I was diagnosed as an adult in my 30s. Asperger's wasn't a thing until I was i my 20s and even then the diagnosis was only for those with severe Asperger's. Asperger's as we see it today didn't exist until I was almost 30.

I was misdiagnosed for many years as personality disorder, first specific ones, but none matched really, so I was PD NOS. My doc seemed happy with that for a long time until she went to a seminar or something because suddenly she knew about AS and sent me for testing.

By then I had known I had AS for about a year. I mean I follow stuff. I talk to people.

When I was a kid even autism wasn't a thing. Most kids with severe autism were labeled mentally retarded, some with language disorder and milder ones could be labeled MBD, but MBD also included mild retardation, learning disability and ADHD. There was no chance in hell I would have been seen as MBD as I was an academically gifted kid.

My parents probably thought that I was a little odd, but that had no diagnosis back then. The "help" you got was being nagged not do certain things (no strange body positions) and be normal (try to be boring). But no one thought of it as a disorder.

I was in my early 20s when I sought help for anxiety issues and I was rapidly diagnosed, to my big surprise as BPD. Back then in Europe, it was still the thing you used for anyone that wasn't neurotic or psychotic. They thought I was strange and I couldn't understand why. I mean sure I saw myself as different but I was said to have poor emotional contact whatever that meant. And I didn't laugh when I should and I guess I reacted wrong in other ways. So for a while they wanted to upgrade me to schizophrenia even.

In a way I was OK with having BPD, it was like given a bonus, I went there to try to have anxiety treated and I got a lot more. I guess I somehow wanted to be weird. These days I wonder why they didn't just treat the symptom I was having an issue with, if they had done so I would probably not have had all the issues I do today, many are iatrogenic. Asperger's of course is not but the diagnosis like I said didn't really exist, it was in its infancy.

After I waited a year for my psychiatrist to understand I had Asperger's she asked me about it, I just said I think so too, and she sent me for testing. I think I waited 18 months for it or something. Around here, if the doc thinks you should be tested you will. It's just a heck of a wait.

I didn't by then know how much I NEEDED the diagnosis, I thought I just needed it confirmed for my own wellbeing. Comes out I did need it for my sick leave as rules here changed and you could not have benefits just for depression and anxiety. Also I have now a care worker once a week that helps me tidy up, and where I live the patient do not pay for the help.

So I guess that is my story.