[MiddayNap]

I have been speaking to a counselor at university and, one day, something I said prompted her to suggest I look into Asperger's-or what is now referred to as "high-functioning autism". I suppose I'm conflicted. When first I read about autism (it's a very interesting topic) I found myself able to relate quite a lot with what I was reading. I was suspicious, but ultimately decided I must be oversimplifying. Time passed, and relatives showed concern that I may have Asperger's, but that was due to them misidentifying my tics as "stims". And then came the conversation with the counselor. There are certain things that make it difficult to brush the possibility aside, as I would be able to do with a suggestion of schizophrenia, for instance. The list is rather long and so I won't write them here. If asked, I will indeed.
To get to the point, my question is addressed to those who were diagnosed in teenhood or adulthood and is as follows:
What prompted the diagnosis and why did it come so late?

[Nike007]

I was diagnosed at 16. I was prompted to get diagnosed because my pdoc at the time told me I showed many signs of it but she couldn’t diagnose it and to get an assessment for it. And I read it over and realized how much of it was me and why I struggle with friendships a lot and why I do certain things. It was the answer to many of my problems. So i got diagnosed. The diagnosis is used for getting accommodations I need in University and also to access services once I locate them.

It mainly came late because I’m pretty high functioning overall and it’s only noticeable in certain ways. I don’t have life skills issues. I am quite quiet and don’t draw attention to myself. My family believed that I was just really shy and didnt like people, which is kinda true, as I have social anxiety (part of autism apparently).

[MiddayNap]

Originally Posted by Nike007

I was diagnosed at 16. I was prompted to get diagnosed because my pdoc at the time told me I showed many signs of it but she couldn’t diagnose it and to get an assessment for it. And I read it over and realized how much of it was me and why I struggle with friendships a lot and why I do certain things. It was the answer to many of my problems. So i got diagnosed. The diagnosis is used for getting accommodations I need in University and also to access services once I locate them.

It mainly came late because I’m pretty high functioning overall and it’s only noticeable in certain ways. I don’t have life skills issues. I am quite quiet and don’t draw attention to myself. My family believed that I was just really shy and didnt like people, which is kinda true, as I have social anxiety (part of autism apparently).

Thank you for taking the time to answer. Your "story", for lack of a better word, sounds rather similar to my own. There are certain traits I exhibited which my parents never thought to understand the reasoning behind. I wonder if these and other behaviors could be better described by autism.
In what ways is your autism noticeable and in what ways is it not so obvious? I imagine you went to a neurologist for diagnosis. Was (s)he hesitant to diagnose you or was it quite obvious to him/her despite your being high-functioning?

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by MiddayNap

Thank you for taking the time to answer. Your "story", for lack of a better word, sounds rather similar to my own. There are certain traits I exhibited which my parents never thought to understand the reasoning behind. I wonder if these and other behaviors could be better described by autism.

In what ways is your autism noticeable and in what ways is it not so obvious? I imagine you went to a neurologist for diagnosis. Was (s)he hesitant to diagnose you or was it quite obvious to him/her despite your being high-functioning?

I guess for me, my special interest is noticeable if you get to know me because that’s all I talk about.

I also lack body language such as eye contact, hand gestures, etc.. I tend to make the conversation fall short, so I’m doing my best to remember to ask people questions. It’s a strategy I use to “act normal”. I like to say facts about random things. I love knowledge.

I tend to do things that are considered weird by most like cover my ears at loud and annoying sounds, seek out hugs, shake my hands, rock back and forth, walk on balls of feet, etc.. I just need to do so for sensory reasons or to cope with emotions.

I actually say a psychologist. They used the ADOS module 4 for me. I scored in the autism range for communication, lack creativity (apparently, I do write fiction), have intense and limited interest, and struggle with routine, so I was diagnosed. I guess it was quite obvious to them in the end. In the notes though, it did say that there was conflicting things, as my mom said I didn’t do certain things and such, but she did mention some things once the psychologist dig deeper I guess.

[L.P.]

Originally Posted by MiddayNap

I have been speaking to a counselor at university and, one day, something I said prompted her to suggest I look into Asperger's-or what is now referred to as "high-functioning autism". I suppose I'm conflicted. When first I read about autism (it's a very interesting topic) I found myself able to relate quite a lot with what I was reading. I was suspicious, but ultimately decided I must be oversimplifying. Time passed, and relatives showed concern that I may have Asperger's, but that was due to them misidentifying my tics as "stims". And then came the conversation with the counselor. There are certain things that make it difficult to brush the possibility aside, as I would be able to do with a suggestion of schizophrenia, for instance. The list is rather long and so I won't write them here. If asked, I will indeed.
To get to the point, my question is addressed to those who were diagnosed in teenhood or adulthood and is as follows:
What prompted the diagnosis and why did it come so late?

I was diagnosed with Aspergers (then later switched to PDD-NOS) as an adult (sometime in my late 20's I think). I fell backwards into the whole thing. I went to see a therapist with my soon to be ex for relationship troubles and the woman got one good look at the two of us and suggested we get individual therapy first, so we did. She ended up being my t for awhile and she was the one who mentioned autism to me. She thought I was an aspie so she pushed for the evaluation.

My childhood was weird and dysfunctional, so even though all the adults in my life said there was something wrong with me, no one thought to take me to a doctor to get that checked out. I was also not really a behavior problem at school so none of my teachers ever complained and got me to talk to someone that way. I would have been dx'd as a child if my mom could have been bothered. But it did not work out that way for me.

[daynrand]

Originally Posted by MiddayNap

What prompted the diagnosis and why did it come so late?

I'll betcha I'm the oldest, latest diagnosed Aspie here.After decades of variously being diagnosed with ADHD, then AADD, PTSD, panic disorder & other psych conditions, I myself finally found an article about A.S. that led me on a journey researching it. Because finally, in my late 50s, I'd found a description of myself & my life like none other could quite match.

Alhough I don't discount or reject the other diagnoses, I now see that they were exacerbations or consequences of being so badly misunderstood & abused since early childhood. And that the A.S. was the original explanation for what led to all that misunderstanding & the abuses it fostered. (It didn't help that I had been born - in the mid-50s - to a textbook narcissitic mother who chose me to bear the blame for the entire family's dysfunction. IOW, out of 5 siblings I became the classic "family scapegoat")

The (very awesome) psychiatrist, who'd been treating me for years, at 1st outright rejected the idea of A.S. when I asked him if he thought it could explain "things" better. I accepted that for a while, but remained fascinated by & continued reading about A.S. The more I read of traits that described myself & my life to a T, the more certain I was that I'd been born with Asperger's Syndrome & had struggled to cope with it for decades. Whether or not there could be much done to help me to cope better at such a late stage in life, I felt a real need to at least know who I really was.

Finally I asked my psych dr why it was that he was so certain I wasn't an Aspie, when I fit almost all the criteria. He told me it was because of only 1 trait - 1 that I didn't have. That was that rather than being "aloof", I deeply loved & cared about people in general, specifically children & the elderly, & because I felt so strongly attached to certain ones, even when they'd not returned my affection for years. He simply didn't think a person w/A.S. was capable of such strong positive emotion & empathy for others, or of feeling so utterly grieved by their rejection & lack of relationship, & the resulting loneliness I constantly experienced. In other words, even as a highly effective & respected psychiatrist, he had accepted 1 of the most-pervasive & false myths about A.S. as a fact.

After talking it over for a while & showing him articles I'd found debunking the perception of Aspies as lacking emotional empathy, while stressing again to him how precisely every other symptom fit, he eventually became enthusiastically certain that a great misunderstanding of my A.S. since childhood had led to most or all of the abuses I'd endured & also led to many other problems I am still struggling to overcome to this day.

Well, there I've gone on (& on & on) again. Let me finish with this: Discovering all this about A.S. & the fact I "have" it, at my age, lends a stronger urgency to not allow others' lack of understanding to overwhelm & demoralize me. I simply don't have time to waste! I know I have much to give yet, & especially so to others who have suffered & need a hand from someone who does understand them & wants to help. There is a great need out there from others like ourselves, whether children, adults or the elderly.

[TheStrange]

I have been diagnosed at 23 years old, july last year.

When I first started college I went to a university psych centre for a few years where they tried to diagnose me with dissociative disorder nos, identity issues, alexithymia, but they were very confused about my case and so was I.

About 5 years ago I saw this documentary about a man with autism and somehow something seemed very familiar to me. Didn't give it too much thought, untill I saw another documentary and felt like I might have ASD, but I did not dare to bring it up. The problem was I also suffered from a lot of physical issues and besides not daring to bring up the ASD, I also wanted to find out what was going on physically, constantly had to eat, never felt clarity in my head, saw blurry and had double vision, could barely walk, thoughts seemed to be gone, while I remembered from my early teens my thoughts never ended. It took me years to find out those symptoms were not caused by a mental disorder, but a metabolic disease instead. Due to a diet and medications I became able to think again, but being tired can take me back to that zombified state again.

After I had clarity about the physical problems I managed to tell my psychologist about the ASD I suspected, but she did not really felt like it needed to be investigated, her words: "You have empathy, so you cannot have ASD." Eventually she did ask my mom some things about my past, but my mom has this tendency to only mention the 'normal' and leave out everything else. After that I still kept on thinking about ASD, it became an obsession really. About a year after this I had to leave the psych centre, but still had a lot of questions.

Some 3 months later I decided to ask for a referral at my GP for a centre specialized in women with ASD to see if I had ASD or not. I had to do some tests, fill in questionaries, so did my parents and we had a conversation about how I developed, both my story and my parent's story. This time my dad went there as well, and he mentioned things my mom would not have,
hard things to hear, but helpful in finding out I do have ASD, despite being a woman and having empathy.

[cool09]

I was diagnosed last year at 53 while I was at Johns Hopkins for depression. My childhood was normal so I don't know how good the diagnosis is.

[daynrand]

Originally Posted by cool09

I was diagnosed last year at 53 while I was at Johns Hopkins for depression. My childhood was normal so I don't know how good the diagnosis is.

Not sure what you mean about how good the diagnosis is. Do you mean for Asperger's? It could be that you simply had good parents? My Dad was OK, but my mother was a malicious narcissist & she couldn't handle her "normal" kids, much less 1 like me. I've had other diagnoses I readily agree with (depression<!>, PTSD) & others I'm not sure about - they could just be symptoms from being a terribly-abused A.S. child (especially, AADHD, or plain ol' ADHD, since I've been this way my whole life. Maybe I was just so confused & upset by the illogical family dynamics, which would make any kid crazy & hyper-acting, probably.) When I look back now, I realize I did remarkably well with what I was dealt. But, I did allow my mother to continue "using" me long into adulthood, which was a horrible example for my children.

Anyway, you can certainly be depressed with Asperger's Syndrome. Are you receiving any kind of counselling or help now for either thing?

I like your sig. line. Think I'll change mine to another Jim Morrison line; 1 that seems to pop up in my head quite often: "People are strange, when you're a stranger." or... "when you're strange, no one remembers your name." I've felt like a stranger in a strange land almost since forever, but really, I'm just as human as anyone else underneath. I hope you are feeling better, cool09

[cool09]

Not sure what you mean about how good the diagnosis is

Asberger's starts at an early age? I didn't have problems until 13 so I don't know if the diagnosis is correct. A resident Dr. made the diagnosis.

[daynrand]

Originally Posted by cool09

Asberger's starts at an early age? I didn't have problems until 13 so I don't know if the diagnosis is correct. A resident Dr. made the diagnosis.

OK, I gotcha now. I can see why you'd wonder. Even though I was dx'ed at an absurdly old age, there's no doubt my "problems" existed since very young childhood. The main problem ended up being labeled & thusly treated as the "family scapegoat" - I think b/c not only was I difficult to get (esp. for my very self-centered mother), but b/c I was incredibly naïve, easily duped, etc., & the kind of family I was born into "needed" somebody to blame since they were so very dysfunctional, even by the "normal" definitions of dysfunctional (ha ha, I know how ridiculous that sounds, too!)