Another newb with questions!

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Hello, I'm new, as you can see. I have not been diagnosed nor am I certain whether I have an ASD or not. It was suggested to me by a mental health professional but I'm not too sure. I have previously been diagnosed with various mood and depressive disorders, among other things.
I guess I am here to compare notes. A lot of the Aspergers symptoms fit me but some do not. For example, I didn't have any real odd behaviors in childhood, at least that I can recall. I was always shy and quiet and had few friends but otherwise I was a pretty average kid I think. None of my teachers ever suggested there was anything wrong or "off." This is the biggest reason I doubt the AS idea.
But I do have many of the female AS traits as well as:
Light sensitivity (I am sensitive to bright sunlight...it makes me sneeze. Also florescent lights make my vision blurry and give me a headache)
Sound sensitivity (I notice a lot of small sounds and they can drive me crazy)
I also tap my fingers and feet incessantly when bored or especially when anxious.

Also I scored 36 on the AQ test, though I don't put much stock in online tests, to be honest.

----So I have a few questions for the Aspies (diagnosed Aspies especially)...

Did you have specific autistic behaviors as a child? If so what were they?

How is a "special interest" different from normal childhood interests?

For instance, lots of kids go through "phases" where they only care about baseball, then they only care about a certain video game, etc. How is that different?

Were you diagnosed with any mental illnesses before your AS diagnosis?

Do you have trouble empathizing with people in real life, but can easily cry over a movie?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions!

Welcome to WP!

Hello and welcome.

I think that most of us can relate... some things fit in a way that initially can make you stop and take pause, while other things do not seem quite the match. So it goes with people, we are all different. For myself, I did have autistic behaviors as a child. I needed routine to function, I did the whole toe walking circle spinning and hand flapping type things (and still do to some degree), I preferred side by side play and did not participate in imaginative play in ways that would have been more to the liking of my peers... they played wrong. Heh. I am not really sure as to what else to say about that as I am having a slow to come around and wake up type of day.

As for the childhood interests as opposed to special interests... I think that largely has to do with intensity and focus and maybe even the reaction of the child if they cannot attend to their special interest. If you frequently find that you become so absorbed in something that you forget to eat... if you talk so much about a topic that people get upset with you... if you find that you have exhausted resources available to gain more knowledge on a topic... these might be signs that something is a special interest over a general childhood interest. For example, many young girls like cats... they might have a cat themed room and cat back packs and folders and such. Most young girls will not go off on ten minute speeches about the fur of Russian Blue cats before the person the are talking to fusses at them for going on and on before walking away.

I was diagnosed with many things before I received this diagnosis last year (I have Aspergers). My flat affect has won me the depressed diagnosis. My flying suddenly off the handle in meltdown mode has gotten me a rapid cycle bipolar diagnosis... that was not all of it, but it certainly did not help me in avoiding such a diagnosis either. Apparently me in meltdown mode can resemble manic rage. My sound/light sensitivity got me a schizophrenic diagnosis when I was a teenager. I was diagnosed with... eh what is it called... dissociative disorder nos, general anxiety disorder and ocd. I own up to the ocd bit. I soooooo have that going on. Oh... I was diagnosed with psychosis nos as well. Currently my diagnosis is sittin' pretty with Aspergers, GAD, and OCD. I never made any claims to sanity. Heh.

I do have a hard time empathizing with others. I have been known to hand crying people a box of kleenex and tell them I am not the nurturing type and that the kleenex understand them before I hurry off away from them freaking out because their eyeballs are leaking. I do not cry easily over movies though.

I hope that helped some. I also hope you enjoy this site. It is a good place to compare notes and whatnot. Again, welcome.

Did you have specific autistic behaviors as a child? If so what were they?

They didn't have Autism when I was a child, but my mother, reading the DSM now, says that I did. She became a Cub Scout Den Mother to get me socially involved with others my age and says when she got the group busy on a project, she'd find I had wandered off in a corner to something that interested me. The teachers in Elementary school had to force me to get off the swings at recess and play games with the class (I hated that).

How is a "special interest" different from normal childhood interests?

A 'normal' kid's interest in baseball won't keep him from being interested in other things. An Aspergian kid's interest in baseball will include keeping notebooks of team rosters and scores of games going back to the invention of the game and he will talk about the subject at length until others are so sick of hearing about baseball they want to scream and pull out their hair.

Were you diagnosed with any mental illnesses before your AS diagnosis?

No, I was never allowed the luxury of having an excuse for being odd. I told there was nothing wrong with me (though I couldn't have been more different than the people around me if I'd looked like Elephant Man) and that I just had to adapt to the way everyone else did things. Or else.

Do you have trouble empathizing with people in real life, but can easily cry over a movie?

Yup. Have a hearty dislike for humans in fact. Subtle emotions are difficult for me to apprehend. Emotion seems to be kind of an all-or-nothing experience. Either it's very intense, or I feel nothing at all.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to WrongPlanet.

Maybe you have inattentive ADHD? People with that are generally more shy, and quieter/LESS active than the general population. And this form of ADHD can sometimes be mistaken for, or be comorbid with, dysthymia (mild chronic depression). And people with ADHD can also have light/sound sensitivities as well.

As for me, although I was mild to begin with, and practically asymptomatic now, I DEFINITELY had autistic traits as a child. I didn't make eye contact or interact much with other children (and preferred it that way); I was hyperlexic but my speech pragmatics were funky and I often echoed what other people said; I was rigid and inflexible about my schedule (it still kind of puts me in a funk if my "order" is messed up), and I still occasionally rock, spin, and twist my shirt between my fingers (especially if it is baggy).

If I were you, I would just keep researching AS, and I'd look for info on inattentive ADHD. You know yourself the best.

OH and ... welcome to WP!

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful replies.

@dossa ...like your sig. Maynard is my hero.

@Azolet I've never heard of inattentive ADHD, I'll have to look it up. Thanks!

Welcome greetings, Hyzenthlay, to the WP forums.

To WrongPlanet!! !

welcome to the club

as for not having too many traits, it's not like it's set in stone anywhere that you have to have every trait to have Aspergers Syndrome.
& women tend to display it differently than men.

here's a chart of Aspergers Symptoms as they tend to apply more to women

[img][800:656]http://help4aspergers.com/pb/wp_a58d4f6a/images/img244154ad237783e339.JPG[/img]

or if that's kinda hard to read, here's a link to it.
the link version has a slight zoom-in option that makes it somewhat easier to read.
http://help4aspergers.com/pb/wp_a58d4f6 ... 83e339.JPG