Another Newbie

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Hi everyone,

I have been reading here without being registered for a while as I have had the suspicion that I had autism and/or add since my now 17 year old son had been diagnosed more than 10 years ago. I finally received my diagnosis about 2 weeks ago but an still somewhat coming to terms with it.

About me: I am a 44 year old married mum of two who has autism and add. I am originally from Germany but have been living in Australia the past 18 years. For the last 6 years I have been working on obtaining a Bachelors Degree in Accounting by studying online (only part time as I seem to be rather slow in processing knowledge), thankfully I only have 2 units and an exam left till I am finished.

Welcome.

I have only been here a short while and only received a formal diagnosis recently. No surprises there for me or my family though.

This place is a good resource. Often informative, often funny and sometimes challenging. Always interesting.

Good work re getting through an on line course at that level. I studied for an on line degree 14 years ago and it was a real struggle. Good luck with your exam!

Welcome to WP membership!

I’ll assume you already know the way conversations in different forums work

Hope interacting is better than observing!

Welcome to Wrong Planet . Hope AU is doing better with the CV than here in New York and US.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Hi and a very warm welcome to you ! Six years is quite a while and I sincerely applaud your determination. Wishing you well with that final exam(as someone who loved Uni, and as an Aussie who’s lived in the UK for quite awhile.). Good to have you with us.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Willkommen auf WP und nette Grüße von Deutschland nach Australien!

_________________
I am as I am. Life has to be an adventure!

Thank you everyone for your warm welcomes. I shall endeavour to interact and not just to lurk as I am sure it is better.

Hello and welcome.

I have not been here in a while as life has kept me busy, however, I have completed my studies and am now trying to find work.

The reason why I am back is, that my 16 year old daughter has received her autism diagnosis. She also is dealing with severe anxiety, OCD and mild depression. She has been doing animal assisted therapy with horses and cats and seems to make progress there. She also takes Sertraline but it does not seem to aid here. She has been seen by a psychiatrist but it will take some time until he devises a treatment plan for her.

Meanwhile I was wondering how I can help her not to be so clingy with me as this depletes my resources for the job hunt. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

Welcome! I saw you on the German thread in the foreign languages forum before I saw this!

Thanks guys. I will have to give a consideration to what you guys said. Overall I believe that we all need to come to terms with her diagnosis and then take it from there.

I think she really enjoys her therapy which is either with horses or cats and she likes Japanese stationary. Will have to see if there are ways that might help to distract her.

hello SunnyFlower.
Nice to meet you.

With regards to helping your daughter. I think you need to find something that will stimulate her intellectually and possibly creatively. Can be hard for those without a "special interest".

Although, it is common that once a special interest is found, this can fuel their passion for learning and doing.
Your daughter is still young, so she has lots of time to find her special interest.

I didn't start to get really interested in playing / making music until i was about 18. And music has pretty much been my special area of interest ever since.
I was fairly obsessive before that with martial arts, as well as art, and still hold some interest in these areas too.

As for medication.
This can be a difficult area to resolve due to the abnormal neurological make up that is present in ASD.
I would say that most psychiatrists do not have that much of an understanding let alone normal doctors and lay men.

In my own experience, people with ASD often have sensory hypersensitivity. In such cases, then it is possible that individuals aren't on the correct meds or have been excluded from certain meds due to the dangers (Valium etc).

I think however, if your kid suffers from sensory hypersensitivity and emotional dis-regulation, i think that the use of occasional Valium may be warranted. But not on a daily basis, on a PRN (use when needed basis).

I do this, and have not grown a tolerance nor a daily habitual use. And the Valium certainly makes the meltdowns easier to manage, and easier to recover from.

Due to the permanent incurable nature of ASD and associated meltdowns, i would say that the use of Valium is understandable and humane, as to leave a human being in such high levels of distress without any medication to help reduce the distress is surely inhumane.