Just been diagnosed... Hello!

Post Reply New Topic

Hi, I was diagnosed with Asperger's this afternoon to go with the bipolar that I was told I had four years ago. I'm six months away from being forty. I'm a woman btw.

Reading up about it, so many things fell into place as to why I am like I am. Things that were always thought of as flaws, things I should be able to fix. And feeling bad because I couldn't.

I'm self employed as a silversmith just now, as I find it impossible to work for or with anybody. I work from a bright purple shed on my patio. It locks from the inside and I feel safe in there. My business is doing quite well and keeps me happy I have a science background, did well academically but pretty poorly socially. Today I got why!

Everything has to be purple if it can be. I'm obsessive about it, but my friends and family are quite happy to indulge me, I have a ten year old son and a lovely (second) husband. Hubby is a high functioning dyslexic so totally understands the whole being wired differently thing. I suspect my son may be an Aspie too, he has some social issues at school.

So I managed school, uni, work etc by bumbling along and being thought of as odd. I embraced my oddness a few years ago and just decided to run with it. This diagnosis kind of validates that for me and I can really stop trying to conform.

I love a new, fresh, exciting project. I'm very creative and love to make things and learn new skills. As soon as I've mastered something , I move on to the next obsession. Currently it's patchwork.

Not a very coherent intro to myself, but I read that that is quite typical of an Aspie so I'm not going to worry about it!

So hello, looking forward to connecting with "people like me"!

Melanie x

welcome

Thank you!

Welcome Melanie
I'd have made this text purple but forgot how to do it

Welcome

Welcome

Getting the explanation for why you are the way you are after decades of blaming yourself is a very emotional thing to happen isn't it?

Hope we can help you make even more sense of things and find coping strategies. There will still be plenty of aha moments to come I suspect but you have cleared the big hurdle.

Things are certainly making sense now...

They are NOT character flaws I must change or be regarded as not trying hard enough, or as a failure. I can't do that any more than a dyslexic can stop the words from swimming in front of their eyes.

Quite liberating, really!

M

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I realized today why I always buy the purple option. It makes choosing things so much easier in a world where there is just too much choice. I select by colour to avoid being overwhelmed by the range of things available.

Lightbulb moment!

Welcome

Silversmith sounds pretty cool!

Thank you! I love working with metal