54-yr. old alien

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I hear about all kinds of programs and places for kids to get diagnosed for various learning and developmental challenges. Where does an adult go to find answers to question that just didn't get asked when they were young? I watched the Autism show on The View today out of curiosity. When they spoke about how many levels and forms PDD(?) came in and described certain things, some things seemed very familiar to my childhood. It would be hugely helpful for me to start getting some answers, but I have no idea where to start. I went to The View web site and saw the URL, Wrongplanet, and said "Wow, that's me all over!" My father always said I belonged to a different place or time, and I always agreed.

Any information would be appreciated. I'm in Louisiana.

Thank you,
inez

hi! welcome to WP!

umm.... i just sorta googled autism and aspergers and such. there's also wikipedia.... and for me... asking questions/reading posts here has been the most helpful. there's also that D(somethin somethin, then a roman numeral) manual which lists "official" criteria and such for a variety of conditions.

wherever you read up on it... take it with a grain of salt cause there seems to be a lot of vagueness and lines drawn in questionable places.... think that's why it's all lumped together as a "spectrum".... i like to just read up as much as i can and take to heart what identifies with me and take comfort that there are others as weird (COOL) as me!

if you want an official DX... i'm not sure what to do. depends on where you are. i hear it can be a tough gambit insurance-wise for adults.

gl and hope ya stick around!

when I was in - I think - 4th grade, we had an art projcet. I made a multi panel cartoon in earthen shades (depressing) entitled "Moofy the Mooney." Moof was a tall gangly sexless alien with a house (cabin w/ wood stove stack and smoke) growing from the side of her head. Moof wandered trhough the several panels watching all the stuff typical for a 4th grader's life. Moof participated in, and understood, none of it. Moof seemed to wonder if there was a home to go to.

I did not know it consciously; I was and still am Moofy. Not so bad really.

Welcome to WP!

Tim

Welcome to WP,remember to psot,never post or spam.

Yeah, I did a short web search and realized I had no idea what I was looking at I figured here would be a better place to start.

I have no idea yet where I would stand with my health insurance. I just have the need to get my mental ducks in a row. I want to know how one thing is associated with another, try to understnad it and treat it. My clock is ticking and I'm the one going in circles around the dial... ALL MY LIFE.

Weird kid, weirder teen, diagnosed (in one day of multiple choice test) as schyzophrenic at 19, never treated, diagnosed with depression a few decades later and half-fast treated a while at Mental Health till I just quit. But I'm circling the drain and need to make something happen. I'm becoming less functional again and, frankly, concerned about my will to keep trying. Don't mean to be a downer. I just really need some guidance on how to find legitimate diagnosis and treatment.

So, who does one see? Their doctor, a pshychiatrist, a neurologist? I'm held together here with old chewing gum and duct tape.

I'm in Louisiana and a lot of healthcare providers haven't returned. I dread the idea of going back to Mental Health.

inez

I'm so sorry. I didn't thank you all properly for welcoming me, but I really do appreciate it. I'm just discombobulated

inez

[quote=" I just really need some guidance on how to find legitimate diagnosis and treatment.[/quote]

i suggest you post a thread with this topic in the General Autism forum and i'm sure you'll get some serious responses! mention again where you are.

i just looked up an AS specialist in my town from the internet, but never could bring myself any further than some short meetings with the lady to talk about me (like why i think i should even be talking to her!).

but there are many who have been and are currently in your situation.

there's probably a million threads on this topic you could maybe search for.

gl

Thanks, gl. Might give that a try tomorrow.

Chances are I was just born crazy and have just multiplied it by my years

inez
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"I shot an error into the air.
It's still going... everywhere."

—L. Long
("quoted" by Robert A. Heinlein in Expanded Universe)

I post here thesame links as I have for somebody else, the links are from the NAS-some I found useful, others I found after my diagnosis. I hope this helps. The first port of call would be your GP.


I wrote all my info down, following the guidelines given in the NAS leaflet "how to get a diagnosis as an adult" and I also asked my doctor send me to a psycholgist or psychiatrist who specialises in Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Because I was nervous, I wrote all this down and mailed it to him. He called me in to discuss it, which was terrifying, because I was convinced he's think I was imagining it or being a hypochondiriac, but in fact he'ds just wanted to say that he was impressed with what I'd written and sent him, and would refer me.

I include for you here some links to some pages from the National Autistic Society. I found these pages helpful.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=212 General info on what Asperger's is

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1062 Info on autism and AS and what it's like for someone with autism/AS. It might be an idea to priont this out for your doctor. Even better to copy and opaste it into Word, take out the stuff relationg to "classic" autism and just give your doctor the Aspie-related stuff.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=119 Info for people who are, or think they may be, on the autistic spectrum.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly. ... 045&a=3341 How to get a diagnosis as an adult-this was of ENORMOUS help to me. It advises you how to set out your case and what sort of information to give the doctor, and what to ask for.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly. ... 245&a=8018 Why get a diagnosis as an adult?-something else it might be worth printing out and giving your doctor.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly. ... 045&a=3335 How to complain-Is your doctor still being a total A-hole? Then maybe complaining might get something done. This describes how to do it properly, in a way that might make them listen to you and take you and your complaint seriously.

And two thinks that may be very helpfult to print and give to your GP:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=128&a=2225 Important facts about autism and AS for GP's.

http://www.nas.org.uk/content/1/c4/36/0 ... adults.pdf A GP's guide to adults with asperger's syndrome (PDF file-Acrobat Reader needed to open)



Good luck!

JulieArticuno

Julie, I can't thank you enough. I'm starting with how to get diagnosed and why, and how to complain. That last one might be very useful

I have no idea if the seeds of my problems were planted by something like Autism or some environmental factor when I was an infant. I had always shrugged them off to things that happened to me during the short period I spent with my birth mother, things I can never discover. All I know is, while everybody thinks they're different, I know I am, and have been from the start. Certainly there were a lot of environmental factors that affected me as a child and adult (because life happens) but the basic things seem to have always been there.

Among my first search results I saw the statement, "...there are no medical tests to diagnose Autism...," is that true?

Thank you again, Julie.

inez
----

They say, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade"

They fail to mention that this is contingent
on life also giving you a little *sugar*

To my knowledge, there are not physiological tests for autism and AS, it's all psychological, like (for yopu) anything you can remember that was seen as "strange" or "odd." Recealling stuff about your childhood is a big one for adults. For kids, it's things like how they relate to others, how they play with talks, co-ordination and speech oddities and so on.

JulieArticuno

That's right, it's like what the doc said when the lady complained about migraines.

"Migraines? That's all in yer head ! !!"

AS? Some docs understand, and some don't. Some want the the fame of being the one who found the "cure". Some are caring, some aren't.

I always told my parents it wasn't their fault, aliens dropped me off when they weren't looking.

Okay, I'm going long and beg your patience. What I remember from my childhood is too much to write here. I remembered a lot for a long time, but now suspect I just remember what I once remembered;) Some long, boring points:
1. Sitting by myself alone for hours on end, perfectly happy and absorbed in some object or self-invented task. Clothes pins, I found clothes pins fascinating. And I did rock A LOT hugging folded legs. Sang alone with the phonograph a lot.
2. Fireworks and similar sounds would send me into blind hysterical panic. My parents lost me the first time they took me to the state fair fireworks show. I "dealt" with it after that by muffling the sounds and just keeping myself from reacting, though I'd break out in a sweat sometimes. The sounds still cause me anxiety and anger.
3. Ironed sheets would make me physically ill. Took mom a while to figure that one out. I'd also be found stairing out my bedroom window late at night. I was just stargazing and thinking. I also had a couple of strange, repetitive nightmares that plagued me for years.
4. I didn't seek out friends. My mother would bribe kids to visit and play with me. I would basically attach myself to, or accept, one such "friend." BUT, I had a boyfriend at age 5 that I was head over heals about till I was 9. Totally infatuated.
5. I was empathetic. Almost too much, as if I felt their pain. BUT, I was often confused by how other kids reacted to things, and confused or frustrated with how they acted in general or interacted. I was, however, fascinated by how people acted out pain in movies and would try to imitate it playing doctor or being shot.
6. I did react differently, less, to physical pain, though I felt it. But I don't know what part of this was just me and what part was conditioning. I know that I tended to examine a cut or scrape and would pinch around it to ease it. I think that part was certainly just me. Conditioning? I was being raised as a Christian Scientist. In my child's mind I thought that feeling pain meant I was a sinner. If I was good enough I wouldn't feel pain. The results of this combination of nature and conditioning... I hid serious pain (largely by rocking) and my parents didn't know I was sick until I became delirious AFTER my appendix burst. Age 7; long story.
7. Groups of people and crowds were ok as long as they were just background to me and my mother/parents. I actually performed a solo ballet recital on stage at age 3. People were just background though. My mother was my world and what I remember was her putting her lipstick on my before and her praise after. I had loved dancing. I tiptoed a lot.
8. My first day of Sunday school when she left and the doors closed_panic. Every minute of school was torture for me. I just did my best to become invisible. Reading problem killed me. Some teachers would let me write stories instead of doing book reports. My IQ scores were always high, IF I could make it through a test on time. Slow became my middle, no, first name. When called on in class to answer a question there was a fair chance I'd wet myself. Called quiet, shy. Called a daydreamer. I wasn't daydreaming, I was still thinking over something that we started with.
9. I'm highly visual (pictures) and...melodic? I have strong comprehension of things I can visualize and put in context. Connecting written words and numbers to their meaning was very hard. Memorization of dry facts, next to impossible. I finally started reading better on my own when I discovered poetry. Poetry was somehow easier. I was lost in math when that introduced "new math" and started talking formulas. For me, if a, b, and c mean nothing, there's nothing to equal. Later in life someone asked me how I arrived a formula. I didn't have a clue that it was a formula, it was just logic to me. I remember telephone numbers easily, melodically, like bing,bang,boom-de,dum,bing,bong. I'm terrible with names.
10. High aptitude: creative, mechanical

The only thing done for me as a child was an attempt to fix my reading by putting me in a special class taching spelling and vocabulary. This did nothing. I spelled well and broadened my vocabulary, but it had nothing to do with my reading. Comprehension wasn't a problem, it was just making it through a sentence before I forgot the first part.

Anway, before, during and after that, life happened. So I'm unclear if some things were caused by environmental factors or were just me. There have always been particular gaps in my memory. I habitually remembered my infancy and childhood, thought about it. But, while I spent some off/on time with my birth mother in my infancy, I never could remember a second of that. From what little I learned about her it sounds like she had psychological and neurological problems. I was told she couldn't feel physical pain, among other things. All my memories were of my adopted life though. (BTW, my 2 mothers knew each other, I was named after my adopted mother when I was born.) Part of the 'strange' things could be a result of what happened when I was with my biological mother. And, definitely, since then life has assisted in my twists, bends and breaks that make me the alien I am now.

I had a breakdown when I was 19-yrs old, was (mis)diagnosed with simple schizonphrenia, degree severe, but not treated (it was to get me on SSI and Public Assistance), and I've been swimming in quicksand ever since. Life, life, life, blah, blah, blah... I took myself to Mental Health at one point when enough was too much. Diagnosed with (is chronic the right word?) severe depression a decade ago, but the few meds they tried didn't help. Talking, useless.

I think I need to start from square one. I also feel a sense of urgency, to do something before I run out of excuses for breathing.

Sorry for writing your eyes out. I've actually left a lifedtime out, but doesn't any of this sound like I might have started with something like Autism?

Well, my adopted parents are long since dead, but they knew the people I cam from. I still highly suspect my biological mother was alien, even though I knew her mother as my 'grandma'.