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Dots
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13 May 2014, 9:53 am

I posted this in the Other Disorders section but got no response, so I figured I'd try it here.

I'm still unsure as to whether the ASD diagnosis was a misdiagnosis, every doctor I've seen since says there's no way it's accurate. I might be ADHD instead. My grade school report cards, which I recently unearthed, support that.

I think I've read that stimming is present in other subsets of the general population? In any case, I have comorbid Bipolar Disorder and I've found that since I started on Abilify several weeks ago, I have been stimming a lot more, and it's more unconscious.

My psychiatrist has warned me that Abilify is an activating antipsychotic, and that it might wind me up, but I've found that I've been more tired. Maybe the increased stimming is from the activating effect?


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Transgender. Call me 'he' please. I'm a guy.
Diagnosed Bipolar and Aspergers (questioning the ASD diagnosis).

Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire.
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MathGirl
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13 May 2014, 10:19 am

Yeah, stimming is also present in ADHD and some NTs do it more than others, I've noticed.

Did you get diagnosed in about an hour to hour and a half without having been given any standardized ASD assessments (e.g. ADOS, SRS) or other test batteries such as Raven's progressive matrices? If you were diagnosed solely through an interview and in a short period of time, then it is possible that you were misdiagnosed. I think you've changed a lot since when I met you first and maybe back then, you just had more behaviours resembling ASD but they were temporary. Unstructured interview-based assessments and diagnoses are highly biased.


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Leading a double life and loving it (but exhausted).

Likely ADHD instead of what I've been diagnosed with before.


Dots
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13 May 2014, 2:21 pm

Yes, the diagnosis was just an interview, and I believe my bipolar diagnosis and possible ADHD combined could have also biased the interview. I found a ton of report cards and a developmental chart recently - the only developmental milestone I missed was turning to respond to sound, and sitting unaided, but I was also 3 months premature so they were expecting more delays than that. And the report cards reflect ADHD much more than ASD - every year there were comments about not being able to stay on task, losing interest, being disorganized, forgetting class materials at home and homework at school.

What's that old adage, if you hang around a barbershop, expect to get a haircut? Maybe going to an ASD specialist combined with his testing methods biases the results towards an ASD diagnosis?

My old OT suggested ADHD last year and wanted me to get tested, but my psych nurse refused and said you can't have both ASD and ADHD. I've just had a major med change, so I'm going to wait a few months to make sure things are going well, and then I'm going to ask to be referred for neuropsych testing to rule out the ASD diagnosis and look for ADHD. It'll take some speaking up for myself, my psych team is against labels.


_________________
Transgender. Call me 'he' please. I'm a guy.
Diagnosed Bipolar and Aspergers (questioning the ASD diagnosis).

Free speech means the right to shout 'theatre' in a crowded fire.
--Abbie Hoffman