Do symptoms change as we get older?

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I have noticed that in the last few weeks I am getting frustrated about the change in my routine. Before, I wasn't that fussed; but now it's becoming an issue.

Has anyone else had this issue? Not so much the routine issue; but symptoms changing.

Everyones different, but as a few of my generalisations and observations..

1. As you age your social skills and flexibility will gradually improve. It might be at a glacier pace, but there should be some measurable improvements decade by decade. Not everyone has this, or recognises it, but it's a common patten.

2. Long term unemployment, loneliness, living with the parents may take it's toll. This could lead to progressively worse depression and frustration.

3. Those that try to cover up too much, for too long might lead to some sort of breakdown, anxiety etc.

Jason.

I'm thinking a general increase in the quantity and/or complexity of stressors is occurring. This might expose your symptoms easier and with exaggerated intensity. As always, there may be things that are bothering you that you don't realize.

Furthermore, I suppose that reactions to increases in stress are themselves bipolar (excessive tuning-in vs. tuning out).

An example of the flipside: During times of high stress volume in the last few years, there have been days where I arrive at work (30 minute drive) and have no recollection of my commute. So I guess it might be better to be tuned IN than out.. lol

My boss has known me for 15 years. She says I have gotten more literal in my thinking the older I have gotten. I am not sure if this is the case, or if she is just more aware of how literal I am so she notices it more readily.

I feel like some things, while not worse, are more in my conscious awareness, so maybe they seem worse when really it is just that I was blissfully unaware (or at least underaware) when I was younger.

I sometimes feel like my social skills are worse now than they were when I was younger. Or maybe this just falls into the category above.

And sometimes I feel like when I came to understand why I am the way I am (ADD and BAP) that I kind of loosened up on my desire to try to be someone I am not. I am more comfortable with who I am so I don't try too hard to compensate for it all the time.

I have become much, much more empathetic as I have gotten older. However, that is mostly a result of my meditation practice, not my age.

I wouldn't so much say my symptoms have changed so much as my awareness of them and how that awareness affected my experiential context. Things I didn't understand at the time I could see rather clearly in retrospect, and subsequently berate myself for being so "stupid". Now that I know I'm an aspie I understand why I've had a cycle of progression and regression. I could excel in some areas and elevate my position among NT society but the social issues would eventually knock me back down and put me in a depression.

I have forgiven myself but I despise NT's for the treatment I endured growing up. Ignorance is no excuse for what I endured. The fact they have to pity someone to feel compassion speaks volumes of their nature.

I think generally the individual levels off as they get older. We learn and start understanding what behaviours are going to get us into trouble as well as what's really worth being afraid of/what we get used to over our lives. Temple Granden once said that the older she got the less autistic she was.

I'd like to add a 4th item to this list. I observed that sometimes traits fade and another ones emerge. I mean, some become less of an issue while others become more prominent. For example, sensory sensitivities may change over time. It is possible that someone becomes less or more involved in special interests, and special interests can also change in nature, e.g. becoming more able to support one's living.

In general it's true that we learn social skills and become better at adapting to the world in this department. I also observed that the overall available energy for doing our duties like working, doing house chores, caring for friendships and relationships (doing social stuff) can not be changed significantly. Seemingly it remains the same during our lives.

A word about anxiety over change in the routine. Maybe it indicates a larger problem. Sticking to routine is a way for our minds to feel more secure so it might be that there is some kind of crisis going on in our lives that is yet to be solved. Solving the issue or at least making efforts and eventually some progress can help with too rigid routines, imho.

Yes, it's normal for everyone to change as they get older, even their personality traits, so I don't see why the same wouldn't apply for Aspies aswell.

I feel my symptoms have changed as I got older, some have improved while others have gotten worse. Like most people, my self-awareness has improved, which also means my social skills have too. But, at the same time, I have become so self-aware that I've turned into a very self-conscious person, and being afraid to meet a stranger's eye, whereas before I never really worried about it. I thought about what people think to a certain extent when I was growing up, but not at the point where it takes over my life and the way I feel about myself. Now it's become an obsessive issue that I cannot stop.

I am hoping that I might change once again in a few years and not let these things bother me so much.

Even though I'm sure I have always had traits/symptoms of AS, it seems some of the ones that were extreme when I was a child are almost gone, for instance my inability to deal with changes in just about anything, almost disappeared, but the other traits/symptoms became more extreme as I got older. I don't know why that happened, but it did.

It's funny that I found this post because I was just about to post something about this and then I discovered someone already did it.