34 just now diagnosed AS... now what?

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I had the ADD diagnosis @ 10 and the PTSD @27 and AS added now, however there seems little to nothing that someone in their 30s getting diagnosed is to do other than just keep doing what you've been doing that kept you from being diagnosed this long...

Am I missing something, is there something I can or should be doing?

48 and still not diag. Until just recently I haven't had the opportunity to seek one. (insurance that covers it)

as for what to do now, ..for me I said to myself "Oh thats why" alot !
I had no idea what asperger syndrome was until my nephew was diag a few years ago. I was just a strange person, now I know that I'm just a bit different. just a bit lol

I'm on a waiting list to be assessed. I'm 31. For me it's mostly about getting answers. But I would also be able to join social skills support groups which are aimed specifically at those on the spectrum, if there are any such groups in my area. And if I ever needed to, I could explain more accurately why I might need some accommodations at work. I hope not to need to do that but it would be good to have it just in case.

I guess you have to think about what areas you might still want to get help with, to improve your skills. If you are happy as you are then I'm not sure that there is much you can do with the diagnosis. But there must have been a reason you sought it out? Or was it recommended that you do?

it was recommended and was basically folded into my intake for free appointments with a shrink in the local health department DD office, (so that I could get back on ADD meds). All of the resources and groups in my area seem to be for kids and parents of kids who are on the spectrum.

Welcome to the club.

Since you're a female in her mid-30's, your next step could always be hanging around here chatting with me.

That's a probably-not-funny way of saying I don't have any answers either.

Welcome!

the image on your avatar is my 3 year old son's first name...

Future spelling bee champion

Ooohhh! Ooohhh!

AND you've got kid(s)!

Fun, fun! Mine are 10, 4, 2, and due in June.

One doggone similarity after another...

In other thoughts-- Now, life goes on. Pretty much as it did before. With some added questions about self-worth, a few extra headaches, and maybe if you're really lucky an answer or two.

Tell lots of jokes-- if only to yourself, in your own head.

I'm currently asking myself the same question. I just turned 40 and have learned about Asperger's a while ago, which was one big "aha!" moment. So now I know why my entire life was so screwed up. Glad that's finally sorted out. Now what?

There is no point in getting diagnosed I guess. There are no drugs against aspie-ness, and all behavioral therapy options seem to be targeted at children and adolescents. Young aspies who aren't completely damaged and broken yet and can still learn a few tricks. There are also no self-help groups or anything in my area, and the local psychiatrist is just a walking prescription pad who doesn't have the patience to talk to people.

I've read about a housing project for higher functioning autists in Berlin, and I guess it would be nice to live among my own species. But selling my apartment and moving is unthinkable at this point. I can't even get my broken dishwasher repaired, because that would involve having a stranger in my home, which is just not an option for me anymore nowadays. I couldn't possibly cope with the stress of a cross-country move.

So from here on in, it's just business as usual I suppose. Or rather, the usual lack of business. I already have my disability pension due to other health problems. I've long learned to accept the fact that I will grow old and die alone. And I've already come to terms with my existence as a male crazy old cat lady I'll just have to make the best of it.

When I learned about aspergers, I went through the standard "Aha!" routine, learned there was little to be done, settled back down.

A few years on, learning that a researcher's ethics committee wouldn't allow him to use my story unless I had official diagnosis, so I turned the wheels, made the appointments, jumped through the hoops. A year or two further on again, I'm jammed firmly into the crack between worlds where adult autistics are expected to shut up and get on with it and worlds where autism is something to he fought against - and it's not comfortable. There's a lost generation of autistics who've made it to adulthood, but whose shells depend on not knowing it's there; and a found generation of autistics who've made it through childhood and are looking for a world that'll accept them.

So, there's a point: somewhere up the line there's a world that'll be home to our autistic and our normal children and grandchildren and it's our job to work for its creation.

If you think 30's is late for being diagnosed, try being 47 and finally figuring it out - not only that I am, but also that my son is, and that is why I couldn't save him from living through a duplicate of my horrendous childhood, no matter what I did.

I have no adult support groups where I live, so I am hoping that I can find some people who have had similar experiences here on this board. I've spent my life learning coping skills - what to say, how to make expected facial expressions, etc. - but when I am stressed, the REAL me comes out, and afterward I feel so stupid for how I acted.

The worst part for me is that I am undiagnosed by a dr (no insurance), and people either don't believe me that I have it, or don't know what it is, and don't understand that I can't "work on" those things I do. When I get inflexible and focused on a little thing and I can't let go of it, and am bothered to the point of thinking about it all the time when something small remains undone, I CAN'T CHANGE THAT!

I can normally work through social situations, after reading books on how to make small talk and focusing on making expected facial expressions. It is when social crosses with work that I fail. I recently was reminded of how I freak out when people don't do what they promised they would do in the time period they said they would on a volunteer project I feel responsible for.

I thought I was being nice and just asking them why they didn't do what they said, and offered to either find them help or do it for them. The result was them telling the director, my best friend up to this point, that I was stressing her out. If I set up office processes or put things in a particular place or way, and someone changes them, I freak internally and try to cover it externally. I just feel so defective in social situations.

And not feeling anything when someone dies also sucks. I have to make myself think of sad things so I will cry with everyone else. Otherwise people think I don't care.