How was your life after been diagnosed or selfdiagnosed?

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How was your life after been diagnosed or selfdiagnosed. For me I am the same person. Still I now see things from another perspective. So how about you?

My life was great in the 8 years of not being diagnosed. Then things got s**t the day I was diagnosed. Everyone and their dog were told, and it has always been something I'm known by since, which wasn't what I wanted. I would have been better off without the diagnosis, or at least a diagnosis that fits me more, such as anxiety and ADHD. I have a huge anxiety disorder but that has never been diagnosed, even though I've shown anxiety since I was 3 or 4 years old. But they just say that Asperger's is basically anxiety. So all the NTs with anxiety disorders are Asperger's/autism?

Initially life was good after diagnosis. Maybe 6 months later it really took a turn for the worse and I'm still struggling 3 years later. I'm doing pretty badly to be honest. It's a mess. Coincidence? Maybe.

Was a sort of explanation at last but i don't really consider it a proper explanation since autism is not a real diagnosis of what's going on, as the explanation is still largely unknown.

If i was told i have a mutation in gene x and it led to x not being produced which causes this to happen, that in my interpretation is a proper diagnostic explanation.

A man asking questions from a clip board on a spectrum, with massive disparity of symptoms, with no biological work done is not really a medical diagnosis, but i suppose it will do for now.

It's hard to say because I had already left work on permanent disability for other reasons. Any transition I've encountered could be related to my diagnosis or to the fact I'm no longer forced to take part in the rat race we call life.

Psychologically it's done me a world of good to understand why I'm the way I am, and to make peace with some bad choices from my past. I used to gaslight myself that everything was my fault or I should have tried "harder", when in retrospect I realise I shouldn't have tried at all with some of those situations. They were all over my head and out of my comfort zone. I shouldn't have tried at all, and I should have sought appropriate support instead of thinking more effort was needed.

It's allowed me to forgive myself for those mistakes, or at least take ownership for the parts that really were my "fault", without catastrophising and hating myself as a failure, or self-gaslighting with negative self-talk that carried on for decades about my inability to be a normal person.

Psychologically ...fine. Better than before dx. Made me more focused in some ways.

As far as practical day-to-day stuff ...not much change.

There is possible bad "behind the scenes kinda thing" that maybe Im a bit paranoid about. Dont wanna go into it right now.

Potentially there could be benefits to being officially diagnosed with a disability, but I havent reaped any of that either. Not yet. Might have been able to had I been diagnosed years earlier.

So... psychologically it was good thing, but on a practical day to day level not much change.

Mostly my perspective about myself changed and the way I work through my issues. Finding out that I'm not just inexplicably broken has helped my self esteem somewhat also.

Seeing videos from other people on the spectrum talk about how they navigate life has helped. Because they have strategies that actually work for me. Rather than me trying to do what everyone else does and failing and not knowing why.

Thanks for all the answers. They are all helpful for me.

The big difference is that I understand why I am the way I am. I can be more forgiving of myself now. Because of the social deficits, I understand why making friends is so hard. Because of the alexithymia, I don't feel loneliness so much. This helps me understand why I like being alone so much. Because of the communication deficits, I understand why people usually don't have a clue what I'm trying to say. I love how my brain works. Now that I understand that I have autism, I don't need to feel broken anymore. I can just be happy to be myself. I'm starting to learn how to ask for help from people when I need it. Otherwise, life is mostly just the same as before.

Being only 8 when I was diagnosed it never answered anything for me. I just saw it as a label to single me out from my peers and I resented it. And that resentment is still with me now. I can't bear it.

It kinda served as a reset for some patterns of thinking I had developed. I became less paranoid and more capable of compensating for my less than stellar ToM.

I was diagnosed nine years ago.

Still haven’t received any kind of support because I don’t know how to access it. The NHS doesn’t provide therapy for Autistic people and I can’t afford to go private.

The main problem is that I need help to get help, and as I don’t have a support system, personal or professional, I’m lost. I’ve got my mum but she’s unable to help as she’s hard of hearing and has osteoarthritis so has her own problems to contend with.

I struggle to make and answer phone calls so phoning around isn’t an option. Several years ago, after my diagnosis, I sent lots of emails to various organisations including Mind and a few Autism charities asking for some help but was just sent round in circles. No one seems to be able to (or want to) help.

Another issue is that I’m unable to work, at least for the foreseeable future, and I’ve found that neo liberal attitudes are becoming more prevalent even in the more caring professions. The emphasis is very much on receiving help so you can ‘get back to work’ as opposed to general wellbeing and personal fulfilment. Not that being employed shouldn’t be a goal; I’d love to earn my own money and have a career, but I have so many other things to work through before I attempt that.

So no, my life hasn’t changed at all since I was diagnosed.

Probably the same whether diagnosed or not -- not coping with puberty, not coping with whatever I've been dealing since age 8, still sneezing for no apparent reason.

I'd probably put myself in a shut in state. Diagnosis was the only reason I've been searching about autism.

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