Do You Still Second-Guess Your Diagnosis?

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I've been diagnosed for half a year now, but I can't get it out of my head that maybe it's "all in my head" or that I'm just a little bit awkward, but not autistic. I can function pretty well in society, but don't go out long enough to really find out. I'm just tired of these thoughts and other people questioning me. Sometimes I wish I could be completely low-functioning so I wouldn't have to deal with this and society.

Anyone else keep second-guessing?

Unless there was something obviously amiss in your diagnostic process maybe you should stay away from WP and the people IRL who deny you until this all dies down. LFA because it's obvious get victimized and their own sets of problems.

Since there is no autism microorganism that can be identified in the laboratory, no brain scan or neutral medical procedure that identifies autism - beyond having a professional diagnosis - the only question is to look at the DSM-V diagnostic criteria and see if it matches you. If you have been professionally diagnosed and you match the DSM V criteria - I don't think there is a whole lot more anyone can do to be assured of the correctness of their diagnosis.

I think most low functioning autistic or even level 2 ASD would give anything to be higher functioning. I have mild COPD - I do want severe COPD. The same with autism at least for me. Being only mildly disabled has enough problems - I don't want to make it any harder.

Yes. I got dx´ed September last year, and I have trouble believing it until now. It has taken hundreds of "trips" back in time to realize things, recall, compare and so - and new realizations still occur.
I still have my doubts some times, because I have had 60 years for studying and learning how to act socially.

No, I do not second-guess my diagnosis. I'm basically a textbook case of Asperger's. Not a single person has expressed disbelief about my diagnosis yet.

Yeah. I've had my diagnosis since September. Some days it feels like who was I kidding ever thinking I was on the spectrum, and other days it feels so obvious that it amazes me nobody caught it sooner. I don't really have a solution for it.

However, I think maybe the important thing to remember is that the name of the diagnosis matters less than what I do with it. Ultimately, the only thing I am is me. The diagnosis is a tool for exploring and understanding myself better, but it doesn't define me. If it feels like it fits better some days than others, then all that means is that it's a less useful tool for understanding myself on those days.

Yes. I got diagnosed in September this year and still doubt it sometimes. It's much better now than before I received the diagnosis but the doubts still haunt me every now and then.

I was diagnosed when I was only 8, am now 24 and still can't believe I have it. Often I look at various autism sites and feel like I am only borderline AS or something but don't fit the criteria otherwise. Then I think of other things like how many times my quirks have been pointed out by NTs, and I think 'Yeh I suppose that's part of having AS'. But because I have never had trouble with reading other peoples emotions and thoughts through body language, and can emphasise with others easily and have good social imagination, I often think 'hang on a minute, I don't feel I am an Aspie after all'. I often think I have adult ADHD, but many people have argued that those traits are mostly general human traits, unless your symptoms are so afflicting that you might as well just say you have Dementia. I think I ought to write a blog about how I feel ADHD affects me and my life, to get more people to understand that ADHD is a real thing.

I was diagnosed twice, the first time being eight years ago, and I still doubt it sometimes. The thing that causes me the most doubt is that, as far as I can tell, I don't have trouble interpreting nonverbal communication (though I have big problems with using it). Most of my problems are with expressive, not receptive, communication. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just schizoid or something.

Ultimately things like sensory issues and visual-spatial problems provide more concrete evidence that is difficult to explain without autism, so I stop worrying about it.

No.

Disclaimer: Self diagnosis vs. official. I never went ahead w/ an official one as I didn't want the stigma and any potential detriments it may bring to a future career.

But I don't doubt it one bit. I've read AS books & autobiographies, learned online etc & everything fits to a T.

While I am extremely high functioning, I do still have a handful of traits that I can likely never shake - i.e. the prosody of my voice, my formal vocabulary & articulate nature of my speech, the gait to my step when I walk, avoiding eye contact etc. Pretty minor things on the best of days, but they're still there and I don't doubt my diagnosis for a second.

Further, sometimes the feedback of others reinforces my diagnosis. Especially after a recent course of very strong antibiotics that altered my intestinal flora & increased ASD symptoms quite a bit. I don't tend to notice mental/behavioural symptoms well enough on my own - only when they become more physical, i.e. becoming clumsy or losing fine motor skills. But when I have been given feedback on my social interactions, facial expressions, outward appearing nervousness etc I realize full well these are ASD symptoms creeping up on me.. and I knew then what had caused it, too - antibiotics. Doing a cleanse & then supplementing mass amounts of probiotics has drastically improved that situation again over the last few weeks and continues to get better.

But yeah, no.. as high functioning as I am I know & accept full well that I am on the spectrum and always have since learning it in the first place. Accepting it is the first step to being able to treat, manage, and control it via learning, practice, diet/supplements etc. If I tried to deny it I'd be up s**t creek without a paddle. It's so much better to just roll with it & deal with it in all the best ways I've learned how.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

All the time. I sometimes assume that I may simply have some type of learning disabilies and that is about all. Maybe some sensory type related issues but that was all.

Joe90. I recognize it all. That´s because we are women, we don´t fit the traditional picture, but the traits are there.

Yes, I do still second-guess my diagnosis. I only received it in July this year at the age of 39 and in some ways I think it's hitting me harder now than when I first received it. (I had this delayed reaction to my ileostomy too. It took months before it really sunk in that it was lifelong. No, I wasn't a happy bunny at the thought.)

I'm lucky in the sense I don't have anybody else questioning me. My mum absolutely accepts I have it: in fact her suspicions were raised years before mine were. My mum has told a couple of family members about my diagnosis, but not gone into detail about it. Whatever their private thoughts are, they've never said a word to me about it and I don't suppose ever will.

I do believe my diagnosis is correct overall. I think the psychiatrist who assessed me was competent and did a thorough job of exploring my background. And on an intuitive level, it just makes sense. Before I was diagnosed I was reading about all sorts of personality disorders to see what was "wrong" with me: bits and pieces of almost everything fitted, but I never felt anything nailed it on the head. ASD comes as close as it gets to nailing it on the head for me. Not 100%, but a lot more than anything else.

I have doubted my diagnosis in the past. I was diagnosed almost ten years ago, it was as a result of a suicide attempt, which was as a result of severe depression which caused psychosis.

Anyway, that's it...

I don't doubt it anymore because I've came to terms with it all. It was a pretty big pill for me to have to swallow at the time.