Yet another "Do I have Asperger's?"

Post Reply New Topic

Hello, I believe I may have Asperger's. Below is my story and the online quiz's I have taken.

Every single illness I have I self diagnosed before a doctor verified it. It's gotten to the point where not only does my family tell me to stop self-diagnosing, my psychiatrist is now making jokes that I would make a horrible doctor because I would "give" myself every last disease in the book." She makes me feel like an idiot for even thinking I might be AS. Not to mention, the test will be so very expensive that I'll have to save up for it for a very long time.

In the past few years I have been diagnosed with:

Physical: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. (I'm basically disabled)

Mental: Bi-polar, Major Depression, General Anxiety, Social Anxiety, PTSD and OCD.

My psych says I possibly have ADD (I'm on Adderall) and dyscalculia.

As a child all I wanted to do was be left alone so I could read sci-fi and fantasy books. I wrote a scifi story in elementary school that my teacher called my mother about because it was "too detailed and knowledgeable for a kid to write." In middle school I talked to my friends a lot but I also felt like an outsider at the same time. As a highschooler I felt even more of an outsider, although I was one of the "cool kids" that dyed their hair, wore fishnet clothing, black lipstick, etc.

As an adult I have a lot of problems with knowing what to say and when to say it, getting along with my husbands family (not in the typical way. they are just too sociable!), telling my friends that they are being idiots when they are, etc. I'm an artist, sci-fi and comic book fiend, and wear fashionable clothing and makeup.

I am highly attuned to my own emotions and I do decently with my husbands emotions (his face is super easy to read as he wears his heart on his sleeve) but other people including my 8 year old daughter confuse me and sometimes frighten me.

The story goes on and on.

Some things against having AS is the fact that I have multiple obsessions and I switch from one to another compulsively.

My test scores:

Aspie Quiz; Your Aspie score: 170 of 200, neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 42 of 200

NT quiz: 8% neurotypical

AQ quiz: 41

Emotional Intelligence Quiz: 41

EQSQ Quiz: EQ = 20 SQ =88 Extreme Systemizing

Highly Sensitive Person Test 23/14

Mind in The Eyes test: 22, the lowest score to be normal. I was happy I barely passed this, although it was a very hard test because I was getting severely anxious looking at all of the eyes. By the end of the test I had to pop a Xanax.

Anyway, I guess I'm just looking for validation. Sorry if I wasted your time. :S

Sure sounds like it to me. But I am not somebody who can give you a dx..

Sincerely,
Matthew

First my sympathy to you for having Fibro...my wife does also and it's a horrible condition.

Second...Just by reading your descriptions I would say you either have it and have adapted better than a lot of us to overcoming the shortcomings, or you are just in range and have some of the traits.

Your husband should feel lucky that you can read him because I cannot read my wife 90% of time and usually kid around when I shouldn't and take offense when she is just kidding.

Funny about the Sci-Fi, as an early teen I read the entire Sci-Fi section in our small local library.

You sound like you are on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum to me. As for multiple obsessions at a time, that is possible on the spectrum. You may want to consult with another psych doc, as the one you are going to doesn't seem to take you seriously. There is nothing wrong with doing a preliminary self diagnosis when you have actually done some research to find out about a problem or group of problems you may have. This is what it sounds like you did. You also did the proper thing in then discussing your problems and your preliminary research results with the doctor. Unfortunately, this particular doctor seems to not respect you. Personally, I would prefer a patient who at least tried to get informed, as long as I--if I were the doctor--were kept in the loop. You did this, but your doc is just brushing you off. So you really do need a second opinion.

I have a number of health problems besides Asperger's. I have done some research on all of my problems. I don't over whelm the doctors with details, but I have discussed things with them. I feel that my own research helped me understand my issues better, and helped me deal with my problems better, too. Not really knowing anything about my problems would make me uncomfortable.

I had a female bleeding problem some years ago that got worse and worse. I researched it while trying to qualify for Medicaid. Once I was on Medicaid I got help. I had an ultrasound, which led to a DNC. The biopsy showed cancer, so I had to have a complete hysterectomy. I know for an absolute fact that my research online helped me deal with this. I felt better informed, and I had fewer questions that I needed to ask the doctors, and I was better able to understand what they were saying in my doctor visits. Because of this I was able to keep fairly calm through this tough time. The docs and my family were surprised at how well I handled things. Being in the dark on stuff is not good. It leads to greater stress. Being better informed reduces stress, even when the info is bad--like a cancer diagnosis.

Doctors sometimes do tend to see patients who have a lot of real problems as being at least a little bit of a hypochondriac, when they bring additional real problems to the doctor's attention. This appears to be the situation in your case.

You really do need a second opinion on your potential Asperger's diagnosis. Hope you find someone more helpful, soon.

questor is right
I have multiple obsessions that switch compulsively and I see that many other Aspies do as well(though certainly not all)

You can find a home here...I did.

Thanks for the answers! It's nice to know that I'm probably not a hypochondriac.

@questor: I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. It sounds scary!