Does anyone DIAGNOSED with AS function this way?

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I have a pretty normal functioning level most of the time, I may seem a bit odd, but overall NT. People may comment that I am *different* or *unique*, but never with any negative connotation.

Every few months, I just lose all of my *skills* I can't relate to people, offend people without realizing it, but not seriously. I make a lot of blunders, say things that I was supposed to keep secret because I just can't process complex social interactions, and people generally seem to pull away from me.

But then I go back to *normal* again, and people like me and find me charming/witty.

It's been happening most of my life, probably. Not a new thing but idk how I could seem so normal most of the time, and so different at other times. The phases last for about a month, maybe longer. I'm usually VERY distracted during these times, can't really stay focused on anything. It feels sort of manic, but not like bipolar mania. I don't feel the need to do anything outrageous or impulsive, really. I'm still very logical. Just VERY off...like I have no direction and just no idea how to relate to people.

It's very hard to understand what people are saying...my thinking is fragmented and I start to become very systematic.

LOL I'm not losing my mind, but it is strange and a little exhausting.

I have days that are more difficult than others, yes.

I wrote about this last year.. or at least something similar. For me, my Asperger's traits go up and down from day to day. Some days I can out-NT the NTs and I feel quite adept socially and some days I almost feel low-functioning and all I can do is sit in a corner and play with a string...

Most days are something in between, but the upshot is that most of the WP members understood fully and had similar experiences. Sometimes social functioning temporarily improves due to getting adequate sleep, maintaining a good diet, etc. or just by being with people in low-stimulus environments... and sometimes it just has no rhyme or reason.

Now, as I pointed out, this is a day-to-day variation, not something that lasts for weeks, so I don't know if it is just a normal part of who you are, or if perhaps you might actually have mild bipolar II. You might want to talk to your doctor about it to find out for sure if you find it distressing.

Hope that was helpful.

Diagnosed with autism, and I have skills that vary all the time.

What I've noticed is that autistic people seem to be on a continuum. Between people whose skills take a single, fixed, rigid pattern that is always the same in all or nearly all situations (with some variance but only the amount that most people have). And then on the other hand people whose abilities are always shifting constantly and almost never stay still.

I'm much closer to the second side than I am to the first. So I experience shifting all the time.

Donna Williams discusses this ("forfeiting") here:

http://soeweb.syr.edu/media/documents/2 ... lliams.pdf

I vary a bit. I spend most of my time buried in various levels of depression. It seems the less depressed I am the weirder I get.

My self confidence levels go from high to low alot. Some days I feel really confident, my personality gets weird and quirky because I feel at that time being 'different' isn't a bad thing. This brief period of high self confidence really helps when I'm drawing or doing a art project because it brings out alot of original ideas which gets me good marks in school. The more original your drawing/artwork is, the more it is liked. However when I get depressed I don't want to get out of bed or talk to anybody. I can't think of anything to draw and gets me artists block which is frustrating. I tend to just do a heap of unfinshed projects when depressed but when happy I stick to one project and finsh it

Is it possible you're burning yourself out, crashing, recovering, burning yourself out again, etc.?

I have some very dark days when nothing works out. All I can do is hibernate until whatever it is passes.

As my mother says, my traits come and go.

I vary a bit too. My sensory issues with light and sound remain about the same. But my issues with people/socializing can vary. There are times when I can hang around people better than others. Right now I don't want to run into people I know (other than family) because it is feeling more awkward. Interesting is that I think this happens more when I am more involved in an interest. I am spending a lot of time working on writing and am finding socializing more awkward. But at the least severe, socializing is always rather awkward for me.

I can relate 10000% with your experiences. I am considered pretty highly functioning most of the time but there have always been periods where I was just "off". Sometimes it was just a few days and other times longer than a week. I just could not get anything right and felt awkward. Since the trauma of my Father's death in Aug I have been pretty autisitc (symptom wise) and am only just now getting back to where I fit more into the world in a "functioning" way as I did in the past.

It is a weird thing, how it isn't stable or predictable.

Most days I can appear normal, and build myself a very nice successful life, other days I can self destruct and destroy that nice successful life in one foul swoop.
I can be insulting, I don't mean to be and don't know I'm doing it half the time and the other half when I know I'm doing it can't appear to stop myself from doing it.
Once I have formed an opinion of someone it sticks, so if I don't like someone, I never will.
And the people I do like can easily do something that puts me off them.

When I work I tend to be a quiet get on with the job type.

I also experience that. There are days that I do very well and than I seem to crash.

It doesn't happen randomly. There is always a reason. Sometimes I don't see it coming, but if I'm trying to do too much, it will inevitably happen...

Right now, for example, I have made the mistake of committing to two social events per week. This is probably going to be too much and I will have to decide when to drop one. I am not looking forward to making that choice, but it is better than ending up overwhelmed and sitting on the floor crying somewhere--hopefully not in public.