When did your problems start?

Post Reply New Topic

I would say there were first definite signs of my being different than my peers around the age of 8 . It may have been earlier though because my memories before the age of 8 are extremely hazy. What would come under the heading of overt psychiatric problems started just before I was 14 though I didn't see a pdoc till just before I was 17.
The psych problems I believe were due to negative peer reactions to being different than my peers.
As far back as I can remember I have been a little or more socially out of sync and had difficulty interacting with others.

I would say my first differences that I was aware of were physical rather than social.

Definetly by age 3, I noticed that I was clumsier and fell more than the other kids did. Well, all the adults pointed it out to me, so I became aware. I noticed that adults also told me that I walked and stood in the "wrong" ways but did not tell other kids those things. I also did a lot of fine, gross, and oral motor tasks more slowly than my peers, which were also pointed out for me to fix.

However, my grandfather, when I was around 2, said to my father that he feels there's something different about me.

Either in toddlerhood or infancy.

I was a flagrant autistic person until the age of 5.

I was definitely poorly coordinated. My mother frequently described me as an awkward baby,toddler,child,teenager etc.
I have lost count of the number of times I was told how difficult I was to get off to sleep as a baby.

I think this is the deal breaker on whether I have ASD or not. I don't believe I had any problems before I was 16 ( unless you call pulling a knife on your mums boyfriend to stop him abusing her , staying up all night on a games console then bunking off school the next day so I can sleep - this happened for weeks and still don't know how I didn't get caught ) , if I did I was in denial.

From the age of 16 I drank and took drugs to excess until my mind couldn't take it anymore and I had a psychotic break and broke my brain and it's never been the same since. No shrink has ever mentioned ASD to me and I have been fed antipsychotics for years , I thought I was being treated for schizophrenia but no shrink ever gave me that diagnosis , after my last breakdown my GF made me ask if they thought I had schizophrenia and they said no.

After some research my GF told me to look into ASD and it seemed to fit except for no evidence of it in childhood. My mother never suspected anything but my GF told me about being able to mask and hide your ASD by using logic rather than emotion and ASD wasn't well documented back then.

I seriously doubt it's possible to have ASD and not know it and still keep your issues hidden as if it's normal. Although I've read that this happens to females with ASD as they are more social???

Before school I was very shy with everyone and would hide behind my mother. When school started, it became apparent that I was different. All the other kids easily grouped into friends, but I did not. I remember telling my mom that I didn't know how to make friends.

I was not clumsy per se, but I don't know anyone else that's been hit in the head with a basketball as much as I have. I felt stupid doing any sport.

I was a sad kid. For as long as I can remember I was in a slight depression, between the ages of 5 an 9 it must have been.

I had insomnia as a kid. I had tummy aches and very frequent headaches.

I remember thinking why wasn't I picked for the smart classes when I was as smart as or smarter than those kids? It was because I didn't talk much and was selectively mute.

It wasn't until I started winning math competitions that anyone took notice of my capacity.

As a teen the bigger problems began. These led to depression and attempted suicide. School was rough.

I remember it being around the age of 4. As soon as I started school and was expected to socialize and interact with other students. I never desired or initiated interactions and was content by myself in my own world. That didn't really change much until I was a lot older.

There is a video of me as a little kid, and it's so ridiculously obvious in it that I have Asperger's. I was obsessed with cars and could name them all; I would constantly ask strangers what kinds of cars they drove. I would push toy cars down the track I had for hours on end, watching the wheels spin. Then it showed me rattling off everyone's house numbers (my next special interest). I was also an extremely early reader, like most of us, and in preschool, I would sit by myself and read. The teachers tried to get me to play with other kids, but I didn't mesh well with them. My mom knew I was different, but she didn't realize how different because she didn't have any other kids, so I didn't get diagnosed until I was 13.

A lot of respondents are addressing "When were your differences noticed?" rather than "When did your problems start?". Did those two things really occur simultaneously?

I can distinctly remember differences at the age of 5.

At the age of 3 I did have different interests to the rest of my peers at nursery school, but I was 5 when I was first bullied. I became the target of one particular girl at that age, but also didn't enjoy the same games as the others my age.

But, it wasn't a huge problem. Apart from that one girl, most children tended not to outright pick on me even if I chose not to join in with their games.

Things got significantly worse when I was 6, but that's also when we moved across the country and I started a new school, AND when my home life became abusive and traumatic, so I can't say how much was a natural progression and how much was accelerated by all of that. That's when the bullying became very severe, and I really struggled and stuck out, and when my academic attainment skyrocketed.

No one minds my 'problems' nor seen many things as a problem, so I don't know when it truly started other than either when I first started school at 5 when I started going home angry or crying except people think I'm just moody instead, or at 8 when I got suspicious about different and denied it, and became insomniac, or at 10 where it's clear that I gotten angry, aggressive, no longer sensory-seeking, and started to get anxious on things, and reason things out.


No one minds my problems at first.
Because I got popular. Because I don't academically struggle. Because I'm not clumsy. Because I have enough natural charm that my social cluelessness and oddity was overlooked back then. Because I have knacks that people would've want to have for themselves. Because I'm just a bit odd than rebellious compared to my NT sister who is more fussier and needy than me. Because my 'meltdowns' are 'justified' and others had defended me for it and overlooks it as just being 'moody'. Because I was 'strong', physically and mentally. People simply overlooked most of my 'deficits'. Because I was 'lucky'.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

Before I was born. I wouldn't leave my mom's uterus so I got sick from being stressed so I had to be pulled out with forceps and had to be in intensive care. But I made it through and was fine for a while until around nine months when I started having ear infections and fevers and things were different for me.

I was very active, even in utero. I think I first noticed I was different socially from other kids when I was in the fourth grade.