Asperger's / classic autism?

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I've heard of many autistics "improving" (autism is not a disease, hence " ") as they grow older, but it is possible to go from Asperger's (going the other way) to a classic autism presentation without speech delay?

Can you give an example?

I was high functioning as a child / early teen and although I was extremely awkward, I talked to people (I was too honest and inappropriate though).

Now I struggle with spoken communication to the point that I prefer not to talk. My sensory issues are much worse. I stim a lot more. I am unable to work. I need a full time support worker in university. I have daily meltdowns. Eye contact is non-existent now. I isolate myself as much as possible.

The main bit that makes me wonder is my speech (I find speech extremely exhausting), my little, if any, desire to socialise and interact, and the development of multiple neurological conditions.

She just means "can you start out high functioning, and then gradually descend into being low functioning ( so low that you're actually officially dxd as such)?".

Never heard of it before. But maybe it happens.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 10 Nov 2013, 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

I hope you can get treatment for the neurological conditions.

As for the other stuff, the fact that you developed schizophrenia greatly complicates the picture, as schizophrenia often causes people to develop an autistic-like condition, which some researchers even call schizophrenic autism:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489853/

Autism and schizophrenia have heavy overlap in the negative symptoms:

http://www.clinicalneuropsychiatry.org/ ... gerald.pdf

The main difference seems to be that with autism you get onset before age 5, not much psychosis, and not really any worsening after age 5. With schizophrenia, you tend to get onset or worsening in adolescence or later, along with the development of severe psychosis, which is often unrelenting except when treated with antipsychotic medication (and even then psychotic symptoms can still often break through).

I understand that in your case, you did have autism/Asperger syndrome from an early age, but it seemed to worsen in adolescence/early adulthood, and you developed the psychosis characteristic of schizophrenia. This suggests that the worsening was likely due to the schizophrenia, and not to the autism/Asperger syndrome.

NOTE: I am not a mental health professional. I'm just an ASD person (with a history of a single psychotic episode) who has been interested in schizophrenia lately.

I've heard of it happening well past middle age as cognitive decline may cause the person to lose skills, so to speak, but not in adolescence/early adulthood, though abuse may certainly play a factor in this.

I think your schizophrenia is making the symptoms worse.
I remember having a hard time communicating clearly and when I am not doing well my aspergers and adhd symptoms worsen as well.
Are you taking any prescriptions? I hate having to take medicine to function but I do because they have significantly changed my life for the better. I feel my schizo symptoms are 90% gone now. If you would like to ask any questions or need support feel free to ask me for advice.

I've also noticed it is common for people with autism and schizophrenia to develop atypical neurological symptoms.
I have some features of parkinsons and narcolepsy.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

I developed the first signs of schizophrenia at age 12, so I can see how that correlates with my worsening autistic symptoms at age 14.

A nurse on one of the psych wards I was on said that when I was getting better, I interacted a bit (this nurse knows me well as I had 9 admissions to that ward in total).

I'm on olanzapine 20mg and amisulpride 400mg for schizophrenia and sertraline 150mg for OCD.

I've been struggling with things lately.

My neurological conditions = chronic migraines, partial seizures, visual processing disorder, dyspraxia and tics.

I have had to change my meds every few years because I grow an immunity to them with time. Everyone I've talked to with an autism/schizophrenia mix has said they gain a tolerance to them with time. One good thing is though it seems some of them can be cycled through after not taking it for years. I have had to manage my own meds off reading about what each one does and requesting certain ones. Some doctors don't like that but the patient always knows themselves better than the doctor. I also take several vitamins a day including fish oil, multivitamins, melatonin and others.

Visual processing disorder, dyspraxia and tics are common symptoms of aspergers that may or may not be present. They can also be symptoms of schizophrenia. Stuff like this you can tell what it's due to by how long the symptoms have been.
I have always had dyspraxia. Its always been there and is a common symptoms of aspergers.

Migraines and seizures are something you should ask the doctor about. Have you had an EEG? You should get one if you have had seizures. You may have epilepsy or it could be a medicine side effect so it's important to know what causes this.

It can happen in adolescence/early adulthood, but its rare. Most frequently when this type of thing occurs its burnout type thing - someone having pushed themselves too hard too long and they can't cope anymore. And then their symptoms increase, and go through decreasing again.

In your case it seems like its probably associated with your negative symptoms of your schizophrenia interacting with your autism.

It is possible to have a "regression" in adolescence, just like as a toddler, (I'd explain more but I'm not functioning well at the moment), that isn't a burn-out, or reaction to change in environment. This path is a rare one.

Usually, what happens is that you're seen as high-functioning at first because you have a good grasp of stereotypically "difficult" skills. Then later on, when you're expected to have learned "easy" skills, you might be seen as low-functioning because those skills are actually hard for you.

Some autistics lose skills periodically--"regressive" autism--but this is much more rare than the above variant. Most of the time, it's just that we are on an atypical developmental path, and people see us as falling behind when we "suddenly" can't keep up anymore.