How did you feel when you were diagnosed?

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I got diagnosed at 8 years old, with Dyspraxia and mild AS. I have searched the forum on this topic, but the ones I found were either ''out of date'' , or not quite what I wanted. I know most people seemed to have been diagnosed in teens, early adulthood or even later on in life, but although they say it's better to be diagnosed as a young child (which it probably is), I still think that everybody felt differently about their diagnosis, whatever age they were diagnosed at. (Diagnosing toddlers - forget it!)

But anyway I just wanted to know how you felt when you were diagnosed. How did you think of it? Did you feel different afterwards? Did you feel relieved? Or confused? Or curious? Did you become obsessed, or did you use neurology as your special interest? Did you become excited? Or depressed? Or aren't you bothered? When I was first diagnosed I felt like I was the only person in the world with it (since I had lots of cousins and a sibling who are all NTs, and I went to mainstream school). I never knew one other person with it, and although I knew that there are other Aspies out there, it still felt like I was the only one.

From the age of 4 to when I was diagnosed, I always felt left out. I didn't really feel different as such, because I knew that all the others were children just like me, who liked playing the same as I did, and could read and write just like me (although I was a bit slower than most of the others), and my speech wasn't delayed or anything. But in some ways, I felt rather left out. I was always found playing by myself, although I did play with other children some of the time. Also I felt like I was younger than the rest of the children in my class, although I was the same age (my birthday is in April, so I was neither the youngest of the oldest). But I still felt, like, 4 years younger - not physically, but just emotionally. Everyone else seemed ahead of me at maths, reading, writing, and practical tasks. And they seemed to have got used to my reactions at loud noise and those social sorts of games we done in PE, and that was when I realised that something was wrong with me, since nobody else reacted to those. I was always crying too, just for no reason. And that was why I felt younger, because the others only cried if they hurt themselves, or if they didn't want eachother to play, or if they got told off, ect. But I reacted to everything (including those). Once I started crying because another child was sick.
Although I didn't think my social interaction was that bad (because I did participate in activities and talk normally), but something about me can't have felt right to them, due to the lack of friends I had (although I was liked).
But as soon as I was diagnosed, although I hated the diagnosis, I still felt it was an explanation to how I have been feeling. And then I didn't feel younger any more, and I got told by the doctors, therapists, helpers at school, and my mum, that I was just like any other child, except with a few difficulties and some anxieties about specific things, and that made me feel better, although I didn't really want to talk about it or bring it up to anyone - until just over a year ago, when I found WP and knew that there are others out there who face the same sorts of challenges I do.

I'm surprised there isnt a more up to date version of this aswell, i suppose its a question we're alll asked often enough.

I was very happy, because I finally understood myself and why I was struggling to cope with everything happening to me when other people seemed to be able to hack it.
I was diagnosed informally roughly over a month ago, formally diagnosed last week, though is was sort of a sure thing before then.

I felt vindicated and validated, but at that point I had done a lot of research to confirm it for myself and already knew the answer. It was more a matter of confirmation.

Since I can't choose not to be autistic, the diagnosis itself doesn't bother me.

I'm 99.999999999999999999% sure that I may be infact an Aspie. Not to hijack the thread, but how did you guys get diagnosed? My hospital has an autism clinic so I am trying to figure out how to get evaluated.

In denial.

Got diagnosed by psychologist at place I was seeing therapist after suicidal episode. You could start by asking your general doctor for a referral I think though.

Relieved. At last I had a name for my pain.

ruveyn

I was 22 when I first heard about Asperger's and was terribly excited about it, since I had long wondered if there was a milder form of autism, as that would explain my personality quite well. After that, I didn't bother to go for a diagnosis for two years. When I got one it didn't really change anything, although I was relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about being misdiagnosed with something inappropriate.

I'll have to wait until I can afford the psychiatrist bill.

I was diagnosed on Wednesday at the age of 42 (almost 43).
I felt a little relieved that my suspicions were confirmed and that despite AS/ADHD I've made it this far I don't see it as a disability.

i got diagnosed when i was a kid so i didn't know what it meant. a few months ago i became curious and started looking for answers and did some research. i don't know why i say this but i think i would have prefered to go undiagnosed looking back on things.

I don't remember how I felt. I was 5 and I didn't know what it meant.

It was pretty recent, but I didn't feel much, it just sort of connected all the random data points, so to speak.

It made a lot of sense, though.

I felt like it fit, like it described me perfectly. But what I read about it scared the crap out of me, and I had to take a long time (almost a year) to accept that Asperger's Disorder was my reality.

I haven't been diagnosed officially yet, but finding out about AS has really changed the way I think about myself. The only thing I can compare it to would be to crunch a whole bunch of complex data through a supercomputer and find an explanation for all of the mysteries of the universe, everything from dark matter to quantum mechanics.

We have no understanding of what these mysteries could be and how they work, we just observe them and ponder over what we do not know. My personality has been the same way. There were so many things about myself that I could not understand, but AS is the one explanation to everything that makes sense of it all.

I was approached by friends in the Human Development and Family Studies / Education fields and they told me that they suspected I had Aspergers Syndrome. I was shocked, but yet I could see where they were coming from because I always wondered about myself whenever I read the dx criteria for it. Yet I always thought I met the criteria only at a subthreshold level.

I got diagnosed with PPD-NOS almost 10 months ago.

I was relieved because I had answers to why I did certain things like have special interests and why I had issues in the social arena.

Yet there was a grief process as I was grieving the fact that I wasn't 'normal.'

There was a lot that I had to process through with working through my identity and how this piece of an autism spectrum disorder fit into my identity.

Overall, I'm glad I got the diagnosis.

The long story is here for anyone who would like to know more in depth of how I felt etc.

Same for me. Considering the terrible state I was in that convinced my parents to get me diagnosed, I would've been far more upset if I didnt have AS. It would've meant all the crap I got for things I didnt understand really was my fault.