not diagnosed yet, but wondering...

BrokenNBeautiful · 09:26 PM

deleted; embarrassed

H3rmit · May 05, 2013, 11:38 PM

I had your post cued up here to look at later, because it was complicated, and I had an hour-long phone call about a sick family member, so I am too tired. There is no need to be embarrassed. This is not the busiest subforum, and aspies are not the most garrulous or outgoing.

BrokenNBeautiful · May 06, 2013, 01:11 AM

I hope most of you can access this file.

I decided to re-post it from my notepad. (on my computer) so that I won't have to write it out again.

Please do not share this information with anyone outside PC without my permission.

And I hope th is is allowed. Posting notepads. I forget... .

thanks,

Carol

The_little_didgee · May 06, 2013, 11:51 AM

Hi,

My reply is in the attached text file:

H3rmit · May 06, 2013, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrokenNBeautiful

Back in around 2000, a therapist told me she suspected I had one of 2 things or both: BPD and Asperger's. She was not a doctor, but she talked about me having the characteristics, chiefly an inability to connect with others or appear empathetic, or "don't like people."

I looked up an article on Wikipedia last night and it talked about physical clumsiness, obsessions about things, certain ways of speaking, etc. Social isolation and socially bizarre behavior. (my own words) I don't know if I need a diagnosis to participate on this board, but I am considering possibly having my diagnosis changed from mental illness to "developmental disorder".

This contemplation was inspired last month when my eye doctor observed some visual/spatial problems I was having. Which had reminded me of what my old doctor years ago had told me, "You have an atrophied optic nerve, possibly caused by brain damage." Maybe my disability is physical/developmental, rather than mental. And my emotional issues are treatable and recover-able.
I hope I can still have my SSA/SSI benefits, though; they have either already taken Aspergers off the DSM or they want to. I need an income and my issues do interfere with having a job.
thanks,

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

You don't need a diagnosis to post questions in this forum. I sometimes post in the BPD forum and I don't have that diagnosis. Anyway, I can relate to the social isolation many with BPD feel.

Note: Asperger's Syndrome has been renamed Autism Spectrum Disorder.

-----

Asperger's Syndrome has three main areas of impairment: social and emotional interaction, communication, and perspective taking and thought rigidity.

Social and emotional interaction refers to difficulties with initiating and maintaining friendships. Cooperation or working with others may be an issue for some. Note: Most people with Asperger's Syndrome want to have friends and relationships.

Communication refers to difficulties with processing and retaining information. It also includes difficulties understanding social use of language, jokes/sarcasm, literal mindedness, and the use and interpretation of body language (facial expression and gesture).

Perspective taking and thought rigidity refers to difficulties with empathy, generalization, and coping with change. Lack of empathy is misleading. People with Asperger's feel it, just like others do. The problem is with perspective taking or imagining what the other person is feeling, and then reciprocating.

Other common difficulties are hyper/hypo-sensitive senses (e.g. acute hearing, light sensitivity), anxiety, depression, aggression, psychosis, motor and attention difficulties.

Obsessive interests and repetitive behaviors are common.

Do you notice any of these characteristics in you?

Many ladies are diagnosed with BPD before they discover they have Asperger's Syndrome. BPD is similar but it is superficial. If a neurodevelopment disorder is diagnosed, a personality disorder diagnosis is usually dropped.

I hope my description helped clarify what Asperger's Syndrome is. Feel free to ask me any questions via this thread or private message. I am not judgemental.

Little Didgee,
a lady with Asperger's Syndrome.

I quoted all this because I couldn't cope with two notepad files and switching back and forth to this reply window. So I copied the texts into the space above. If either of you have a problem with that, please let me know and it can be removed.
What a great response by Little Didgee, confirming for me that I am on this part of the spectrum. I guess it could be pretty helpful to BnB also.

The thing I'm unclear about in the original post, BnB, is it seems you think emotional issues would be more healable if you had a physical disorder, is that right? Because it seems to me a lot of people on the spectrum have to adjust their lives to accommodate the way they are because of the physical things, which cause emotional things. Some people seem to think we can just desensitize and normalize, but I have worked very hard for a long time with I would say spectacular success to learn and grow - and there are effects of physical things that don't budge. I can make the effort to handle emotions better, and I have, but I am still dealing with a stressor at that point, and there are limits.

Ultra Darkness · May 09, 2013, 05:28 PM

I didn't even know what Asperger's was a couple months ago. Then someone told me I seemed to have some traits that were consistent with it, so I read up on it.
I've been told that I walk strangely, and that I don't show much emotion. I can fake it, but it always feels fake to me. I also take extreme interest in things no one else does (I've been told several times to find something to do when caught watching water drip). I can read a person's tone to a certain extent, but not their expression so much, and I'm always wondering if I read it right.

I guess what I'm basicly saying is that you're not the only one who's wondering. The guy who told me I show Aspie traits lives with an Aspie, so I put more faith in his words than in someone who barely understands the disorder, but...

Forget it. I don't know what I'm saying.

Have a hug, Carol.

avlady · May 10, 2013, 05:16 AM

What is it when I forget what i'm going to say as i always forget what i'm going to say in the middle of a sentence or story? I've given up on trying to talk as it's too scarry to talk, and i think people don't understand me, in fact I forget what i'm saying so often it is dibilitating for others too, to listen to me

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not diagnosed yet, but wondering...

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