Unaware of your AS symptoms

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Is there anyone else on here who was unaware of their AS symptoms until they were pointed out?

I remember I thought I was getting worse when I was 17 but someone online told me, it's not that they are getting worse, it maybe means I am becoming more aware of them.

I was not even aware I did not like hugs unless I am prepared for it because my mother told me last summer. I didn't like lot of affection my boyfriend was giving and I couldn't tolerate all his hugging so I was pushing him away a lot and my mother told me that was my Aspergers because of the sensory issues and lot of it overwhelms me. I didn't even know my body still gets stiffed when I get hugged unexpectedly until my mother told me and then I asked my boyfriend about it, he said 'yes.'

Absolutely! I'm a classic case - not knowing what was going on until I was DXed. Mind you in 1997 Aspergers was still fairly new to most psych's despite the DSM-IV being three years old at the time.

I was diagnosed too in '97 but was not aware what it was. My parents never really explained it to me until I started asking about it when I was 14 and my mother pulled out the papers from the filing cabinet and gave them to me to read. They were just papers printed from the internet two years before when I was first diagnosed. It explained to me about my troubles with friends and having them, why I get obsessed (I thought it was a normal thing for children) and me being literal, not liking surprises. I didn't see much about me but didn't become more aware what I had until I was older when they were pointed out to me by my shrink. Before I was thinking everyone expected me to read their minds and no one can do that but I didn't know I was supposed to know on my own just by seeing how they are acting, their body language, etc. When it did get pointed out, I refused to believe it. I guess I didn't want to accept it or acknowledge it.

All of them.

Naturally, I pointed them out to myself, but I didn't know I did all of the "autistic" things I do until I realized what autism/Asperger's was. Then it took me a long time to put it all together, i.e., I cannot read facial expressions? What the hell?

I didn't mind certain sounds as a child.
Although now, there are some I just hate.

I had no idea I was socially impaired as a child and adult. I just thought that people were unpredictable and yet strangely tolerant of bad smells and sensations. The whole world seemed to be like that and I didnt know why.

I'm still obvious to a lot of things, including facts about my own behaviour in social interactions - two weeks ago, I found out that I have routines, like, many many routines? I always thought I was very observing and self-reflecting. I know what's going on inside of me, my thoughts and emotions, but what my body does at the same time... I'm often clueless about these outside matters.

Even before my diagnosis, I was clueless about basic things such as eye contact. I didn't know that I didn't do it and I didn't know I had to do it! I never noticed until I read about it in some article about autism.

I always knew I was different from everybody else and acted strangely, but I never really thought much of it. Then I discovered AS, and it all clicked together. My parents noticed. My teachers did too, they misdiagnosed me with ADHD and wanted to put me on ritalin. I never went for an official diagnosis because my parents were always the ignorant type, "My son is perfectly fine! He's a good kid! Nothing bad could EVER happen to him!". They still are. I probably won't get an official diagnosis for a while, if I ever do. But I show so many symptoms of AS that I don't even need to get one, honestly.

This is very much true to me. I didn't know that my behavior and my sensory issues were odd until they were pointed out.

I knew some things and not others. I knew how things felt to me, I didn't always know things that either were about how they looked to others who don't look at people the same way I do, nor did I know some of my early history.

I didn't realize I showed any symptoms until my (diagnosed aspie) boyfriend mentioned I showed signs.

A(S)symptomatic topic

I used to be shunned because I was odd but i missed the big picture until my diagnosis and then individual tendencies were explained to me, such as lack of eye contact, routines, stims, etc. I did not hav a name for each of these behaviours. They were just there. Now I am aware of what they are.

Forgive the analogy, but sometimes I think we are all part of some sort of borg-like continuum, in that we have similar thoughts and behaviours. All on the Spectrum. All in the Family.

We are a family.

yes, I am a classic case, as well, although I was 47 years old in 1997 and didn't realize I was AS until last year! No one pointed out AS symptoms. . .I recognized it immediately when I heard a description and educated myself about it.

The best part of knowing is going so much easier on myself.
I used to beat myself up because I couldn't fit in and keep up (and anything requiring mirror neurons was sheer torture!) but now. . I smile and focus on my other skills I am good at!


Merle

Last edited by sinsboldly on 29 Feb 2008, 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, I have definitely experienced this. I've taken a look at my diagnostic papers, and some of the things I saw surprised me. For instance, my parents said I sometimes displayed "idiosyncratic behavior" as a child. I always thought of myself as perfectly normal and reasonable, maybe just with a few quirky things. I also never thought that there was anything unusual about the intensity of my interests. Sure, I pretty much knew that I was addicted to the Internet, but I didn't think much of it. Of course I would want to spend huge amounts of time on the Internet looking at the websites which interested me, sometimes to the point of repetition. What could possibly be a better way to spend my time? I also didn't think I had any tactile issues until my mom mentioned how fussy I was about certain fabrics as a child, and how I had a hard time tolerating having certain areas of my body touched.

But probably the biggest eye-opener has been seeing myself on videotape. I was videotaped during several "mock job interviews" last year, and I was surprised by how I looked on camera. Compared to other people, my voice seemed pretty flat most of the time. The only time I really moved my hands was to stim nervously, and my face didn't switch much. I also didn't seem to be making much eye contact. That really made me realize that I do come across differently a lot of the time, especially when I'm nervous.

For me its more as if I am coming to find out more and more that the AS behaviors I have are in fact specific to AS and are not shared by everyone. For example I used to not know what stimming was, because I thought that everyone did it. It wasn't until recently that I understood that my constant ear and lip rubbing or finger grinding are stimms and most people don't do that.

I wasn't aware that I had AS symptoms until I knew what AS was. I thought that people were just ignorant and I was the only one on earth who made sense.
Now, I am more aware.