I have 'recovered'!

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"Faking NT" wouldn't make you non-impaired though. It implies that you're using a heck of a lot more effort than the NTs do, and that in itself is an impairment--you don't have enough brain left over at the end of the day to do other stuff. It's why a lot of Aspies burn out.

But there's the legitimate losing-your-diagnosis thing that happens when you do learn to compensate, learn to communicate, learn to get around in a world that wasn't particularly made for you; without using more effort, or needing technological/human assistance. It's like how you can't diagnose somebody with dyslexia after they've learned to read fluently; even though they've still got the same sort of brain arrangement, they're reading fine and the diagnosis would serve no purpose.

Mine has improved since childhood. Childhood was nearly a disaster, the exception being interludes with animal friends and drawing pictures. I can't type that I have fully recovered. I still don't like dealing with people, but, am not so accutely sensitive to stressors.

I wouldn't say I was 'cured' but I am better. I hope I'm improving still.

Becoming a hermit helped me, too. I speculate it's because dealing with people every day was too stressful for my CNS and it was in a cycle of negative reactionary patterns. Being alone helped me to recognize the cycle and retrain my CNS to respond differently. I changed my state of mind and disciplined it to remain in a calmer state. Perhaps my reactions could revert back to how they were, but I will try to keep that from happening by allowing plenty of time either by myself or with people who I know won't trigger me.

i've recoverd my sobriety and found out that i really am a well behaved young man that i always knew i was!

Callista - thx, but I'm not claiming it's a great achievement; it's just luck really. Whether recovery is the most appropriate word is pretty semantic tbh. It doesn't alter the essence of what happened.

Pumibel - a difference in wiring that disables people, and can cause untold misery. For most people with ASD it's not just a charming quirk it's devastating. The brain is inadvertently wired in a way that obstructs successful living. No-one is 'supposed' to be Autistic, but something goes wrong in the womb. I don't think 'damage' is going too far. The last thing I'm doing is faking NT. That's what I tried to do until I was 30 and it was a disaster. And it's not just my social skills that have improved. How can I fake normal common sense? If common sense was 'fakable' I wouldn't have screwed things up in my twenties. Again, I'm not claiming I've found a cure, I'm simply providing further evidence that backs up what the most renowned experts are saying: relatively mild ASD CAN improve with time, as the deficient (for successful functioning in society) brain wiring gradually becomes more NT-like (perhaps helped by intensive brain stimulation such as reading/studying interesting material).

Moog - may I ask how you spent your time during your hermit years, when your ASD improved?

Another_alien

I'm very happy for you.

I find my self in similar shoes now.

-At one time I had a such high-toxic- dose of social anxiety that I thought (axiomatically) it would either kill me(literaly) or it would have to burn out;one of the two.
Well I'm still alive ,as it did significantly burn out around my mid thirties.
It was paralyzing

-My common sense was embarrassing in my early adult hood and I thought I was unintelligent /handicapped/ret*d.
I believe this was the main underpin of my social anxiety , and the two compounded one another in a symbiotic relationship.
The other was too much data input in a novel environment.
I had very literal thinking.

As a caveat , Ive had periods throughout my life to where I gained social skills through painstaking efforts and then suddenly lost them overnight....literally in a puff of smoke.
This has happened on and off up to my late 30's.
So I'm always suspicious of this respite , as Ive seen it vacillate to where the rug gets pulled out from under my feet......I guess time alone will answer my question.
So far I'm in the clear till now(45)

Ive literally carried on a private warfare with this condition as I thought I was going insane.

There's more to this than I've wrote here.

The bottom line is I really dont know what to think about all of this as it is atypical in many ways , and wonder myself if it is a/s or something of another sort.

Since the level of 'normal' functioning isn't that great, it is entirely probable that above-average IQ AS people will become more 'normal' as they get older.

I started becoming normal immediately after using fluoxetine which I still believe is a short-cut for those who don't want to wait until they're 40 before they start to feel the same way as normal people do.

I'm happy for you.

Congratulations on your improvement.

I've been trying and hoping my entire life for such improvement. No results yet.

Mdyar - thx, and I'm happy for you. Hmm, I'm not sure whether you have ASD or 'just' social anxiety, though. I doubt ASD would get much better, and then worse again; anxiety could.

Moog - thx. I was just wondering whether, like me, you'd spent your reclusive period stimulating your mind, as I did. Maybe you did - video games, reading, etc? Perhaps if an ASD individual spends an intense period stimulating his/her mind with something of great interest to them this can help to 'repair' brain deficiencies thus making them more NT? No way of knowing this 100% of course.

Stinkypuppy - Nope, I disagree. If all that was true WP would be redundant. Of course NTs have problems, which vary by individual, but ASD is characterized by specific disabilities (and they are disabilities if they prevent you from functioning successfully). I had practically the full range of ASD symptoms 15 years ago, and now I don't.

DavidM - Sorry but Prozac in itself doesn't relieve the symptoms of ASD, only the anxiety that accompanies ASD. It's possible your Autistic symptoms improved at roughly the same time as taking Prozac, but if Prozac itself was a 'cure' doctors would simply prescribe this!

Pandd - You just have to take my word for it, or not if you prefer. I, and everyone who knows me well, knows there is huge difference between the way I was 15 years ago and now. If I told you some of the stupid decisions I made in my twenties due to my total lack of common sense you'd laugh or cry. Now I have pretty much normal common sense. As I said in my OP my social skills are incomparable. I used to have obscure obsessions that lasted a couple of months, then I forgot all about them. Now I just have 'normal' interests. I agree that one has to be careful about self-diagnosing marginal improvements, but I'm like a completely different person. There's really no room for doubt.