Hi, I’m new here and was diagnosed in my early to mid 30s

[PurpleButterfly]

Hi, I’m new. I was diagnosed in my early to mid 30s. I’ve always gotten fatigued easily and getting help for anxiety only made things worse by being encouraged to put myself in loud crowded environments, one of there approaches was exposure therapy. I’d also be prone to a lot of shutdowns which was misdiagnosed as social anxiety. My lack of eye contact was also seen as social anxiety. After having a depressive episode in my 30s, that’s when I found out I was on the spectrum. Having the correct type of therapy has made a big difference in my life.

 

[Outdated]

Hi and welcome to the forum. There's a lot of people in here with stories similar to your own, welcome home.

 

[Kitsuna]

Hi, welcome to AF!

 

[tree]

 

[lunarious]

Hi purplebutterfly

Edit: I recognize your story, when you say "exposure therapy".

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Welcome! You fit right in.

 

[Grondhammar]

Yes, welcome. And oh how I feel for you with exposure therapy. That was my first therapist's go-to (seven years before I was diagnosed) until I realised I just couldn't do it anymore and stopped going for a long while. I'm so glad you survived that and somehow found your way here.

 

[Xinyta]

Welcome, @PurpleButterfly

The medical field, and people in general, misunderstanding what we are all about, is unfortunately pretty common place. But I am glad you are getting therapy that helps you now. For most. Realizing you are on the spectrum is a lightbulb moment. Where everything now just suddenly makes sense.

Hopefully being here will help make things more comfortable for you.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

It is nice to hear that you are receiving appropriate assistance. Welcome. There is a cohort here, who, like me, were only diagnosed much later in life. I was diagnosed in 2019 and being on here and learning more about myself I could come to terms with my life. Consequently, I am enjoying life more.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Welcome, @PurpleButterfly! I hope you find this forum as welcoming and helpful as I have.

 

[the_tortoise]

I'm glad to hear that your real struggles were finally recognized so you could stop being hurt by the well-meaning people who understood nothing about your experiences.

Myself and many others here have suffered similar well-intentioned harm and gone through years of futile torturous effort trying to fix problems we never had (or did have -- but for very different reasons than others believed or were willing to consider)

 

[lunarious]

@the_tortoise

I'll follow you, to find out if i can use what you may say here on AF. If that's OK.

 

[the_tortoise]

@the_tortoise

I'll follow you, to find out if i can use what you may say here on AF. If that's OK.

Yes, that's ok. It's very thoughtful of you to ask.

I hope there is something you find useful, but as honest fair warning...I try to work on and moderate these things but I suspect I mostly fail so; I can be very overly-reactive, am often off-topic/miss the point entirely, can be very self-centered-ly rambly, can be ignorantly lectury and presumptive, can be hypocritical and unfair, and have reached a pretty negative and jaded headspace about myself and my own life (and to some extent about the entire world) in recent years that I suspect is seeping (or flooding) into a lot (possibly all) of my posts here. (Including this one...I just want to be clear about who I am and am not...and to prepare you so you are not surprised/disappointed if you find out that what I write here is mostly or entirely not helpful at all....I have no idea what it will be to you, of course, only you get to decide that for yourself....just, um, fair warning.)

 

[lunarious]

@the_tortoise That's OK. Thanks.