Bipolar and autism?

I have bipolar 1, severe anxiety, ocd, panic disorder. These were always my basic diagnosis’s I’ve had.

I’ve always been anxious 24/7, only comfortable where I’ve been before, not good at verbally communicating, can’t look people in the eye, I can’t do anything without my mom and I’m hypersensitive.

I recently got the description of hypersensitive from a doctor, I never knew what it was called before. Which is sensory overload and I wear headphones when I go out and sometimes inside.

I used to think that was all part of my bipolar I guess. But I recently had to do an IOP and I met some people who have bipolar and autism.

What they say sounds like me but I’ve never known anything about it and was never diagnosed at an early age. Just the highest anxiety and antisocial kid who won’t talk (but can somewhat)

I’m just wondering if this is a thing? Or all part of my bipolar? Wanted to bring it up. Thanks

My therapist, who specializes in this area, strongly suspects I have high functioning autism, although she insists that people refer to autism as PDD/Asperger's (depending on your level of functioning).

I have sensory problems, flat affect, flat vocal tone, eye contact problems, social issues, I share typical Asperger's interests (math, science), etc., but my IQ is well above average, so I would fall into the Asperger's category if anything.

I am not diagnosed with Asperger's mostly because my parents told my first psychologist that nothing was wrong with me in any way, shape, or form (i.e., they said no to bipolar or any of my other Dx's like anxiety and ADHD). I had them fill out a form for the lady and they just denied everything. Then the psychologist (figuratively) had to toss it in the trash because my parents were useless for giving her information. So I literally have no one to vouch for me if I want to get an official Asperger's diagnosis.

But anyways, enough of that... Some people are highly sensitive people in general and eye contact issues can be due to anxiety. You would be surprised to hear how much anxiety can actually mimic Asperger's.

And btw, "not wanting to talk" is not really an autistic trait. People with autism have problems interacting/connecting with others and may not want to talk because of severe social backlash they have endured in the past, but that's reactionary and is different from being withdrawn and/or anxious about talking. Most people with autism are social (or at least want to be social), even if they prefer to be alone.

When I say I didn’t want to talk that’s what I mean.., which I why I said I could somewhat. I’m not good at putting sentences together fast enough or responding. Of course I wanted to be with the other kids but didn’t know how

My youngest nephew had both a bipolar NOS diagnosis (he mostly had depression) and Asperger's. I'm not quite sure how having both affected him. I'm sure it didn't help. My older nephew has Asperger's and has had depression. Both exhibited symptoms obsessive compulsive symptoms, too. My eldest nephew is likely a hoarder, or that's what my sister believes. Both seem(ed) unable to really live on their own. I believe their symptoms (in the Asperger's range) were/are pretty severe. My family lost my youngest nephew in 2017.