? for self-diagnosed/ not sure if I have it or not

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Haven't really looked at anything else.

I first heard a reference to "geek autism" on slashdot, I think, and found it amusing although I didn't take it seriously. A while later I made a joke to a friend of mine about it, and she told me that she had dated someone with AS, and started telling me about it. I started thinking about it more seriously, and then I started doing research.

I always wondered if I was latching onto a convenient diagnosis, but it fit so well. Let's face, just having a name for whatever the heck is wrong with me helped. I think it was the "You might be an Aspie if..." thread that really settled all doubt.

I didn't really look into AS until after my son was diagnosed with HFA and I saw alot of similarities. I have the labels of OCD and dysthymia (chronic depression) and I have had major depression.

Social Anxiety Disorder
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

'Self-diagnosed' - In the process of trying to get a diagnosis.

However I used to have counselling at work (in NHS - the health service) for panic attacks / anxiety and after 6 months of that, the counsellor told me 'to consider Asperger's Syndrome'. She had 25+ years exp (with Drug & Alcohol clients and with private home clients). I didn't really do much about that until I had my first relationship when I really worked out there was something wrong with me. I turned 21, and did a lot of reading, and I'm still researching I guess but I am very sure I've got something in the autism range, and AS is very close.

anxiety
depression
bipolarism

wow wtf?! aren't anxiety/depression =bipolarism.

still no AS diagnosis.
who knows.

i might just have PDD.

I considered
-bipolar disorder (when I'm caught up in my obsessions I'll be VERY happy and need a lot less sleep, and once I finish what I was doing I go slightly psychotic from lack of sleep.)

-shyness

-social anxiety

-OCD

None of them ever quite fit me. AS does.

OCD fits me in a lot of ways..

I can be socially anxious (but not all the time) and generally anxious..
However even when I'm not anxious I still have to work out what everyone is saying through a little memory system of what certain things mean.

I guess if you're thinking you are PDD, you should have a think about what aspect might be underdeveloped.. I know for myself my emotions are that of a baby, while my cognition is advanced for my age, this is what they would call a "developmental disorder" or PDD for short because its neurological.

Reductionism works:

ie: I'm not this, or this, or this, so I might be this.

However, it is better to face oneself with an open and critical mind. To write a report on your life, everything you've discovered, things that have been pointed out as weird by others, problems you've had etc... Then compare this with a psychologist, or the DSM, or whatever justifies it to you.

Same here exactly.

Oh, and I was diagnosed BPD but I think that needs reviewing.

My experience is very similar. I've always been introverted and socially awkward, but never thought of myself as having a mental 'issue' until first heard about AS in a news article about a year ago. I also did some research and the symptoms 'fit' me.

My wife and I are trying to have a baby, so I'm thinking about getting officially diagnosed since the age of the father apparently affects the chance of having autistic children. However, I work in a security sensitive job and a diagnosis for a mental 'issue' showing up on a background check would be very bad for my career.

First I saw a program on tv about ADHD in adults, I recognised a lot of what they had gone through, but I was very quiet as a child, and not very active.

A few weeks later I saw another program about autism in adults, some of them had aspergers and that made me thinking. I was shocked at first: autism, me? No!
I looked it up on the internet and when I found Tony Attwoods site everything fell into place.

I never thought of other things, but have always feared being mentally ill, having to go to hospital and being forced to eat pills.

I have the reverse situation: I self-diagnosed myself (very, very correctly) with OCD, and I considered Asperger's during this time. However, I never really read much about Asperger's because the stuff I did read was very basic and stereotypical. It only focused on the social deficits, and I don't have severe social deficits. The only similarity I saw in the one or two things I read about Asperger's was the obsessive fixations/special interests. It wasn't until I was in CBT for my OCD this past February that my therapist realized that something else was going on to inhibit the therapy. So, I have comorbid OCD and Asperger's. I was skeptical about the Asperger's at first... until I read books. Then, it was just so obvious. As many have probably already said before me, if you don't have extreme anxiety (other than over change or social situations) or disgusting thoughts, it probably isn't OCD.
-OddDuckNash99-

Hmmn..

I get disgusting thoughts, and sheer terror over most social situations.


Other times however I can jump into a social situation without fear..

According to doctors and my father, and my own deductions:

slightly OCD, generally anxious, socially anxious. All the results of some sort of pervasive developmental disorder.

Which has left me quite fine now that I think about it, I was messed up for a while, facing various aspects of myself, various weaknesses, was the hardest but most rewarding thing I've ever done.

By the way, going to a top notch psych tomorrow, with a 12 page report I've wrote on my life, lets she what she thinks!

When you say disgusting...? I only ask because I may know what you mean but I am too disgusted to say..........

:/

I didn't consider much else - I stumbled onto reading about Asperger's Syndrome in several places at about the same time, and it sounded like me, and I read more into it - yep, that's me.

Though I do think I might have some sort of mild OCD too - worrying about unimportant things too much (Though I'd much rather worry too much than not at all ), and everything about the need for balance in the body and the if-I-step-on-a-crack-in-the-sidewalk-with-my-left-foot,-my-right-foot-needs-to-step-on-the-next-crack things hit me.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder and Schizoid Personality Disorder. That's one reason I'm not sure I have AS.

Another one that I forgot- I considered the possibility that I had inattentive ADD.