not sure if i have Asperger's?

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I've been reading this forum for some months though i never posted anything.
About me: I'm myself also socially awkward, I think i never had any friends, i don't even like people too much I oftend don't know what to say in social chats (though i run away from them if i can) or when i say something people look strange at me or laugh when i mean to be serious. Generally I'm seen as a weirdo and have no friends, though i get on better with some people than others (not that this is bothering me, people are usually tirying me out)
Despite this i'm working in a big company and cope well with the work there generally(except when it's about social situations where i'm really clumsy).
I have/had some obsessive interests (like studying arabic language/oriental culture- something quite uncommon in my country, I taught myself to use Linux and even compile programs from source, I learnt to play classic giutar- also mainly by myself etc.)
Plus i repeat things a lot, my mother is alwaystelling me "stop going on and on about same topic".
But: I actually i am able to read people very well ( I usually get it what they think, why they think something, only that i have no idea how to behave with them and i'm easily tired of them or get nervous and anxious, though i get their reasons). Very rarely happened that someone could trick me, i usually understand immediately what that person means, unless he/she is very skilled in pretending.I am also good at remembering faces, for example a couple times i met on the street primary school colleagues i haven't seen for almost 20 years and instantly recognized them.
I also don't like routine too much, i get bored easily and i need variation. I could never eat same food two days in a row or do exactly the same things-unless i had to.
I have an average to good orientation, i don't bump into doors or anything
One last thing: I read that aspies usually get on well with animals. I normally am afraid of animals and hate them, i don't like too much neither humans or animals, but i would preffer humans if i were to choose .
In most of the aspie tests i got above average points but still "not an aspie". In RDOS i got 126 of 200 for Aspie and that i'm "very likely an aspie".
Sorry for the long post Of course i'm not asking for a diagnostic, just your opinion, do i "look" like an aspie? Or am i sort of borderline asperger's ?

It's really impossible to tell, and I think you're focusing too much on specifics. It's really not about anything specific, like eating the same foods every day. Some aspies like variety, some don't. To be blunt, though, if you're an adult and have "never had a friend," you clearly have a problem. No idea if it's AS though.

Its hard to say. Even if you could answer if you had aspergers without a doubt it still would not tell you in any quantitative way how you compare to others who have the same diagnosis.

I think it makes more sense to identify your precise comorbid issues and those that you would like to treat and that have treatments.

Not everyone is that list of aspie traits to a tee. Like I can read people very well, better than some NT people I think. Like once litterally two people were having a converstation over me. Like one person on one side and the other on the other side. And they kept going back and forth, one girl asking "what happened on the date" while the other was like "NO! I won't tell you what he aske me to do!" and after like five minutes I knew everything that happened when the other girl was totally clueless. I just wanted to yell out "He asked her for a blowjob!"

My balance is iffy. My boyfriend once decribed the way I move as cat like at times but then like five seconds later I trip on my own feet while walking. I was the only kid in my gym class to do a cartwheel on a balance beam, but yet I daily I nearly break my neck on the stairs. Haha.

And as for a routine, as long as I am able to do what I have planned, not really a routine, just to be able to do things undisturbed I am fine. But that hardly ever happens so I don't get much done.

So if you were all that stuff on that list exactly, you would have probably have been diagnosed much sooner, maybe that isn't set in stone, but I think the reason some people go so long without diagnosis is because they don't match the list exactly, therefore people think "well that one isn't true so they definately aren't this." But when you are talking about how someone feels and their perception of the world, something someone else can't examine and form an opinion on, if you feel like an aspie you probably are one.

Great posts. This is really confusing to figure out, that's for sure.

The bit about your mom always telling you to quit repeating stuff is funny, since I get that a lot

I think a big thing is eye-contact. If you look poeple in the eye no problem then I would say you've just contracted geekiness.

You might be an Aspie. There's plenty of variation within the "Aspie spectrum," and RDOS is the only self-diagnostic I've seen that I feel is really very credible. I have the social probs too, though have had a few friends over the years. I can read people fairly well, and there are other Aspies who can as well. Sometimes it may be a matter of 'to what extent' we're affected by this. Not everyone's in the same place, has the same characteristics or to the same extent. That's why there are people in tech fields (or wherever they've landed) doing quite well, and others on disability. All Aspie, all smart people with good qualities. I think the co-morbidity question was a good one. Do you have a lot of problems in your way? What do you want to change? If it comes down to whether you want to seek a formal diagnosis, those are the issues.

Personally I don't like that RDOS thing. I really think the AQ and EQ B-C things are more indicative, at least for me.

Actually this is another problem i forgot to mention, I have huge problems with eye contact, i can only look for a couple of seconds in someone's eyes and than i look away. If i try look longer i'm like staring and they become uncomfortable.

I've been some years ago to a doctor, but I've been only given an antidepressive and no clear diagnostic(and it had some effect, i felt much better after taking it and even when i stopped taking it my general state remained improved). The problem is that in my country (Romania) autism and Asperger's are very little known and treated only in children, by the very few doctors knowing exactly what that is. Adults are considered kind of "hopeless", doctors here say,as far as i heard/read that only started in childhood the terapy can have any results.
Actually I'm mostly happy the way i am, i don't seek "treatment", but i wish i were more socially open. But it's something inside me that makes me block and sometimes even panic in social situations.And i'm also a slow thinker, i need to think before i can answer and usually people get unpatient.
Added to that, I tend to answer what i am doing at that moment when asked "How are you?". Actually it's after reading this forum i realised i was actually not supposed to answer like this.

it sounds like you could very well have AS. but it is so hard to tell.
i guess everyone comes here for answers. thats why i came. and to have an answer to being AS or not is a big deal for ppl. but one thing i have noticed, and this is strictly my observation is that it is worthwhile to know your diagnosis and understand it but to use it as a defense mechanism so or to try to hard to flaunt the traits of AS is a little unhealthy.
i had some friends talking about the myers-briggs personality test. so i took it online. once came up as INTJ and then read description. even though some things i felt were contradictory (in the description) i figured there were 16 choices, so i must fit this one. didn't give it much thought.

then took the test several more times, different tests etc. and consistently came up with INTP. so i
figured, ok i must have this personality. i read about it, seemed to make more sense to me.
i googled it and there were all these sites and forums with ppl talking about each aspect of their personality. they were so into this intp stuff. then i found that many on those sites felt superior for having the personality intp. kind of like here, when i read a thread the other day that said "Aspies the superhuman race" or something.

i think it is great for everyone to try and understand themselves and online in forums like these have support and good company with other similar ppl. but i think it can go to far in the labeling.

i guess my point really is be careful on how you respond to acknowledging yourself as AS and try to live our life and not fixate on how you are different. yes, embrace yourself and love yourself but do not become obsessed with AS.
good luck to you.

I would say you have Asperger's Syndrome.

Almost every since Aspie has a at least a few non-aspie traits. For example, in most situations I don't have trouble with eye contact. Unless its something like a teacher talking to the class, combine that with my lack of note-taking and there have been teachers who mistakenly thought I didn't care.

But if I'm talking to a friend I have very good eye contact. I also read fiction, another non-aspie trait.

To be fair, not every INTP is aspie and vice/versa. They don't talk about that, but the higher IQ, more exact, etc.... There ARE some GOOD AS attributes that seem FANTASTIC. And it IS interesting how the brains of some people seem to have changed, etc.... Do you realize that some people have brains that are over 70% denser(MORE minicolumns with bigger bundles), more glial cells, and more white matter. Imagine! If they pushed themselves as hard as the average person with the average stuff and used the same percentage of their brain, they could be over 70% smarter.

Sadly, you can't just make things that dense, so the fibers are smaller. Hey, even todays faster CPUs pack more transistors on a chip by making them smaller. Like those CPUs, they are more likely to get damaged during development.

Of course, some people don't manage to develop with the same amount of gray matter viability(Which is the reason for the regression some have.), and it is RARE that anyone is pushed to their potential, etc...

It does make one wonder though!

Steve

I was not at all doubting the intelligence factors. I am quite sure this is true and obviously prevalent in the Aspie and INTP communities.
And I know there are many wonderful traits that come with AS, this is genetic in my family. They are my most meaningful relationships and I am aware of what they have to share.
I definitely do not believe that one with AS must be INTP. Though there may be some correlation b/w the two.
I probably should have addressed these views in a different post, because it had little to do with the question. I just think people are spending too much time, obviously I am not excluding myself here, thinking and pondering AS and their personalities. I really like the forums here and the fact that so may people are able to discuss their AS issues, etc. I was really referring to the 'greater than thou' attitude I came across on the INTP and sometimes in AS discussions.
There were ppl trying to match their exact personality type to another...
"Where do hot, INTP girls hang out?" was a post,
and just things that made me think 'go live your life.'
What about the times when we didn't have the internet and we couldn't have access to all the information we do now. ppl were not seeking INTP girlfriends.
Even with the social problems they endured (in prior days) I imagine they just went out there and tried, they didn't have the crutch of their knowledge about meyers-briggs or whomever.
I agree knowledge is power, but sometimes the over stimuli of all the information just causes more confusion.
Your post was very interesting, do you have any links to that material?

ARGH. WE ARE NOT DOCTORS. WE DO NOT KNOW IF YOU HAVE AS. GO ASK YOUR DOCTOR. I'm sick of these people who come on here, throw out their life story like they expect us to diagnose them, and generally just begin using OUR ACTUAL ILLNESS as an excuse to why they've failed to ever accomplish anything.

AS isn't easy to figure out like a broken arm or something. It's not always easy or obvious that someone has it, and most people have probably never even heard of it until recently. Asking questions on here is a great resource for people.

Many doctors have probably never heard of it, and/or wouldn't have a clue what it really is. It's completely reasonable to start here, and in fact probably a much better idea than starting with a doctor (unless they specialize in it, but few do).

Isn't that contradicting? If it's so DIFFICULT to figure out then what makes US the perfect candidates to diagnose it? Huh? What is he going to gain from us that a doctor won't tell him?

NTs are so f*****g STUPID. O NOEZ, BOOHOO, I DON'T GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE. I MUST SEARCH FOR A NEUROLOGICAL ILLNESS TO EXPLAIN WHY I'M AN EPIC FAILURE. They completely overlook every other symptom and ONLY go for the social problems.