View attachment 54145 View attachment 54145 View attachment 54144 View attachment 54144 I was diagnosed 6 months ago with ASD. I am 36 years old. I was married very young and have a son. I was with my husband for 14 years and eventually I fell apart and we got divorced and my whole life changed. I had never been on my own before and the stress of change made me get worse. I thought going to the doctor and getting put on medication would fix my issues but it only got worse. In a span of 2 years my doctor kept adding medications and then I was taking 12 different psychiatric medications for Major Depression, OCD, GAD, and Agoraphobia. I worked for the Department of Defense for 13 years and I tried so hard to keep working but I wasn't getting better so my doctor had me do ECT "shock treatments" for 8 months. The headaches and memory loss from treatments caused me to resign and I lost everything.I ended up having to move out of state to live with my Brother. I stopped all medications and treatments and started feeling better after 6 months. I applied for a minimum wage job and then eventually found a better paying job. I decided to get a second opinion about all my diagnosis's and everything I went through. I was then diagnosed with ASD. I have been medication free for 2 years and it's relief to finally know why I'm so different and knowing I don't have to fix it.
I will probably never be able to work for the Department of Defense again due to my memory loss and past history in the mental health system but that's okay. I am functioning and I have a life again and I'm working on my future. Two years ago I thought I would be institutionalized staring off into nothing for the rest of my life.