Do you ever wonder if you DON'T have AS?

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Okay, here's me; I was diagnosed ADD without hyperactivity, got bullied, had an awesome vocabulary, but could hardly put my thoughts to words and got confused when I spoke, and have been looking for years for what's really wrong with me. I've heard of AS, but it wasn't until recently that I began to research it, and learned what it really was. On paper, I fit the criteria fairly well, and meet many of the criteria (except that I don't have a problem recognizing facial expressions.) I've seen two counselors recently, and both of them said they highly doubted I had it. They said the aspies they dealt with seemed to be vague, and mostly disconnected, and that I shouldn't assume a diagnosis. That's all fine and well, I had intention of diagnosing myself with my BA in english, but why do I relate so well to the people on these boards? Nowhere else on the whole net have I seen a place I can vent my problems and get useful answers! Most people consider my concerns and challenges unusual! So is AS a spectrum disorder? What the Hell?

Everybody is affected by AS in different ways.
I don't doubt I have it. I've got the lot, just not as severe as some people in some traits and more severe in others.
ADD and AS can be similar, and AS shares similarities with other conditions. This might be why you relate a lot to us, or that we are just really super nice people.
The psychologists that I talked to said I was high functioning AS because I could write and seemed to be HF. Truth is I only appear to be HF, I don't have enough self help skills or experience with working to be classed as HF AS.

I know that I am not Aspie. Sometimes I wish I were, but I can see where Aspies would have a harder time getting needed support than Auties..

Well, Julie Fox at Minds & Hearts said I had AS within several minutes of seeing her after she spoke to my mother with me sitting in the waiting room (granted, I also had a note from a doctor saying I had HFA--you know, like Rain Man). I'm kinda confused over the whole issue, personally. Sometimes I think I have AS because I can talk/type quite well, and other times I see that I'm more severe than many with AS I've seen in person, and especially many diagnosed and undiagnosed on the 'net.

I'm sure I appear vague to professionals.

O, and AS is a spectrum disorder due to being on a spectrum of several labels; severity should be similar for most diagnosed with such.

I used to doubt. Then I was convinced. Then I realised how little I care about labels.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm more likely HFA than AS. People with AS on this forum were quick to talk, walk, read and every time I read about their accomplishments I can't help but feel jealous. Sometimes I wonder if I have autism and something else, because I've always been so behind.

^ Pensieve, you are such a wonderful contributor here on WP. so nice and also so valued.
Please go to sleep this evening with an awareness of how special and sincere and delightful you are.

Thanks Millie.

Hi!

Well, for me AD(H)D, dispraxia, AS, tourette's and other comorbid conditions are basicly the same (brain malfunctioning) but manifested diferently.

What you talk about seems to me to be more like dyspraxia (also called DCD=Developmental Coordination Disorder), a motorical problem related to (as everything else) the coordination among the two frontal lobes.

The comorbidity AD(H)D with AS or DCD is named DAMP = Deficits in Attention, Motor Control and Perception.

Since most of the symptoms that AD(H)D and DCD don't have in common fit in the criteria for AS (and viceverse, the symptoms that AD(H)D and AS don't have in common fit in the DCD criteria), it wouldn't surprise me that you feel identify with AS.

(More info in the dyspraxia foundation uk web page link below.)


What defines wich condition you have is the level of impairment related to the deepness of the main sympthoms of each. So, I can't contain myself to yell a bad word everytime I screw something wherever I am, but it doesn't impairs me to the point I'm considered to have tourette's and I'm more considered to be an impulsive ADHDer.

In my case I've been diagnosed with ADHD mixt, with means I have periods of times where I cannot focus and periods of times when I hyperfocuse. The fact that I'm always in this cycle MIGHT be the reason why my social interaction is limited since it can be one of the concecuences of not being able to focus to have 'normal' social moments on wich to learn how to do it. But the truth is that ADHD was not that a problem after the couching, and i still had a lot of stress related to my social interaction, it had less to do with my concentration and more to do AS.

The main sympthom that defines autism is the lack of understanding of the "theory of mind" (which you can google) that is the inhability to understand how other people think/feel and therefore the manifestations of it, (for example a hugh means only a hugh not "I love you". Some one staring at you means "i'm staring at you" and not "i find your topic very interesting" or the thousands of things people can comunicate with it). Even when you realise it intents to have "comunicational" meanings, not understanding "theory of mind" can lead to misinterpretations and misunderstandings.


That's what made me think about AS in the first place, though most councelors wouldn't belive I have AS because I have conciently trained myself socially when I was a teenager to be able to fit, but yet I still have a lack of "theory of mind" understanding among other things. I fit the criteria on paper as well, but to convince me more I just had to sit and write the memories I have since I was a baby to realise that ever since I have memory I've been living among 2 striking worlds, ASS world & human world... one was beautiful with new emotions in every texture, color or uniqueness of every new circumstance, the other was imposed and never really comfortable to me.


Any way, what is more important is not the diagnose but your needs. why do you want to get the disgnose? to reach what?

Sorry for the long posting and my mistakes, I hope this was useful.

Good luck!

dyspraxia foundation uk symptoms

yeah it has crossed my mind lately....I can be quite hyperactive so I have also considered I can have ADHD....

It would be horrible if I was diagnosed as NOT having AS....


That would mean I'm truly an oddball.

AS is pretty severe.... I recall reading that you have friends and that you go out with them and do "normal" things now and again [and that you also had a boyfriend in the past]; someone with HFA would never be able to do these things in nearly all cases. A good portion of those with AS wouldn't be able to do these things above.

Wow! So many of the symptoms listed on this dyspraxia website I resonate with. I never even knew what dyspraxia was. The overlap with AS is astonishing though. It's interesting that they specifically mention all the gross and fine motor impairments. I haven't seen clumsiness highlighted as a feature of AS. Makes me wonder indeed about the accuracy of my self-diagnosis because I am as clumsy as they come

In answer to the OP's question though...I frequently wonder what 'label' fits the bill for me. Ordinarily, I am very opposed to being labelled, but, in this instance, having spent at least a couple of decades feeling like a misfit, it would just be a relief to find some sort of explanation for who I am. Good luck with the rest of your diagnosis process! I start mine on Friday

To CaptainTrips222:

I understand what you are saying. Let me tell you this:

For me, when I read the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's in the DSM-IV and the Gillberg, etc. I felt like I was reading my biography. I felt a sudden chill of, "So this is why my whole life has been so eccentric!! !...This is me!! !" For me, that was the realization. I scheduled an appointment to be diagnosed, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's.

Then, as natural for many of us, we question things. The more I questioned my AS with other things like giftedness, narcissism, ADD, ADHD, schizophrenia, etc., the more I learned---and the more I learned that Asperger's was me. I even emailed my therapist once when I was bothered over the thought that there was a possibility I didn't have AS (I even posted to The Haven and many here helped me), well...after a visit back to the therapist I realized I was clearly diagnosed with Asperger's. I am happy with being diagnosed with Asperger's. It truly explains me. It is me. Gee...I have compared and contrasted so many other "differences" with Asperger's that I believe I know more about it than the professionals (well...I doubt that, but I have done a lot of research).

The bottom line---I have Asperger's Syndrome...I am autistic...and I am an autistic savant (musical).

Now---for you---Asperger's is a type of autism---and autism is a spectrum. It presents itself differently in each one of us. Some traits don't exist in some. That's why the diagnostic criteria states things like, "person will exhibit two of the following four traits...etc." Some make good eye contact, and some like me don't.

Here is an important quote I heard at a talk on autism last week, "You've met one person with autism...you've met one person with autism."

I think I have ADD also. The thing is, I think my ADD is treatable. Somehow I need to get some ADD drug perscriptions. The problem? The way I am, I just fail miserable at talking/communicating with doctors. They don't get it, we are never on the same wavelength.

I guess I can give it a honest shot, but how do I approach? Walk in and just say "i think i have add", and when they ask me to describe it say "can you just take my word for it?". If only that could work.

How about you write down a list of symptoms. A doctor would have to refer you to a specialist I would think.