Do you question your diagnosis?

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Sometimes I wonder if I have AS, I'm so high functioning most of the time. I have my struggles, sure, and I can't not have Aspergers or some sort of type of Autism as I was severely Autistic for much of my childhood, but I have learned so many social cues that people say they would have never guessed I have Autism (even people who have kids with Aspergers), because of the social cues I've learned.

I know I can't comment too much as I haven't been diagnosed as yet, but I often wonder, as I am also very high functioning, whether it is the right thing to pursue a diagnosis for, will it make a difference, since I have found AS, and I am high functioning should I keep going to get the Dx, even though it may break up my marriage?

Its a tough cookie to crumble.

However, I feel it is all about understanding yourself. Having AS doesn't mean you're screwed, and if you have being diagnosed, just because you can function in the world doesn't mean you now don't have it.

I enjoy social situations most of the time and I can look most people in the eye, and for the most part the symptoms I align to AS don't seem to affect my everyday life. But when they do, previously it would be like climbing an impossible hill to try and work out what was going on.

Knowing about AS you can put your quirks into perspective so they DON'T affect your everyday life anymore, or as much as they used to.

As far as I can see the predominant hallmarks of AS aside from a narrow interest is that it means you are emotionally and socially disfunctional (in that our brains are not able to process specific elements of these things to enable us to function the same as a neurotypical). You say you can pick up social ques, but are you able to read body language? Are you able to identify with your own emotions as well as others'? Or do you merely notice changes in others, and through experience are able to align the change with a suspected (and often correct) result. Do other people's emotions make sense to you, or do you merely ask yourself how you would feel in the same situation and then apply this to what is happening (as often this also brings about a result that is close to empathy, or what they are probably feeling, even though all you are doing is thinking about yourself and not what they are actually feeling, however the difference is minor so appears as though you understand how they are feeling).

Anyways, I hope that wasn't too confusing. But I think if you have been diagnosed, you have it. Your functionality is merely your coping with the world. You may end up getting to a level where all of your coping mechanisms become sub-conscious to the extent that you act and appear to feel the same as anyone else. But you will still have that basis to know where you came from.

We are all individuals and one person having AS doesn't act like another person who has AS.

Am question various diagnoses-ADHD is one am was originally diagnosed with alongside ASD and multiple learning difficulties,am wonder so often now whether really have ADHD or not,because the person who diagnosed am was found to have not diagnosed with any experience in any of those,an Autism speech therapist who saw am for a year,assessed every little detail that most do not go into and had compiled a book from the notes-he also changed the ASD label but said he thought am was definite ADHD,it was not in question not having autism as it was recognised as a baby/toddler and is still severe today,but with ADHD,think a lot of it could be explained by Autism,if not all of it.
Am have been on Tegretol for years which has helped a lot with hyperactivity,and think that is a reason for causing the doubt, am going to be seeing a pysch. at some point anyway for the autism side [meltdowns] so am going to find out whether they can prove/disprove am have ADHD or not.


If had severe Autism as a child,then no matter how improved have got,are still Autistic,it doesn't leave the brain,the brain is wired in an Autistic way.
What it sounds like is have been able to learn to cope with things,have improved,not lost Autism.

Yes, I question my diagnosis. It was made by a pediatrician who knows much less about autism and Asperger's than I do, so I know that my opinion can overrule his, at least for me. He insisted that AS wasn't autism, then went on to list symptoms of Asperger's that, I have since read, tend to be more indicative of HFA rather than Asperger's. But then, I am very high-functioning; I have even been reprised for claiming to be autistic and no one-even those who claim to have experience with autistics- says that they would ever have thought I was. Going simply from the diagnostic criteria, a case could be made for either Asperger's or classic autism, but my symptoms appear to be so mild that most are unwilling to believe that either diagnosis is appropriate.

People usually believe me, especially when I bring out my IEP, but it sometimes makes it harder when it's invisible, because I do still have struggles.

Yes, I have sometimes thought that I've been misdiagnosed. It doesn't help that my current psychiatrist, who knows little about Asperger's (or even about me), has tried to change the dx to other things. I also was not very "obvious" as a kid, and I cringe a bit when some people (on this site and in other places) complain about how "overdiagnosed" it is. The professional who diagnosed me specializes in AS, though, and my (aspie) boyfriend thinks I have AS without a doubt ands want me to believe it, too. Because I'm not quite "textbook" I've doubted it before, but I'm really trying to not to.

Something bizarre which happened last week helped affirm it for me, though. I walked into the Dean of Students office at my college in a meltdown, and saw the Dean personally for the first time. Within a few minutes, she suggested I had an "illness." I asked what and she said AS. I at first thought the Associate Dean who I know had told her, but apparently not. She just knows what it is and thought I had it. Granted, my traits were WAY more obvious than normal, but it was still significant for me. She said that she couldn't imagine anything else which would make me act in that particular way, unless I've experienced severe trauma. Since that's not the case, it's been easier for me to accept that maybe there is no other logical explanation for why I act the way I do. As unpleasant as the whole experience was, I'm sort of glad it happened in some perverse because it provided me with more proof that I really do have AS and am not just a very messed-up NT.

no, because it seems to fit me almost to a "T"- but I DO question the intelligence of my psychiatrist who didn't see any real reason to inform me ABOUT my AS until after my career counselor spoke to him, and he told him about it- which is how I found out.

No.

Run of the mill [speech delayed] "aspie" here.

You sound just like me cos i was diagnosed wid classic autism as early as 2 but then got da AS when i was 11 i do question meself sometimes cos i have overcome so many social barriers that ppl think that i don't even have AS.

Yes, quite so. I am happier these days, in part because of the understanding I receive from counselors, as well as finally being able to understand myself better, too. Thus, I may seem less impaired than I did a few years ago (pre-dx), but that's due to improved circumstances that take into account my known difficulties. I definately have problems, and before this dx I had other labels given to my obvious issues, so it's not like I suspect myself of secretly being "super-functional" & pretending to be different & abnormal or anything. If it's not this, it's something else-and I've "already been" those other things & they didn't fit me properly.

Comparisons can confuse, though they illustrate some relevant principles. For instance, someone who has shot for their diabetes isn't "cured" or no longer diabetic, they are just in a better state of maintenence. Same with me, in that I structure my lifestyle (with the assistance of other people) to make my "condition" or neurological style more tolerable, bearable, less of a clash with other aspects of my life-to extent possible. That's not same as having no difficulties, which one would see real quick, were my supports taken from me.

Nonetheless, I do doubt my dx at times-in part, bc. it's such a new label (both for me specifically, and as a diagnostic entity in the broader world of "disorders"). Pardon my choice of words, I'm not trying to make AS sound like a bad thing, just can't find wholly neutral language. I'm a skeptical person who has hard time "buying into" concepts for fear of being misled, made fool of for believing anything, for fear it'll become discredited & I'll be left empty-handed, with my psychological framework assigned to some other category instead.

My most obvious problems have been (before I had the dx with which to compare my life to a list) discomfort with food & sex. When I'd mention these to professionals, pre-dx, they'd guess I'd been abused-which I haven't been-but that was only possible explanation they knew of for such reactions as I have. So, being told (at long last) that this is my label (and after that, finding out what the heck this even means) was relief, something that fit truly with what my experiences have been.

nah...well what else choices i have..at least im not in nt level

I did before I came here. I came here because I thought I could relate to the emotional and social anxiety and relationship problems and fear of obligations a lot of you have here. But then I stopped questioning my diagnosis because there are a lot of people here that are a lot like me. But now I'm questioning it again, since LabPet told me basically, "What are you doing on a board for people with AS when all your problems and all your goals seem so NT?"

sorry to bother but nt i have seen your treats...and lets just say swamping judge rottenberg center isnt in mind of most nt,s and who wouldnt like to have normal live?:D

After I was diagnosed just 2 years ago, I went into a lot of denial. Esp. when they said it was on the spectrum of autism. Well, the word autism made me think of what I'd seen on TV. So I knew I was not that. I knew that I didn't have many friends and had a hard time verbalizing but never gave it a chance to be part of AS. I use to do so much drinking too that it made me more social and eventually that leisure of enjoyment didn't last long. After being put in programs for addiction, reality was a slap in the face. Well, I decided I'd give it a try by reading more about this condition. I started to feel upset because I could identify with most of the symptoms related to AS. Another way of wanting to deny it. I somehow had to accept it as being one of those little quirks I had. My dad found this site and I was reluctant to get on it. Finally did, and even though there some things I disagree with, I definitely fit in. Basically, I'm learning to socialize all over again being sober. It's still a learning process for me but this site helps b/c there's other ppl who can identify what I say and those who I can identify with.

i think its only natural to feel more "nt" some days than others, but i really dont question it

Not my as diagnoses but some of others like ADHD sometmes i wonder is it really the aspergers causing those symtoms and not ADHD.