Could I have aspergers?

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When I was younger I was diagnosed with severe OCD, however I think that diagnosis could be wrong. I want another opinion before I go ahead and label myself something I'm not exactly. So here's some info:

Educationally, I have always been advanced for my age. I started college at 13 and am currently a premed with a degree in English. My interests, which I am very obsessive over, are rock climbing, writing, and people in general. When I was around four I became obsessed with human and animal psychology. My three favorite channels on tv were discovery health, animal planet, and PBS. When I was eleven I started researching different human behaviors online and keeping a journal of my "discoveries". I would checkout piles of books on it at the library and read them late into the night...but yet I can't even get past a "What's up?"

Whenever people talk to me I freeze up. My mind becomes overloaded with responses and thoughts and I shutdown. My most common response to anything is "I don't know", yet looking back on the situation, when I am over analyzing the past, I did know. I've always been picked on being weird. People seem attracted to me and interested in being friends at the beginning of things, because I have a "bold" personality (meaning I say things without realizing the straightforwardness to it)...but I ruin the opportunity by the way I struggle in conversations and by wanting alone time. I HAVE to have time to myself. I'm a big fan of nature and being outdoors and when I was younger I used to wake up at dawn to woader around in the woods behind my house by myself. I felt infinite.

I've always had strange quirks. I can't eat breakfast food in the morning. I hate certain textures. I feel dirty if I don't wash twice a day. I am an adrenaline junky. I have problems sleeping. I am sensitive to several foods. I have to follow certain schedules to feel complete, i.e. my morning and night routines. I am afraid to share "secrets", as in I rarely ever reveal a lot of information about myself (I'm cringing as I type this), I remember numbers really easily. I don't understand jokes verbally, yet I am known for dry humor in my writing. I have always been slow to reach the different stages and skills of childhood--I was a late walker, talker, couldn't use utensils to save my life, learned to ride a bike when I was 12, couldn't tie my shoes till the 4th grade, didn't read till the 3rd grade, etc. I daydream half of my life and am a very active doer the other half (never an in between/no slacking). I am overly sensitive about everything and still give temper tantrums.

Throughout my life I have had one friend. So far I've had the same one for eight years and we don't spend much time together. But when we do we have little in common other than she has the ability to think abstractly and enjoys learning too (yet she has a learning disability).

Anyway, the reason why I don't think I'm strictly OCD is because I'm able to overcome most of the common symptoms other than obsessive thoughts/obsessions with things and that I feel more comfortable with a self-made schedule. I have lots of problems interacting socially and I think that effects my life more than my OCD (honestly, obsessive thoughts seem to have helped me succeed).

So yeah. What do you think?

I think you should consult with a qualified Psychologist. You could have several things going on including Asperger's Syndrome or some other things. Your brain obviously works in some unique ways. There may not even be an appropriate label, but you might learn some helpful things about how your mind works.

I've got a child who was non-verbal until he was 5 and is also prodigious in his studies. His IQ is fairly ordinary, but his abilities are far beyond what that test predicts. He is obsessed with human anatomy and sleeps with a copy of Grey's Anatomy, and has for more than a year now. He just turned 9. I've not rushed him to college early because my grandmother and I both did that and it didn't really serve us well in the end (which isn't to say that's how it'll be for you, that's just our family history). My grandmother finished what would be a Master's program today by the age of 17 at the top of her class at a very good school, but then I don't know that she was ever as happy as she could have been. I had an odd route through school and started college at sixteen, but then took a long time to finish stopping and starting different degrees.

The thing I notice about my son and my grandmother are that they are both extremely hard working. Their academic achievement may have come a bit more from drive and determination than pure brains, not that they aren't both brilliant, hard work just seems to play into it in a bigger way than usual. You seem to describe that same kind of drive.

I'd love to know what you find out about yourself. My little guy has done all kinds of testing and all we know is that he is not Neuro Typical. His pediatrician wanted to treat him for OCD, but I was pretty sure that wasn't right for him and didn't accept the treatment until consulting with more qualified specialists. His Psychiatrist had him down as PDD-NOS at one point but recent testing rules that out. He truly is a happy go lucky guy, he just thinks studying intense stuff is loads of fun. Calculus makes him giggle.

At this point he is very verbal. He has some relative difficulty with calculations and word aquisition, but even in those areas he has excellent test results. His working memory is OK but again, weak relative to his other abilities. All his other scores on the WIAT-II are in the high end of 1st percentile and that was when it was administered in an alternate way to more accurately measure prodigious ability. All that with a respectable above average IQ, also administered in the more open ended way.

Wait, I'm confused. So you didn't get him treated for OCD? Because if you didn't than I completely understand why. My mom's friend had a child with OCD, who was actually given medication, and the results were awful. The kid became a depressed lump on a log, until he was taken off. My mom has always tried to embrace my differences and I respect that about you. I'm sure many parents would freak out once they realized their child was different. However, it sounds like you and your family are a little different too.

Anybody who wasn't different would stand out in my family.

I did not get him treated for OCD. I got the prescription filled and gave him one dose, which he didn't react well to. I only did that much because his Psychiatrst, who treats all of our ADHD, had just had a heart attack and wasn't available to consult about it. My son was having horrible physical pain, and still is, every time he would get frustrated by the slow pace of his education at school and I was desperate enough to try one pill, but my son made it very clear it didn't feel right and that was the end of it. I forget exactly what he said, but it was a lot more than the usual adjustment to that kind of med. I'd already had him set up for testing with the Psychologist at that point because I wanted to have an official report to use for leverge to get him more challenges at school. Our district does not compact or accelerate curricula (which may change soon). He's out for the summer now but when classes start up I want him to do the fourth grade distance math program from Stanford in place of the regular fourth grade math at school. He can continue to do the regular gifted math, but it's about four grade levels below what he's supposed to be doing according to test results. I'm just waiting for final approval.

He is very social and likes his classmates. I want to keep him with his class, but also give him more challenges. He can do extra stuff at home, but that leaves him with a horribly long horribly boring school day to contend with. If we change one subject he's studying that should give him enough excitment to get through the day without loosing his mind.

To answer your original question more fully, you could have Asperger's, but this isn't a great way to diagnose that, and I'm not qualified even if it was. It sounds like you've got enough restrictive behavior and some of the other hallmarks of AS to have it, but your situation is more complex and really should be tested properly.

For instance, on an IQ test people with AS will have broad point spread. Some people can't take that test because of the way their sensory issues are involved or because of some other AS/Spectrum issues, but Aspies who can take it tend to have areas of relative strength vs relative weakness that are beyond the usual. My two Aspie children both have the same area of relative weakness: Cognitive Processing Speed. In the eldest that translates to a severe impairment. He has to have extra time to do things at school and has an IEP for that and other things. He has one area of tremendous strength and is avg/above average everywhere else. Middle son, also an Aspie, has relative weakness in that same area but it is still within normal range. He needs no accomodation for it. The rest of his IQ scores are very high, in the Superior/Very Superior range. Patterns can vary a lot but there should be at least one area that is very high relative to at least area that is relatively low. That's what our psychologist says, anyway.

Still, I see more similarities between yourself and my little guy who is the only one of my children who is not an Aspie to the best of our knowledge. However, he has incredible social skills. He was diagnosed as PDD-NOS, but that is apparently not the case. He's a gregarious bouncy kid who people tend to gravitate to, and not at all reclusive. It can be hard for him to live with a bunch of people who need to be alone and can be non communicative (My husband and I are not in the spectrum but by the end of the day we often want quiet). In that way he's quite different than how you describe yourself. However, his academic drive and some of his other behaviors sound a great deal like your description. You could have AS but also have some other special things going on in common with him.

You present an interesting case.

I'm not qualified to diagnose you.

But I would like to recommend a book I found very helpful in considering my own diagnosis. I was in denial for a long time and kept trying to find something that would indicate that I did not have asperger's. This book helped me to accept my own diagnosis because it made the differential between being profoundly gifted and having asperger's clear to me. As it turns out, I am both gifted and autistic. Some people who are profoundly gifted casually appear to have asperger's -- because there are many overlapping traits between the two -- but in reality are gifted but not autistic.

Perhaps this book will help you in better understanding your own situation as well.

Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, And Other Disorders
by James T. Webb et. al.

...even if it's just a look see from a therapist who deals with AS.

Honestly, I have a huge number of the characteristics listed by writers like Rudy Simone, but I don't have the sensory issues, food issues, sleeping issues, or problems with humour unless I'm preoccupied (which is frequent.) I'm like that because I'm gifted and sort of overly NT, if such a thing is possible.

I also have really NT eye contact and verbal skills. A psychologist told me so within five minutes of an initial interview.

There is nothing like a professional opinion!


(Although, the sensory issues tend to indicate AS in a big way)