Do co-morbid conditions cancel out certain sympoms of asd?
I have a lot of traits that are not typical of autism. One being I am extremely sensation seeking. I also hate routines, I am usually socially outgoing and I'm the complete opposite of someone who has high emotional sensitivity. I play in bands and sing on stage, I do reckless things regularly and I cannot focus on the same thing for too long. I do not see any other autistic people acting the way I do and any therapist I've had has said I'm much different than all the other clients. Still I have the symptoms of not being able to relate to others, communication problems, lack of empathy, lack of understanding most emotions, obsessive intrests, clumsiness, distorted senses and could probably list 100 things If I wanted to go on.
I do have a few comorbid diagnoses and am wondering if these inverted traits are due to that, especially from adhd symptoms.
Still most people with asd's have co-morbids, adhd being a common one, so I am curious if there are other people similar to me. I realize no two people are the same but I often wonder if there is anyone like me at all.
Yeah, you kind of remind me of someone with ADHD. I've got ADHD and bipolar co-morbid and I wouldn't say they cancel out my autism symptoms but they make them less extreme. I can be really outgoing when manic but I also have a sense of ADHD short attention span when it comes to mania, and though I'm more social I think there's still some communication problems there. Sometimes I just ignore people I don't know. It confuses me because I'm not socially awkward, it's like I just don't care.
I'm good at being organised and have routines but I can break them easily. My logical thinking even breaks down when I'm depressed or manic. I'm also both someone who follows rules and just goes against them automatically. ADHD/O.D.D, you know.
I love certain sensations too. Sometimes my senses are so sharp they are pleasurable. I've done some stupid impulsive things too.
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(the following is my experience, it probably is not like this for others)
People with Asperger's focus on details but miss the big picture.
People with ADHD see the big picture but miss details.
I am diagnosed with both Asperger's and ADD.
I usually notice both the details and the big picture. Sometimes I might focus a bit too much on details while in some circumstances I might miss them (usually while reading. I tend to miss punctuation) but generally I notice both.
This is an example; there might be others but now I can't think about any other.
P.S.: don't think that this means that AS and ADHD combined make your life easier because some symptoms "cancel" others. They are an annoying combo.
Major depressive disorder and, especially, anxiety disorders tend to cancel out social awkwardness. Someone in a depressive state is less likely to interact, and a depressed Aspie looks a lot like an extremely depressed NT. Anxiety, especially social anxiety, tends to sharpen hyperfocus on using "correct" algorithms for social interaction, thus masking Aspergers.
I once joked about wishing for OCD. If I had to make sure it was perfect before life could go on, I would not mess up so often. It was definitely a joke, and it was said more out of wishing that I could average out my obliviousness with the obsessive anal-retentiveness of someone I knew whose OCD was literally killing her. Like, if each of us had half of the other (and only half as much of ourselves), we'd both be more OK.
That said, I wouldn't wish the stack of major depression, severe anxiety, and Asperger's on anyone. The "cancelling out" is more of a stacking effect, not a mitigating one.
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
I have often thought this. I am diagnosed with dyspraxia as well as Aspergers and I think that dyspraxia really explains why I am so emotional and over sensitive compared to other people I know with AS off line (when you look up dyspraxia, one of the psychological symptoms is being extremely emotionally sensitive). I cry very easily and this, combined with the anxiety that is inherent in my AS, means that I am usually a complete emotional mess! I often think that this is why I excel at language rather than Maths or Science but I have met people with solely Aspergers who have a similar pattern of strengths and weaknesses as I do so I'm not too sure. When I was younger, I used to describe it as dyspraxia "weakening" the Aspergers but now I know this is completely wrong.
No... unfortunately... symptoms do not cancel out, but combine to make a whole new brand of whakaroon...
The best example of this is with bipolar... type one is mostly up with down phases... type two is mostly down with up phases... and then there is mixed bipolar... In Mixed Bipolar - you can experience both states... You can be both Manic and Depressive... (it sucks, btw...) counter-intuitive results and conflicting symptoms interact to exacerbate the problem.
Instead of cancelling each other out, (ESPECIALLY) when dealing with Aspies, both symptoms will exist, leading to cognitive dissonant events...
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I don't know, I often wonder what I would be like if I didn't have depression, anxiety or stress, as an Aspie adult. Well, I mean not strong enough to interfere with my life like it does. Would I have more ''get up and go'' motivation? Would I be a little more confident in myself, like having a stronger ego? Would I be happier? Would I even be able to fit in more and just go along with the flow? Would I be able to handle certain situations at work better, instead of having these things holding me back from wanting to go to work? Would I not worry so much of what other people think? I'll probably just be living in the moment, instead of dwelling on the past, stressing about the present, and depressed about the future. I sometimes wonder if I'm not an Aspie, but just an emotionally insecure person with depression, anxiety, stress, jealousy, impatience and anger.
But then a list of Asperger's traits in girls comes up on WP what basically says none of the general traits of Asperger's and Autism you read about, but practically describes what I've just wrote above, and I'm like ''damn, still got Asperger's then. I was just hoping I only had those co-morbids and so could be cured.''
f**k Asperger's. I hate it so much.
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Female
Autism: Weak Central Coherance (focusing in detalis).
ADD: missing details.
It's like to combine a sedative and with a stimulant, but with less direct death rate.
I'm really interested to read more about how this actually manifests.
Limited ability to "see the big picture" and limited ability to "see the details" would seem to equal...missing pretty much everything? Obviously that's not the case, so how does it actually work? So curious!
(I'm inquiring as someone with AS but not ADD.)
It probably has to do more with the fact that autism is a spectrum than with the comorbid conditions. I also seek sensations and a lot of individuals with autism are sensory seekers. And a lot of individuals with autism seek friends and learn social skills, even if they inherently have a harder time learning these skills. The older I get, the easier it is for me.
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I can be a lot like schizpergers with the sensation seeking and risk taking. I think it's the ADHD. I crave stimulation. If anything I feel chronically understimulated and I need to keep exposing myself to intense sensations and feelings in order to feel like I'm even alive. I enjoy concerts and situations with heavy stimulus. At times I'm apathetic enough to take large risks because the consequences seem so small. It doesn't matter what happens to me as long as I'm alive. Anything other than my life can be put on the line as long as it's mine to lose. The sensation seeking is constant but the risk taking isn't. I'm not always in a state of reckless apathy but I am always in need of stimulation.
Again, I think it's the ADHD. Maybe depression is in there somewhere as well. Depression could be the cause of the apathy.
I have to agree with Alex on this.
Autism can lead to both overstimulation and understimulation or even a combination, so some autists will seek to limit sensation, some will seek to increase it, and others still will alternate between the two depending on the situation and the levels and types of stimulation.
Personally, I'm in the third category.
I'm hypersensitive and so I seek to limit sensory input a lot of the time as those inputs can be very annoying, distracting, and even painful, especially when I'm engaged in anything that requires concentration and focus on things other than my immediate sensory experience.
However, I also crave intense sensory experiences when I am able to focus only on the sensory and I don't have to concentrate on anything else, and so I can get a lot of enjoyment from things like dancing at a club or concert even though were I to try to really think about or concentrate on anything in those situations other than the immediately physical I'd probably get overwhelmed and shut down, run away, or melt down.
So when I'm in those sorts of situations, I just sort of let go of my thoughts and just relax and allow the sensations to flow.
I do need to take breaks from it, when I start to get tired, overheated, or overstimulated, but that's ok, I just take my break outside for a few minutes, until I'm read for another onslaught of sensory input.
That's why I was sort of surprised when I first started on WP about all the comments about aspies hating places like clubs and bars, because for myself, I've learned to sort of relax and just take it all in when I'm in situations like that where I'd otherwise be overwhelmed by the intensity of the sensory input.
I don't know if that makes me unusual or if other aspies could do this if they wanted to, but I'm glad to be able to enjoy those sorts of things in either case.
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