Have you ever been NT in your life?

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From my experience I have and it's a hell of a better life than being an Aspie. Now most of you will probably think it's impossible or I never had it, but remember it's a developmental condition that can be seen later in life as well.

I had very mild Aspie features back in the day, it didn't become a problem until my teenage years especially late teens. Before this I could easily talk to people and make new friends, easily, I would go to parties events and whatnot. I even slept with a few girls back in my early days.

I guess this is why people such as myself would take the cure, having experiencing both.. I will admit my Aspie side of me is probably smarter and what's motivated me to seek the understanding of so much stuff but I'd love to be my old self again because I believe that's who I truly am..

Oh, and I forgot to mention also I was mostly fine until the doctors decided to put me on huge amounts of medications as a child, I never got the autism diagnoses just ADHD and OCD.

When I was 10 years old, I had a pretty good year; I was almost "normal!" When I started regular school in 6th grade though, the crap hit the fan.

Other than that, I've always had some sort of autistic/Aspergian feature in me--even today.

Yes, I was NT up until I was 4 and a half. Unfortunately I don't remember being a baby, but I do have a few vague memories of being 3 and 4.

Looking at all my baby pictures, I looked like any ordinary baby. And I seemed ''normal'' at preschool too. I wasn't delayed or way ahead of my peers in development. I interacted and participated in activities typically, and didn't have any problems with playing with the other children. My parents didn't notice any peculiar signs, and just assumed I was a typical child, just like their friend's and family's NT children were. So obviously I just started school at 4 and a half with the other children my age. And it was my first day of school when I suddenly displayed noticeably peculiar behaviour all at once, which surprised my parents and the teachers.

I didn't display ASD behaviour though, but it was still probably my (then unknown) ASD that caused me to behave differently. I was very disruptive, climbed over and under the desks, wouldn't sit still at all, didn't want to learn, demanded to sit on the teacher's lap, threw books and thought it was funny, and had tantrums because they wouldn't let me play outside with the other children because I had been disruptive and naughty. They thought that my behaviour was due to some sort of abuse at home, so my parents were called in and they had to prove that I was not being abused at all at home. I soon settled in school after a couple of weeks, but the teachers found that I needed help with my work, so I had a teacher's assistant in the classroom to help me. Then I was sent to a psychiatrist a lot of times with my parents to be assessed and to find out why I had such trouble settling into school. Then when I was 8 or 9 the doctor (or whoever it was) diagnosed me with AS.

As an adult, all the time I feel like I'm almost entirely NT, but off by just a little. I am able to think how many typical NTs think, like being able to recognise body language and lots of other subtle social cues just like that, from instinct. And other things too. But despite all this, I still have that bit of difficulty with making friends, because I don't have many friends. I've joined groups and other things to try to make friends but still found it hard. I just go all shy suddenly when in a room full of people I don't know.

I often feel like I'm an eccentric NT with social anxiety disorder and ADHD. But then ADHD people aren't exactly NT. Or I could say I feel non-Autistic, with eccentricness, social anxiety disorder and ADHD.

I could say I was "NT" in high school. It was a small, paid school with only 16 people in my whole year. Half of my class was somehow different and I was one of the more normal kids there. And I was liked by everyone except one socially awkward girl which I wanted to help because I was seeing younger me in her but she was paranoid and supposed I am bullying her.
Pretty much all my behaviors were accepted and some even considered cool. The environment was sensory friendly too and the schedule was clear most of the time.
I couldn't see my differences and problems anymore back then, had friends for the first time in my life and I did well academically so my life was successful.

However I don't think one can just "catch" Asperger/autism as a teenager or adult. The diagnostic criteria say the traits must be there since early childhood but might not become a problem till the expectations get higher then the child abilities to cope. Usually the hardest period are early teenage years, with all the body changes and increase of peer pressure. If you passed this stage with no incidents and developed traits much later it sounds more like personality disorder or trauma thing than ASD.

What prevents you from interacting now? Being an aspie doesn't mean you can't interact with people, you just do it improperly - there is something called "active but odd subtype". It also doesn't mean you can't go to parties etc.
Did something happen that made you develop social anxiety? Did your sensory issues increase as you got older?

I'm speaking figuratively here. I was autistic till I turned 18. That's when I started to drink. For the 35 years I drank I was NT. I was still a little odd but NT. Now that I've stopped drinking I'm back to being autistic again which is fine with me: I embrace my eccentricities.

How I am now, is the same as how I was when I was younger. I have been the same ever since I can remember.

Well if you never where diagnosed as having aspergers, there is a good chance that is not what it is. People don't just develop aspergers out of the blue after normal development, you're born with it. There are other conditions that can mimic aspergers and being over-medicated can have undesirable effects, side effects of that could even mimick aspergers/autism.

When did you think you 'became' an aspie...what changed exactly? Why don't you go to parties and events, sleep with girls, not make friends easily, or easily talk to people anymore. Bad experiences or just randomly lost interest in all that?

Speaking as an older Aspie...I always had it. But I was taught that whatever your personality 'flaws' were and whatever you fear most, just face it and heal thyself. Well as most of you know, that's a crock. Instead we cope with our outboard symptoms if we wanna get by with NT's...it's what we do. Through sheer will & determination you can shield the public from your more obvious symptoms....but that's about it....that doesn't heal you inside or dispose of the symptoms you will have for the rest of your life.

My take is that it's just like homosexuality, you're born with it and you try to deal with it while establishing 'family' as you go along;people that understand you, have your back and always will be there for you. Most of us can be really endearing and focused. It's no surprise that some of us are successful and get by quite well. But the inner turmoil is always there and it seems to be accelerating as I age....or at least as bad as it was in my childhood.

R

Nope. I´ve been clearly aspie from birth - and if anyone had known about autism back then, I´d probably have got the IA label.

Certainly classically autistic until age 5--certainly had severe symptoms by toddlerhood.

Then I became pretty classically Aspie.

I'm adjusting better to my environment every day.