symptoms of asperger syndrome really defined

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Yup.....even as a child of 6 I remember anxiety - whenever I was in danger of getting found out for misdemeanours at school or at home, I'd feel intensely anxious and it woud spoil everything until I was out of the wood. And after a time, on once occasion when the danger had passed, instead of just feeling relief and bouncing back to my usual state, I recall thinking "I can't take much more of this strain." At secondary school I went through hell worrying about the work I was failing to get done. At work it was similar, and it still is. I left one job because I couldn't stand the anxiety of it, every morning I'd walk to work and anxious ideas would fill my head.

Havng to face authorities always scares me. But I've noticed that once the source of the stress is removed, I do recover pretty quickly, and there's a huge difference in my personality between the two states. I also get anxious in many social situations, when a conflict is brewing, when my economic situation isn't secure, and when I feel I might be losing a partner. So I've learned to arrange my life very safely to ensure I have as little as possible to worry about. But I still tend to face up to danger when it's unavoidable, and I often get into a "let's get this damned thing sorted" mood. I've found that I can't remain scared indefinitely, and that once I've started planning a strategy for fixing it, I feel a lot better. And I do take a lot of risky situations in my stride.


Yes I still tend to fall into the verbosity trap, in spite of working on it for years. I think I've made some progress but it's still not fixed. I used to get quite offended with people who wouldn't listen right to the end, but eventually I realised what I was doing to them, and mellowed. Frankly I hate it when anybody overloads me with too much talk, so I can understand why I shouldn't do it myself. I find that some people are good at keeping me under control, but I can talk placid, polite people to death.


Not so much. I get quite scared when I start shouting, and even when I'm quite angry I tend to keep a strong brake on yelling. My experience is that shouting doesn't go down well, and I hate upsetting people. I control my temper very strongly.

i'm baaackk, lol...................7 more to go on this one

physical manifestations of AS

16-difficulty expressing anger (excessive or "bottled up")...symptom moderate to severe......lol...YES...in my youth it was severe, very very short fuse...........very frustrated at not being able to do things other kids could easily do....i have really controlled this as i aged but can still fly off the handle easily or when provoked...i never really bottled up anger, i just release it as it comes, lol...................THANKFULLY, i can calm down as fast as the short fuse ignites

17-strong food preferences and aversions............symptom moderate to VERY SEVERE..............lol, i know this one will be interesting.............first of all i come from a great line of fine italian cooks...i grew up with many different foods that were well made, lol.i was lucky to like a wide variety of foods

my food quirks:
- bread and pastry must be FRESH>>>FRESH>>>FRESH...dont even think of giving me any bread that was EVER FROZEN.....bleeecchhhhh!! !!...........i insist i have the freshest bread and cake and pastries

- i will not eat lunchmeat more than 2 days old....dont even go there with me, lol...maybe salami for a few days...very picky about that

-lettuce must be fresh......i really despise it when the lettuce has turned to some reddish tint in it.really pizzes me off

potato chips, cereal, etc must be fresh...i hate it when people dont properley close the bags on potato chips, etc

i prefer my meat never be frozen, i can detect by tase if it was

basically i need everything FRESH>>>FRESH>>>FRESH, lol.i am particular when dining out, if you screw something up you wont see me again


18-unusual and rigidly adhered to eating behaviors...symptom mild to moderate................not really, i love to eat, lol.as long as it is good i have no problem...........i eat with proper manners and etiquette.i can eat alone as well as with others

Yep. I never knew it was an Aspie thing though. My father was as nice as pie till he coudn't stand it any more, then he'd go off like a bomb, though he'd rarely do any damage even then - it was just very scary because it was so Jekyll-and-Hyde. Frankly it scared him as much as it scared me, and he seemed quite ashamed of his temper. I've got the same problem, but I swore I'd not follow in his footsteps, so I've tried hard not to be so nice, but I still have tons of trouble with it. I never really lose control when I "lose" my temper. Once I felt an almost overwhelming urge to hit my wife, who was hurting me a lot, I threw a glass of water at her instead. That's the physical aspect of anger covered. With words I have a lot of trouble, I'm always letting anger slip out with cutting comments, and when I'm not angry, I often hide my disapproval, thus making people think I'm happier than I really am with their behaviour.


Yes I'm quite fussy about what I eat. I don't like people experimenting wth my diet without running their ideas past me. I think we've covered this before in the first section. I just like to stick to the same food and drink, I get bored and change things occasionally but not very often.


I was told that because I was English I should eat with the knife in my right hand and the fork in my left, but I always insisted on eating the American way, cutting the food up first and then eating it with a fork in the right hand. I still use that way, though I prefer sandwiches anyway, and I don't even have a table - that would clutter up the room, which is full of comfy chairs and my music equipment. I can't be bothered to spend lots of time playing about with food, I treat it more like an animal would.

Thanks for this fascinating thread - really enjoying reading through all the points and responses.

Definitely, this is a big one for me. I've got socially anxious all my life - in fact before reading about AS, I spent several years just thinking I was socially anxious, though realised that I had other symptoms that didn't fit with just pure social anxiety, like problems externalising emotions, taking things too literally etc etc. Plus, my anxiety is often about quite specific things - I have little or no anxiety talking about non-emotional, abstract things - even speaking in public. However, smalltalk, emotions, relationships all send me into a quivering wreck!



Sometimes, yes and more so when I was a teenager - I would go on and on to my parents about stuff. Now - no, I'm pretty succinct about most of what I say and write.



Yes, would fly off the handle seemingly at most things when I was a teenager, and was always accompanied by elevated voice. Now, I have more control though when I get stressed and feel strongly about something I can raise my voice without realising it - I've been told to keep my voice down several times and hadn't even realised I was making much noise!

Yep, probably mildish, for me it's excessive. I start by raising my voice and going "SHUT UP!" or something, then I'd either feel like crying or throw some sort of childish tantrum, I hate it when I do that but there's not much I can do to avoid it, I have a very short fuse.


Not usually, Although I HATE icing, horrible stuff bleh.



very mild. Well if I'm at a new place like college or something once I found someting I like the canteen/cafe whatever I'd stick to it. At school I had the same thing from there everyday for 2 years (pasta or baguettes). I don't want to go through the trouble of checking the prices for other things so I just stick to the same one, it's simpler thay way. Although I am open to some alternatives.

Thanks for this list.

Usually, only most important of them are given: obsessive interest, difficulties to form relationships and sensory problems. It's quite difficult to estimate if they apply to you or not. It's very subjective. Many NT people have intense passions for a given subject, when does it comes to be obsessive? Everybody is annoyed by strong sounds, how do you know you are more than usual ?

I see I relate to nearly all of the listen points, even if it's only partially for some of them. Ok I was already quite sure about having AS. I also know it's nothing like a real diagnostic, but I will not go to a psychologist only for an official diagnostic. I don't see the point.

no problem everyone, i really enjoy doing this..it helps so much....it is a great list huh?


last 4 physical manifestations of our beloved condition

19- gross or fine motor coordination problems..............symptom mild to moderate....when i was a child yes, but i always have had incredible body strength in arms legs, and torso.....but i was a little uncoordinated in youth..............i still have fine motor problems screwing in screws, cutting with scissors, and a lot of other things...it is not bad anymore but i dislike manually hand/fine motor tasks

20- stims(self-stimulatory behavior serving to reduce anxiety, stress ,or to express pleasure).......symptom mild to moderate..............in youth i stimmed by rocking back and forth on the couch(bouncing i called it, lol).i was very serious about my bouncing, lol........i could do it for hours.i also rocked back and forth at night in bed for about an hour before i went to sleep, lol(my poor brother)............after puberty it ceased, however i still love my rocking chair...every morning i sit and rock for an hour reading the paper, lol............but i can sit still too if i want


these last 2 symptoms say that the symptom is NONEXISTANT......i guess they are comparing these symptoms to non asperger autistics, meaning that non aspies really don't have these symptoms compared to other autistics



21-self injurious or disfiguring behaviors.....symptom is NONEXISTANT.....i hate pain, lol......when i was real young (before 5 yrs old), i used

to bang my head on the wall or ground if i got mad..one time i saw stars after hitting my head on concrete, i decided to figure out another way to express my anger, lol.other than that i have never intentionally hurt myself


22-difficulty in judging distances, heights, and depths...symptom is NONEXISTANT........never had a problem with this other than normal misjudging


thats all folks for the hpysical manifestations.....next will be morbid(shared, dual, multiple) diagnostic conditions


also, i forgot who lumped up the social characteristics of AS for me, but could you also summarize the physical conditions in one thread too...then maybe put the social and physical in one thread...thanks

It's kind of under there most of the time, but I don't think I experience it as intensely as I understand it to be felt by folks who are Autistic.


People will tell me, "Just give me the bottom line." but somehow it doesn't feel complete unless I include all of the detail.


Yes, and my voice carries well also.


Or more like having difficulty expressing it unexplosively.


Don't think so.


Nope.


Blessed here too, I think. Though I remember in Jr. High concluding I could never be a surgeon because I had shaky hands. I don't have this problem now. I don't know what changed it.


Yes. It reduces stress.


I would never bang my head. That is too painful. I have enough trouble with sinus headaches. Banging my head would intensify that problem. I still have trouble forgiving myself when my behavior draws negative attention to me. I used to hit myself in the face with my fists when I got intensely at me, but that causes sore fists and head. It certainly doesn't feel good.

Some of my stims, observers would consider to be disfiguring behaviors. I had minor surgery when I was in high school because a place I had pulled and twisted on my upper lip had gotten to where it hung down all the time. Places I have rubbed on my hands have developed calluses that are not real attractive looking. Some stims make my fingers hurt, and I am forced to stop doing that one, but something else always seems to take it's place. I have been admonished to stop this on a regular basis since I was a child, but I seem unable to accomplish this.


Not me.

You said, way back at the beginning of this thread that there is a point to all this that would become appearant when you reached the end of it. Did I miss it somewhere?

Yes but I'm not sure to what extent. The weird thing is even though my handwriting is and always has been atrocious I am very good at fine art drawing, but only people though. My other fine motor skills like sewing for example are pretty naff. But my gross motor coordination is worse.


moderate, I am the stim queen. There are too many to list.


When I'm mad I bite my hand hard but nothing that injures me.


Well I bump into things if that counts. And I can't throw balls very far. But nothing too out of the ordinary, things that an NT could be bad at.

By the way I read all of my posts to my mum and she disagreed with some, because some I said were mild traits of mine are actually moderate-severe, I never realised!

The first time I saw clumsiness listed as an Aspie trait, I swore I wasn't clumsy. After all, my manual dexterity is par excellence; in my science job I can carry several small conical flasks between the fingers of one hand and never drop them; I can play the guitar and the piano. But then I thought further.....I detest cluttered surroundings and stuff like saucepan handles sticking out on the stove, cups too near the edge of the table. Anything that looks like it could get banged into, I'll move to a safer position. Without ever realising it, over the years I've learned to control my environment so that my clumsiness doesn't trip me up (so to speak). I've sacrificed a lot of immediacy in my movements so I won't have too many accidents. I look carefully before I leap. So yes, motor co-ordination problems are there, but I have them well-masked.


Very little that an observer would notice, but I make repetitive movements with my tongue, teeth, throat, toes, kneecaps.....fidgeting was strictly taboo when I was a child, so I guess parents and teachers knocked the more obvious stims out of me. I kind of like walking, cycling, and I love playing music, which are all very repetitive. I'm rarely aware of stimming to reduce stress or express pleasure though. It just happens, like smoking used to (I suppose that was another one).


I used to bite my fingernails till my fingers bled. Even now I'll occasionally chew the inside of my mouth or bite off a bit of dead skin and go a bit too far and make it sore. But I'd never knowingly harm myself, and what little harm I do is accidental. I think neurotypicals do this one all the time! - smoking, drinking, inhaling pollution without lifting a finger to avoid it, eating unhealthy food to excess, women squeezing their feet into tiny shoes, etc. etc.



I hate estimating anything by eye and have very little faith in my subjective judgement of those things. Add time to the list as well. Much better to measure it obectively.

been away for awhile but i will discuss the next set of symptoms


Morbid (shared, dual, multiple) Diagnostic conditions

1- attention defecit disorder(ADD)...symptom is severe....absolutely that i have this condition within a condition, lol...it was severe in my youth but has tamed down in age

2- hypertension....symptom is mild to moderate....i was diagnosed with high blood pressure when i was 32 yrs old......i have read elsewhere that aspergers frequently have it...with all of the stress of the condition it is no wonder

3- depression....symptom is mild to moderate....i have had some bouts throughout my life....never has been severe though and i always came out of it quickly

1. I actually attempted to discover if I have ADD, and the dude said I am 'Borderline'.

2. Until I was 40 something I had hypotension. Often when I tried to donate blood, I was refused because my blood pressure was too low.

I guess I am like you on number 3.

Good to see you're back

I don't know. I'm not sold on the concept of ADD, as I always wonder who decides what things should grab our attention - the presumption seems to be that schoolwork is very interesting to normal kids I guess the touchstone is whether or not I can hold my attention on something that I myself want to look at. I certainly have problems holding my attention on some of the things that I personally decide to study, though it could be that I habitually pick things to test my focussing powers rather than things I have any hearfelt interest in. "Low boredom tolerance" might describe me better than ADD. When I'm fascinated by something, I can drink it in effortlessly. Otherwise, if I'm convinced it'll be useful to me I might do OK, especially if background distractions can be kept to a minimum and if the material is reasonably clear and I don't have any other stuff to do that's getting in the way. But if those criteria aren't met, I can find it almost impossible to fix my attention on whatever it is.



I'm quite close to the high end of normal most of the time, with occasional excursions into the pathological range. When I checked out the lifestyle changes that can be made to reduce blood pressure, I found I was already doing them all, so I do seem predisposed to the condition, and if my lifestyle was as unhealthy as Mr. Average, I'd probably be in the pathological range all the time.


Again I'm not sure. I've probably had no more depression than average, as I always seem to bounce back from setbacks and melancholy moods. Being an emotional trait, I find it hard to know whether I'm depressed or just bored/tired/pissed off. I guess I can never have had depression severely or I'd probably have had to take time off work, or felt dangerously suicidal, or asked the GP for some uppers. But any melancholy I've suffered has always been preferable to taking pills, I've had no time off work, and the nearest I've come to suicide is to feel somewhat tired of living, though never so much as to get me anywhere near to taking my own life. I don't think I've ever really given up hope or lost that irrational blind faith in myself that keeps me going. So I probably don't have depression in a clinical sense. Life just bugs me sometimes.

Checking on the list topic

Did the test mentally. The responses here read mostly what I thought.

Thanks, AnAutisticMind!!

hi tough how are ya?

thanks will and sart.

4-anxiety...symptom mild to moderate...pretty anxious as a kid and young adult.....as with so many of these symptoms they ease up as the odometer increases,lol......i must also admit a lot of my anxiety is tied to my ambition to prove to every NT i have known to bother me, that i have outclassed them in every way possible

5-hyperlexia- precoscious ability to read words far above chronical age and/or fascination with letters and numbers....symptom mild to moderate.......not me, language developed fairly normally though a little stilted and robotic...never had any unusual abilities in language or numbers.