People with later life diagnosis

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I learned about AS after watching a CNN documentary and my mouth dropping open as I felt like I was seeing my son on the tv. It explained everything about him.

That led to reading lots to help him, and discovering it also applied to me completely. When I read the symptoms outloud to other family members they were amazed and asked if my picture was in that book because they must be talking about me.

I self diagnosed and went forward, relieved and happy to have an answer, an explanation, lots of information, tons of great people I found here that shared my uniqueness.

At the age of 53 I happened to find a doctor online that could do an assessment through email, phone and only 1 face to face visit needed. He also took payments (I have no insurance and little money). I decided to start the assessment, and he diagnosed me with Autism Level One (with support) - which was Asperger's. My scores were very clear.

I wanted this for a few reasons - the main reason was so that I could get medication for anxiety if I need to be hospitalized ever again. I had to have surgery a couple of years ago and being in the hospital created such stress - I had panic attack after panic attack and the nurses were only able to give me Tylenol. There was nothing in my file to justify anything stronger for panic or anxiety. I hyperventilated, and then just roamed the hallways to exhaustion (which was dangerous right after surgery. they told me I should not have been up yet but I couldn't lay down due to the anxiety)

Anyway, now the diagnosis is in my file and if I ever need to go in again I know I can have a very small dose of sedative so I can manage to stay in the bed.

My son was technically an adult by the time I had this done and he refuses to be tested. I believe it's needed to get the diagnosis. I used to be very against it and thought it was a waste of time because I had already identified what I had and there was no cure anyway, so why bother? But I realize now it is needed. The world doesn't take us at our opinions or even at our experience. They need a paper from a professional.

Overall, learning I'm aspie is a HUGE relief. It changed my life, for the better. I realized I'm not totally broken, I'm one of many who share unusual wiring and that's okay.

I am a 64 year old man and I was diagnosed ADHD in 2011. There is strong evidence that I am coping with Asperger's Syndrome, although most of the symptoms are sub-clinical. Since starting on the medication (particularly the Dilantin and Dexamphetamine) my life has completely changed. I am now in second year university, studying double degrees in Psychology and Philosophy. I hope many people read this, as there is life to be lived with this condition. Do not despair, get the help you need. Thanks for listening. Paul

From what I can tell many people who are diagnosed later in life, have found ways to cope over the years.

Of those diagnosed later, how many do you think have lesser severity...(Level 1....rather than 2 or 3?)

Dr Laugh,

Thats hard to say as many have been misdiagnosed as having other problems.

The same happened to me. My "aha" was back in October of last year when I started finding out what ADHD and Aspergers were, and suddenly my differences and things I thought were just "weird" on their own started to make more sense in the big picture.

I actually looked into this a little a little about 10 years ago. I don't know what got me interested. I thought it fit me. But then I got dx with ADD, bipolar, and anxiety. So I went on my merry way.

Recently, I was told that my 13 year old daughter is HFA and I started researching. I've had a lot of aha moments. I had attributed my lack of social skills to ADD.

But I remember sitting at the kitchen table for hours because someone had poured the milk on my cereal before I got there and I could not eat it because it was soggy. I do not eat soggy food. My mom would eventually let me go. To this day I can't have anything around my neck. My hair on my neck drives me crazy. As a teen someone told me I must have been strangled in a previous life. Well, all righty then, maybe reincarnation exists?

I talked early and non-stop. Every report card from K on says I talk too much.

I was referred by a teacher to someone for something back in 1972 and my mom said no.

We just got my daughter diagnosed, it was $900. I don't have another $900 but someday I might

SO much of what you just wrote has me nodding along.

Absolutely about the neck - and people have always told me I must have "strangled in a previous life"

And the constant talking. In trouble in school all. the. time. in class. It was just too boring and I had stuff to say! Boundary issues.

ADD, bipolar, anxiety - if you take the symptoms out of each label and shake them all together you get ASD. I was also thought to be bipolar (not diagnosed) because of the extreme differences in energy from one day to the next. Aspies deal with this everyday - social is so draining, collapse is inevitable. Anxiety and depression are also under the AS umbrella. No one is sure if that's because of brain chemistry differences of if it's just from trying to deal with an NT world that doesn't get you and won't let you be you.

I do feel the number one thing that is important is self awareness. If you have a good healthy understanding of yourself, you can diagnose (self or otherwise), you can honestly find workarounds, you can deal head on with issues that are bad for you but you can make adjustments to. I know a person (in my family) who is so textbook ASD that it's laughable. He could be the poster child. But when I've talked about this with him he is in complete denial. He says the is one way and his behavior is one way but it is not. Everyone sees and knows it is not (even simple things like he feels he's co-ordinated and he's extremely clumsy and plodding. He believes he has great eye contact and there is virtually NONE) but as long as he is delusional about these things, he will never seek help, never seek a diagnosis and if he was at a doctor for diagnosis he would say all the wrong things on the self-tests. So delusional - not good on any level. Self-awareness is the best thing.

Earthmom,

That's been exactly my approach the last few months. My family can barely afford doctor visits unless it's an urgent matter, so resources like this forum and used books from eBay and my college's library have been a major lifeline in my search for self-discovery and learning.

My doctor that diagnosed with ADHD said I was too dynamic (able to say "I'm Sorry" when I did something wrong, things like that), and that my math difficulties were chalked up to attention deficiencies. Then I thought, if this is the case then why is it I do fantastically in things like English and writing or business classes without math, and then so vastly different in math? This is what spurred my looking into what Aspergers entails far as differences after a second doctor I went to gave me a diagnosis but did not share with me why he thought it was I had it after talking with me for a few minutes before leaving the room to tend to other patients /during/ my appointment.

I was diagnosed about 2 years ago, when I was 47. I have been in and out of therapy most of my life, and it is interesting that it took so long for people to figure that out about me. When I was a kid the school district required me to go to therapy because I kept getting in fights in school. Asperger's didn't exist as a diagnosis back then, but I was probably diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, which I am sure I had.

I later went to therapy again at the request of the judicial system of the state of Illinois, because I kept getting drunk and breaking the law. By this time Asperger's was getting known, but none of them figured that out either. At that time I was getting a Ph.D in Psychology, in a program that had both Clinical and Developmental Psychology, but no one there figured it out either.

Until a few years ago, my only exposure to Asperger's was from the character Jerry on "Boston Legal" and certainly didn't seem like him. About 6-8 years ago a friend of mine mentioned that he had Asperger's and how he wouldn't make eye contact with people because of it. At that time I still didn't realize that I didn't make eye contact either. Finally, for some reason, I started looking into it more and it was eye opening. Once you get out of the DSM-IV list of symptoms, and read some things about how it manifests itself in everyday life, it was describing me! I mentioned it to a therapist I was seeing at the time, and he confirmed that yes, he could tell that I did have Asperger's. Another therapist I was seeing at the same time said that she suspected that I did, but thought that what she saw in me could have also been explained by some trauma I suffered earlier in life.

Since the diagnosis, it sure does explain a lot of my past life, and the difficulties I had. It explained why it took me so long to have my first romantic relationship- I just thought that I was really ugly. It explained why I couldn't get the typical high school jobs at the fast food places that everyone else did-I probably came across as too unusual in the interviews. It explains much of the other odd behavior that I have, and some of the obsessions, ruminations, and need for routine that I have.

I am fortunate that I am high functioning enough that I am married, and work as a professor today. In many ways my life looks like most NT's lives, it just too me longer to get those things. The diagnosis helped me to realize that many of the things I thought about myself (being ugly, etc) were not true. I had social difficulties and didn't have many dates or romantic relationships because I couldn't pick up the signals that people were interested in me, and my lack of eye contact and some other behaviors came off to them as that I wasn't interested in them, even if I really was. It also explains why I was clueless about many parts of life, and still am to an extent.

I can't change the past, but at least I know why I am the way I am, and why things in my life went the way they did, and why my life wasn't like the one my peers were having.