high functioning aspergers or just severe adhd?

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babybuggy32
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09 Sep 2010, 5:15 pm

recently i have been thinking that aspergers might not be the best term to describe myself... i say this because i have been comparing myself to other aspies both in real life and online and i have noticed several distinct differences...

i don't think i have meltdowns as in i am able to control myself in public
i don't really have impaired social skills aside from shyness
i don't have many if any sensory problems aside from when bugs get on me...
i have average conversational skills and dont tend to get into monologues the way my aspie friends do...
i don't stim really but i do bite my nails
and this is the big one... i don't have any "special" interests i can get into things but thats about it
i cannot for the life of me stand repetition or routine or for that matter isolation i like to be very social

of course i was diagnosed with aspergers at about age 5 but i know at that age it can be hard to tell the difference between as and adhd

my question is is it possible for me to get undiagnosed or is it there for life?


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buryuntime
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09 Sep 2010, 5:28 pm

Go to someone that can diagnose Asperger's and they can diagnose you as neurotypical/non-AS.



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09 Sep 2010, 5:39 pm

I was diagnosed as having ADHD when I was five but when I got re-evaluated they said I had Aspergers not ADHD. Find someone who has dealt with Aspergers and ADHD I guess it is easy to get the two confused.


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10 Sep 2010, 2:56 am

It seems to me that it would be pretty easy to get re-evaluated. A counselor once told me that people's diagnosis' change all the time when newer information is known.


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10 Sep 2010, 8:20 am

Don't go by what you are NOT, which is what you are doing. Go by what you ARE. Read the DSM and look at what does fit. It's what does fit that matters, not what doesn't.

Try an online screening test or two as well.

If you still are unsure, and it's really that important to you, have yourself reevaluated. It's expensive though, and tough to get covered by insurance. You may not think it's that important when you find out how much it costs.


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10 Sep 2010, 10:54 am

If you believe you've been misdiagnosed, or that you have ADHD in addition to autistic traits that are not clinically significant by themselves, you could easily go to a psychologist and ask to be re-evaluated. I only recommend this if you need help for the ADHD-like traits you're mentioning; otherwise, why bother? Shrinks are expensive.

A diagnosis isn't something that sticks to you for life; it's simply a note in your medical records. Unless your country automatically transfers these records from doctor to doctor, there's no need to get "undiagnosed", since you're likely no longer seeing the doctor who diagnosed you when you were five. It will be in the record of any doctor where you were diagnosed or treated for AS, or any doctor where you put that down as a pre-existing condition on your forms. Any other doctor should have no record of it, and re-evaluation should be unnecessary since you're not in need of assistance for anything related to that childhood diagnosis.


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10 Sep 2010, 12:20 pm

nvld lacks a lot of the these things as well, but is similar to AS


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10 Sep 2010, 2:23 pm

You don't have some of the criteria for Aspergers, but that doesn't necessarily mean you don't have Aspergers. Few if any people fit 100% of the criteria. I suspect you may be right, but you'll need to be re-evaluated to know for sure. Forum members and online tests can only take an educated guess.



babybuggy32
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10 Sep 2010, 4:53 pm

actually i just got diagnosed with adhd combined type and im now on meds and i feel a world better, like i can finally function like a normal person. it has solved a lot of my problems. as for the as, he said its possible to have both but he wasn't sure if i had it or not because thats not what he was evaluating me for...


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10 Sep 2010, 4:56 pm

Lucky you, responding to meds that well! I'm ADHD-Primarily Inattentive, and all they do for me is give me a bit of an edge. I still have to work nearly as hard as without meds.


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10 Sep 2010, 5:26 pm

Quote:
i don't think i have meltdowns as in i am able to control myself in public
i don't really have impaired social skills aside from shyness
i don't have many if any sensory problems aside from when bugs get on me...
i have average conversational skills and dont tend to get into monologues the way my aspie friends do...
i don't stim really but i do bite my nails
and this is the big one... i don't have any "special" interests i can get into things but thats about it
i cannot for the life of me stand repetition or routine or for that matter isolation i like to be very social


Most Aspies do not have meltdowns (I think). I come forward as a bit 'clumsy' (bad posture), have problems with eye contact. You'd find that most aspies do have problems reading non-verbal cues/keeping eye-contact. Verbally however I'd say I'm above average. I don't have any signifigant sensory issues (and I don't think most aspies do either - instead they're easily overstimulated/irritated by certain types of stimuli). People with 'mild' aspergers usually grow out of the monologue-thing and learn conversational skills. Some have never been affected by it at all. Biting nails is often a way to deal with anxiety (and I don't stim myself).
About special (whats so special about it?)-interests, that's a common factor, but then again intelligence has been proven to correlate positively with mental flexibility (yet it's often seen that highly intelligent NTs often have special interests). Routine is a hate-love relationship. I'm not very found of routine, but it does make my life easier. Liking to be social (and not being unable to socialize due to poor social skills/anxiety) is the 'big one' (not special interest). If this is true (and not a delusion/result of poor judgement), then some psychiatrists would undiagnose you based on that alone. Lack of ability or will to pursue relationships and the ability to connect with others is very integral to AS/autism. Just my 2 cents - good luck with your diagnose.



nova2012
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10 Sep 2010, 5:33 pm

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, OP, although because I have severe social anxiety, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, to get at the heart of whatever it is that I "have." It's extremely frustrating, but I do suspect I have a lot of AS-like features: seeing patterns in things, sometimes getting wrapped up in trance-like, nonfunctional behaviors like checking the values of random homes I'm interested in/researching (I'm in real estate), rather than actually doing meaningful things to get more business, feeling like my mind is restricted by some intangible barrier or something, etc. It's tough, because I believe my cognitive patterns differ considerably from most others, so all the standard, cliche pieces of advice they offer (particularly the one about "everybody's[/I've] gone through that") don't really apply, since I can't apply them to my mind in the same way they can. The world was designed for NT people, and we'll always feel out of place... :(

I wasn't diagnosed with it as a kid, but several of my teachers/principals, at parent-teacher conferences, would tell them that they should investigate ritalin/ADHD as a remedy to my problems. Apparently they thought I was socially functional, although that was only the case on the surface. I could never really fit in with cliques and so I wandered aimlessly between them, trying hopelessly to at least blend in so I wouldn't be ostracized completely. It wasn't much fun. I always felt horrible that I wasn't invited to so-and-so's party or didn't know what was going on in the school's social scene, and it bothered me immensely. Once I even brought up the fact that I wasn't invited to this party to someone I considered a friend (at least in school), and he made up some B.S. that hadn't I gotten it? He'd mailed the invitation weeks ago. I can't remember (and I hope I didn't), but I don't think I bought that one. :roll: I wasn't that naive.



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10 Sep 2010, 7:16 pm

I don't really get, "is it there for life".

If you met the criteria for AS at age 5 then 'it' is there for life, you've just grown up and changed. Perhaps you were misdiagnosed but I think most aspies had more severe traits in childhood.

Asperger's IS your brain, it isn't really something you have. Your brain has developed and changed with you throughout your life, but you will always have AS traits even if you don't fit the label perfectly anymore. What difference does it really make? IMO certain kinds of ADHD and mild AS can be so similar that neither label really fits, I think I'm definitely RIGHT between the two. Possibly NVLD but I do have special interests, sort of.