Soon it will be 10 years...

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Soon it will be 10 years that I have joined this forum... And I still have doubts I belong here because Gifted but Mentally Ill and Female might resemble AS in me and/or is the reason I remain undiagnosed... I have intense interests and bad social skills and was severely disabled as a child, but I feel like I don't fit in ANYWHERE!! ! I'm just haven't encountered my species yet... Could be Aspie, I've had a couple therapists say I'm very much like some people with AS that they know! I need to just quit fretting about it and keep reading about obscure ornithological-related subjects...

Confucius say : Person who is crazy about birds is a wing nut.

Do you identify with the problems and stories of the people who post here? If so, then you surely belong to this place.

I've been here 5 years and feel the same way. I think it's a basic inability to 'bond' with anyone - including other autistics.

Psychiatry is a subjective field, and I'm learning to accept that I'm in that confusing grey area where some would say it's autism, others would say it's PTSD, or any number of other disorders... I have symptoms that are all over the map, and don't fit neatly into any pigeonhole.

And I'm coming to realize that it's not my failing, to have a nice neat textbook condition that is easily diagnosable, but rather society's failing, in seeing it as a black-and-white issue: either you have stereotypical autism and clearly need help for it, or you don't, and need to shut up, act normal, and stop claiming to have problems.

I was made aware about the possibility of being on the spectrum by my wife more than two years ago. I haven't gone through the diagnostic process yet, mainly because of the fear of getting marked as a fraud by the professionals. I wasn't even sure whether i should register on here, because i felt like i would be wasting everyone's time, even though i knew that i could relate to all the countless stories presented on here, in videos or books by Attwood, Grandin, or Silberman.

Not one day goes by without me questioning the condition, asking myself whether i was normal the entire time and just made a bad turn somewhere due to the "parenting" i experienced. But then i am thinking of all the bullying, every single day for 12 years, the extensive research about the human mind/social conventions i did, the hours i spent at the central train station and just observing humans in order to make sense of their peculiar behavior, the sensory issues i have always had and just ignored, the lack of friends, the almost non-existent fine motor skills - and it all starts to make sense somehow. You're not alone with your worries!

I don't understand, if any doctor thinks you have autism, how come they have never given you the diagnoses?

Anybody autistic or not are welcome here. If your autistic traits are from autism or some other conditions peolle here can recommend coping mechanisms.

I think the three members who have posted in thread who are stuck in never never land and afraid of what might happen if they get an assestment need to overcome their mental blocks. Trouble initiating things is an exucutive dysfunction common in Autism. You need to find someone qualified in assessing autism in adults of your gender. Ask the qqqdoctors that think you have autism for recommendations and ask us.

I can not quarentee you will not be dismissed but remember you have a right to seek other clinicions. If you do not like a restaurant you try another one. If you do not like a job you find another one. Same idea with clinitions. If you think you have been wrongly dismissed post what happened here we will be able to tell if your clinition is incomptrnt to diagnose autism.

Some clinicions do believe labels are more harmful then helpful. They are not wrong for some people. Based on what you have written you need a diagnosis be it Autism or something else and you need it quite badly.

Good luck

Thank you very much for your post! I wanna go for an official evaluation, but i am not fully familiar with the healthcare system in the US yet. Maybe you have some advice on how to start? I already informed my GP about the likelihood of me being on the spectrum, but she hasn't talked to me about it yet. There is just a note in my transcript stating that she wants to find out more about ASDs.

They said my autistic like traits were not a disability so doesn't need diagnosing like my severe mood problems do... I've had a couple of docs reciently ask me if I was already diagnosed with Asperger's... Still no gesture to diagnose after I said I wasn't.

Adult female autistics are often misdiagnsed with mood disorders. In these cases mood disorders is not a wrong diagnosis but a partial daignosis that fails to take into account the underlying autism cause of the mood disorders. Your clinictions are going by the book. The diagnostic manual says in order to diagnose traits they need to be impairing.

The good news is that 3 doctors have said to you that you are autistic or have a number of autism traits. Is that enough for you?. The two doctors that asked why you have not been diagnosed with Aspergers might not be Autism experts and thus do not or can not diagnose you.

If you can give us a general idea of where you live that will be helpful.

I need to apologize! I am currently residing in Michigan, approximately 1 hour from Detroit.

I asked what my diagnosis was currently since I saw a new doctor and it's simply "Bipolar NOS". Last doctor had me down as Schizoaffective, Anxiety and Borderline Personality!
I'm not arguing against the bipolar since I have clear periods of elevated and depressed moods though...

Congratulations on the anniversary!

Congratulations on your WP anniversary!

With an AQ score of 28, I am in between NT and AS. I think that is probably about right. I have a couple of the indicators, notably strong special interests.