How many of you have OCD-ish quirks?

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Hello. I am new to this forum.
I haven't been able to find if this is also characteristic of AS. Although I've been diagnosed for a couple of years already, I've never really looked in to any symptoms or anything; never been that interested. For some reason I decided to do this today.
It's little things like: in those garage level stairs with arrows on the side, I like to walk with my foot corresponding to the side the arrow is on. Like, arrow on the left side, left foot. Arrow on the right side, right foot. I never knew if this was just part of my AS or some OCD behavior.
I also like working on memorizing things and then when I've got it, I spend the next few weeks writing them down whenever I can to test myself and see if I still remember. Things like, the capitals of the states or parts of the body or anything really. And writing things down in general (handwriting), mostly names and such. My own name and others; I try writing them in different ways and styles. I think this is more typical of AS, maybe a form of "stimming"? (this is a new term for me) I don't do many things that I really notice, like walking some certain way or rocking or hand-flapping. Mostly just drumming my fingers and writing things a lot.
I think what keeps any of this from being OCD is the fact that I enjoy it. Is that right? I don't feel it stems from any anxiety and it definitely doesn't cause me anxiety...Although I would be upset to stop these things, I think I could without that much trouble. Wondering if any of you have these things too. I've mostly just read about the social aspects of AS.

I do, a lot. Though it's not a big problem to me, I don't lose hours daily. But still, I can't read/write a text without counting the letters up to a certain number, and then continue in a certain pattern. I have tried to stop it, but I can't - it starts again as soon as I stop thinking and actively repressing it, and sometimes the process gives me a headache - try it, you'll see. I wish I didn't had OCD, because it wastes some of my thoughts with useless ones. I could've used that thoughts for something better.

It doesn't sound like OCD.

As someone with AS and OCD, I can tell you, OCD is very distinct from any AS peculiarity.

I have odd quirks and routines and obsessions that I enjoy, however I have also experienced OCD as well in the sense of intrusive thoughts and rituals that I did not enjoy at all and I can tell you that they are two different things!

Now I can still get upset if my routines etc are disrupted but my reactions are different ones. In the case of the OCD it was high anxiety levels and fear that something bad would happen if the routine (which I did not enjoy doing) was not done. It was compulsive but in a very unpleasant way. Eventually I got sick of it and resisted the urge to repeat the ritual. I also stopped responding to the intrusive thoughts and whilst there was an initial surge of anxiety when the ritual or routine was not performed eventually it subsided and went away completely. It has never returned.

In the case of the routines and obsessions that I enjoy my reaction to having them disrupted or changed is different. Initially I will tolerate (with a little bit of upset) the change for a while but if they are interrupted too frequently or there are too many changes I will basically have a series of meltdowns followed by a sequence of shutdowns and then eventually descend into a massive episode of depression because my world does not feel like my world any more and I am miserable in the world that I feel I have been rudely pushed into by other people insisting that I change when I enjoyed the world I was living in before much more even if they didn't understand it and it was causing me social problems.

I have conclude that the loneliness I feel from my social difficulties is far less upsetting to me then trying to live in their world, a world I don't really understand, where I am not allowed my oddities because others don't understand them. For that reason I am always dubious about too much people interaction...because they keep trying to pull me out of my world when I don't want to be pulled out of it. I don't enjoy living in their world, in my own world I am lonely but happier.

It would be nice to find people who accepted my quirks though.

I am, however, not sure if I can make my therapist understand this. People seem determined to turn me into miss flexible and make me more like they think I should be. In some ways having therapy is causing me more stress and I am tempted to pull out of it again as it's clearly not helping me at all! Once again the psychiatric profession is doing nothing for me. Personally I feel that social anxiety, depression and agoraphobia is a misdiagnosis and that I do in fact have an ASD that has been missed and this is why their therapies are not doing anything to help me. If I am not an NT and they are trying to treat me like I am an NT...that's is not going to work!

lol Not OCD. You have to be bothered, and even then, it's usually unproductive, unlike your memory games. This is just what happens when you put your mind to something. You have a cutting focus.

You're foci are very positive also. Some autistics struggle with lettering. Get a sketchbook and keep this stuff. It sounds like art.

I don't have OCD quirks. OCD is a terrible anxiety disorder. I really hate it when people stereotype it.

My autistic quirkiness comes from liking things to be ordered but I can either do it or not, without having feelings of anxiety or thinking something horrible will happen.

I wasn't stereotyping. I thougth "quirk" was a nicer word than "abnormalities" or "disruptive obssessions", I actually was trying not to offend anybody. I also mentioned that I thought it wasn't OCD because there was no anxiety involved. I also mentioned that I haven't done research into any of this, so anything wrong was just ignorance and not stereotyping.
Thank you for all responses. I suspected this is just part of AS, since it calms me instead of making me anxious.
bumble - I was not diagnosed with AS by my first psych, for over a year. She also said social anxiety and depression. The diagnosis never felt right to me so I went to another doctor, who diagnosed me with AS. I actually felt very happy about my AS, and I feel like that moment was a turning point for me, in terms of accepting myself and getting other people to accept how I am. You should move to another doctor; your proper diagnosis may help you just by itself.

I have a number of OCD quirks... One of the "funniest" per friends, is that I have to audit all light fixtures for burned out bulbs when entering a restaurant, and I am bothered if I'm sitting in a booth or at a table where I can see a burned out bulb. It must be replaced!! !!

I also have to fold and stack in order of most recently washed, all underwear and socks. I cannot just put clean underwear and socks away in a drawer. The thought of owning socks which have been washed an uneven number of times, is unbearable. If the pile falls over and is no longer stacked in order of last-laundered-on-bottom, I might just donate them all to the Salvation Army and buy new.

Charles

There are some good sides. I never lock myself out of my house or my car. How could I when I always check to make sure I have the key, and keep a complete set of spare keys in my other pocket? And I don't leave my house unlocked ever because I go back to check three or four times, sometimes I can't help going back to check one more time even when I'm already in the car and ready to pull out. Same with locking the doors before I go to bed.

I least I don't line up my pens or the food on my plate into neat rows.

I actually have OCD.

I don't have OCD, but I do have some obsessive traits.

When I was a kid, I HAD to touch things in fours. Like, if I'm walking down a hallway, and my arm brushes against the wall, I have to make it brush against the wall 3 more times, or else I'd go a little nuts.

It's still with me, although it's not quite as bad. And I have some other obsessive bits, but I'd rather not get into it now.

I've been told by one psych that I have sub-syndromal OCD (in other words I don't meet full criteria for it but have some significant symptoms). The one I have now says that it can be attributed to AS (i.e non functional routines). I actually get very anxious and upset if I don't get to preform my routines and rituals (some of which involve doing things a certain number of times). However I don't have any thoughts of something terrible happening if I don't preform these routines.

I think a lot of people misunderstand the line between autism and OCD. Both consist of obsessions and compulsions, so when people are obsessive and compulsive because of autism, many think it is actually OCD. Before I knew I am autistic, I thought I had OCD because I have lots of compulsive and obsessive behaviour. Now that I have researched the two, I realize that if I have any OCD, it is VERY mild (I doubt I could qualify for a diagnosis). I have compulsive and obsessive behaviour that is not mild, however, but it is due to the autism.

Check out:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2330447_disting ... m-ocd.html

Just for some general distinguishing features. There are probably far better sites out there, btw, this is just for very general info that it is not too long to read.

Not to take this off topic a bit but it does remind me of the show "Monk" and how I realized that his behaviors seemed more in line with Asperger's than the billion cases of OCD that he had.

I do have severe anxiety but my repetitive behaviors (aka stimming) are not caused by my anxiety but rather a neurological urge.

Me.
I have some traits.