Just found out daughter has Aspergers

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I just found out that my daughter has Aspergers. Actually, I am so relieved that its only that and not Borderline personality disorder, Bipolar, and some of the other things they said she had. I am so glad to have found this board beacuse I see so many things that have been posted to be similar to what my daughter has experienced all these years. We have been to so many shrinks who were worthless! I have found a wonderful lady who will help her in a group
setting and will help with the social skills. My duaghter is a sweet, beautiful girl that has NO self confinence beacuse of the cruel teenages that have made her life miserable over the years. I am so glad to have you all to ask questions about certain behaviors that she may do and ask you why is she doing this or that.

Your daughter's experience sounds so much of what I have been through since the age of twelve. Psychiatrists are totally worthless
and are simply interested in making money. The first thing I heard out of EVERY Psychiatrists' mouth is, "What health insurance do
you have?" They don't want to bother with you unless you have "good insurance."

WP is a great place where your daughter can get alot of support and encouragement to build her self confidence.

Good news that your daughter finally got a proper diagnosis. Mental health professionals can really kick the life out of people. As a child, I was misdiagnosed as hyperactive when, in reality, I was simply high energy. I had no problems with focus or learning. In fact, in first grade, I was reading at a fifth grade level and did well in math as well. (As time went on, I was just an average student at math, but excelled in English and foreign language studies). In college, they told me something was wrong, but never gave me any specific ideas as to what it was. They merely told me I was "hopeless" and said all of the things I would never be able to do or things I shouldn't do.

I hope that, with a proper diagnosis, your daughter can get support to rebuild her life and shattered self-confidence.

Welcome to WP!

Tim

alliegirl,

I am only a bit over 40, and I didn't find out I had AS until relatively recently! I had social problems over 35 years ago, and went to a psychiatrist, but AS wasn't a diagnosis at the time. 8-(

Your daughter is LUCKY! Have her work on her strengths, and realize that she is so much better in those areas. She probably has no reason to lack self confidence.

Welcome alliegirl!

Your daughter's story sounds familiar, I went through quite a rough time. Having a proper diagnosis in my teens would have done me a world of good, I think. I also have Asperger's. Knowing it means you have some ground to stand on, a place to work from.

Just wanted to say that as long as she knows you love her and are supportive of her she'll at least have the "cloak of her mothers love" to ward off "the chilly winds of the NT world" that shes gonna have to navigate thru. Let her know you love her "Just the way she is" and aren't ashamed of her in any way. How old is she?

My parents sent me to the psychiatrist when I was in high school even though there basically was nothing wrong with me.

I told the psychiatrist that there was literally nothing wrong with me(I was getting good grades in school, I was doing 4 sports throughout the school year, and socially I had about a group of 20 friends, 2 of which were close).

She automatically assumed that I had some sort of problem and spent one hour trying to tell me that I had problems.

A girl in my school(College- University of Michigan) is trying to be a psychiatrist also and not to mention she is also the RA(Residential Assistant) in my hall. She is so bad at psychology that it makes me laugh. She has formed her opinions about me solely from stereotypes, and she has only communicated with me once: Apparently assuming I am a total loser because I take College seriously and that I'm gay because I wear preppy clothes.

I wouldn't say Psychologists would be called "Shrinks;" because I find that to be offensive. I don't like when people call professions names like that.

I can say from personal experience that Psychologists are 100% full of s**t though. They base their entire profession on what they can stereotype- By the way you look and what your parents say. It kind of amuses me that they get paid $100,000 a year to do this.

Good. If she chooses to use medication, I advise low dosage unless her case is severe. Make sure that she is watchful of how her diet affects her, and try to get her in the habit of writing down how she feels after she eats. Discourage her from getting into habit of staying up too late at night, and make sure that she knows about herbal anxiolytics such as chamomile and certain species of mint for assisting her in keeping some of her symptoms under control. I have done copious research, and I have developed a hypothesis that naltrexone and similar drugs might be helpful in controlling some of the symptoms of the disorder, but don't let her go for too high a dosage because I suspect that it would worsen stereotypic behavior and abnormal patterns of speech; the naltrexone is just for getting the social withdrawal out of the picture. The chamomile might improve the speech trouble because it contains low quantities of a valium-like agent. In fact, the chamomile would be the easiest thing to try because you don't need a perscription for it. You can get it from any decent grocery chain. If she has sinus trouble or any sort of chronic congestion, make sure she gets plenty of water because the reading that I've been doing recently suggests that it could lessen some of her symptoms. You might also have luck with foods containing capsaicin, such as hot peppers, but I don't know anything definite on it.

Notice that I'm referring to your daughter as the central decision-maker in how she deals with this. This is important. She should feel comfortable with what is being given to her, and she should be taught early how to keep careful track of how she responds to things, especially to what she eats. I hope that she will grow to be an independent and successful, young woman, and I am very glad that she is blessed with a parent who truly cares for her welfare. Best of luck to both of you, throughout your lives.

I think that it's great that your daughter is now properly diagnosed. I can imagine that it helps to finally have all those shrinks out of her hair. I was talking with a shrink a long time ago. I've decided that I didn't need to see her, because I'm autistic, not sick. I've improved a lot since I've made that decision.