Questions For Adults Who Were Dx Late?

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Thanks Kraftie , I'll look into BAP in more depth.

1. Did you know you had ASD before your Dx?
2. What made you get a Dx or was it advised by someone else?
3. Was there anything in your childhood that you personaly remember indicating ASD?
4. If you struggled with life before a Dx , did just knowing your had ASD help your struggles?
5. If you had comorbids , were these treated differently after Dx?
6. If you had comorbids , were these a direct result of ASD?
7. What were the pros and cons for you after recieving a Dx?

I suspected I had asd prior to official diagnosis, but only for a few months prior to undergoing assessment.

I sought a diagnosis because I needed to know. I knew there was something wrong with me, but could never work out what it was.

I didn't know about asd when I was a child, but looking back, I always felt different and disconnected from others. Like I was a different species or something. I used to look at other kids and wonder what they were.

Being diagnosed hasn't helped my troubles, but it has given me insight into them and I feel better for that.

My comorbids aren't treated differently.

My comorbids are a result of my asd and of struggling to get by in a neurotypical world.

Pros: better understanding of my life and reactions to things, both past and current.

Cons: I feel more desolate and hopeless now and keep wanting to die and thinking there's no point in my continued existence. Medication keeps me going.

I think any medical diagnosis, for a literate person, is usually going to be like the stage-psychic "cold reader," who only tells you things you already know about yourself. You are generally going to a disinterested stranger, who has a perceived air of authority, for moral support.

On the intuitive side of things, I fix engines, motors, and contraptions, effectively, sometimes, only to learn the name of a part, later, like my grandfather, the illiterate airplane mechanic. I maintain orientation, without a map, only the find the name of a place, later, and take a comparable approach to self-care.

It's like learning lingo.

I gotta make a mental note to look into Broad Autism Phenotype next time I'm online...so there's this post to do that.

Thanks Kortie

1. Not really, although just a few years before my Dx I started making jokes about having "late-onset Asperger's." Ironically there was nothing late-onset about it.

2. My partner who (as I have mentioned in other posts) I have known since I was 11 suggested it.

3. Hundreds of things in my childhood make so much more sense in light of my diagnosis. However, the idea of an autism spectrum did not even exist until I was in my late 20s.

4. I struggled with a lot of things before and after, but handling them after has been a lot ,more effective with the knowledge and with the research and therapy I've done since then. Just knowing was a relief, but actually helping me to focus on what I now knew was my wiring helped immeasurably.

5. Yes. I had already been in therapy and treatment for depression/anxiety, but the treatments changed once I found specialists in adult ASD (no easy task there). As a result my co-morbids are much better controlled.

6. Wow--tangled question. Some were the direct result perhaps, some because of family and peer pressure to conform, lack of knowledge of even my conditions existence, lack of support, etc. Where one ends and the other begins is something I think I'll never fully unpack.

7. Having the knowledge helped but knowing how to effectively engage the world knowing what I did was a lesson that took a while to learn. It would have been nice if I could have taken a year or two off from life to work it all out, but that obviously isn't feasible, so mistakes were made immediately after the diagnosis. It's still ongoing. Diagnosed for two years, it still feels pretty new so who knows what i'll be like in a few more years' time?

Hi! Good topic and questions.

1. Did you know you had ASD before your Dx?
Yeah. I and others had suspected it for a few years.

2. What made you get a Dx or was it advised by someone else?
I figured it was affecting employment and social relationships enough to warrant official diagnosis, so I wanted to get the dx to help reduce confusion and perplexity in the NT crowd when I exhibited behavior they deemed unusual or weird.

3. Was there anything in your childhood that you personaly remember indicating ASD?
Didn't make the connection at the time, but constantly rubbing textures I liked, and slamming my head repeatedly on a pillow in order to relax and fall asleep, were definite signs. My older half-sister and her then-fiance claim they always suspected autism, but never wanted to tell my mother because they weren't sure how it would go, and because they figured my intellect would help me survive well enough without a diagnosis.

4. If you struggled with life before a Dx , did just knowing your had ASD help your struggles?
Yes. It is good to have a system to help explain behavior that others find bewildering. Not that it excuses everything, but it provides perspective. This condition is systemized for a reason. We process some things very differently from the norm. It's just an observable fact...

5. If you had comorbids , were these treated differently after Dx?
No. Hadn't been treated for them in years.

6. If you had comorbids , were these a direct result of ASD?
Yes. I was dx Aspie at 29; OCD and generalized anxiety as a teen. Hardly anyone was aware how AS manifested in females in the late nineties and early '00s, so OCD and anxiety made the most sense then. But those things are just results of really being autistic. I'm anxious because my social skills are odd, and I'm obsessive because Aspies perseverate and love ruminating over their preferred topics in general.

7. What were the pros and cons for you after recieving a Dx?
Pros? My behavior has a systematic explanation. Cons? Not all of the stereotypes apply, and there is that sense of "otherness" or "lessness" that never completely goes away, even though I'm "higher functioning" and people can't always tell I'm autistic...

1. Did you know you had ASD before your Dx? I suspected so after my son was diagnosed about a year ago. My family, my mother in particular, doesn't believe in autism in general. She always tells me, "there is nothing wrong with him, you were just like him as a child and you're fine". My husband has joked about me being his "little aspie" for years and finally we really looked into it and my whole life just made sense. A few weeks ago I finally had my official evaluation and have been diagnosed with aspergers:)

2. What made you get a Dx or was it advised by someone else? I wanted to be officially diagnosed for myself and my son.

3. Was there anything in your childhood that you personaly remember indicating ASD? Yes, I have a Ton of sensory issues and was the pickiest eater of all time, I couldn't learn to read or tell time until the 4th grade, I was super awkward and always said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I lined all my toys up and was a big collector of several different items, I stimmed verbally and physically and avoided all eye contact. I picked at my skin alllllll of the time and had social anxiety.

4. If you struggled with life before a Dx , did just knowing your had ASD help your struggles? YES! It's only been a few weeks but I'm just more at peace with myself and my past. I have quite the past and always just thought I was super flaky and weird, this explains everything. I am trying to let my mask down now and let my freak flag fly so to speak:) My husband is also waaaayyyyy more understanding and a diagnosis has been great for our marriage. He says I seem more animated and happier.

5. If you had comorbids , were these treated differently after Dx? Yes, my sensory processing disorder made more sense.

6. If you had comorbids , were these a direct result of ASD? Maybe, anxiety, ADHD and SPD are all very Aspie things to have i suppose.

7. What were the pros and cons for you after recieving a Dx? So far my only cons have been anxiety about telling my parents, and one of my best friends saying "but you seem so high functioning". Everything else has been a pro. I really feel good about my diagnosis, finally all makes sense. Plus I think in the long run it will benefit my son and my daughter:)

1. Did you know you had ASD before your Dx?
Only for a few months, when I first learned about it.

2. What made you get a Dx or was it advised by someone else?
I reconnected with an old friend, who now has a daughter with ASD. I recognized the same signs in me, especially after I read up on ASD.

3. Was there anything in your childhood that you personaly remember indicating ASD?
A LOT. Sorting books and toys, trouble with metaphors (stuck my tongue out at a lady who asked me "cat got your tongue?"), being bullied, being put in speech therapy, lecturing a pool life guard on marine mammals, intense interests in mythology, biology, astronomy, refusing to wear clothes

4. If you struggled with life before a Dx , did just knowing your had ASD help your struggles?
Yes. Just knowing that I wasn't stupid or worthless, that this was something biological helped. It's helped me reach out to others with ASD, who have been more helpful than doctors.

5. If you had comorbids , were these treated differently after Dx?
Unfortunately not. I've gotten lots of Dx's (bipolar, depression, anxiety, PTSD) and all of my mental health professionals seem to want to ignore the ASD part of it and treat only the co-morbids.

6. If you had comorbids , were these a direct result of ASD?
Probably the anxiety and some of the PTSD (getting into dangerous situations because I was too clueless or trusting)

7. What were the pros and cons for you after recieving a Dx?
Pros: Lots-Having a name to the problem, trying strategies for dealing with sensory issues instead of beating myself up for having them, being more kind to myself, spouse understanding what my issues are.
Cons: Frustration in lack of medical/mental health professional support and understanding, lack of ASD-specific therapies for adults, tendency for people to start talking down to me if I tell them I'm ASD.

1. It was suggested to me by a therapist after I described my daily routine. After researching it, I knew I had ASD.
2. I thought it would help me to know for sure, especially as I had gotten into trouble previously for behaviour that was ASD related
3. I was very specific about details when I wrote stories (i.e. 'the door was 12cm high') and counted things like steps when we went out. I remember a few times when I felt out-of-touch with my own emotions, like I would act on them first without understanding them, and have to go over them in hindsight later to find out how I had felt
4. A little because I feel less 'broken'. I know if I can't do some things it's not a fault I can fix, so I can make accommodations rather than beat myself up for it
5. I treat my comorbids differently in the light of my diagnosis; before I was trying to treat depression for a normal brain, now I can adapt my thinking/treatment to make it more effective
6. I don't know if they were a direct result, but my comorbids feel intertwined with ASD to me: ED, depression, anxiety, occasional psychosis, dissociation and derealisation... I think they're all linked
7. pros - feel better about myself, able to understand myself better. able to find people on WP who get me.
cons- don't feel I can tell people in case I am patronised. worry some stims/traits have gotten stronger due to my increased awareness of them