Do I really have AS?
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums. To get to the point, basically, I was diagnosed with Aspergers when I was like 7 or 8 but now I'm totally unsure of whether I actually have it or not. I can be a little socially awkward at times, but then again who isn't? I would say I understand social situations pretty well in general. I don't really have any obsessions that I can think of. The thing that bothers me the most about my diagnosis is that I have absolutely no "need" for routine or other compulsions, which I thought is a major factor in diagnosing AS? I have no daily routine to speak of, unless you count standard stuff like showering, brushing my teeth etc. I don't care about different foods touching each other or anything like that. I'm also really impulsive, something which I've heard people with AS typically aren't; I'm not really repetitive. I don't make any "odd" hand movements like twisting or flapping etc.
Soooooooo, the reason I'm boring everyone with my life story is that I want to know, is anyone else in the same boat as me? How dominant are compulsions in your lives?
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Yeah I suppose I should probably list some ways I do fit with the diagnosis:
I get kind of tense around people I don't know and can be fairly shy
I don't find making eye contact hard at all but I sometimes realise that I'm not really making it that often
My motor skills are kind of poor
However, I think I was originally taken for screening because I had a really short temper and thought people were making fun of me a lot. I've found out that this isn't a diagnostic criterion for Aspergers, rather more likely for PTSD, making me think I could potentially have that. I have no memory of anything traumatic happening to me but then again a) memories can be repressed and b) I've got a few deep looking and unexplained scars, so I could have had some sort of bad accident as a very young child that I can't remember or something. I've been obsessing over it a lot recently (probably a lot more than is healthy), because some guy at my uni has very obvious AS and people tend to make fun of it behind my back. Being a social bloke (and, admittedly, a little insecure) I would rather "normal" people didn't consider me weird or anything - you all know how they can treat anyone the slightest bit different!
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Diabolikal
Deinonychus
Joined: 15 Aug 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 304
Location: Los Angeles CA, Somewhere in Universe
Are you diagnosed with AS? If so, has anyone ever addressed any anger issues you might have?
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I think the preoccupation with the label goes a little too far some times. It is a spectrum, so you can have lots of debilitating traits or very few. If you have no problem living life and don't need assistance, then you would not be diagnosed.
Has your brain developed differently from most people? Maybe or maybe not. Does it matter? That's up to you to decide.
Now if you're trying to get official medical recognition that you don't have AS, that's a different story. It sounds like you just don't want to be labeled. In which case I would scratch the label from my vocabulary and carry on.
I just took that RDOS test thing and only scored like 44 for ASD and 175 or something for NT. Double checked on that AQ test thing and got 4, the same score I've got when I've taken it (recently-ish) in the past. It seems fairly likely that I don't actually have AS, down to the results of them tests and cos I am good at reading people. ADHD, on the other hand, could be possible, as could PTSD (but that just raises more questions, like what the hell caused me to have PTSD in the first place?) I'm a complicated b*st*rd, got a few issues, so I know I've most likely got some sort of neurological differences to NTs (depression etc) but ah well. As long as people don't judge me I should be fine.
Cheers for your help everyone, good luck with your lives!
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I am no longer using this account or this website. Do not bother contacting me because any messages will be ignored. The fact that you can't delete your profile while all your information is retained is also disgraceful.
