Why have some symptoms lessened?

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When I think back on my past, I realize that I have become progressively higher-functioning.

For example, when I was three, a blizzard hit the town I live in. All I remember about being in the snow was standing with my hat pulled down over my face and screaming because the snow hitting my face physically hurt. A few weeks ago it snowed again and I went outside and made a snowman with no discomfort at all. In fourth grade, we stayed at a hotel that had a pool and a hot tub. I tried to get in the hot tub with the rest of my family, but it felt like I was being burned. Now, I love hot tubs and I'll often turn the shower hot enough to make my skin temporarily red just before I get out just because it feels so good. I also used to get migraines at least once a month without fail. I would get a splitting headache, vomit several times, and then collapse in exhaustion for several hours. I haven't had one in years, though, which made me realize those were due to sensory overload, which I no longer get.

It's not limited to sensory issues, either. When I was young I absolutely loved the game SimCity (it actually taught me useful things; for instance, I learned that loans are not free money). I would talk and talk and talk about it, and to this day I don't even know how people reacted to it because that wasn't something I noticed or even thought about at all. Now I have an easy time with conversation and even with small talk; I can start up a conversation with a complete stranger with no trouble. I still love to talk about my interests, and I do whenever I can, but I make sure it's in an appropriate situation beforehand.

In elementary school, the students in the gifted program participated in a speech contest every year. When I was practicing my speech with my mom, she gave me the suggestion of using gestures when I spoke. I had noticed how people used them and when, so I was able to make perfectly natural gestures. However, when I gave my speech in front of others, I never used them simply because they felt so foreign to me. It took away from my concentration on my speech, and I felt ridiculous doing them just because they were so alien. Now, I use gestures just like most people do, without even thinking about it. They're now a natural part of my speech.

Why have these symptoms lessened without any conscious effort from me? Why have some others not changed, even with effort from me? I still can't read body language unless I look at every specific signal and think "I remember, that means this." But even though I made no effort to correct other things, like my lack of gestures, they corrected themselves.

I didn't learn that from SimCity, just how to download cheat codes!

I'm much the same as you. I believe we have just been lucky enough to have enough level of understanding to learn certain things. I myself cannot do gestures for example, but I have learnt to speak instead of hit... three quarters of the time... I too was blighted by sensitivity to EVERYTHING and this also has lessened, but not significantly.

It is important to remember that we are all on a spectrum. Some people will get 'better' or as I say more socially integrated than others, it's the way the condition works. Some doctors just assume that we will never gain the skills we lack, that is not true. Don't see it as a problem that you still can't do certain things, focus on the positives. That's what I am starting to do (but don't talk to me about maths... then I am all negative!)

I definitely focus on the positive; content is my default mode even if something is wrong ("letting it drag me down won't help anything"). I think it's awesome that even though I don't intuitively read body language, I can still process the list of signals and recall their meanings fast enough that it rarely ever causes an issue for me.

I'm just very curious as to why I still have to consciously do that, but other things like gesturing that used to take conscious effort now are completely natural. I've heard the "it's your brain rewiring itself" explanation, but why does it rewire only some things, and how does it pick which ones to rewire?

It is natural. Most pick up on those things when young.

Autism was considered not to exist in adults, they were just strange, but we do age out of most things.

I would say that gestures are you, can be learned, but body language is evolving, and so what used to work has changed, and we are always behind.

It is a language where even if we pick up two out of three words, there is room for error.

Back in the good old days naked babies were tossed in a snow drift, sure, they threw a fit, but they were never cold after that. The same for the sweat lodge, after that summer in the desert seems mild.

Modern, being raised at 68 degrees, any change is alien. People in the south react more to 50 degree winters than people in the north do to 0.

You learn to talk to people by talking to people. After a while it works.

So we are slow on the uptake on some things, but they never get the special interests at all.

They are great at the first hundred yards, but the race continues for miles.

We do have our good points.

I've learned everything that I needed to learn, just by getting out there, and being around people. My manners were never really quite there, three years, ago. I didn't really know how to behave. Now, I'm the most behaved person, in my circle of friends. How did I refine myself? By being with people.

That's it exactly. We have a pervasive developmental disorder - a learning disorder that's with us all our lives, but that doesn't mean you can't learn, only that things that others learn easily may take longer for us to pick up, or may require an alternate method in order for us to fully grasp.

As for sensory issues, some things you simply get used to as you age. When I was a kid, I absolutely could not eat anything spicy because it seemed like physical torture. I remember thinking my father insane for eating jalepenos. Over the years I not became able to tolerate hot food, I'm so immune to most of it I have a hard time finding foods that are hot enough to satisfy me. I can eat spicy hot things without flinching that bring other grown men to their knees in tears.

But force me to wear an itchy shirt and I'd almost rather you just shoot me in the head and get it over with. Some things never change.

Used to think eating salt n vinegar chips was like putting hot coals in my mouth. Now they're a little bit tingly. There are still some chip flavors that I can't eat much of; pepper comes to mind.

I used to be hyposensitive to heat. My teachers always made fun that I wore a winter uniform in summer. Now I'll put on a pair of shorts if it's slightly hotter than usual.

Most of my clothes constantly itch me.

I was always slower, got lower grades and didn't make a peep compared to other kids now I seem to know as much and make half as much sound as my peers. I definitely made progress in that area. But tell me to go to a supermarket alone and I'll sit in a chair and rock myself.

never thought anybody else would understand about snow flakes hard to beleive i have such a phobia just thinking about snow falling it is almost sufficating cold and dark can't see for any distance and the muffled effect it gives lucky i live where we don't get much of it. anyways you say your migrains have stopped please how old are you? I still have them about every three weeks apperantly they are " Let down Migrains" saturday mornings or after any real stress.(work mon to friday) stopped racing claimer cars at the speedway because of always getting sick the next day. I get too excited about almost anything,tell me did you also get rashes on your hands? anybody? I did before i started getting migrians.Oh believe me true migrians amazing how many little airplanes fly over head. Starting to have less denial (sorry I can not spell) about about being on the spectum. lossing sensitvity to loud sounds going deaf may be. love to crank my amp and love open pipes on a healthy big v8.Have raced total destruction but afraid of snow flakes.....

Sure some of your symptoms have lessened, but I think the most important step here, is that you now accept yourself for who you are.
When you were younger you wanted to fit in, now you are beginning to think about things much differently. Though, of course, you still want to fit in to a certain border.

If I should give some good examples.

When you are not thinking about them, how can you be sure they are there?
And if they are there, do they look "normal" to other persons? (not that you need to care)


Since you still don't know how people reacted to it, I think there is still some work to do here.
Think about when you are watching yourself in a home-recording. Aren't there times where you think: "Noo.. I didn't just say that!".
What happened here is a development. You've learned that the thing you said in the recording, is something that shouldn't be said in that situation.


Now all I need is to figure out how to apply this thinking to my own life...

Because you are able to learn from experience

Learning from experience is one factor but another is just how the brain develops as it gets older, the brain is a lot more flexible than we think. Not everything is completely hard wired, many things change as time passes.

Age, experience, education, desire to change, etc.

That's generally how it works. Some learn skills, some lose skills, most do both in varying amounts.

Dreft laundry detergent, formulated to rinse completely out of the fabric. It also fluffs the threads and softens even the harshest fabrics. And natural fabrics, cotton, rayon, even wool will soften really nicely. It is worth every extra penny it costs and you use less of it anyway. your sheets will feel like breathable absorbent satin. ahhhh. . .bliss.

Merle

(who has a laundry perseveration )