Advice? (...or does this sound familiar?)

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otto
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10 Aug 2007, 1:38 pm

A while ago I dated a girl who was a speech pathologist that specialized in autistics disorders. She often told me that she thought that I was autistic and I remember her mentioning Asperger's specifically. I have been diagnosed with any number of different conditions, most prevalently ADD (now ADHD), but I am beginning to wonder if I was mis-diagnosed. More specifically I am wondering, after having read some literature on the subject, if I should have been diagnosed with autism? Here is a short list of some reasons that I am thinking this:

I have a very strong sense of patterns. As an example when I am waling on the sidewalk I often find four-leaf clovers; not necessarily from looking at them, they just 'catch m eye' when I walk by.

I am horrible with faces/names. I can't remember people well at all and have a hard time recognizing people. This is such that if I have known someone for years and they change their haircut I can't recognize them until they talk (voices I recognize well).

I am infatuated with sound. I write electronic music, and am endlessly intrigued by the texture of sound. I have always had an obsession with musics and used to fashion home-made speaker systems in my room so that I could stay in there all night and listen in solace. Noting appeases me more than just sitting in quiet listening to music.

I am very awkward in social settings. Despite many attempts to figure out how to talk to people I just can't seem to get a handle on this. If I know someone very well, I can talk to them fine but even amongst many of my friends I just can;t think of what to say. I am not even sure how to explain this precisely but when I am in a conversation I spend the bulk of the time deciding what I should say, but I often just draw blanks, I don't have any words...weird...
I do relate very well to animals, though. People are often amazed by how much animal like me, they come up to me when I am walking, my cats follow me everywhere, etc...

I am good at math and science. Maybe this is trivial but I have read that this is a common thread in autism. Right now I am a senior in college (I dropped out when I was 18 and then went back around 27 or 28) studying electrical engineering and physics. I am also a research fellow and seem to do well in this field. I am also a member of MENSA, though I am not sure if this is related.

I think I have some OCD characteristics. Nothing huge, but I am very insistent on everything being ordered just right in my house, I always wash my hands twice when I wash them, and soap twice in the shower, etc...

I have certain repetitive tendencies. I rock back and forth a lot, which I have seen references to in literature. I also count a lot. Mostly to myself, but, for example, if I need to pass time I will quietly count to myself. sometimes I will go in loops, like count down from 20, then up, then repeat. I don't know why I do it, but I do. I also imagine lines when I am walking that I don't like to step on. Not necessarily the cracks in the sidewalks, but the diagonals, or along natural lines in tile patterns and the like (sometimes I just walk in the grass to avoid the lines all together).

This is a brief list, there are other reasons for my thinking I may have been wrongly diagnosed, but I think it is a good synopsis. Most of these things are not bad, of course, but my social awkwardness really is and is causing me a lot (LOT) of personal strain and stress.



Aradford
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10 Aug 2007, 1:56 pm

Just read the wikipedia on autism and asperger, then read the dsm, then read a bit more.... it's written so anyone can understand it... you know yourself more than anyone... right?



girl7000
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10 Aug 2007, 2:02 pm

otto wrote:

I am horrible with faces/names. I can't remember people well at all and have a hard time recognizing people. This is such that if I have known someone for years and they change their haircut I can't recognize them until they talk (voices I recognize well).

I am infatuated with sound. I write electronic music, and am endlessly intrigued by the texture of sound. I have always had an obsession with musics and used to fashion home-made speaker systems in my room so that I could stay in there all night and listen in solace. Noting appeases me more than just sitting in quiet listening to music.



Hi, welcome to WP!

I have these issues too, and I have a diagnosis of AS.

I love sound too and I compose electronic music and modernist classical music.



otto
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10 Aug 2007, 2:04 pm

I do and I did, but can anyone really diagnose themselves? More to the point, those posts speak to generalities, I was hoping that I could get some input with people who have actually experienced those symptoms and know if they sound similar to what I expected. The wiki site and other sites I have read all seem to place me firmly in the AS category, but would a psychiatrist place me there? I don't know.
Anyways, I was just hoping for some input from people who might have had similar symptoms/ experience (or who would say that doesn't sound like AS at all).



Aradford
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10 Aug 2007, 2:09 pm

I don't see why not, I diagnosed myself... It's not a professional diagnosis, but I could literally walk into a psychiatrist and be diagnosed within 2 sessions.. I might even BECOME a clinical psyc so I can just diagnose myself officially.