Did you find out about your AS through another's diagnosis?

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I found out that I had AS when I was doing research to find out why my friend appeared so socially awkward. After lots of research, I told him that I thought he had AS, to which he replied yes, he had been diagnosed with it in childhood. What I found out during this process, however, was that I too have it, or at least something very close to it. Explains why I understand my friend and why I always attact AS men to me.

Has anyone else discovered they had AS through trying to find information about someone else?

I've found out about it, in 1996, by reading an article in my local newspaper, about an 18 year old boy, who had it.

A friend of mine thinks he probably has some variant of AS or mild autism, and he reached that realization when he did reading about the subject after I was unofficially diagnosed during grad school.

I knew NO one with AS and still have not met anyone in person (that I'm aware of).

My only friend was just finishing up his Psychology degree and he and I were driving around town, when in the midst of a conversation he suddenly said, "By the way, you have Asperger's Syndrome."

I said, "You think so?"

He said, "Definitely."

When I got back home, I did about six hours of research and cried like a baby. The next day, I called up my case worker and she also just said, "Definitely!"

Then I had to wait three months to get in to see my doctor, but I wasn't worried. It looked like a duck, quacked like a duck and all that....

Yes. My nephew was diagnosed with AS a couple of months ago.

My sister, after reading about AS traits, told me I probably has AS, too. After some research of my own, I definitely thought so, too.

Professional diagnosis in process.

I was riding to work with my supervisor (we both lived out the same direction and car pooled) and we heard a segment on National Public Radio about a guy that took his son in for an evaluation by a psychologist and the son was DXed with Asperger's Syndrome. When they listed the symptoms of the syndrome, my boss looked at me and I looked back at her and even my limited social interpersonal skills realized that she recognized the same thing that I did, that they were describing ME! I was 56, and it was one of the most profound discoveries I had ever had

So I researched Asperger's Syndrome, and of course, Googled it. That is where I found WrongPlanet and later was formally DXed. That is how I found out.

I was originally dx'ed developmentally delayed, and sensory motor intergration dysfunction when I was 5 when they also diagnosed me with ADHD. I did not know what Aspergers was until I was in my early 20's because aspergers was not well known when I was 5. I went in for an evaluation when I was in my early 20's because I noticed that I was differant than other people and wondered why.

I watched a tv program that was talking about adhd then they talked about how sometimes Aspergers is mistaken for adhd. I had 3/4 of the traits related to Aspergers. I know I have enough of the traits that I should get tested. The program did mention wrongplanet so here I am.

I had been under counseling and psychiatric care; on & off since age 7. At age 9, I was labeled paranoid-schizophrenic. Wrong diagnosis, thank Goodness, as was confirmed to be wrong only a few years after it was diagnosed. In addition to the fact that Asperger's was not recognized so much until the 1980s & 1990s, and my counseling years began in 1975, I suppose the false diagnosis was based only on my fear of social situations. That was a BAD deal for me because they gave me paranoia meds (Navane, Thorazine, Elevil, Sinequan (excuse any misspellings please). I guess I just accepted that I was "different", while not a paranoid schzophrenic, and I just accepted that I'd always be an outcast and I'd better figure out my own ways of being happy or successful. Much more recently, I was diagnosed with ADHD, and medicated for that. In fact this diagnosis may still apply, and may or may not be simply a component of Asperger's in my case. The ADHD meds tend to make me more able to focus, and further, I read that many Aspies are prescribed Adderall (or similar), and Prozac (or similar).

It wasn't until I met my wife in 2005 that I began, with her experience as a former Special Ed teacher, to realize we might be onto something. What's frustrating is that I had all of these same symptoms (or characteristics) the whole time, through all my school years and through a dozen psychiatrists and psychologists...... But nobody seemed to put 2 + 2 together before. Once we formed the hypothesis of my having Asperger's, every piece fell into place, and we could not find a characteristic of Asperger's that I didn't have; at least to a significant trace. Conversely, I had no unusual characteristic which was not within the realm of Asperger's.

Finally confirmed earlier this month by our therapist; a well-respected UCLA MD psychiatrist with a specialty in Asperger's and ADHD. I can say that I feel as if I have been handed the password to a secret file on my internal hard drive, which reveals the answers to 98% of the questions I've asked myself through my entire adult life. (goosebumps on my arms as I type this).

Charles

I was on graveyard shift in October '06 and didn't have much to do so I did a lot of random net surfing all night. I was randomly looking up some wikipedia articles and one of the things I was looking at was the article on Stonewall Jackson.
It said that he probably had something called Asperger's Syndrome which I'd never heard of. I went to the link to that and read it just out of bored curiosity. Thats when it hit me like a lightning bolt. I actually rolled back from the computer and sat there with my mouth hanging open because the article described ME! I remember saying out loud to myself "holly $hit that's ME!". The rest of the night/morning was spend tirelessly looking up other websites having to do with AS. I did enough research then and in the next few days to claim without doubt that I have it.
I mean, hell, you either meet the criteria or you don't. I always knew there was something wrong with me and this is the only thing that fit like a glove.
I don't see any value added in getting formally diagnosed by a psychiatrist because unless they come out with a pill that will cure it I'm not doing meds.
This is not to slam those who are on meds because they may be more severely affected by AS and need it to get by.
I'm not as severely affected and have been living with it all my life and have learned to get by out of necessity. Not well but well enough to carry on.
Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Nope. Found out at school by the psychiatrists.

I found out shortly after my youngest child was diagnosed with Autism.

Yes, during my son's diagnostic process I suspected it and I was later diagnosed myself.

nope. i thought i might have it after having heard/read about AS from the news/books. it took years before i was really convinced and then i was lucky enough to be diagnosed quite quickly. my sister was a bit reluctant to believe it but now accepts it as a perfect explanation for my weirdness.

now we're starting to wonder about the rest of my family. my siblings have some autistic traits and i have an aunt who seems like she has AS but trust me no one wants to tell her that. she labels the rest of us hypochondriacs if we say anything about our assorted family illnesses. (most of which are freaking genetic, but just because she didnt get them she refuses to believe they exist.)

Yep. My friend found out he had it. And I researched it to learn more about his behaviour, and ended up relating a bit too much. I haven't got any official diagnosis though.

I always new I was a bit odd compared to "normal" people but I was married, had a job and generaly got by. Then one day I was watching a news programme about a man with AS who was running his own successful buisness but the interesting thing for me was that he had the exact same outlook on things as me. I shouted to the wife to come and look because here was someone who thought the same way as me. We re-wound the programme and watched it together, it still didn't register with me that I might have aspergers I was just glad that someone else out there had similar ideas to me so that meant I wasn't as odd as everyone thought. Then the wife said "that's you, you have Aspergers" the penny dropped and sure enough the more I researched the clearer it became I had AS.