What have you connected to AS?

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Basically after finding out about it what answers did it give you or issues did it explain for you. Looking back it helped me understand learning overall and learning Psychology was a special interest and the whole routine AS issue (I missed a day for a doctor appointment I was in tears at the doctor) (BTW How do you think I feel WITHOUT College A PSCYHOLOGICAL WRECK!! !! !! !! !!) I also connected the being rude issue that my family tosses at me and meltdowns but IMO meltdowns are more from depression of not being in College (and everyone else around me is going etc.) So that doesn't make me feel any better I'm not usually a "meltdown" person until the College suspension. Also showing emotions differently such as laughing inappropriately.

There's a lot actually,although some of the things are not so bad after medication for depression. These are things that surprised me because I didn't associate them with depression.

sleep difficulty *
taking everything personally*( I still do but get over it quicker)
extreme irritation at unwanted noise*
mumbling and not talking loud enough*(still mumble sometimes-sometimes I'm too loud)
much worse at eye contact-I just fake it better now ( I think)
extreme fatigue
not being able to think straight
mouth not always connected to brain
need for quiet and isolation
hyper focus on special interests
clumsiness
inability to have intimate emotional relationship-except with son-tried with his father-failed

* are things that improved after meds

I am still figuring all of that out. I find myself doing a lot of self inspection and such to try to understand what it is I do and why it is that I do these things. I think perhaps the most shocking thing for me was the realization that I am not a good communicator. For years I thought I was communicating just fine, expressing my thoughts accurately, when the reality of it was that I was not. At all. People were always misunderstanding me. I still have a hard time coming to terms with that. I am honest and say what I mean and mean what I say. I still wonder how it is my problem if people opt to read more into my words... but the reality is, they do and they will and I need to modify myself or add clarification statements so they do not react poorly or think I mean something else. This is really difficult for me to do still as I never know if someone is taking me wrong until later when they finally get really angry with me and tell me something I said last month made them really upset with me. I always thought that was a problem with everyone else and not with me.

There are a lot more, but I am still trying to wake up and find myself feeling somewhat disorientated.. perhaps I will revisit this and add more later.

My anxiety for one and the depression
Motor clumsiness and balance
Taking things literal




I'm not up for a long list right now.


More I added:

Bullying
Though kids didn't know I had it but they knew I was different and bullied me for it. They all thought I was ret*d instead and picked on me about it calling me "ret*d" and saying how stupid I am and making fun of me. They also liked taking advantage of me and liked seeing me get into trouble

Outcast
No desire for socialization or friends
Sleeping problems off and on my whole life

I'm glad you mention laughing inappropriately. I'm a high functioning autie, and my son is aspie... but even so, it took me a while to realise why he laughs inappropriately at times. Almost always when I laugh it's a deliberate effort to fit in. Quite simply, I don't laugh spontaneously. I've figured out the social cues of what should trigger laughter, and how much a woman is supposed to laugh in any situation. (Less than a man, particularly when it's a "blue" joke.) Genuine laughter doesn't come easily to me. However, my son laughs automatically when he's frightened, or knows he's messed up... for example, when he was jumping on my bed a few days ago, and completely wrecked it. He couldn't stop laughing, even though I knew he didn't think it was funny. He actually started crying, because he was so upset, but he couldn't stop laughing about it. (For the record, I didn't make a big thing of it, I'm used to sleeping on the floor. It took me a long time to start sleeping on a bed in the first place.)

Dyspraxia, dyscalculia, both of which I have been officially diagnosed with. The dyspraxia is far worse than the dyscalculia... I figured out intellectually strategies which I could use to deal with the dyscalculia, and I've now passed various advanced competency tests at maths (I know... I keep applying for jobs!)

I also suspect that my lack of friends is connected with the autism.

It really hurts me to admit this, but I've got no friends. I'm pushing forty, my younger brother has many friends.

I don't have any, since I was widowed. And my friends were really my husband's friends, they don't talk to me now that he's gone. Even before I "borrowed" my husband's circle, I can't really say I had friends... nobody from school, primary or secondary, nobody from university...

When I was at these places I had friends. Or I thought I did... but they stopped talking to me as soon as they moved on.

I started to realise that there was something wrong with me when I realised that all my old uni colleagues were still in touch with each other, but I was always the last thought of... I was the weirdo on the fringe.

It's only since my son's aspie symptoms were officially diagnosed that I realised I might have an official "problem" - every single one of his "symptoms" is something I "suffer" from.

When I told my Dad, his reaction was that I was over reacting... then he admitted (finally) that I'd been diagnosed autie just before my fourth birthday. He still insists that it's a "mistake", and I'm just "over anxious."

And yes, all of my "autie" characteristics can also be a blessing, and that's another thread.

But to answer the question, having thought about it at length...

symptoms I "blame" on autism...

Dyspraxia
Dyscalculia
OCD
loneliness
depression
colitis (apparently they're linked, and mine started when I was sixteen, decades earlier than most)
insomnia
whatever they call it when someone's hyper sensitive to sound, touch and smell.
claustrophobia

Things I bless it for... well that's another thread, and a longer one I suspect.

Taking Aimless' answer as a template:

sleep difficulty

I used to always go to sleep late, and wake up early.

extreme irritation at certain noises

I DEFINITELY have HYPER sensitivity to this.

Voice volume changes

much worse at eye contact-I just fake it better now ( I think)

The extreme fatigue is something I only see recently, and I believe it is due to other things.

I don't really know how others think. My native thought is mostly linear but, if it covers a lot of related ideas, I can often just kind of piece them together in a new way. Even some VERY complicated things are relatively simple in that way.

mouth not always connected to brain

I think I know what you are talking about. I have the same sort of problem.

need for quiet and isolation

Same here.

hyper focus on special interests

I have actually gone for VERY protacted periods working on a relatively minor aspect of a problem or task. I know this WELL!

clumsiness

For certain things, that is definitely me. I try to chose my tasks.

inability to really develop relationships

I ALSO have:

loneliness

depression

hyposensitivity to cold
hypersensitivity to hot

and laugh if I get stressed out, angry, etc....

I began to connect the dots only after I read books by Temple Grandin.Before then I believed my misery was my own fault.I knew when I was a kid I was off...but had figured out ways to out smart my autism(only then it did not have a name).I maintained until age twelve.Pictures don't lie.I moved into a house with mother,brother,sister and some random room-mte the summer before 7th grade.Grandma and grandpa had me until then.My structured,quiet,calm world dissapeared and so did I.Everything was new,school,house,family expectations,rules of life did not apply at mothaers.I began to feel stupid and old-fashioned.My mom and sister re-inforced this idea and I eternalized it.I did not have any friends,except the ones from grandma's neighborhood and I did not see them much.School was one big buiding for 7th graders and my old friends were in the special classes,diffwernt lunch times.I was in the advanced classes but then all the kids torrmented me.My grades fell.By jr.high I had a few friends and these couple are still friends to this day.I started stimulates in 10th grade.....by 17 full fledge junkie...at 24 I made the journey north.I attribute my years on speed are directly related to my autism.Finally at age 34,after a stay in the behavior health unit did the doctor suggest Narcolepsy with major deppression mixed in with some post-traumatic syndrome.The meds did help with sleep and mood,but did not cure nor explain all the other issues I have.Sensory over-load is a big one.I just explode then shut down.College worked out great,loved it,did well,completed all the courses required to earn a BA in SocialScience Degree,with criminal justice as my core classes.I did not recieve my diploma or graduate.Apparently I missed one credit..not class..credit.....in PhysicalEducation.I enrolled in the university only after my friend said I was too smart to scrub toliets and she walked me thru the procees of admittance,classes,the campass,for two years she walked me thru the process.After awhile I was able to remember the steps involved in registering,most teachers knew me and it all flowed wonderfully,until graduation time.The process it self was a confusing awray of papers and people and new...all of it.Once I had followed the correct steps needed to graduate a letter stated one credit was missing.I began,again to follow the neccesary steps needed to graduate.But Ijust could not figure out what to do,who to speak with,where to go,add on the pressure to hurry-up before it is too late,fill out the forms correctly,turn them in,explain my situation to some office lady who did not care to help..again.So here I sit,collecting SSI for my son and for myself.I could have that degree but really,why would it matter now?I am not able to use any of my intelligence or skills in the work place.I am a mess of thoughts and stimuli that pushes me into my own little world,there's not enough room for anybody else or anything else.

Unlike a lot of people here it seems I do not connect it to each and every aspact of my behiovor, choices, likes, dislikes