Do all people with mild AS doubt their diagnosis?

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goldfish21
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16 Apr 2018, 4:16 pm

I know black and white all or nothing thinking is an ASD trait but it grows tiresome reading thread titles asking if ALL autistics this and that.

No. There isn’t anything that ALL autistics (or all with mild AS) do.


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Kiriae
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18 Apr 2018, 2:31 pm

My AS could be considered moderate but I have my doubts anyway.

I wonder what is actually the reason and what is the result. Were my issues the cause of the bullying I experienced both at home and school or my Asperger like symptoms are in fact just CPTSD caused by the bullying?

Do I have Asperger and didn't receive any help or was I just a gifted child that was bored at school and couldn't get along with peers due to being smarter than them?

I am unable to do/understand some things, such as job oferts or is anxiety and low self esteem just blocking me?

Whats up with my "sensory issues" anyway? I am rarely startled because I seem to be constantly tracking and making sense of multiple sensations around me, knowing what is going to happen a few seconds from now(therefore I can prepare for loud sounds and such because I just see them coming). Sometimes I will get overloaded and experience shutdown while most of the time it seems like my brain is working at 120%. I process A LOT of information. Much more than most people around me. It doesn't feel like my brain has a problem processing sensations - I am just receiving more sensations than others so it has to process more. And it is doing a great job with it! I can hear and understand more surrounding sounds than NTs (someone: "What was the sound?", someone else: "I didn't hear anything.", me: "It sounded like someone just shut-closed a car door and then dropped their keys." ) but I can't understand what the person next to me or the voice in my phone is saying if someone tears a piece of paper or sneezes behind me.

Why don't I have any "special interests"? Yet how is it possible I can hyperfocus on the task at hand as if it was one?

I understand people and explain human behaviour to others, even NTs. I can read facial expression and gestures. If I pay enough attention.

I can understand sarcasm, idioms and metaphors. In fact I use them a lot. But people still end up telling me "It was sarcasm, you know?" when I least expect it.

And how much of my diagnosis is actually a confirmation bias? I self diagnosed first and then convinced 5 doctors/specialists I have it. What if I were wrong? I know I can be really convincing if I believe in something and i were obsessed with AS back then.

Why the doctor I met when I were 17 didn't diagnose me? I know I did everything to convince him I am normal because I didn't want a label, I didn't want my parents to waste money on the check ups and I couldn't imagine travelling 3h each week by myself in an unknown city to see the doctor... but if I had Asperger wouldn't he see through me? Well, he definitely wouldn't because I was a 17 yo girl back then and it was the first year Asperger become a official diagnosis in my country so the doctors didn't have any experience yet. But it still bothers me.

My ability to make eye contact and the fact I smile a lot doesn't help either.



ravXVl
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18 Apr 2018, 3:16 pm

goldfish21 wrote:
I know black and white all or nothing thinking is an ASD trait but it grows tiresome reading thread titles asking if ALL autistics this and that.

No. There isn’t anything that ALL autistics (or all with mild AS) do.

I wasn't looking for a yes or no answer here.



StampySquiddyFan
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18 Apr 2018, 8:56 pm

I am definitely one to doubt my diagnosis often, and I have mild AS. For one, I seem to be able to read some social cues quite well. I am also often trying to guess the thoughts of others in social situations so I don't say something offensive or annoy them. I also don't usually have an odd voice in regards to volume, pitch, or rhythm, and I never had a speech delay. On the other hand, I seem to struggle a lot in social situations and somewhat with cognitive empathy, and I can really only socialize with my friends (who are mostly, if not all, autistic/OCD themselves) and I have significant difficulties interacting with my peers/making friends, making eye contact, or socializing in groups/initiating interaction. I have a whole load of restricted/repetitive behavior, but I don't constantly stim and I am not sure if some of my stimming is normal or not. But at this point, if it isn't AS, than I am not sure what it is. AS is really the only diagnosis that explains everything about my behavior, right down to little quirks.


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CockneyRebel
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18 Apr 2018, 10:05 pm

I don't have any doubts at all, really.


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Goth Fairy
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19 Apr 2018, 1:13 am

Sometimes I think about how I am with people who seem to understand me and are no effort, or my lack of sensory difficulties, and then I think maybe my diagnosis is wrong. But then I think about how much time I spend thinking or reading about AS, and it definately fits in the "special interest" category. The amount that I focus on my AS is itself an indicator that my diagnosis is correct. :)


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goldfish21
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19 Apr 2018, 2:15 pm

ravXVl wrote:
goldfish21 wrote:
I know black and white all or nothing thinking is an ASD trait but it grows tiresome reading thread titles asking if ALL autistics this and that.

No. There isn’t anything that ALL autistics (or all with mild AS) do.

I wasn't looking for a yes or no answer here.


Then why phrase the title of your thread as a question that has a yes or no answer? :?


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AngryAngryAngry
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19 Apr 2018, 2:47 pm

Had to self diagnose. Took me over a year to finally realise and accept it.
Now that I know it's the truth I'm very happy though.



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30 Apr 2018, 7:16 am

I am happy to be corrected no such thing as "mild" as, as or autism that is it , no I do not doubt it


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30 Apr 2018, 7:22 am

Don't fet pet . I don't relate to 98 % of the people on here .


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Arganger
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30 Apr 2018, 9:26 pm

I don't. Knowing anything about autism, it's quite obvious in me.



BeaArthur
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01 May 2018, 4:25 pm

It's not so much that I doubt the diagnosis, as I forget the diagnosis. I wonder why I am having trouble organizing myself, or can't get started on activities, or don't like to phone anyone, or spend all my time playing computer games. Then it dawns on me, and I feel a little better about myself, but still can't do the things I want to be doing.


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Dear_one
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01 May 2018, 4:46 pm

I don't know what's "mild" to you. I live independently, but in near-isolation. I spent decades wondering what my family dysfunction was, until AS fit like a glove.



naturalplastic
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01 May 2018, 5:06 pm

I had two different diagnosis.

The first one by the lady shrink I had been seeing for years. Around 2005 I, and my family suggested that I might have aspergers. The lady shrink said that "she had never even heard of aspergers before"(it had been an official diagnosis since 1994, but being a typical American shrink she hadn't heard of it yet). So...she read up on it that night, and then signed a piece of paper confirming that I had it. Didn't have much faith in that diagnosis. So for years after that I still thought of myself as a "prospective aspie" (might really be one,or not). Participated in two aspie websites (this and another one) for years. with out being sure I was an aspie.

Then a couple of years ago I went to a specialist, and got the exhaustive battery of tests, over several days, that gets sent out ot a panel of experts to review, and the accompanying report (like 20 pages), that concluded that I was indeed an aspie. So THAT test I have faith in.

That was my "real" diagnosis. And after that one I no longer had doubts that I am on the spectrum (even if its only at the mild end of it).

So: the short answer is "no" I don't doubt my diagnosis, but the long answer is "yes" I had two different diagnosis at different times, and the later one confirmed the earlier one, and was more solidly convincing than the earlier one.



superaliengirl
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02 May 2018, 8:06 am

Never. Both me and people around me have always suspected that I probably have it so the diagnosis was nothing more than a relief when I got it because I can now get proper support to continue living with it.



larsbnf
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02 May 2018, 5:37 pm

I definitely doubt my diagnosis at times, but then I remember that I don't have to be an exact text-book case to be on the spectrum.