Lived Self-Diagnosed, then Confirmed not to have AS

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I can not understand this post.

I have edited so it should make more sence.

Most global developmental delay is without known origin anyway. It's not that unusual; it's just the lower end of the developmental bell curve.

I have six siblings - one is severely autistic and another has suspected AS - both are male. However, my parents have a lot of knowledge regarding autism and said that they suspect that I have AS when I was thirteen. So I have heavily researched AS since then, and found that it fits me - bad eye contact, literal thinking, bright lights often hurting my eyes, etc and I score 150+ on the RDOS quiz. The first time I took that quiz, I think was the most honest result - scoring 164, or around that score. A few weeks ago, someone who works with autistic children at my school and knows my parents said to my parents that there was no doubt that I have Aspergers Syndrome. I have work experience next month, it will be a challenge - in the interview I didn't feel nervous - even though I usually would, probably because I felt like nobody was taking any notice at me in the university. However, my answers were limited and my eye contact remained ground level, and all the while I sat fiddling with my fingers and moving my feet around the floor. My dad said, if that had been a job interview I would not have got the job! Lastly, me and my mum share so many traits - if I was diagnosed my mum said she wouldn't need to be diagnosed as she'd know if she was AS or not through me. Depending on how my work experience goes will depend on my parents pursuing a diagnosis.

So this eejit admitted that you fitted the criteria but said you didn't have it?

I think you should go to some other professional and find out what the hell you do have, the fact that you went looking for a diagnosis tells us you have SOMETHING. Sounds like you have PDD-NOS...

You are female, and I am sorry to say.......it explains everything to do with the misguided lack of diagnosis...women, unfortunately, are severely under diagnosed.

I am a 36 year old female........there is Autism in my family. My cousin was severely Autistic, and AS for 2 of my fathers cousins(diagnosed).

I have been dx with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizoaffective, PTSD, Bipolar II(rapid cycling, Narcissistic PD traits, Antisocial PD traits.........yep, it has all been thrown at me.

I was told I was a psychopath or a sociopath, I had no conscience, I did not care for people, I did not love.

Now at 36 with my shiny new shrinks who are brilliant, I am being tested for AS, ADD/ADHD(innattentive type).......

And I love, deeply. It just doesn't seem that way........but nobody ever asked me. Until now.

Keep going........do not go through what I went through........years of psych hospital, and enough meds to kill a horse and the trauma of being made to feel less than human.

Get a psychologist who will LISTEN and LISTEN and LISTEN. It took 2 years of therapy and close scrutiny and observation by my new psych for her to even mention the possibility of AS. I think she had thought it for a while, but kept it close to her until she was sure.

Take good care, dear person.

Mics

Well, I actually did get diagnosed with something and that something was Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Then of course, that usually goes hand-in-hand with clinical depression, so I was diagnosed with that a few months into our sessions (with my first psychologist). The Lexapro I was put on is an anti-depressant and is one of the most common drugs (at least it is in the US) used to treat GAD. And just being on that reduced my anxiety greatly and I am now better able to tolerate anxiety-provoking environments like classrooms and restaurants that I wasn't previously able to before starting the medication. For example, in high school and middle school, little noises bothered me so much I had to wear earplugs at school. Little noises would aggravate me so much I would have what many on the spectrum would consider a "meltdown". Now I'm past that... I still notice little noises, but they don't irritate me to the point of where I'm having a meltdown or anxiety attack anymore.

That is what I have read. I did a bit of research about how most AS research is based on observations from mostly MALE subjects and also that girls are better at "camoflauging" their "disabilities". I agree with this. Also, though, I have read arguments that when girls show AS it is more severe..... don't know what to say about that one.

All that means is that it takes a more severe case for it to ever be recognized.

Perhaps there was some misunderstanding (either in your reading or in the mind of the author/s of the text/s you refer to).

Generally, it is considered that females in the Asperger category present with less observable indicators of traditional Asperger symptomology (as Aspergers Syndrome is currently recognized and described in the DSM for instance). However, in the Kanner Autistic range, females who are diagnosed tend to be in the more severe range, and tend to have lower IQs.

Two common interpretations of the above are:
A)that females are more resiliant to the effects of Autism and so they are less likely to be Autistic in the absence of intellectual impairment,
and
B)that diagnosis is gender-biased so that the observable symptoms used as a frame of reference reflect male instances more so than female instances, and only those who present sufficiently close to a "male instance" (including those whose severity results in very observably obvious symptoms) are likely to be diagnosed (which feeds back into notions about Autism and reinforces gender bias).

What's your results in AQ Test (this is not the Aspie Quizz that you made before)?


http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html

I haven't taken the AQ in a couple of years, but when I took it 2 years ago, it was over 160. Either 164 or 168...can't remember which one exactly.

It's just that after 2 psychologists, 1 special ed teacher, and everyone around me disagreed that I had AS, I eventually kind of turned away from the AS community and tried to just shove everything related to it, like AQ quizzes, Aspie tests, and such, out of my live.

You're talking about the Aspie Quiz again. Click on the link that TPE2 gave you, it's a different one...

Well in that case, I just took it and got a 27. That's quite a bit above what non-autistic people score, but 5 points below what most ASD people score. Looks like I'm in between..... It's like I have more AS/autistic traits than most, but not enough for a diagnosis.... Oh well....

Do the ideas and processes suggested by and for those on the spectrum help you? Then you're in the right place, regardless of diagnostic status, at least in my opinion.


M.

Yes, they do help.

And thanks for the welcome and acceptance!