Do you struggle with doubting your diagnosis?

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Do you struggle with doubting your diagnosis?
Yes 63%  63%  [ 37 ]
No 37%  37%  [ 22 ]
Total votes : 59

nca14
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31 Dec 2014, 9:12 am

Yes, I struggle with doubts about my AS diagnosis. I suppose that it may be just nonverbal learning disorder (maybe with anxiety disorder). My doubts were even obsessive...



starrynightmare
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31 Dec 2014, 10:47 pm

I do doubt my diagnosis at times. The child psychiatrist who diagnosed me even said that she was using AS as a "reference" to treat me. Also, many people tell me they would have had no idea I have AS. This may be in part due to my skill at acting NT, which I've developed over the years.



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31 Dec 2014, 11:22 pm

Years after my diagnosis, I wouldn't say I doubt the diagnosis as much as I doubt myself. For me, it's more of a feeling of "I'm not autistic enough" or "I'm a fake autistic" (if you know what I mean).



gamerdad
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01 Jan 2015, 12:47 pm

SyphonFilter wrote:
Years after my diagnosis, I wouldn't say I doubt the diagnosis as much as I doubt myself. For me, it's more of a feeling of "I'm not autistic enough" or "I'm a fake autistic" (if you know what I mean).

Unfortunately I know all too well what you mean.



nca14
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02 Jan 2015, 3:04 am

Does anyone also think that he/she may have just a learning disorder (especially "NLD") or emotional problem (such as anxiety)? I appear to be mostly auditory thinker, which may be associated with NLD.



nca14
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02 Jan 2015, 3:04 am

Does anyone also think that he/she may have just a learning disorder (especially "NLD") or emotional problem (such as anxiety)? I appear to be mostly auditory thinker, which may be associated with NLD.



LogicOrNot
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02 Jan 2015, 9:26 pm

I relate to this struggle very much. I received a diagnosis ~9 months ago.

I told my parents. My dad was receptive. He has similar traits to mine, especially difficulty with rigid routines and difficulty with new situations. This has caused him a great deal of difficulty with his job. I told my mother, and she basically told me that it is a silly idea to think I have Asperger's. She said that people say and do stupid things all the time, and that doesn't mean they are autistic. "Yeah, mom, but... I never said I say and do stupid things... I said I have these difficulties..." No help there. She has repeatedly pointed out all the ways in which I am "normal".

I think my mom has a point, that I can cope and blend in fairly well. I think I come off as quiet and reserved, a little eccentric, or even oafish to some (they shouldn't judge), at times.

But, I do struggle mightily when it comes to forming connections to other people. For whatever reason, there is no doubt that I have had significantly underdeveloped interpersonal skills compared to others my age, and still do to some extent. Is this due to Asperger's? In a sense I hope so, because it makes things all make sense so nicely.



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02 Jan 2015, 9:46 pm

Yes, I struggle with it. Partly because I've been told I'm pretending, or difficult, at times but also because I experience myself as normal, and don't we all? And to take eye contact as an example, it does seem to me there are many people who don't have to think about it, and work to remember to look at and look away and to watch for signs of discomfort and try to correct---and part of me thinks, well, doesn't everyone? Doesn't everyone have to watch and think things through? I do, and that's my perspective, and it's hard to see how others live because that's not how I am. Makes it hard to understand the diagnosis. So I do struggle too.



gamerdad
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05 Jan 2015, 9:26 am

Waterfalls wrote:
Yes, I struggle with it. Partly because I've been told I'm pretending, or difficult, at times but also because I experience myself as normal, and don't we all? And to take eye contact as an example, it does seem to me there are many people who don't have to think about it, and work to remember to look at and look away and to watch for signs of discomfort and try to correct---and part of me thinks, well, doesn't everyone? Doesn't everyone have to watch and think things through? I do, and that's my perspective, and it's hard to see how others live because that's not how I am. Makes it hard to understand the diagnosis. So I do struggle too.

I think this is an insightful point. Our experiences are all subjective and our language is inadequate for conveying that subjectivity. So when I hear people say things like "I can't stand light touch" as examples of ways ASD affects them, I'm not really certain what to make of it. I don't like certain types of light touch either. But I can't be certain where my experience lies along the continuum from NT to autistic. It seems unusual enough to confuse some people when they first encounter it, but it's not so bad that I'm reduced to meltdown every time someone brushes up against me. To me it's always been just the way I experience the world, a seamless part of the backdrop of what makes up my reality.

I wonder if it's different for those who get diagnosed as children.



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05 Jan 2015, 5:26 pm

I was first diagnosed back in 2007, went completely in denial and forgot all about it. It was later picked up again in 2011 and that's when I started to believe it. It became rather difficult to deny.

I went through a period where I didn't believe it but the more I read, the more I could see it was true.
I still have periods where I think, "Can it be?" but in all honesty, there's no denying it. I just can't believe this happened to me. I still find it hard to believe I'm Autistic but now, I consider it to be more of a positive than a negative.


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05 Jan 2015, 9:39 pm

gamerdad wrote:
I got my diagnosis back in October. But even though I sought it out myself, I still struggle from time to time with doubts about its validity. It's like I oscillate back and forth between feeling like ASD is this key that suddenly makes all these disparate portions of my life line up and make sense, and worrying that I'm just fooling myself and that I'm imagining my issues to be bigger than they really are. Does anyone else struggle with this?



I have had these exact feelings! Still do sometimes (I got my Dx last July) The more I think about my childhood though, the less I doubt I'm autistic. I've started realizing that some of the things I did as a kid that I thought were normal, weren't so normal. 8O

I'm still a bit nervous about talking with family and friends about me being autistic. I worry that they may think I got the Dx because I am making my issues bigger than they are. I'm also worried that if someone says that, it'll bring back all of the self doubt I had before my diagnosis.


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MjrMajorMajor
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05 Jan 2015, 9:50 pm

I really used to, because I couldn't tell what exactly was different. I've come to realize I'm a pretty obvious case, and I needed to stop berating myself for not being normal enough.

It has also taken me a long time to realize other people don't experience my POV. This is still difficult sometimes.



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05 Jan 2015, 10:12 pm

It neatly solved the mystery of why honestly answering "what would you do?" never resulted in a satisfactory answer to the person answering the question!



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05 Jan 2015, 10:41 pm

I wouldn't say I struggle, but have always fought against them. When you're little and appear severely autistic and are nonverbal, they love to talk about you while you are in the room, like you weren't there. I took a lot of what they said as a challenge. "He will never...." and I'm like oh yeah, wanna bet?



nca14
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13 Apr 2015, 2:21 am

I would say that my doubts about diagnosis are obsessive. They make problems in school, I suppose. I had obsession about my diagnosis few years ago and I my grades from some subjects were really poor that time. I don't know if I would be diagnosed with ASD using DSM-V criteria.



Ukguy
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13 Apr 2015, 6:23 am

I was recently diagnosed and I have lots of doubts. Having the diagnosis explains a lot of things but at the same time I can't help but wonder if I over-exaggerated some of the 'symptoms' at the assessment or maybe I had biased my own responses by reading up on ASD so much prior to getting tested.

I even asked the psychologist about this and he said based on his observations to my responses there were many examples of traits present that couldn't be 'faked' even if I consciously wanted to.

Yet I still have my doubts. I still want to believe if I just try harder of find the magic medicine I will turn into an extroverted social butterfly with loads of friends and normal interests.

Probably never going to happen though. I need to work on self-acceptance more.