? for self-diagnosed/ not sure if I have it or not

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My question for those who select "self-diagnosed," or, "not sure if I have it or not" in their profile is:

What other diagnoses did you ever consider?

For me, before I learned more about AS, I considered:

Depersonalization Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (but that was a stretch)

Thanks in advance for your input .

For me, I most likely do have AS but I also could be a VERY strange NT (that is a stretch). I also could be an alien. That would be awesome.

But yeah, as I read up more on AS I came to the conclusion that I do have it, but I want the official dx.

I also did look into Depersonalization Disorder and Schizotypal Personality Disorder as well before I decided to read the wikipedia article about AS for the 10th time and read even more about it.

I have OCD tendencies but i dont think im bad enough for that.

i didnt really consider any other conditions, but i have always been looking up conditions and seeing if anything fitted me cos someone once told me there was something wrong with me and that stayed with me, even though im proud of who i am

AS just seems to fit with who i am. it all makes sense i suppose. and the more i learn, the more it makes sense.

hope this helped a bit

Amanda

I wasn't in much doubt that AS fitted me,but I did look into Schizotypal Personality Disorder
and also wondered if PDD-NOS might be more applicable as I don't have too many problems with
things like understanding metaphors or sensory issues (although I do have Synaesthesia),
however the more I've learned about AS the more I'm sure it applies to me.

I had everything checked.

The eye doctors said my eyes were beautiful. Some used that very same word. They said I had good retinas, and I have "double pupils". My vision USED to be GREAT! I DO have fair eyes(green/grey), and double pupils MIGHT make them a bit more sensitive, but STILL, they ARE overly sensitive to certain things. Nobody said why, and I didn't really care.

As for my hearing, it always just seemed skewed. I seem to not hear some sounds others can, and hear some sounds they can't. Some IS because of tuning out noise. I wasn't concerned about THAT either.

I wanted my own space, etc... THAT didn't concern me.

I did have some problems with emotion. Few and far between, so what can I say.

I was clumsy to a degree in sports. Lots of possible reasons for it, and I am not generally interested, so I didn't care.

I started speaking late, but ended up hiting later milestones earlier. I didn't even know about this until I discussed it with my mother.

I did read earlier, but I never thought that was a problem.

I was bad with people, etc.... I was always just told. "OH, you're shy!"! It really does go a bit deeper than that though.

My understanding at times may be skewed. Everyone else may get a different meaning than I do, etc... I always figured that was due to different experiences, etc...

I even have some tendencies I had when I was a kid. HEY, I never thought about it.

I even withstand high cold, and can tolerate burns, etc... OK, I may look dumb sometimes, but what do I care? Some people wear a LOT of clothing, and get frostbite!

I had some odd, for a kid, interests that lasted DECADES! One mutated into my old interest of computers. Sadly, my job made that more a career than an obsession. OK, I just thought "HEY, NEAT!"!

I DO remember an earlier time when I saw autism, and thought WOW, that sounds almost like ME! The problem was that my last IQ test was over double what they list. When someone mentioned one symptom of aspergers, I checked it out. It fit!

So I never really got to see another that fit so well. I never thought I really had any physical mental problem. I figured it was upbringing, or whatever. I was brought up in a nice middle class area, and we moved a LOT! I was also an only child.

Anyway, this explains EVERYTHING! I even found out differences I didn't know about, and learned some things about my past, etc... I wish I knew 2 decades ago. My life would have been VERY different.

Steve

My anger bursts were one of the main problems I've always had...

Also EXTREME obsessions, meaning they're so important I find it hard to think about anything else for weeks/months.

I stopped exploding once I started feeding my obsessions, and they formed into a routine that actually works for me.

A few doctors just called it a Pervasive Development Disorder... The last one I spoke to in depth believed I've spent my life fighting my own emotions and the way they work, and that as I get more comfortable accepting me, I should be able to function... She did clarify to me that I will never be able to change the way my emotions work though, meaning I can learn everything about them, I can learn how to drive myself and keep myself from losing it, but I can't change the way I receive things, in black and white, all or nothing terms... This isn't something I've read much about in Aspergers, ADHD, or other PDD's, but I know asynchronous development is the name.

Me, I was actually diagnosed with ADHD (mild) 10 years ago but I've read up on both it and AS and the latter is just more fitting of my symptoms.

BTW one teacher once said I "wasn't participating with the other kids". I was actually perscribed ritalin! My mother didn't think it made sense, so I never took it.

SO, I guess I WAS diagnosed with ADHD. I didn't even know about that until yesterday though.

Steve

Hmmn I think this can happen quite often..

Anger and various emotional distress can often lead to the ADHD diagnosis no doubt, but as time goes by this impulsivity can be seen to come directly from repression or stress, from breaking a routine, over-obsessing, polarised emotions etc.

I had an initial ADHD diagnosis as a kid because I couldn't/wouldn't focus on things that didn't interest me (my obsessions) - a common AS trait.

A few people told me that I had an "avoidant" personality, and I considered OCD. The first time I read anything about AS, I was like, "OH. THAT'S what's wrong with me, okay."

You guys are my best and only friends..

The only ones I have in real life are blood related, or music related.

With you guys I can just share and receive, its beautiful.

I'm too laid-back to be obsessive-compulsive and too sociable to be Schizoid. (Though "Schizoid Personality Disorder" is nothing more than a descrption of a group of behaviours.) I also along the way looked at ADD/ADHD. But in all of these, I never got the sense that they applied to me. "No, that's not me" was my reaction. On the other hand, with Asperger's, I literally had a chill go up my spine, it hit that close to home...

I thought my only real problem was depression with depersonalizing and attachment disorder.caused by my adoption.I was told that some of my behavior matched border-line characteristics but the motives behind my behavior was not the same?When I was younger I thought I was an alien with the wrong gender(since I liked bugs,rocks,climbing things and hated giggling girls and frilly clothes)

Learning about AS has made me reevaluate my past experiences.It has been an interesting process,as it has filled in a lot of blank spaces.I just wish the people in my life...boyfriend and family,showed any interest in learning about AS.

I'm still teetering on the edge of a diagnosis, the first thing I got diagnosed with was Panic/Social Anxiety Disorder, then Major Depression, Generalised Anxiety, Sensory Integration Dysfunction and finally ADD. I went through a stage of thinking it was Borderline Personality Disorder and then when I read about AS it was an "a-ha" moment. I'm not sure if I fill all of the diagnostic criteria but it feels right. I love this forum whether or not I am 100% AS who knows but I feel at home here!

Schizoid Personality Disorder is different from Schizotypal Personality Disorder-- likely you already know this-- but here are the criteria for each respectively:

Schizoid Personality Disorder
1. A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

1. neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family
2. almost always chooses solitary activities
3. has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person
4. takes pleasure in few, if any, activities
5. lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
6. appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others
7. shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity

2. Does not occur exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, another Psychotic Disorder, or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

1. A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
2. odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
3. unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
4. odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
5. suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
6. inappropriate or constricted affect
7. behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
8. lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
9. excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

2. Does not occur exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, another Psychotic Disorder, or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.