ADHD, Aspergers or both?

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As a child I was extremely hyperactive and aggressive. I was also joking around a lot. Sometimes I made people laugh but other times I was perceived as mad. I had no friends in school because of my behaviour. I couldn't do my school work due to my poor attention. My executive functions were poor.
I had no problems with noisy environments at all. I was extremely inquisitive and got bored easily


Everything points to combined ADHD but there are/were some other traits. I had some unusual interests as a kid. I was obsessed with telephones and telephone directories. I would read the phone directory like it was a book. One time I phoned various numbers around the world for a chat. It was an obsession that I loved to talk about. I also have always noticed car registration plates whether I want to or not. I am obsessed by repetition whether I know it or not. I've always mimicked other females. When I was young I went as far as attempting to recreate their bedrooms. I always had a role model. I copy speech and style of dress etc. My latest one Is a clothes shop assistant. .. when I was young I often said things offensive but didn't always realise. I still do on occasion. I have a hard time telling when someone is joking or sarcastic. I sometimes take things literally but even with metaphors that I do know I still get the literal image in my head. EG I know what 'can of worms' mean but I still get an image of a can of worms in my head. As a child I often looked miserable even though I wasn't. I have poor posture and negative body language. I can't always work out intentions and can misread body language and voice changes. As an adult I am socially withdrawn and don't feel the need to try. I have suffered sever anxiety since childhood and tourettes. I stim both consciously and unconsciously.

I can see I have autistic traits but my extremely hyperactive childhood seems to contradict what I've read about Aspergers.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks

It sounds like you have a lot of traits. The hyperactive thing doesn't contradict ASD, it is actually quite common in ASD. Definitely I think you should see a psychiatrist to see about getting an Asperger's/ADHD diagnosis.

Thanks. I'm going for an ASD assessment in March. I was also thinking how I really did not know the social rules when I was younger. There's quite a lot I have forgotten about

People can have both conditions no biggie.

I was diagnosed with ASD in August, now in the middle of an ADHD assessment.

I'm hopeful that they can do something for me, but my family make all sorts of excuses for why my concentration is fine so I'm not sure how my parent report will go. (I've been observed as having those traits now... but they still come up with excuse after excuse as to why it's not a problem with attention it's just... x (usually my hearing, sometimes that I didn't play much sport as a kid, etc.).

I wasn't out-and-out diagnosed with ADHD, but my traits were enough that they suggested medication for them during my last neuropsychological assessment. They also suggested I had ADHD alongside autism back when I was first diagnosed in 1999/2000, even though the two couldn't technically be diagnosed together at the time. Given that my ADHD traits are stronger than those of most other people on the spectrum, I can pretty much say I have it.

Thanks for all your responses. I live in the UK and I'm not sure whether one can be diagnosed with both. I certainly have both the ASD and ADD symptoms in my executive functions. If there is ADD then I can try medications.

It may depend on area - where I live, the DSM 5 is being followed because it's far more up-to-date than the ICD 10.

So, it's definitely a possibility that you can be diagnosed with both.

I live in the UK, too. Yes, you can be diagnosed with both ADHD and ASD. The NHS has diagnosed me with both ADHD and ASD. I was first diagnosed with ADHD and have been taking prescription medication for it. The ASD diagnosed followed later.

The South London NHS Maudsley adult Autism and ADHD clinic has published this report on ADHD and ASD comorbidty
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/Whitwell%2 ... pdates.pdf

Yep, definitely can be diagnosed with both in UK - I look after a 15 year old with both

I was diagnosed ADD in 1995 and apparently my psychologist also diagnosed me as ADHD in 1997 but my psychiatrist said I didn't have it, only ADD and he diagnosed me with three other conditions, OCD, Anxiety disorder and ASD. But he said I was impulsive and have some hyperactivity that would lean towards ADHD but I didn't have enough in the criteria to have it. But this is all confusing because they all overlap so it's hard for me to tell what part is ASD and what is anxiety and what is ADD and what is OCD. They seem to all run together. My mom told me she knew I had more going on than ADD because treatment I was getting for it wasn't working especially the meds so that indicates to me is that symptoms I had were not part of ADD and it might have been the ASD. I wonder if my therapist mistook my ASD symptoms for ADHD. I know I often interrupted but so do people with ASDs and the butting in topics and games. Another issue I used to have was when someone would tell me to do something, I would do it without even thinking so I once accidentally slammed the gate on my mother when she told me to close it. She cried. I have gotten better at this. I had learned to think before I execute the action someone tells me to do, make sure there isn't anyone in the way. But yes you can have both ADHD and ASD.