AS...or am I just strange?

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I have been at this website for about two months now, and since I came here, and from way before that, I have been wondering if I really have AS. I want to seek diagnosis, however, I am afraid that I am simply being a hypocondriac and will waste the doctor's time...So if you guys do not mind, I will list the reasons why I think I have AS and why I don't, and you can tell me what you think...If you don't mind...

Why I think I have AS:
-I have difficulty relating to girls who are the same age, or near the same age as me. There are a handful of 15-17 year old girls I am confortable with...
-I have trouble socialising with more than one person at once...
-I have trouble reading facial expressions...
-I smile when I don't intend to...(not sure if this is AS or a muscle twitch)
-I seem to have a lot of 'stimming' behaviours...pulling my hair, biting my pen, cracking my knuckles, biting my nails
-My attempts at small talk often come out sounding like interrogations
-In relation to my last point, I often have no clue what to talk to people about
-Hanging out in a group of more than four people unnerves me
-When working on "group" projects, I tend to hijack the project
-In relation to my last point, I hate group projects with a passion
-I cannot help people
-I am very naive
-I find it perfectly acceptable to allow people to copy my work...actually, it was a tactic I use/d to make friends
-I am very pedantic
-I did not find out until recently that it is rude to point at someone
-I am treated like I am ret*d by certain people- those who place a high emphasis on socialization, typically, and have conversed with me some...(not saying people with AS are, just that I suspect that possible social inhibitions have caused people to see me as lower than them)
-I make a lot of freudian slips
-I cannot listen to oral lessons given by teachers...esspecially if their speech in accented...unless I try very, very hard and focus all my energy on listening to them
-I can tolerate loud music, but loud chatter drives me insane and stresses me out a lot
-I have horrendous depth perception...
-I have trouble seeing the difference between a friend and an acquaintence
-I talk way too fast, and am very loud
-I rehearse conversations before they take place/ talk to myself constantly
-I am afraid that I will come on too strong with people I have just met, and often avoid them/avoid eye contact with them
-I was a selective mute during kindergarten
-I have spent most of my life as a social outcast
-Once I start talking, I often don't stop
-I have a few obsessive interests
-I sometimes smile when I am angry
-I have some difficulty with idioms...rhetorical questions on the other hand, a lot of difficulty
-I cannot dance...don't have the coordination...for this same reason, I have trouble with many other sports
-My mother tells me I walk horribly, something which has been verified by other sources (apparently, I don't walk at all, I march)
-My mother tells me that I do not put enough effort into friendships
-I am very stubborn...if things do not go as planned, I can become very cranky
-I have the tendancy to stick to a routine

Why I think I do not have AS:
-I have absolutley no problem with eye contact, however, I do not take it for granted as many other people do
-there are many people who I consider myself friendly with
-I don't find being social to be stressing, so long as the group is under 4...preferrably, one on one
-I would not consider myself to be an outcast at the moment
-Besides constantly smiling and/or smiling when I am angry, I usually can form the appropriate facial gesture
-I can usually decipher someones emotions by their actions...if their normal pattern of behaviour has not been met, I usually assume something is wrong...and I am usually correct
-I am aware of current fashion trends, and do wear mainstream clothing (mind you, I have half a mind to burn all hip huggers)
-I actually like the mall...but I can't go to it with more than one other person...and so long as it is not crowded
-I consider myself to be fairly imaginative, however, my stories seem to follow patterns
-I am not strict on rules at all (but I am not a rebel at all either, really)
-Although I like routine, I usually do not get overly upset if it broken (however, I find that if a planned breakage in routine does not go as planned, I get upset)

That is all that I can think of at the moment...Thanks for your input

Well I cannot give you an answer but you can ask yourself how much do these things interfere with the progress of your life. If you find they are interfering to a big extent it may be worth for you to find out more or have a diagnosis. The thing about most of the traits is that they are common throughout society to a certain degree.
With autism however, the brain works through them differently and traits can become strongly evident and interfering in certain settings.

This why it up to you to find out how much it interferes with progress and work from there. You may find you do not need a diagnosis if you can find enough of your own information to help guide you and give you self understanding. You may find you would like a diagnosis as you may be in need of certain programs only offered to those diagnosed.

I hope I have not rambled but ahve made sence for you. Best of luck with what you decide.

It is up to you to decide whether you want a diagonis or not. A lot of those you mentioned are AS tendacies. Good luck with whatever you decide.

To be honest your reasons for not having it aren't very good.. I definitly have it and most of those you've listed apply to me.

I don't just like shopping.. I love it. It's like ecstacy for me and merchandice is eye candy.

Capitalist scum! In Soviet Russia, merchandise shops you!

What I notice most about both of your lists is the degree to which you have thought them out and the words you use to describe being able to decipher people's facial expressions becuase they don't look like they normally do, for example . . . I am told that normal people do not think like this - that when they look at someone they actually think 'that person is sad' instead of thinking 'ok - she doesn't look right - has she said anything to me that would help me figure out why that might be? No - ok - does she look tired, no, ok - how about crying - yeah, that is it she looks like she just got through crying . . . ok - now ask why that is . . .' . . . your words sound just like me - I can certianly act normal and have taught myself to do a lot of normal things - but they are always work . . .

Since your about 17, this is normal for even
NT's. What is that you do, feel, DON'T FEEL
for this evaluation that surmises AS in your mind?





Hmmmm? Trick question here? Slight dramatic
pause from Ghosthunter as he think!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

Hmmmmmmmm?

Explain better when this happens? what happens?
What are your feeling internally? and externally?
is your mind connected to your mouth or not?
How is this a normal communication issue with you?



Hmmmmm?
Facial expression reading issue is autism based!

Involuntary twitching are a human reaction, like
scratching! When does it occur? How often does
it switch or become routine in same spot itching?

Nervous is a normal human behavior. How often?
When does it occur? Under what circumstances?

HMmmmmmm? Monotonus interrogations? habitual
thinking and speaking in interrogative thought and
words being natural to you? Hmmmmmm?

Autism and thinking in terms of how we think
seems? to apply here??????





Communication is also a shy NT issue!

Hanging out in groups of four can be shy NT,
or Hmmmm? Under what circumstance and feeling
does this occur more often?

Hijacking group project? Explain "hey bub! this is
a stickup" or this hijacking description better?

When does it occur, under what circumstances?
Hmmmmmm?





Not-Helping people is not a AS criteria!

Nievity is a normal 17 year old train of
mind, it is just disguised in many ways.
NT's and all sort that age have nievity.

Cheating in classes isn't NT, and has
always been universal for gaining
superficial friends. NT or not!

The school musicans, and other non-cliches
folks in high school are social outcasts
in "High" social circles, NT or not! BUT.....

Under what circumstances does it occur?
What do you do to cause it?
How do you feel inward and outward?

Hmmmm?







What kind of freudian slips?

Teachers can be boring! NT or not, this is normal,
Hmmmm? Explain more about this!

Autism and distractive envirements go hand and hand.

How teenager of you for depth perception!
Explain this lack of depth perception?




How teenager of you to not know a
adquaintance and a friend difference,
NT or not.

Excitement makes one talkand think fast, and
speak loud. Is this the case?

Talking and rehearsing is OK! But if it is
because noboby can understand you and
it is only you that can understand you, Autism????

Eye contact. Due to being embarrased?
Due to everyday casualness? Underwhat
circumstances?




KNOW WE ARE TOUCHING SOME BASES!
1)...HFA is when there was a speech delay,
and limitations in your early learning development.

2)...AS is walking genius at a early age based
on readings.

3)...They both have social, eye contact, and
enviremental issues.

Hmmmmmm? Explain "class mute", "social
outcast" and why?, Obsessive talking is a
early by product for both AS and HFA.



Hmmm? Angry smile? I don't know!

Idioms? Please add detail to this? Under what
circumstances and what do you misinterpret?

Most kids aren't good at sports, and dancing.
Add some details here please?

Odd walking may fall into HFA'rs "own world
space", and I still have a odd walk because
it is not natural for me to assimulate others.
I am HFA by the way.



Hmmmm PDD-NOS is my opinion! and don't
be so Hyprocondriac about AS. HFA, or PDD-NOS
would fall into my opinion. But that is a not under a
fully explained set of circumstances.

Hmmmmm?
Ghosthunter

We are all probably both!

Hmmmmm? Maybe or maybe not, I hold
no opinion here on that, let's let futher
facts give more light to this person's
case!

Sincerely,
Ghosthunter

NT shy is mucho different to autistic communication problems. There's a lightyear between the two. One's a confidence issue, the other's a neurological difference in language centres.

You sound a lot like me. I consider myself PDD-NOS because I don't meet enough of the major criteria for AS while still having a lot of unexplained traits typical to AS. Maybe that's it.

Hmmmmm? perhaps you can elaborate
some of the mixture of traits that make
you say PDD-NOS so perhaps we can
have a reasonable comparison!

Sincerely,
Ghosthunter

I don't want to steal the focus, but briefly: I've got a lot of the social awkwardness, empathy problems, and a need to "script" things before diving into them much like JustineMarie described, but I also don't have any eye contact problems, I can read and use nonverbal communication easily, and I have a strong enough theory of mind to be able to see from other perspectives. Pretty much everything on that list fits me. But personally, the main way I figured out I wasn't just an offbeat neurotypical was through reading other people's posts on WP describing tons of little personality quirks in common with me that were associated with AS.