I'll never have a *completely* official diagnosis, but...

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I'm celebrating with you today, although I'm not quite yet convinced. On the other hand, it all makes sense and I have a feeling that my search is over and that I've come home at last.

I'm 55 and have had lifelong questions about myself that no psychiatrist or psychologist could help me answer. I've studied the DSM-IV and IC-10 (European version) meticulously for what could possibly be the matter. Problem is, I can't apply general statements such as '(C) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)' to myself. I'm blind for my own behaviour, unles someone gives me a specific example that I recognize. Yesterday I started reading Aspergirls and Rudy Simone mentions forms of stimming that not only I, but half of my family do: humming and cheekbiting. Not as obvious as flapping.

I'm not concerned with getting an official diagnosis. In my country there is long waiting list at the autism center and the procedure takes about 3 months. I have no living relatives that can inform the specialists about my childhood behaviours. I'd rather not take up the time of these specialists. Their time is better spent diagnosing children and young people so that they don't have to waste a lifetime of wondering what is wrong with them. For me it is important to understand myself, to have an explanation that I feel that is right. If I have AS, then strategies for dealing with this strange world we have to live in should work. And if they do, I don't really care what I have. Whatever it is, and it appears to be AS, I'm happy with it and with my gifts and quirks.

I've heard that it may be possible in the near future to be tested for AS with an fMRI scan. Much cheaper and faster than an official diagnosis. Even then, I'm not so sure I would go for it. What matters to me is what I feel inside, not what a brainscan shows (interesting, though!)

Yeah, its a great system we have, highest standard of living for those who can afford it, which is technically the smallest percentage of the population.

If I need surgery and can manage it, I'll likely head to Mexico. For normal issues, the costs there would supposedly run about 1/3 of the US or maybe less.

One woman from Canada who lives in Mexico said that her husband needed surgery and so they went to Canada to have it done for free. The problem was that it would be a couple of months before it could be done. Their costs for things like staying in Canada until the surgery would be pretty high so they went back to Mexico and had the same surgery done that week and paid cash for it. It was cheaper than just what it would have cost them to stay in Canada and wait until they could do the surgery.

In another case, a man from Texas ran into problems in Mexico and had to be admitted to the hospital. The ambulance ride was something like $50. He spent about four days in the hospital and as soon as he got out, he came back to Texas. The first thing he did was go to his regular doctor and they went over everything that had been done in Mexico. When they finished, the doctor told him that there was nothing they could have done for him in Texas that wasn't done in Mexico and for a fraction of the price.

If you need the very latest technology, you're better off in the United States, but for ordinary type medical work that has been around for a while, a good hospital in Mexico can do it for far less.

Another issue with diagnosis:

The only kind of therapist I would ever want to see considers Asperger's a different way of thinking -- NOT a "disorder" or a "disease" that needs to be treated.

I am the original poster, by the way.

I didn't jump to this conclusion as a self-diagnosis. I have suspected it for years. I've had people ask me about it, accuse me of it (as if it is a crime), and then, when my suspicions became really strong, sought out Aspies and places like this -- and found a lot of others who are like me in ways that no one else is. I asked close friends and co-workers if they thought I had it (I'm a teacher, so my fellow teachers have some knowledge of it), and kept getting this response: "Oh, yes, for months, but we were afraid we'd offend you if we told you."

Until I had the conversation with my psychiatrist yesterday, described at the beginning of this thread, I described myself here as "suspected." Only someone with an "Asperger's is bad" attitude, at least in this area, would be able to give me a diagnosis. My shrink wouldn't use that term because he doesn't believe this is a disorder -- simply a difference. Since that's the only barrier to my getting "diagnosed" with a "condition," I think the confirmation I had with him was enough.

Besides, aren't we Aspies notorious for not caring what others think, anyway? That IS one of my strongest Aspie characteristics.

An unusual path to a diagnosis, yes, but I do consider it a valid one. If people have a problem with this, well, OK, but that won't change my mind at all!

hmm that is intresting....though my ultimate goal is to move to scandinavia, its my brothers goal to. Don't know if it will ever happen but I hear those countries have a pretty good system.

Well to me it sounds really rough for example in australia if i got hurt lets say needed 10 stitches or so all i do is go in hospital, get treated for free ,walk out and go home. And most doctor appointments are payed through bulk billing i dont know how that works(but ive never payed a cent throught bulk billing)

but if i do have to pay on the spot lets say 50$ for a doctors appointment ,after that i can walk straight up to medicare and get 35$ back.