Aspergers the syndrome of the year

Post Reply New Topic

Well, I'm not officially diagnosed, but evidence is clear that I likely have it. Having no pre-concieved notions of what aspergers was til I was in my mid-20s, I found that just about every symptom applied to me. I was further directed to this site, where I spent a lot of time on the forums reading about the problems people go thru, and I gotta believe it's far more than coincidence that I could relate to most of them. Experiences & thoughts I kept to myself my whole life were discribed in detail on here as though they were picked right from my skull.

So, whether I get diagnosed, or what anyones opinion on whether I have it or not is, doesn't really matter. As the saying goes, if it looks, acts, & quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

Like when the doctors told my cousin he had sinus problems for two years. Turns out he had two brain tumours.

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 12. Someone else in my family entertained the idea they thought I was schizophrenic too. They even prescribed anti-psychotics which I did not take at home but pretended to.

One of my last trips at that age another doctor said, well maybe she's just showing signs of early manic depression.

The visits ended because I grew tired of being sent to a shrink and I noticed a psychiatrist that was talking to me and told me to draw my family really was tired of seeing me too. I informed him of the person's manic depression and told him nothing was wrong with me.

The shrink told the person to stop sending me there. The visits stopped and I was relieved.

At the time I didn't know that being socially akward, shy and not like the other girls was that big of a deal. I still don't actually.

I'm only going back to the psychiatrist reluctantly because social phobias amongst other phobias are holding me back from doing the things others do so easily and disrupt my life.

I guess it makes me angry when someone tries to "look down" upon those who are self-diagnosed. Like many other people on this forum, I didn't have the health insurance to go and get a real diagnosis for a very long time. I was diagnosed back in the mid-70's with hyperactivity. This was before they even really talked about adhd.

I suffered through being the weird, lonely kid for most of my childhood and never really had any friends to speak of. I learned to cope over the years as well as I could but I still heard the complaints about lack of eye contact, showing no emotion, being unrelatable, etc.

A few years ago my nephew was diagnosed with AS and by doing research for my sister, I learned more about it and discovered, quite by accident, that most of what was written applied to me.

Do I WANT an official diagnosis? It would be nice only so I know for sure what I feel is my issue, but I don't need it. I've also discovered there is a severe lack of doctors who are capable of diagnosing adult AS so I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable going to a doctor unless I knew they were qualified.

I'm self-diagnosed out of necessity. I'd thought it was a possibility for a long time, but never done anything about it, but then my OCD reached the point where it required treatment. Treatment for OCD has to be handled differently for those with Asperger's as opposed to the general population, focussing more on behavioral changes and less on medication, so figuring out definitively if this is something I have then became a priority. The wait time here in New Mexico to see a specialist in autism is anywhere from 3 to 5 years after an individual is over age 4. As an adult getting on relatively well, I'd probably be on the higher end of that, and honestly, may well have left the state by the time I reached the end of the queue. Plus I couldn't wait so long to start OCD treatment.
So for many of us, we have to self diagnose to deal with other problems. I've done plenty of reading, I'll do plenty more. I've absolutely no doubt I'm on the autism spectrum, and I'm probably an aspie, although with an atypical expression of the disorder (presents as a stereotypically female aspie, despite the fact I'm a male - I expect that's a lot to do with the fact I had no male friends at all at school).

edit

Last edited by Space on 07 Nov 2007, 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That's the dumbest analogy I've heard in a very long time. Getting an HIV test is free at just about any walk-in, anonymous public clinic, and now you can buy one over-the-counter for $30 at Walgreen's.

Whereas *if* one is lucky enough to have access to a psychiatrist specializing in diagnosing adult AS (there's not one for 300 miles in any direction from here) they charge hundreds of dollars an hour and require multiple visits, and they don't work free (I've heard of doctors specializing in ASDs doing free work on kids, but never adults).

Ah, I see space started his argument here and then went to his own post to rant about those who are "self-diagnosed". Like I said in the other post, an AIDS test is something that can physically be done to determine your serostatus. You see how many tcells you have and if you have the antibodies in your bloodstream. Pretty cut and dry, I'd say. Even then, doctors have been wrong before.

AS is a mental thing which can only be discovered by written tests, interviews with the patient and those who know him/her, and looking through the DSM. Not at all cut and dry because many doctors have no experience with it at all and those that do typically only know about the condition in children. Just because space had no clue about AS before he was diagnosed by a doctor doesn't make him in any way superior about his diagnosis. Some of us were just more well informed about it for various reasons before seeking diagnosis. I discovered it on my own because of my nephew's diagnosis. That's what set me on my path to diagnosis.

space is also from Canada where they have goverment subsidized healthcare. It might be much easier for someone in that healthcare system to walk into a clinic and ask to be seen. It doesn't work out nearly that well in America. You could certainly go to a free clinic here but I'll guarantee you there won't be anyone there who would even be remotely capable of helping diagnose someone with AS.

edit

Last edited by Space on 07 Nov 2007, 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was lucky enough to get a professional diagnosis last year from a specialist doctor, but my parents had to pay £1000 for the privilege (the centre where I received my diagnosis is primarily a volunteer-based operation, you see). Had I been left to my own devices, I'd have had to save up for months and months, just to be able to talk to someone...

I didn't know that about OCD needing different treatment for people with AS than without. Do you know anything more about that? I was put on medicine years ago for OCD, but it didn't seem to do anything (I quit it after maybe a year. Maybe that's because I (apparently) have AS too?



You're not gay, you need to stop self diagnosing! Start dating women until you get an official diagnosis from a doctor. Only they can tell you if you're gay.



I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it, (EDIT: In case it's not clear, I'm joking. Probably in poor taste.)

And to the OP, I'm sorry but you CAN diagnose yourself with things like depression, manic depression, OCD, etc. They're pretty obvious symptoms in a lot of cases.

Last edited by Wolfpup on 07 Nov 2007, 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It has nothing to do with popularity. It's an explanation of why I am the way I am. I can't afford to go to a doctor right now and, besides, I don't need a doctor. There's nothing "wrong" with me.



I don't need to qualify for SSD/SSI for the rest of my life. Fortunately, even though I am positive that I have Asperger's, I am able to work as an attorney. If the only reason I should be "officially" diagnosed is so that I can live off society, then it's not necessary. It is enough for me to know that I have it.

I am sorry for you that you and your son need to be taken care of by society. Your conditions must be really serious.

I don't understand the argument.

How am I "mimicking" those with an official diagnosis? I've never lied about anything on these boards. Okay, so maybe I just have all the symptoms of AS but don't have it according to the DSM. So what? What harm is it doing anybody else?

As for it not being "fair" on the people who were lucky enough to have parents that cared, or enough money to get a diagnosis themselves, I don't get that either. I doubt that people who genuinely are self-diagnosed (and haven't just read an article in a magazine and decided from that) go around telling everyone. The few people that I told mostly said I was being ridiculous so I don't advertise it.

And finally, why do I need a diagnosis? From looking at the National Autism Society website, it looks like an incredibly difficult process, that will probably require co-operation with my family members (never going to happen). It also doesn't seem to offer any advantages apart from officially knowing what's wrong with me. All of the support groups in my area are for children and their parents, I'm not so badly affected that I can't work, and I don't want to be on benefits anyway, so why do it?

Just finding out and meeting other people who share my problems, beliefs and feelings has helped me to be a lot happier.

On the subject of doctors, (I'm aware I said "And finally" but never mind ) I told my doctor that I was sleeping 14 hours a day, I was self-harming and I was planning my own death, but as I was still eating normally he decided that it was just a phase I was going through. Luckily, I managed to see another doctor the next week and got some anti-depressants that finally lifted the depression enough for me to recover. You may say, well, he's not a psych doctor - well he also said my brother had a stomach bug (he almost died of meningitis) and I had a dust allergy (it was lung disease). It was only because I looked up the lung symptoms on the internet that I moved doctors and got a real diagnosis.

Enough typing.

Well, that may be the case (although I seriously doubt the Gattaca future), it's hardly a reason to criticise people for not getting a diagnosis now. If it was possible to get an over the counter test for $30, I suspect we'd all have had one, and that's the point - it's the inconvenience, time, and often vast expense that prevents many from getting a formal diagnosis. If it could be done in a free 45 minute visit even, I suspect many who don't even feel it necessary to get a diagnosis would do so simply for convenience's sake.

I don't have much (I tried skimming online but didn't find anything, I don't really have time for a serious search), but supposedly in individuals with an ASD, it's better treated by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy both because it's simply more effective, and because many drugs used for OCD have a higher incidence of unwanted side effects such as psychosis in individuals with ASDs.

That is awful. My psychiatrist, here in Kansas, says this on his website:

"He specializes in the treatment of attention deficit disorders, depression and bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, Tourette’s Syndrome, and developmental disorders."

He was the one who diagnosed me with AS and OCD. I then called my old child psychiatrist, whom I have not seen since the late 1960s (but periodically kept in touch with), and he agreed with the diagnosis.

3 to 5 years? Is that specifically autism or the ASDs in general?

Sigh, it's pretty much what the above posters said. I'm not even going to say I have this disorder, I know better than that, cause I'm basically a scientist and I still don't have enough proof yet.

But on the other hand, I have nearly all the typical Asperger's traits I have seen listed on this forum and elsewhere to one degree or another. And despite that, I was for sure diagnosed Emotionally Disabled when I was a child, I'm pretty sure diagnoses such as these don't just go away, I'm having so many problems right now I can't handle my jobs very well, and as I type, I'm shaking my leg so much I can't type well and I just realized I was doing it and it's probably stimming....

So in short, I know at least I'm not doing this to try to be "popular" I sometimes find myself trying to self-diagnose stuff, like minor medial conditions, and usually the doctor ends up either agreeing with me, or their diagnosis just plain matches up with what I thought

And the money issue... I barely have any in the first place, how could I afford that sort of thing?