How much did you wait before you were diagnosed AS?

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Hi everybody
So, how much time did you wait until you were diagnosed AS since you've seen your first doctor ?
What were you diagnosed before ?
This topic is primarily for people who are currently diagnosed, but NTs, non-diagnosed AS, well everybody can participate.

This is my case :

I've been fist seen by the school psychologist who made me pass a I.Q. test, and, because I had high results, thought my problems were because of this. I wasn't put on medicine. When I moved to China, I got anxiety and paranoia due to others bullying me and thus we saw a psychiatrist who didn't knew what I had.
She put me on Risperdal, and Alprazolam for my anxiety (it was a really bad one). When I moved again to Qatar, I've seen numerous psychologists, psychiatrists, and the zealots of the non-existence of AS (I've always seen French-speaking psychiatrist until I was diagnosed AS). I've been put on Tegretol...
Without stopping Risperdal. In September 2008, I went back to France to have a correct diagnosis, and I was that time diagnosed ADHD...
I stopped Risperdal, took Ritalin, who just rose my aggressiveness, and we saw in Urgency my actual doctor, who studied in UK.
In two meetings, he diagnosed me AS. Now, I'm taking Abilify, and I'm feeling very good with it, but the best would be that I don't take any medicine, but it's not possible right at the moment because I was being too aggressive, feeling magnificent, super-intelligent, and superior to others.( And I didn't mind saying it to the others)

In total, I waited 8 years, without knowing my problem, with all the frustration that comes with it.
But I'm sure some of you waited much more than me.

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking as obviously you have a unique case. I was diagnosed within a few minutes of discussing Aspergers with a MD and then went to a neuropsychologist who diagnosed me a month after I had 6 hours of testing with them.

The big question is why are your parents putting you through hell moving from one country to another? This is wrong as they are causing your anxiety issues. Any youngster forced to move from one culture to another is likely to face ridicule from the locals. Kids should not be subjected to such; it is child abuse to continually be moved around.

Well, I was put on a 2-year waiting list before I could get oficially diagnosed.

American here.

THE FOLLOWING IS NOT INTENDED TO OFFEND:

The first indication that I had anything was my questioning of the Pledge of Allegiance in preschool. Admittedly, I didn't understand what it meant (how many children know the definition of 'indivisible' let alone can pronounce it?) or, more importantly, why I had to say it. Needless to say, when I asked my teachers about this, they became instantly angry, sent me to the principal's office, and didn't attempt to answer a simply stated question. I'm still confused as to why it's used.

Later in elementary school, I was forced to take a series of tests (IQ and not sure what the others were) because I 'would do things differently than the way the teachers taught." I was told I was 'intelligent but socially inept." Bear in mind this was before 1994 (the year the U.S. first officially recognized Asperger's Syndrome's existence).

There were numerous other things that happened, but I was officially diagnosed in 2007 (this is also when I first heard about it). The therapist turned out to be useless (outside of the diagnosis) and she only wanted to try to convince me to waste my time becoming political (as a side note, politics are VERY boring and always seem like I would have to severely drop my IQ score to get into it).

It's a shame that those that are being harrassed and bullied are the ones prescribed medication.

Don't tell me that has to do with the NHS.

I was 12 when diagnosed but I was very difficult to diagnose because of my history of hearing loss. Then I was developmentally delayed so it was hard to tell if I was on the spectrum or not.
Aspergers isn't a true diagnoses because who knows how I would have turned out without the hearing loss. Doctors say I would have recovered from the symptoms a long time ago if I weren't on the spectrum. So would I still have been AS? Who knows.

I asked my mother last summer how long it took and she said since I first started to see my shrink which was in 5th grade so that long. She had to make a list of conditions based on the symptoms I have and ruled it down as I kept seeing her. Then AS was left and my mother asked to have a professional look it over so she recommended a psychiatrist. I went up to the hospital up on the hill where I got tested. I think it took a few months. I think it was September when I started to go there and then the diagnoses was made in early December.
My mother must have had troubles accepting the diagnoses because the psychiatrist told her to use the label to get me through school and to get me the education I needed. It was the only way to stop my school from putting me in a class with kids with behavior disorders. My school wanted to put me in that class at another school because I always got in fights with my bullies and the fact they didn't want to work with me my mother said.

The other conditions I was diagnosed with before 6th grade:

ADD
Dyspraxia
Sensory integration dysfunction
Speech disorder
Cluttering Disorder
Language Processing disorder
Autism and then autistic behavior


I think that is it unless I find more conditions mentioned in my medical records.

I secretly suspected I had an ASD for 15 years before seeking an official diagnosis. Had to take the time to reflect, gather courage, and do extensive research. Typical aspie behavior, I guess.

I saw my first psychotherapist when I was nine years old. I got an official diagnosis twelve years later, a year after I had started to have strong suspicions myself.

About 7 to 9 months. I changed doctors once and then did everything to find one who was experienced with ASD in youths. Lucky me, it worked.

I waited 50 years.

Okay, I started having suspicions a few years ago, but managed to tell myself they were only about my father, who was definitely somewhere on the spectrum.

Then I had a chance meeting with someone in September who has AS, and within a couple of days, I knew I had it too.

I joined up with WP on Oct 22, 2008 and was diagnosed by an AS specialist on Nov 3, 2008. (I move fast once I figure out what the heck is going on.)

You're kidding I didn't know there was a cluttering disorder. Sometimes it makes you wonder if the therapists make this stuff up. I mean people clutter for different reasons and shouldn't necessarily get its on diagnosis. When I got diagnosed with mathematics disorder I laughed so hard I made the doctor mad and she gave me a look like red laserbeams were going to shoot out of her eyes any moment and vaporize me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluttering

For me, the way went like this:

6th grade - Got tested and diagnosed with ADD; put on Ritalin, then Concerta, then Adderall, then Adderall XR. Shrinks also thought i was depressed so they gave me Zoloft (right when it first came out).

1 year ago - Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's extended family, my uncle's partner (an anesthetist) told my dad that he analyzed my behavior from when he was talking to me, and said he thinks I might Asperger's.

2 days later - Told I might have it; I denied it at first, then was told to read about it before assuming anything; I read about it, and noticed the signs.

4 months later - Went to start seeing a shrink, she begins this "Therapy Route" for a diagnosis.

1 month later - My psychiatrist says he thinks I most likely have it (this guy's known me for 10 years), and apologizes for not thinking to recognize it earlier on when I was younger.

Few days ago - Mom tells me that before my uncle's partner analyzed me, she says that my psychiatrist told her that he was thinking of the AS for a year.

Now - Still no official diagnosis; while I'm glad I'm getting therapy, at times I wish the stupid diagnosis would be made, for it seems as if my shrink I go to now is trying to pull money out of me as much as she can. No matter what though, I still am pretty sure I have it, even though my mom keeps trying to say "We don't know that for sure"... in a manner that comes across as if she's feeling ashamed I have it... my dad though, is pretty sure I have it. Still waiting for the diagnosis though. I will get a second opinion if my current shrink says no and tries to diagnose me with some other disorder that she can use to keep me in therapy for a long time... the psychological office we go to is a rather shady kind of place.. alot of parents claim they always try to squeeze the money of out you more than any other place.