Hello and a question

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Hi everyone,

First time to post here. I'm recently self-diagnosed with AS. A quick summary: I have social anxiety, don't "get" social cues- you have to spell it out for me. Overly sensitive to light. Obsess over a few topics. Nervous habits like tapping, humming, whistling. Prone to depression and OCD - but not usually wild swings, more mild and constant.

During my school years, I was extremely shy and awkward. It has gotten slowly better over the years. I really wish I had known / been diagnosed back then. Just to know where I stood, to know my limitations, could have avoided a lot of grief. I had no clue that I could have asked for help. But then that was the 70s and maybe AS was too obscure.

A couple of questions. Is it fairly common for people to take a long time to realize that they have Aspergers? I'm in my 40s now and finally figured it out!

I'm also curious if AS typically goes hand in hand with chronic low energy. Being exhausted is pretty much my normal state.

I was going to ask about online tests and found the two posted by tektek (responding to PineappleSun) and just took both tests. On the Baron-Cohen I scored a 40 and on the Aspie-quiz I scored 146 (on the results page it said "You are very likely an Aspie.")

These questions in particular really stood out on the Aspie-quiz:

Do you have a monotonous voice? Do you tend to say things that are considered socially inappropriate...? Are you naturally so honest and sincere yourself that you assume everyone should be? Do you have problems starting and/or finishing projects? Have others commented or have you observed yourself that you make unusual facial expressions?

And this one stood out the most because it happens to me all the time and I've never known anyone else that had this problem: Do you expect other people to know your thoughts, experiences, and opinions wthout you having to tell them?

I've been lurking for a few weeks and it's been great to find this forum. Seems like I'm saying "hey, that's me" every time I read somebody's experience here.

Carl

Welcome to the WrongPlanet Carl!

It took me awhile to realize, figure out, and learn that I have AS; I was 21 when I found out.

I do not know if AS goes with chronic low-energy. Your mention of it made me think--I'm always tired. I've always linked my lack of energy to depression and a lack of motivation (and chronic headaches), but you raise an interesting question, and I would like to see how others answer this as well.

As far as expecting people to know my thoughts, opinions, and experiences without me telling them, occasionally this happens to me, and it is extremely frustrating for me. As a segue, I wanted to go running yesterday, and my brother wanted to do something with me; for some reason I expected to be aware of what I was planning on doing despite the fact that I had not told him.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions, or if I missed any!

Oh, and I relate to a lot of what you said, the nervous habits, overly sensitive to light (and noise personally), missing social cues, and depression. I really don't have OCD, but sometimes I think that I do.

--David

hi Carl, good on you for taking the plunge and signing up

i see that you already found my response to PineappleSun (click)

as i said in that post; while i had some suspicion that i was AS for a number of years, i was not formally diagnosed until quite recently - as a 29 year old.

it would seem that there is a gap in time that a number of us have slipped through as children, going on to become more-than-normally awkward (labelled strange) teenagers, and then growing into eccentric adults that either self diagnose or seek diagnosis.

i find myself able to relate to a number of the points that you raised; becoming or being fatigued if i am over-stimulated or from focusing on projecting "normal" to the world around me, being somewhat monotonous in tone of speech, being perceived as blunt, being honest to a fault (being mindful only of the truth, and not of others' feelings towards it), being naive of the fact that other people can and will operate with an underlying agenda, finding it difficult to detect said agendas or if i am the butt of a joke, facial grimaces/twitches/tics, and the expectation that others are aware of your internal (sometimes external if i don't self regulate ) monologue.

also, for your information, another WP'er (thank you Scientist ) has posted a great thread that includes several other online tests (click)

if you have any other questions please ask away, WP is a welcoming and helpful community - there is a lot of good here

I don't quite have the spoons to read and properly form a reply to your question but I thought I would come ay welcome anyway ^_^

Hello Carl, welcome,

I'm 34 and didn't know I had Asperger's until recently.
I think no one knew when I was a kid because at that time they didn't know that much about autism and Asperger's.
Better late than never

Enjoy your stay on the Wrong Planet!

@ tektek:

You're welcome!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome to WP!

Thanks for all the welcomes!

Now that you guys mention it, chronic fatigue does seem more likely to go with depression than AS.

And it's good to know I'm not alone as far as taking a while to figure this out. One of these days maybe I'll start a poll to see if I hold the record- probably around 30 years without being aware of it. All that time I was just "quirky", or a "freak" to some people.

The next thing I'm wondering about is getting a professional diagnosis. Is it worthwhile, what are the benefits, what does it cost. Before I post the question I'll search around on the forum since it's probably a common question.

Carl