ASD or not likely...

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Since coming off antidepressants I seem to have lost my need for routines. This leads me to question whether my social difficulties are not just down to introversion combined with social anxiety.

Also I no longer have one particular interest and have gone back to having many interests...so many that oftentimes I don't know which one to spend time on and which ones to temporarily ignore. My brain wants to learn about anything and everything. It always did, except when I was medicated. So many fascinating things to learn so few hours in a day. Unfortunately I need to sleep (I do like my 8 hours) and eat so don't have time for them all (I find this fact a bit depressing actually...the world is a wonderfully interesting place even if social interaction can tend to bore me to tears!).

Now I don't mean my comments in brackets as an insult but I do struggle to find social interaction interesting most of the time. Very very rarely I will find someone I can connect with and have a really fascinating discussion about mutual interests with, but most of the time it is a matter of listening to people rattle on about things that I don't spend time thinking about (reality tv shows etc) and gossip.

I really don't know what to say to them...I just don't have any reply in my head. I try to chat to people but...nothing. Still got those social problems and now I have the added problem of not knowing which hobby I want to work on...

I should be doing practical stuff really like looking for a job or retraining, but hell I am torn between wanting to learn piano (I used to play the piano by ear as a child and have my eye on a wonderful digital piano I want to buy..I do so love the feel of the keys beneath my fingers, it's like having an orgasm), learning to paint. learning to draw, reading my books (particularly 'The shark that walks on land'), taking up pottery, traveling to the coast to take photographs, doing puzzles and logic puzzle books and so on.

I am also picked on a lot by people...they think I am weird. They tell me I am weird.

ASD or something else...

I need to know what I am.

sounds aspieish. worth looking into a diagnosis.

You omitted the salicylate sensitivity & IBS symptoms.

Candidiasis.

I still think it's worth exploring yourself or via a doctor/healthcare practitioner.

And I wouldn't say so if I hadn't experienced my own extremely similar set of neurological symptoms being caused by this. But I have. So, I beat the dead horse.

Last edited by goldfish21 on 31 Dec 2013, 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You don't want to spend all day taking about "Dancing With The Stars" and shopping in the mall for shinny stuff so everyone will think your rich?

Right now I'm so depressed I don't take up any special interests either. I'm too depressed to go out and attempt socializing and too depressed to speak to anyone. In a way it makes me feel less ASD, too. I just have no energy. I think these doubts I'm having are from depression which is forbidding me from seeing my potential.

Congrats on completing treatment for depression. Just don't let your brain slip back into those old depressive habits and you'll be able to maintain your recovery.

I think it's not particularly relevant whether you have an ASD, at this point. Not relevant to making the decision about your next steps, anyway.

Whether you had an ASD or not, the biggest problem you needed to address would be the social anxiety. It would make anyone miserable whatever their neurology. (Being an introvert is fine, though. As healthy as being an extrovert. Don't buy into the idea that recovering from social anxiety disorder means you are going to become an extrovert. Your goal is "stable introvert"--someone who enjoys being alone and finds social interaction to be rather brain-intensive, but doesn't feel afraid to interact with others.)

If you address the social anxiety issue, and get rid of the problem (or control it in a stable way so that it is no longer holding you back), then you should get more insight about whether you have an ASD or not. There are many social anxiety symptoms that can mimic ASDs, and it can be difficult even for a professional to be able to tell the difference. If I were a professional (I'm not), I would put "Possible ASD" on your record, leave it at that, and focus on dealing with the social anxiety disorder, which would be the first order of business whether you had an ASD or not.

As for whether you should learn piano or do pottery or something: I would say, YES. Do those things. Do what makes you happy. You don't have to give up your job search or job training just because you also want to play the piano. A person can't sit at the piano all day, after all; at least not while learning; you'd just get sore wrists. Learning the piano probably takes at most two hours a day--and most people take only about twenty minutes, because their parents made them do it and they don't really enjoy it--and you'd have the rest of the time to be responsible and grown-up.

..

Oh my god no!

I ride buses, particularly around coastal or rural routes. I spent all day riding buses today between Norwich and Sheringham. First I rode the 210 into Norwich, then I rode the X44 to Sheringham, then I caught the 5 To North Walsham (that is a lovely route...it goes through Overstrand and Sidestrand and Mundesely and Trimmingham...beautiful scenery) and then the 55 to Norwich and then the X44 back to Sheringham again (I wanted to go to the tesco there to get some food for my paleo diet..I am into paleolithic nutrition) and then back to Norwich on the X44 again and then back to where I live on the 210.

Yesterday was a particularly good day as I rode the buses to somewhere new! I rode the 210 to Norwich, then the X44 to Sheringham, then the CH3 (coasthopper) to Wells By The Sea and then the CH2 to Hunstanton and then on to Kings lynn (covering much of the Norfolk coastline...I also love beautiful blue, the ocean). Then I wandered around for a while. Was going to go to the museum there as I have museum pass and can get in free (although they have free admission to that museum right now anyway) but it was closed so will have to go back another day. Then I caught the Coasthopper bus back to Hunstanton and then Wells by the Sea, then back to Sheringham where I caught the X44 back to Norwich and the 210 back to where I live.

I ride buses most days...I like bus riding.

I do like shopping sometimes though but malls upset me. Too crowded and I don't like the lighting there.

I visit small shops, usually art supply stores. I need some clay modelling tools.

Which reminds me, I am a little concerned as today the bus drivers were telling passengers that it was a normal day bus service wise.

This is NOT true. As it is new years Eve sanders coaches finish early and will not be running past 8 pm (it says so on their website...I checked as I ride the buses frequently).

It worries me that bus drivers do not know anything about the services they run.

A similar problem occurred the other day when someone wanted to know what service number went to Aylsham and which stop to use. tut sigh. The bus driver did not know. I did call out to the man but he did not hear me. Basically the X44 runs to Aylsham from Norwich and was available from the bus stop he was standing at. He did not need to change stops at all.

Terrible when the bus drivers themselves do not know what is going on.

Oh dear!

I do hope the man in question caught his bus!! !! !

I can tend to like intensive sessions...If I start playing piano I will want to play for hours. I tested a digital piano today..oh the feel of the keys. Wonderful! I want to feel those keys beneath my fingers frequently...

I have my eye on one to buy..I am just sorting out the funds. I must have one...those keys. The feel of them!

My biggest issues with socialising are:

1 Blank brain syndrome and not knowing what to say
2 Not enjoying socialising when I don't feel like it or would rather absorb myself in my own thoughts/interests instead
3 It's boring most of the time (not meant as an insult).

It's weird but I crave bonds with other humans but do not wish to have the company of those humans 24 hours a day. I need my alone time to recharge and potter about doing my own thing (hence my introversion). The only exception would be the company of a lover.

I do not crave a large circle of friends.

I also do not wish to live with anybody. Even if I were to find a relationship I'd rather they live in their own property and I live in mine.

But I just consider myself to be a little eccentric. I am not sure being eccentric means i have an ASD.

You're lucky that you weren't labeled when you were a child. I was labeled as a child and I'm stuck with this stupid ASD label for life. Whenever I question it people will point out all my ASD traits. Just because I have ASD traits doesn't mean I have ASD. The only reason I'm keeping this label is because of my lack of energy. They still haven't figured out why I lack energy. Some people just blame it on my ASD. I think that's BS.

I changed diets and got loads of energy but not for social stuff. Social stuff is hard work and is a massive drain on my energy reserves, a bit like overloading a computer.

I do like to be social for limited amounts of time though. I don't want to be on my own all the time.

DevilKisses, if your major problem is lack of energy, maybe it is a physical medical problem? I get keeping the ASD diagnosis if it's getting you accommodations that let you deal with the lack of energy, but if you can figure out why you're tired all the time, that'd give you a better explanation than blaming it on (apparently sub-clinical) ASD traits.

This description sounds like a very normal introvert. Introversion is a psychologically healthy personality trait, as valid as extroversion and just as useful in society. While most autistics are introverted, so are about 25% of neurotypicals. These are people who do not want many friends--just a few close ones. They need time alone to recharge; they enjoy solitary hobbies. And most of them are NT. Introverts are the quiet, rational people who don't need a lot of stimulation to feel contented; they find monotonous and detailed jobs much easier than extroverts do.

Don't be fooled by the Western world's love of extroverts--sure, their outgoing, sensation-seeking ways are useful, but there's more than one way to see the world and not everybody is at their best going at it full-speed ahead and with fifty people at a time.

I have gotten tested by the doctors, but "all results are normal". The only issue they found was borderline anemia. They blamed that on my "heavy periods". My mom suspects I have Lyme's, but no doctors will take me seriously.

'Quiet' by Susan Cain is a good book on introverts. From my experience of NT introverts, they have normal social skills, are able to appear 'extrovert' for a while, but do get drained by socialising and need solitude to recover. I had an NT introvert friend for a while and we could really connect about trying to survive in a world designed for extroverts but, when she was with a group of people, she had wonderful social skills while I struggled. Sure not all NT introverts have great social skills - just as not all extroverts do - but, from my experience, they seem to be able to make connections with others even though they need solitude too.



Wish my work would understand that 25% of the population are introverts and stop organising everything for the extroverts.

surprisingly i have this side effect too. my routines are much more flexible on my anti-depressents and my OCD is a lot less. but this doesnt mean you dont require a routine. i will have meltdowns if i don't have a routine, even if i feel i dont need it. besides, my anxiety has gone down with my routine, regardless of anti-depressents. I still get anxious when an event comes up but i calm down, plan ahead, and it doesnt seem so bad. i call it progress

if you REALLy want a diagnoses, you should talk to an autism specialist. do NOT talk to a social worker or a psychologist who does not work with people on the spectrum, they will only look at text book symptoms, so if your not rocking back and forth, flapping your hands, humming and not functioning at all, you wont get a diagnoses. a autism specialist will be able to see traits and will see a connection to autism. i guess to put it simply, he/she will be able to say whether a trait is linked to autism or something else.

I do not have good social skills whatever I am...or so it seems.

I have no friends at all and don't like to hang around with typical introverts. The reason is that they like to stay in the house a lot whereas I like to be out and about all the time. I LOVE visiting museums and hanging around in libraries (in one now) and feeding the gulls at the coast and watching the ocean and riding roller coasters and visiting new places and I want to go kayaking, scuba diving, climbing etc.

Most introverts like to stay home and read. I like to read but I like to read on the bus or at cafes or when I am out and about on the go as I really really hate being stuck indoors.

I am a bizarre mix as in some ways I like repetition (if I find an activity I like very much I want to constantly repeat it exactly as it was the first time I tried it) I call these my samenesses as I don't like them changed...at least not in certain ways.

IE I often visit different cafes when I am out at the moment. Now I am not always sure which cafe I will visit on that day but depending on which cafe I go to my order and place of seating will always be the same (unless some bugger has nicked my table or they don't have what I usually order..in which case I will simply go to one of my other usual haunts instead, even if I have to travel to get there). The unpredictable part is that I won't always know which cafe I am going to visit today as sometimes I just bus hop and jump on whatever bus my ticket allows me to ride on...its a mystery tour. But on arriving at whatever location I am heading for I will go straight to whatever is my usual haunt there and make the exact same order each time (99% of the time...the 1% where I do have something different usually shocks people who get to know me there lol)

Don't have a usual haunt? Visit different place until I find the one I like. I am a very loyal customer returning time and time again to my favourite places.

So because I like to be out and about I don't hang around with many introverts. The extroverts however, are too much for me.

I do have sensitivities but not so severely that they stop me from doing things if I really want to to do them. I don't like crowds (too much pushing and shoving and the sound of everyone talking at once is like being in a farm yard full of geese with the cacophony of noise in stereo in my head..ouch basically) but I can grin and bear them enough to push through for short periods of time in order to do something I really want to do. I do have to cut things short now and again though as although I can tolerate the discomfort for a while after too long the noise just becomes far to much and I need to flee somewhere quiet to allow my nervous system to quit screaming at me...

I also have issues with labels in clothing (god they either itch or rub and drive me nuts), elastic and seams in socks and certain materials but I just don't wear stuff that irritates me and that is simply solved.

I don't really talk to people much either...I am too quiet, or so people say. Either that or I babble on and people complain they can't get a word in edgewise.

I am repeatedly told I am boring
People never listen to me when I do speak...so what is the point in speaking anyway?
I am told I am weird, odd, eccentric and strange.

I am by no means socially popular and have no partner or friends despite my going out and interacting with people.

This will be a problem with therapy...not only can I not cope with all the socialising required to cope with an extrovert (too tiring) and I can't hang around with introverts either (don't like the same things as I like to be out all the time) I am also going to have problems filling their social anxiety forms out.

Social situations don't necessarily go badly...they just don't go full stop. And I don't avoid interacting even if I do get a bit nervous during some (but not all) interactions. I have no problem asking for information from people, no problem asking for directions or if I need help and I don't mind making chit chat briefly. I do get nervous when trying to make friends, on dates or during job interviews though. I just accept this and find that others are more judgmental about it than I am.

But most of the time I have nothing to say to people...there is just nothing in my head in terms of suitable conversation and when I do speak I am told I say weird things (oftentimes) or the conversations just dies out.

God knows what therapy is going to do for that.