All is lost?

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I had a traumatic experience at age 16. Now I'm 28 and found out about AS. AS was the cause for the traumatic experience. The past 12 years have been a dark patch and memories of myself prior to the traumatic event have been lost.

I know I was liked and admired, but I just don't remember. I was better back then, and I want to get some of that magic back.

I don't have anyone close who can tell me what I was like. Am I a lost cause?

Your memories are not lost, just buried super deep. They can be recovered through different types of therapy. Even hypnosis might be an option. Don't lose hope.

I concur w/ skibum. I completely buried a lot of things - memories, sense of Self, awareness, etc - starting at around 6 years old. It is possible to get yourself back, but it takes time and a willingness to uncover & deal with a lot of discomfort. I've been working at it for almost nine years now & am still uncovering memories & parts of myself. While that sounds dismal, it's not from my point of view. Each one is liking waking up to a beautiful day where I know I can do whatever I want. Supposedly, the longer you are in that state the harder it is to undo, so from my perspective you've "only" got 12 years to recover. You can do it. Get help if you can, try different approaches, but you can do it...

I concur with Ski and Eden. Consider all the options you can think of and we will encourage you to go forward with such therapies. During my HS years, I was a regular with my school's psychologist and he helped me get over traumatic experiences I endured during my years in grade school and middle school. The psychologist was a "father figure" to me because my father passed shortly after I turned 12 and thankfully, most of my now-former-HS-classmates never knew about my father.

All is NOT lost.

I concur with the above posters.

Psychotherapy frequently helps someone regain forgotten items from their past.

And don't go into therapy with the attitude that you're a "lost cause." Because that is not true.

I have very few memories from my life before my mid-teens.
Looking at pictures brought back some memories from the situation/locations/things, and those linked to other "forgotten" memories.
It might work for you too.

I erased a lot of my life from my mind. Ever see the movie "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind"?
Sometimes... we make that happen ourselves in our own way.

DEFINITELY NOT A LOST CAUSE!! !! !! !! !! !!

It takes work, and effort, but therapy and affirming experiences help. I'm still being evaluated for trauma related stuff.... I can't or refuse to remember most of it- scrubbed it clean mostly, but it's buried deep- really deep. All emotion and pain has something to teach you- and DO NOT beat yourself up if you feel like you are taking too long or "just want to be done with this" or want to be normal or successful or whatever already.
All pain & trauma & emotion needs to be felt.
I don't remember much pain or stuff- until I hit a trigger (yes an actual real thing).... I'll remember bits and pieces, and am not at a point where I can ... do much with that (too painful right now)- but now I remember bits and pieces instead of having it totally gone. I won't ask WHAT happened, but just know that whatever it is you can re-remember it, you can fix your feelings & self, and you can feel like a more complete person/progress in whatever way you feel you need to. It takes time- and really what else are we doing with our lives and time- discovering and uncovering facts and bits and realities about not only foreign countries,peoples, and universes, but also and inevitably the complex multi-faceted microcosms that are the human's internal "universe" - autistic or not.
Just don't give up!

I remember the traumatic event like it was yesterday. What I don't remember is how things were before that.

In time- you can remember whatever it is you need to about yourself. I stand by my statement of - NOT a lost cause. I would advise psychotherapy of some sort if you can- the stuff the memories everything is still all there- unless you have like... a part of your hypothalamus or something taken out you haven't lost them or yourself, just compartmentalized it away for the moment.