suppose it worked, as I'm extremely high-functioning according to AS doctrine, but I'm still not convinced that the diagnosis was right. There was some pretty heavy stuff going on back then, and once the heavy stuff stopped, I stopped "acting out" the AS, although my stimies and such are still around (although controlled).

So, Misdiagnosing MH for AS, or misdiagnosing AS for a bad first decade? Either way, I'm confused that I don't know of anyone else who went through AS therapy when they were diagnosed. Maybe Canada was just doing some really radical thing in behavioural therapy 20 years ago.

Has anyone else gone through AS therapy? (lots of IQ testing and empathic learning excercises teaching you how to behave and how to structure your thoughts/kick yourself out of inward-leaning tendencies, leaving you alone in empty rooms when acting-out, etc?)

because of all the trauma i went through, i was always put on the disociative disorder spectrum. looking back, i can see how the AS colored my ptsd and other problems. i remember clearly one of my therapists even having trouble diagnosing me with ptsd because it didn't seem like i had flashbacks and stuff. i did, it was just all internalized due to the AS, but of course i couldn't explain that to her.

i'm just glad that now i have the correct diagnosis.
april

My parents and I wasted a lot of time with "talking cures", but at least I was born far too soon for the "put them in the hospital until their insurance runs out" and "trank them into the Twilight Zone" thing.

I don't really want a diagnosis on record for fear that thereafter anything I have to say (especially when important matters are at stake) will be discredited as the effluvia of a wonky brain.

OTH, it seems to have *improved* my credibility with my sister (now deceased) and my ex-husband. WTH?!?!?

I have not been dianosed with anything. My alter-ego Neuroman has most often been diagnosed with BIPD (Black Intelligent Person Disorder). But right now he is diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger's. A lot of people believe he doesn't have it because he is a consummate storyteller, and, of course, because every once in a while, he has me. Someday he will make a movie and showcase many of the painful interpersonal errors as well as some of his stimming sessions (no chicken dance for him, but you should see him when he's happy!); there will be no doubt then.

I wasn't diagnosed as AS until I was 14, although I've been bumped from pillar to post ever since I was very young. My mum had me undergo various assessments when I was five or six, and they showed a huge discrepancy between by verbal and non-verbal skills. A little above average for non-verbal, and gifted for verbal. But because I was considered 'gifted', they didn't see the discrepancy as an indication of any sort of difficulty. I spent my early school years struggling because of my pretentious verbal nature (always using long and complex words made me the butt of jokes in the playground), but thankfully the supportive teachers (for the most part) gave me extra work and allowed me to push forward. I did have quite a few incidents, which, in retrospect, were triggered by sensory overload, but I was still overall 'happy' at primary school. Middle school and highschool were where it all went wrong. The support system vanished and I was bullied mercilessly, to the point where I was followed home and punched and kicked in the stomach so hard that I was physically ill. By now, I was seeing psychiatrists left, right and center. I was diagnosed with depression, stuck on Prozac, and for a while the shrinks tried to convince me that my social problems were a result of (non-existant) abuse in my early childhood. I left school at 14, and did my GCSEs a year early via Hospital and Individual Tuition Services. At this time, I had also developed a severe panic disorder that had me housebound almost literally for the best part of 4 years. Also, around this time, I was finally diagnosed as having Scotopic Light Sensitivity, and was given prescription tinted glasses which I still wear if I go outside. Thankfully, these really helped and GREATLY reduced the migraines I'd been having (full-fledged classical migraines with disappearing/tunnel vision, flashing lights in my vision, one side of my body going numb, unable to speak without slurring/mixing up letters). And at this time also, my mum first started reading about Asperger's Syndrome. As a teacher with special needs qualifications, she had access to good resources, and was surprised she hadn't realized earlier. I saw several educational psychologists after this, and they agreed that I was a classic example of Asperger's. One of the leading Asperger specialists in the country (I forget her name) even confirmed this. At last, I had a diagnosis! I actually didn't go through with statementing though, as the paperwork was taking so long with me being out of school and the system being messed up enough as it is. Looking back I WISH I'd been statemented... it would help me so much now. But that was when I finally got my 'label'. It didn't stop one of my psychologists from also trying to diagnose me with ADD and attempting to stick me on Ritalin (which I refused). For the past few years I have tried unsuccessfully to shrug off my Aspie label because I wanted to be seen as 'normal' at college and work... but this has led to disaster after disaster. Finally it came out and now my college knows... and they have a FANTASTIC support system. In the end, it seems to work best if I tell them, since they eventually seem to find out anyway. But yes, it was a bit of a bumpy road to being diagnosed.

In April 2000, I visited a psychiatrist and told her that I believed I had Asperger's

She said, "What’s Asperger's?"

I said, "Its a mild form of autism."

She said, "You can't possibly be autistic, autistic’s can’t talk! Autism is caused by brain damage and how could a university student have autism? Nonetheless, I will consult my colleagues".

I then left and came pack a week later. She gave me a referral to a person with knew about AS, but I gave up for about 2 years. I finally got diagnosed in 2002.


Interestingly, the person who I was referred to had a Son who was a celebrity in Ireland. He was well known for being eccentric, eloquent and outspoken. He was Ferociously Intelligent. Somewhat in the same style as Oscar Wild. I was just speaking to a friend sitting near me in my office and she knew his brother, he is also ferociously intelligent and as odd as “two left feet” – very odd. Is he AS? She says, yes.

I never met either brother, but I once heard brother No. 1 speaking from a distance. He was outside a café, lecturing people about what ever…I have no doubt he had AS and it is likely that he was the reason that his mother, who is a qualified psychiatrist, became one of the few experts Asperger’s in Ireland.

I told the psychiatrist I was seeing at the time I found out about AS, that I thought I might have it. He literally laughed at me, and said they would have discovered it when I was a kid. What an idiot. I'm 42, and when I was a kid it was the 60's and 70's. Did anybody in the US in the 70's know about AS? Plus I had a completely clueless mother who wouldn't have known anything was wrong with me unless I was homicidal.

My current psychiatrist, whom I respect and is a board-certified child and adolesent pscyhiatrist, has referred me to a specialist, and my appointment is next week. For the moment I have three diagnoses: Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia. Yeah right.

We'll see how it goes next week.

pffft.....medical professionals

I'm in my 30's and went to see a psych due to depression. As I didn't have a simple cause for it, more a lifestyle problem, a lot of effort was expended to find some answers.

My major complaint was that I didn't understand social interaction well enough. I go out, but end up having no fun and getting stressed. The psych jumps to the conclusion of social anxiety disorder.
This didn't fit with how I felt so with some research I found that I coudn't have it as I did not meet the symptoms fully. I did however stumble onto the symptoms for Aspergers. This I identified with as it was the closet thing yet that could explain how I felt.

Of course the psych laughed and said it wasn't possible. I have too much emotional effect and a (apparant) normal level of interaction with her.

So here I am on this site, trying to get an idea of who or what I am....a quirky but otherwise normal NT or someone with mild AS?

At the end of the day, I don't think a diagnosis is going to be any practical use to me. I function well enough to fit in. The problems are mainly perceptual on my part. A proper diagnosis would help though, by eliminating all the self analysis I'm doing.

I think I'll just be a become a quirky recluse....it's when I'm happiest!

Wow, I could have written this post! I starting seeing a Psych. for depression 9 years ago and none of them thought of AS, and of course I had the same "laugh" response. I'm going to an AS specialist next week (did I mention that already?) and I'm afraid of exactly the same thing: "...too much emotional affect and an apparent normal level of interaction" ie, that the MD will notice those things and write me off.

But I strongly believe that those of us adults in our 30's and 40's have spent that many miserable years learning the social stuff that NT's seem to get very early in life, and that the PsychDocs need to understand this when working with adults.

I agree about how a dx would "help by eliminating the self analysis" - I feel the same way, like I'm constantly having to prove to myself how AS I am . But for me, I've had (and this is a DSM-IV diagnostic criteria) "clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" and the occupational part is what I'm concerned with now. My line of work (nursing - where the operative verb is "to care") requires abundant social functioning. I should never have gone into this field because of my AS, but now that I'm a highly skilled and licensed professional (hmph) I need to figure out what kind of job I can handle in nursing. That's why I want an official dx.

I've noticed the term "stimies" or "stimming" used throughout the board. What does the term mean. Any examples? Thanks much.

I'll raise my hand on this one!

I'm 48.

I broke from my parents and siblings for about four years, from 1997 - 2001. That began on a fun weekend.

I've always been the blacksheep, though I'm the one who is self-reliant, holds a decent job, is reasonably stable. I'm the consumate outcast.

*raises hand*

Well the shrink I went to a couple weeks ago said it was ADHD and that all of the developmental problems were probly because of that too. huh? My family dr thought it sounded like aspergers and sent me to her. I go wednesday to the other shrink she handed me off to. nice.

I had mentioned my suspicions about AS to a psychiatrist once and his only question to me which seemed to answer the entire subject to him was "Were you ever in the Special School District?" and I said "Well, no."

I realized awhile later that "Oh yeah, I went to a private school. They had no such thing as SSD but I did receive extra aid from teachers whenever I needed it and accomodations."

::rolls eyes that this realization came too late:: Ah well. He'd already made up his mind. I only saw this guy once.

"Stimmy-ing" (as it's pronounced) Is sort of a colloquial term for movements, activities, textures, ideas, &c. that an Autistic person latches onto, ranging from mildly-to-obsessively. whether it's the sound of clapping, the feel of a certain fabric, having your hair braided, squacking, staring, or learning everything there is to know about the migratory patterns of ducks.

This is more a characteristic of traditional Autistics, but Aspergers are known to stimy in their own, often less physical ways.

Hope that helps!