question about AS

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Do you think it goes away? is that why its commonly refered to as a syndrome? like right now i don't feel like i have it at all. i think what my problem is once i get into a routine its very difficult for me to get out of it, wich inturn makes me extreamly reserved and introverted. i think for me to succeed in life i just need to be more outgoing even if it makes me look like an buttmonkey.
thoughts ?

I don't think it goes away, but I think we learn to compensate for it sometimes. Maybe someone else will have more information for you.

I took Zoloft and it made me very out going, but like you say it want make you
say the right things. I've heard other aspies getting more social on SSRI drugs.

im seriously going to be outgoing all the time. like to the max! i think thats just what the doctor orderd for me. i think the affects of AS can be reversed, if you combat it with something else. along with being outgoing im going to wake up and tell myself i am normal and i have no mental disorders. you are what you speak. maybe that will help aswell.

I think Asperger's Syndrome is, for the more fortunate and milder affected of us, a condition that can be adapted to, to the point where we can function well in society and it would not be apparantly obvious to an outsider that we have the condition.

I don't think it's something that ever 'goes away', but we learn how to cope and we become better skilled and more confident as a result. There will still be some Aspies who will always be obviously 'different'... some to the extent where they'll need care all their lives. But many of us - perhaps even the majority - will be able to live independant and functional lives. It just takes us perhaps a little longer to get there, and it's a little more of a struggle.

Things such as eye-contact, social cues, body language interpretation... they CAN be learned, and some Aspies might not even have very severe problems to begin with.

Myself, I had _severe_ social problems as a child and teenager. I could not 'do' eye contact... I could not handle phone calls... I threw public tantrums. I was clearly not 'normal'. The progress I have made over the past few years astounds even myself. I have flown to America several times, alone, to visit a friend. I have succeeded at job interviews. I can answer phone calls and ask for things in a shop. From the impressive to the mundane, they are all huge accomplishments, and I am finally starting to find that I have learned them enough that they are almost second nature to me.

I've come so far that sometimes I do wonder if I'm 'still' an Aspie. Did my 'condition' get less severe? I no longer scream when buses pull up. I'm not obsessive about doing things in even numbers. I don't freak out if someone is standing behind me. But that doesn't mean I don't have problems with those things anymore. Most of the time, I forget that I'm an 'Aspie. But thunderstorms and fireworks still bring me to tears of fright. Odd numbers still give me a weird feeling in my stomach. I still feel tense and on edge, even tearful, if someone stands behind me. I just cope better now. Certain situations and conditions, especially in times of stress or change, still very much bring out the Aspie in me. It won't ever go away. But AS doesn't have to be something that hinders us or that we're always aware of. It can be there in the background, and maybe no one even has to know

A "syndrome" is a collection of symptoms. AS is made up of a lot of different symptoms, and often comes with other conditions like anxiety, depression and OCD.

I don't think it ever goes away. It depends on your symptoms and co-morbids. If you're difficulties are more on the social side, you can learn social skills - not in a way that makes you NT, but in a way that enables you to communicate effectively with NTs. You can also get treatment to help with social anxiety if you suffer from that. If your difficulties are mostly sensory, there are occupational therapies that can reduce these sensitivities. If your difficulties are mostly with routines, it may be that treatments for OCD can help.

You can learn coping methods, you can treat co-morbids, but an aspie will always be an aspie.

No, I don't think it goes away. As your social skills improve, certain traits that you have remain in you.

A lot of ordinary childhood behaviours (if they're misinterpereted by adults and/or taken to an extreme) may be seen by psychiatrists as symptoms of AS.
But I think that occasionally some people just outgrow some of the symptoms.

There's no cure for AS, so in that regard it can't "just go away."

It isn't going to go away, however, you can work on being more outgoing. I would be cautious about being too outgoing because you might overlook a generally accepted social convention and NTs tend to frown on that.

yes, in the sense you don't think of it much. like many others have said, most aspies live a regular life of normal duration.

to the extent you focus on one thing at the exclusion of all else, continue doing what you do. if something captures your intrest pursue it. when your satisfied, find someone to share it with. if you have not done so... look around for a receptive individual:)