Anyone else stress over not having been diagnosed?

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Arrrghhh!! ! Does anyone else stress over not having been diagnosed? I've never known any diferent in being me, always thought and felt like I do. Got told by some 'in the know' that I'm AS, and yet did n't do anything about it because I didn't know what they meant. Done AQ test twice on different sites, aspie tests ad infinitum, all point to me being AS. Now I've got to wait I dont know how long, to see someone who (knows in an NT sense) how to rcognise AS. I like bein me, AS is part of me, makes me who I am, and explains so much about me. Now I'm stressing over having commited to talk to a DR. about all my idiosyncrases. I want a diagnosis for the 'closure' aspect to it. Anyone else feel or felt the same?

HECK, I HAVE! I was like tony and tia in "escape to witch mountain".

This place is like that real estate office. I guess I called that number. But YEAH, I'd like to go all the way. But I don't want people to know I am an alien(Aspie). They might think I am a witch(autie) and think I am evil and a troublemaker(stupid), even if I just want to be with my own. BESIDES, I still have to go back to school(work). 8-( HECK, Aspies are supposed to be GOOD with non verbal language, but among their own!

Steve

First: there are many people out there who are different. For cases where there is an objective pathology, people receive help. An example is that aspergers is not something like mental retardation even though it causes some impairments, affecting your qaulity of life.

Second: I had my brain waves measured for biofeedback QEG work and they knew what was going on with me but they told me that my brain waves are in the range of normal. There is nothing pathological about my brain waves even though they are different. Now it popped into my mind to wonder if a QEG is something that the medical profession needs as an obligation. But my brain waves were normal and I have pretty bad problems.

It wasn't a revelation or anything... If I am having problems, it was me who was ignorant in knowing how to cope, too much variation from my family and peers, and the enviroment was to blame.

I can understand the feeling you have to explain your idiosyncrases. But people out there already know and some don't know how to apprehend to make you feel any better.

Nothing in the world is perfect... I think that many people know this - then they keep things to themselves and hide their real opinions and then pretend to act normal. I come more and more convinced of this through my intuition.

Perhaps you can try forming spiritual "beleifs" or form your life through religion / spirituality. What ever makes sense to you so that you can cope with life or understand the universe better(feels right to you) is always available to you.

Earthdweller,

giaam mentioned and I alluded to CLOSURE! Our expectations are reasonable, And suggesting the creation of a belief is a wortless and stupid idea.

Steve

I worded my suggestions as "perhaps". I didn't say how good of an idea they were. I suppose I was going off topic into my personal history of self-help... But thats all that I know..

Anyway, since aspies want to be among their own kind, I thought that there was that componant which had to do with the difference in NT behavior involved in creating a problem. Neither am I trying to promote "neurotypicalism". I don't call myself aspi or neurotypical or anything even though if my profile says so. Those are all the options used up. I wasn't trying to offend anyone "too much".

Giaam,

I think you have to do your research and decide if you trust the diagnostic process, will believe the diagnosis given and have a real need to know. If you do your research and find you don't believe in the diagnositc process currently used (or even those who give it), wouldn't trust the outcome anyway and don't feel it would really benefit you, then certainly it is not for you.

Have you made sure your insurance will cover it? I was warned by CARD that many insurance companies will not cover the cost and it will cost between $750 and $1200 (according to them). If you don't know, you might want to check your insurance policy before you go down that path. CARD was actually pretty discouraging to me. They were basically asking me why I would want to bother unless I have problems from it that are having really detrimental effects (can't hold a job, can't keep a marriage together, can't parent, etc.). I guess can't walk alone to my own car from work because I can't read a face or eyes to save my own life doesn't count. They were only one group though.

Just make sure that whatever you decide is because of you and no one else.

Last edited by ZanneMarie on 12 Mar 2007, 10:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

Until genetics or some type of brain scan is used for diagnosis, then a formal diagnosis does not really have much value. It may be another 'piece of evidence' that gives you some peace of mind.

In the medical profession there are many false positives for more 'easily diagnosed' conditions.
Given an official diagnosis, you still cannot be confident of 100% closure.
In fact if you do the maths, an official diagnosis would not increase your chances of having AS by much.

But if you think that it will give you peace of mind, then go ahead. But it is a 'false' peace of mind, and in the end what does it matter ?

I don't consider an official dx to be a "false" peace of mind. In my case, for instance, I need help, somehow, somewhere, and I don't feel I'm even close to getting it.

My insurance covers it if referred by a psychiatrist. Also the psychiatrist referred me to a hospital, maybe that affects coverage too. I had a choice of hospitals - a children's hospital or a loony bin. I'm waiting for an appointment with the loony bin, which has a shorter waiting list (7 mos so far).

I want Dx so that I can have access to occupational therapy.

For Dx, a lot rests on your infancy and childhood, since that's what they've researched the most. You may want to ask your family if you were a quiet baby and did you walk/talk early. Gather up whatever they remember, it will be useful for Dx. Also what you yourself remember.

I think that I might be going off topic but I see that "normalcy" may also be seen as some kind of disease. Normalcy keeps people from having other experiences beyond that for survival.

Many things come to mind when I think about this kind of stuff...

a. There is the route of blaming genes. Both genes and enviroment are seen as valid during different times and also based on different things. But the way that I personally find is valid in my stage in circumstances is that I find it ideal to blame people and the enviroment.

b. Genes and stuff like that may seem to be more of an application. But it goes both ways when forming an idea what the problems are.

I think that the clarity I think I know about what I mean is like, for example, that people who are "normal" can be said to be suffering of not being able to come out themselves. If people don't think and act like other people who are of much of a greater variation then an idea may form that there is, in some form or another, something wrong with them.

In terms of proving things, there may be a frustration with which way to go to start to form a conclusion. To say that there is something wrong with the enviroment could be thought of as a little strange. Who are the ones that will see this?

&

I learned from my personal experiences, among the little "games" that go on due to the fact that people take on a point of view, that the majority of people probably out there don't like it when if I talk about inheritance or that "this and that" is part of the germ-line. Its just for that it is based on stuff broadcast on the media and some kind of "intuition" I have of others psychology. Anyway, when I think about how to "validate" things on my personal level, maybe I can prove to people that there is something wrong with them? Thats what my experiences tells me about these people... Not sure really what I mean though.

I took one of those internet tests and my score was 41. What does thata mean/ will someone with a higher score be more affected than someone with a score of 32 for example?

Hi, my advice to you is to WRITE DOWN everything you and your parents/siblings can remember that was "different" about you from very early childhood on up to the present! TAKE THIS LIST WITH YOU TO THE APPOINTMENT and give the doctor an extra copy so you can look at it together!! Thank God I remember everything from my childhood, so I went in armed with 12 pages of typed info. If you go into the appointment without plenty of childhood facts, they'll most likely diagnose you with something else. Getting the actual diagnosis DID help give me closure, and most of all it gave an answer to my husband, my father, my co-workers, etc. It changed my life and relationships tremendously for the better by just getting a name for the way I am! Go to the appointment with as much objective, WRITTEN information about your childhood behaviors as possible. Don't even mention your present problems as an adult until the end. If you talk too much about how you feel now, they may just end up saying you have anxiety or whatever. Focus on childhood info!! Good luck!

I do, but I think if you figure out what AS/HFA means to you, how it affects your life, youlle be much more comfortable. And what I mean by that is what disabilities does AS affects you with. With me, Ide have to say that it limits my short term memory or controling my emotions. I mean, i can usually control my emotions, but if they get a hold of me its usually game over and i just have to wait it out. But of course, I'm sure there might be more things that i need to take note because I've only started a few weeks ago to try to understand myself better, or how i react in certain situations, due to just finding out that I am different, and HFA explains it perfectly.

Yes, I stress because for myself, I do not believe in self diagnosis... afterall, if one can self diagnose this, then people might go around diagnosing themselves with all manner of things, which totally invalidates the point of having specialists in these things...admittedly, some specialists are, well, less specialist than others, but just for myself, I will not believe myself to be AS fully until I have been told I am by someone who has spent years studying it...ie, Baron Cohen or somesuch. Mind, I think more irritating to me than the lack of diagnosis now is the fact that no-one did anything about my obvious issues when I was child... had I been of the withdrawn, quiet variety, you can guarantee it would have been done back then...but then, I don't think AS was much known about back in the early 80s and late 70s. To me, just fitting all the traits, and being able to say 'that's me' when looking through journals and books, isn't enough. I always needed what I have grown up to know as solid evidence, I suppose...ironic considering that in general, I have a loathing for the psychiatric profession.

And the lack of real solid evidence still....

Oh well....the conundrum goes on.


Hence the need to make your own decision Hamster!