Any women diagnosed in Seattle?

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I've been to five doctors about AS, and they have all said I don't have it, but have social anxiety disorder & avoidant personality disorder instead. I still believe I have AS, because I have problems like not being able to generalize, being naive in some ways, and not thinking on my feet well. When I was a child I really was behind on social skills, which caused much teasing and rejection and probably added to my social anxiety. I'm also physically clumsy, have bad handwriting, have trouble keeping my voice down while on the phone at work, and need to have some directions spelled out, though not all.

I did have an extremely overprotective dad who didn't let me play with kids much before starting school, and who was terrified of infections and germs and kept me out of school at least a week for every cold. Doctors seem to think this is the start of my problem, and while I admit that's not the best way to raise a kid, I should have got over it by now, and also his overprotection got worse when he saw how much I got teased by other kids and how naive and socially inept I was.

Two of the doctors had a lot of experience with AS, so it's not as if I'd seen people who didn't know much about AS.

Anyway, I have heard female Aspies present differently than males. I think that the fact that I'm female, and 47 years old (so have had more time to learn to fake normal) may be what's causing me not to be diagnosed.

If anyone on here is female and has been diagnosed as an adult with AS by a doctor in or near Seattle, WA, could you please let me know who that person was? It's OK to email me off list.

Thanks so much for any help anyone can give.

I also wanted to add a couple other things.

If I don't really have AS, I don't want to go on thinking I have it, so if I really don't have it, I'd like to find a doctor I'd believe it from. There are some of the criteria I don't meet: I don't really have sensory sensitivities, I don't really have problems with eye contact except where it's related to social anxiety, I'm not really literal minded, I like small talk OK, and I'm not particularly logical. I've been trying to figure out if my interests throughout my life are Aspie-like or not.

I don't see any benefit to me identifying as AS if I'm not because I really don't have any of the positive traits of AS. I don't have any special abilities, for instance. If I do think I have AS I will continue to think that I'll never do well socially, which will only feed my social anxiety problem.

The other thing is, I have a fear that if I do come to believe that I don't have AS, someone down the line will diagnose me with it anyway. This might be an actual doctor, or a future significant other or friend who has heard about AS and thinks I fit the criteria. Then, I fear that if I tell this person I've explored the possibility but found it didn't fit me, that person will then accuse me of being in denial.

But to some people, it actually looks like I'm in denial of **not** having AS, since I can't accept it when doctors tell me I don't.

Hmm. Five doctors seems like quite a lot of second opinions. Maybe you don't have it. On the other hand, if you think you have it, why do you care what the doctors or anyone else says? I guess you probably want to know for sure. I think you should go to a doctor who specializes in Asperger's syndrome. She'd be sure to give you a correct diagnosis.

Hi,

2 of the 5 doctors were experts in autism & Asperger's. the problem was, I think they'd mostly diagnosed males. I don't know how much experience they had diagnosing older women, especially ones who had something in her upbringing that might have contributed to the problems. The thing is, if I'd been someone who was good at socializing I'd have been able to make friends even if I missed a lot of school, and if I'd had kids inviting me over all the time, my dad probably would have felt the need to reconsider his overprotection, or maybe my mom would have put pressure on him. She always had friends as a kid, though she was very shy too.

I think I must seem sort of superficially "normal" now, so unless I know a doctor has actually diagnosed a woman with AS, I won't believe him or her. There must be someone in this area like that--there are probably women diagnosed with AS in the Seattle area, and not all of them could have been diagnosed out-of-state or be self-diagnosed.

I don't trust my self-diagnosis skills because when I was a teenager I came to believe I was schizophrenic because I read about a schizophrenic girl who didn't have hardly any friends, so I thought that might be my problem. Eventually I figured out I didn't have any of the real symptoms though. But AS is harder--because it's a syndrome there are no end to symptoms and combinations of symptoms.

For instance, I just read in one post that inablility to see in sunlight could be a symptom of AS. I don't see that well in sunlight, and have to wear dark glasses in the sun, though I don't have problems with fluorescent lights or anything like that. I had previously thoguht that many people had problems seeing in bright sunlight, hence the need for sunglasses. Why do baseball fielders talk about losing a ball in the sun? Is that just an excuse?

Anyway, there are so many symptoms of AS and I seem to have some of them, but I don't trust myself to diagnose myself. Also, I don't really want to have AS, because I have none of the positive traits of AS. I know a lot of Aspies feel a positive benefit from their AS. It'd be better for me if I did have social anxiety, and if that was the root of my social problems, because that's something I could get therapy for. So I don't want to self-diagnose myself with this, I want to be sure if I do have it and if I do then I will probably seek some therapy to help myself accept it & maybe see some positives in it. I don't have one single positive trait that I could attribute to AS, and when Aspies list their positive Aspie traits, I don't see myself in any of them!

I really would like to lay my fears to rest about this, so if I saw a doctor who had diagnosed wome with AS, I think it'd be easier to accept what she/he had to say, one way or the other.

Hello. On my psychological exams I scored extremely high on Avoidant PD and Schizotypal PD (as well as dependent) and I have severe social anxiety. I was previously dx'd schizoaffective and "very atypically" bipolar. It took me a year and a half with my current psychologist (who's not an expert on autism, but has worked with patients with Asperger's) and me bringing up the idea of me having Asperger's to get a dx. I fit the criterion (both positive and negative characteristics) very well and my psychologist told my mother and I that she messed up my case. (Though, in her defense, she first saw me/tested me when I was in the midst of a major breakdown).

A lot of diagnosticians are prejudiced against females when diagnosing AS, but 5 *is* a lot. Have you looked up other things that might better account for your difficulties?1 Personally, I find Schizotypal PD fascinating (and could very much fit that category, also), but I can't stand that they label it a PD. Also, not everyone with AS has "special" abilities. Not to mention the fact that everyone would have a different definition of what counts as "special."

I've been diagnosed with AS, am 35, F, and I live in the suburbs of Seattle. I started a support/ education group for aspies 2 weeks ago - and I'm the only woman in the group so I can see how you might feel invisible with a possible dx with something that is usually found in males. I could give you some referrals/ Dr.'s (ones who specialize in AS) names if you'd like; feel free to IM me or e-mail me.

Maybe the following information can help getting the right help?!

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Good luck!

Have you ever gone to the Center for Human Development and Disorders (DHDD) at the University of Washiangton? They usually have a whole team of individuals who determine a diagnosis (i.e., medical, psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers, OT/PT, speech, etc.) My son went there and I thought they were very thorough.

I am a young man, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's. Believe it or not, I am also from Seattle. However, I have a question.

Why would anyone make a big deal about women being diagnosed with Asperger's. That seemed like a detailed mini-theory of what the original poster in this thread wanted. Also, I am not trying to be stereotypical or anything. The topic of this thread interested me. However, I wasn't reading the subject very carefully. At first, I didn't realize someone was asking about women being diagnosed in Seattle.

Why were some of you fazed by this point?