the self diagnosed

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I fit the diagnosis criteria. And I have many of the problems discussed here. But I cannot say with 100% certainty I have Asperger's syndrome, even though most books and articles about it describe me very well; I am interested in getting an opinion from a professional someday.

I have sensory issues (among them, very specific taste for food, lack of sensitivity to pain, extreme aversion to touch, low tolerance to certain sounds - background noise, in particular, drives me nuts). I stim a lot. I have spent most of my life without friends (and I am beginning to think my latest friends are starting to ignore me). I never had (and I am pretty sure I will never have) a girlfriend. I never learned how to behave in a conversation; I tend to either monologue about something I like or just not talk at all. Everybody who knows me thinks there is something strange with me (some of them avoid talking about it, but I learned to recognize it. Besides, they eventually tell me about my weirdness).

I have a job and I like it. I was also very good at school, to the point of being considered a genius among my peers. However, I lack some basic executive functions. I was terrible at remembering homework (and when I did remember, I was usually not interested and rarely did it). At work, I am not reliable to remember messages to other people. I am terrible at multitasking; if I am doing something and I must interrupt it to start another activity, it will take some time for me to go back to my usual performance. Not to mention that I really hate to be interrupted.

Outside of job and school, I suck at everything else. However, I think I can actually become successful eventually. A financially successful, but extremely bored (and lonely) eccentric.

P.S.: Thinking about my shortcomings is very depressing. I am going to watch an episode of Batman: The Animated Series to improve my mood. Lately, I have become obsessed about that series.

There's nothing wrong with self-diagnosis, and often it's the only way something will be picked up. With that, one must see a professional for their official opinion whether the self-diagnosis is right or not (if one is unhappy with the professional's opinion, one can see another; a couple of opinions should be more than enough in nearly all cases). Expert or generic psychic, it doesn't matter (both have their pluses and minuses).

However, saying that one has it when they're self-diagnosed is wrong; there's lots of disorders out there that appear similar to lots of other disorders after all, and it's hard to see if one is truly displaying a symptom of whatever. For example, most people probably aren't aware if they lack social reciprocation as it's defined in Asperger's; it's too hard to tell from the perspective of the patient. Others are easier to figure out though, like if you have that narrow and intense interest that you spend most of your time on (you'll probably think it's "normal" though until you read or hear that it's abnormal).

it's funny i am kind of the opposite. diagnosed by my mother and at her persuasion a doctor as a little girl. i have never thought the label fit me. i just can't identify at all with other aspies. nor can i understand why anyone would choose to label themselves with this. for instance i never likd rules and would always misbehave as a kid intentionally ( not mean things at all just playful mischeif) if someone told me not to touch something, i would do it just to get a reaction. if i was the ringleader in mischeif i would make it look like i was being led into it... so i lied a lot to save my butt but not to hurt or manipulate others. i would wander around school when i was supposed to be in class (at like 7 or 8 yrs old ) and say i was lost. does this sound like oppositional defiant disorder or something else?

As to the details of how and why I found myself among the self-diagnosed, I refer you to my blog: http://aspieedge.blogspot.com/2012/04/discovery.html

In addition to what I list there, Dr Temple Grandin advises older aspies to avoid diagnosis unless it is absolutely needed to access needed services. If an older aspie has their life set up in a way they can manage, and don't need services, she recommends reading the books etc, and avoiding the risk to future medical insurance and risk of discrimination. I am merely following the advise of the most knowledgeable expert I know of.

That being said, I do plan to seek diagnosis after I'm safely retired, so I can stand up and be counted, and participate more fully in the fight for our basic civil rights.

Marriage has been mentioned on this thread: How can an Aspie be happily married but still be impacted by Autism? very easy! by being married to someone who also has many spectrumite qualities. My husband is even more of a hermit than I am. As long as there is food in the house and the Internet connection is good, we could be happy not setting one toe out the front door weeks at a time. Conversations tend to be alternate monologues about special interests, but this works for us.

So let me get this straight you berate people for not getting a professional diagnoses, yet you don't even think your own official diagnoses is valid? Also, its not as though most who are self diagnosed pull autism out of thin air and declare they have it, its a label that happens to fit....I know i never made a list of random disorders and just chose one I liked best. I didn't want to label myself with autism just so happens the label fit and my last and current therapists agree...but just cannot officially diagnose it.

Morally wrong or potentially inaccurate wrong?......if its the latter the same can apply to an official diagnoses as well.

And while I know the bolded words are a typo....oh you just made me laugh and laugh...

maybe we all need to hire a fortune teller to diagnose us! Might solve a lot of things.

I didn't read this whole post. I am back to this forum after years. My daughter will be tested for dyslexia soon (I hope. Suppose to be through the Scottish Rite here in Sac. If it doesn't happen this month I'll fork over the $800 and get her tested elsewhere.) I found a home here at wrong planet years ago. After getting tired of posts like this one since at the time I didn't have the means to go after finding out if I did or didn't have asperger's or whatever it may be, I left. I am back after much research and realizing I may very well have dyslexia myself (my siblings had it, but I can read and spell just fine; left from right, telling time was a nightmare though and still takes extra thought today). I thought this forum may have the info I need to fill in the blanks as I try to figure out what the similarities are between aspergers, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. (Note I got an ADHD diagnosis as a kid but the meds did nothing. I think that was also missing the mark.) Anyways, from the help of a dyslexia forum I got an idea of what is similar. In particular, dyspraxia which as a child I matched severe dyspraxia to a T. "Dyspraxia is a developmental disorder that affects coordination. This can impact on movement, perception and thought, so may affect speech, fine motor movement, whole body movement and hand-eye coordination, sequencing and organisation. Dyspraxia can overlap with dyslexia, Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD." http://www.open.ac.uk/inclusiveteaching ... ulties.php

My point is, forums are a great place to start on any journey. Maybe the self diagnosed are right. Some of them have gone through all the motions only to be given misdiagnosis or just passed over. Maybe this is just their starting place as they work towards what is actually going on. All should be welcome at any forum. I suppose lacking in empathy makes it harder to be welcoming to those who are self diagnosed, but even if they are wrong you can benefit from a friendship with someone who has a different learning disability. You could also provide the clues that makes them realize it is actually a different learning disorder.

OT: Why does everyone claim Albert Einstein is one of them? I read that here that he may have had asperger's. Now I am being told he had dyslexia.

sweetleaf, why can't the therapist diagnose you? because they don't have the proper degree? i see that you're 23, i am only a few years older and teachers at my elementary school noticed something was off with me.(a.d.d./aspergers/whatever) assuming you grew up in the u.s., i am puzzled as to why your teachers/parent's friends e.t.c. never noticed anything off. were you evaluated for adhd as a child? (as many of our generation were)

wait! how does an aspergers diagnosis affect health insurance?!

An official diagnosis is certainly IS hard to obtain when one is over 50, orphaned and female. To top it off, I'm the eldest sibling, so my brother's earliest recollections are already too late.

Other disorders may share traits but the differences are not all the subtle.

Just for the record, the only people I've talked about this in real life, in chronological order:
* My best friend whose daughter's diagnosis triggered my epiphany -- she obviously had known for some time, and had been wondering how long it would take for me to figure it out.
* My husband -- he keeps arguing that I can't be autistic because he does the exact same things. (*LOL* what is the name of that river in Egypt?)
* my brother & aunt -- They're in my corner no matter what
* my friend from where we used to work -- actually, I suspect he figured it out years ago.

When I first mention it, I don't say I'm an Aspie or I'm Autistic. I explain how my bestest friend's daughter has been diagnosed and is on SSI, and I was just like her when I was her age.

cancelled. denied. rates through the roof.

Sweetleaf lacks the MONEY for a professional diagnosis.

The only reason I'm diagnosed is because I was DXed through the military mental health service.

Lack of MONEY is a huge barrier to "professional" diagnosis.

Matter of semantics, but I don't say I'm self-diagnosed, as I don't feel I know enough to be able to diagnose myself. Trying to get a diagnosis in the UK is very difficult though but I am persevering.

All I know for sure is that it is looking likely that I have either Aspergers or something similar to it. Again, I don't know what the "something similar" could be, I know next to nothing about the Autistic Spectrum and psychiatry in general, but I don't pretend I know.

But here I have found somewhere where I fit, after a lifetime of thinking I was the only one out there, after a lifetime of trying to hide who I am. I've found posts on here that are like reading my own diary. I've read threads on "sensory issues" and "stims" and realised I do do these things but never realised it wasn't normal or even that there was a name for it!

All I do know is that talking to others on here and reading AS blogs elsewhere has made me feel for the first time ever that I'm okay. I don't yet know what I am but I'm accepting myself as a different-but-alright kind of person and after a lifetime of never knowing a day's peace in my own mind and body, for the first time in my life I'm starting to feel it.

ok im not trying to poke fun, but google "6 real diseases that have somehow become trendy" it's on cracked.comaspergers is on there but the whole thing is hilarious (if you can laugh at that type of thing). i really love the part on bipolar!

I can only speak from my own experience, but I personally spent years and years pouring through the diagnostic criteria of everything that I thought could fit me. I even took a couple of psychology classes in hopes of making sense of my life. I could never have afforded a therapist and my parents chose to ignore my elementary schools recommendation that I be tested for ADHD. Then one day, I discovered Aspergers and for the first time in my life, everything made sense. I started approaching my issues from an autistic standpoint (for example, instead of trying to discipline myself into not having melt downs, I invested in some hearing protection) they started improving - finally! I was 99.9% sure that I had Asperger's and I was fully prepared to get a diagnosis, except I couldn't find anyone who was qualified to assess adults. So...I was self diagnosed. I joined an Aspie support group in my community and was delighted to find people that I could actually get along with for a change. This helped tremendously with isolation.

I was eventually able to find a specialist and get a diagnosis, but before I was able to do that, being self-diagnosed was a very positive experience for me.