how did you know you had Aspergers ?

[Potterprincess]

hi
i have never being diagnosed with Aspergers or Autism but im not very sociable and i prefer to stay at home if i do go out i only see my closest friends and my mum within the past month has been saying to people she thinks i might have aspergers becuase im not sociable and dont have many friends.

I do have Dyslexia and Dyspraxia which effects my spelling, reading, writing, and im extremly clumsy, have speech problems and i dont walk properly i never have.

2 years ago i found out i am hard of hearing and needed to wear hearing aids which i never new but it would explain why i used to shout and talk loud growing up but didnt realise i was doing it and everytime .someone would say stop shouting i would say i wasnt.

one of my cousins has Aspergers and i was very close to him growing up but the difference was he attended special needs schools i attended mainstream

Ive been doing some research on the traits of a female Aspie and noticed a lot of them are like me i have also written down a few of my feelings and what makes me think i may be Aspie

im thinking on making a appointment at my doctors soon and mentioning it to them about getting a diagnosis on if i do have aspergers but im not sure how long the diagnosis will take

I have taken 2 tests online the AQ test on aspergerstest.net which i scored 32 which indicates a strong likelihood of having Aspergers and the other was the Aspie quiz at rdos.net which i scored 143 of 200

how long did it take your diagnosis and how did you find out you was Aspie?

 

[Chance]

Welcome P. Princess... : )

I have no idea if you have AS or ASD? It's very possible, especially since you took the online tests, but ultimately, of course you need to go find a professional (preferably specializing in ASD).

I was raised in an extremely rural area of Texas... I am just old enough that ASD wasnt quite a mainstream thing like it is now...

I was a hand flapping, ear pulling, non speaking, quiet little monster as a kid, that wouldn't let nobody touch him... I hated it, I still hate it, but I don't like the word hate either, (its awful).... but I did grow out of a lot of that, and I was forced to hide or stop the hand flapping, and ear pulling... The ear pulling thing was actually hyperacusis (painful hearing).

Horrible details aside I had to "act" normal to try and survive. As I grew up this caused lots of stuff to be bottled up and it turned into severe anxiety, panic attacks, and some really bad depression ALONG with my sensory stuff being way far from normal since birth...

This stuff got so bad I was admitted to the ER 3 times and on the third time they referred me to Psychologist. I was never seeking, or even expecting an ASD diagnosis, or the mass of other stuff that came with that diagnosis... But that's how it happened. My diagnosis is not like most peoples and I get that, but that's how I found out, and when I did I was angry and asked them to please try and find something else...
Overtime I came to grips with it and it started answering every single unanswered question in countless situations I had been in... So these days I have no problem with it. Others have a problem with it and thats their problem it seems... : )

My diagnosis was after about 3 visits, but

I had been called horrible things all my life but a "retard" was what hurt most, and that's what I thought of myself as... Overtime and after some more talks, and testing they proved to me I am anything but what I thought I was... And still other people don't get it, dont agree with it, but they don't have to live with it...
I do.

I am very fortunate. I do not like to talk much, but I do when I have too. I have a very good job and it pays me well, and I also run our family farm. So ASD knocks me around a lot, but now I KNOW what's going on and that helps some. I get really tired and worn down. I need lots of time by myself, but luckily I don't have to see very many people most days... And I like that.

Good luck on what you are seeking and once more welcome... There is a lot of information here so... Dig in.

 

[Gritches]

I found out because someone was finally rude enough to tell me. After that, my diagnosis only took a few months.

 

[Gig3]

I scored a 32 on the online test as well! I had long suspected that I was on the spectrum but wasn't diagnosed until last year.

 

[Bolletje]

Welcome! I found out because my psychiatrist told me. I hadn’t really entertained the thought before.

 

[Sherlock77]

Perhaps four years ago now (guessing really) I ran into a friend at a local flea market... I forget how it came up, but he suggested that I might have Asperger's... So I looked up some definitions of it... It took me until May of last year to do some online testing (three or four of them), which initially confirmed my thoughts...

I have always lived a mostly normal life with some what you might call eccentric quirks, have always worked fulltime... I'm 99% certain I'm an Aspie by now, I don't have any occupational need to get a medical diagnosis since I work fulltime with no major issues...

 

[Progster]

I knew when the psychiatrist told me that he thought I had mild Asperger's, before that I suspected that I had it, and thought it was likely, but without an official diagnosis I didn't know for certain.

 

[Potterprincess]

well i have never seen a physciatrist but i have socially struggled since i was little i would hardly speak to people as i was very shy and i did act up and run off from my parents in public but looking at a lot of female AS traits ive highlighted the ones that are most like me

 

[Hidell]

The light went on with me when a child psychologist looking into the problems my son was having asked me in an intake interview whether I had ever considered the possibility I might have Aspergers.

I found it at first very surreal as, being a lifelong researcher and knowledge digger, although I had of course read about and seen Autistic people, Asperger's was an aspect of life I had completely missed.

As my wife and I read more about it (I to an obsessive degree of course), we vowed to investigate for our son before I tackled the question for myself.

When my son had been diagnosed as Aspergers, and with no little trepidation, I went to a specialist myself and of course it turned out to be positive or I wouldn't be on this forum.

This was last year. I am still in the phase, sometimes of anger, but mainly of finding it bizarre that with my past history nobody in a professional environment had ever suggested this to me before, and that includes maybe a dozen psychologists and counselors since childhood plus a 3 month stay in rehab. After decades of thinking I must be in some way psychotic it turns out that not only am I an Aspie but also, in terms my wife (usually) affectionately uses, a "Massive One".

Now I am on the journey to find a cure.

That last bit was a joke.

 

[Daniel_Powers]

Parents told me I have it. Did some research and am like holy cow. Explained why I always kept forgetting things.

 

[Tom]

People had often labeled me 'Different' thru out life. It was when I learned about Aspergers on my own that I realized it was the difference. I never got a diagnosis. I learned very late and there was no reason to.

 

[clg114]

For as long as I can remember, I knew that I was different from most of the people around me. I just did not know how or why. I married, had a family and worked doing the same thing my whole life. When I was 60, I saw a documentary (I like documentaries) about Asperger's Syndrome. I was amazed, it felt like they were talking about me. After that, I researched AS a lot. By the time I was 62, I was convinced that I had AS, but I wanted to know for sure. I got my GP to refer me to a psychiatrist with experience working with autism. Three appointments later, he diagnosed me with Asperger's Syndrome (DSM IV 299.80). That was ten years ago.

 

[Drakanav]

My mom told me. I had a rough time in 5th grade. I sat alone at lunch, had a hard time keeping up with peers. I got my ears pierced to fit in, but it annoyed me, and had to take 'em off because I stim with my ear.
When the teacher would call on me, my classmates would be like, "Ooo", because they just knew that I would stutter and stumble on my words. I remember walking those school doors. My heart would race, skip a beat, chest tightness, stomach cramping. I dreaded everyday to walk through school.

I cried everyday at home and school, and it got bad enough to the point where I would try to run away from home. My mom finally told me while I was in my room, breaking down. "Is that why people treat me differently?". My mom helped me take the AQ test, and scored a 42. (My moms AQ score was 35, dad 18, bro 8.)

It all made sense. Why I feel, think, process things differently. It took a while to take it in, but, I thought, "This, is me.".

(So many commas, and another one.)

 

[Thinx]

I was working with people with Aspergers and their families and realised through reading and research for the work that this applied to me and explained some enduring challenges in social interaction I experienced and which didn't seem to improve through therapy or other efforts. Subsequently through further reading I realised that other aspects of how I am were explained by this and I have also got more understanding of spotting high autistic traits and Aspergers in others. Aspergirls was a useful early book I read. Jessica Kingsley publishers are a good source of information.

Think high traits are relatively common and imply a somewhat different brain. The more I read the more I see the differences that make sense of my life like being unsocial, simple and direct, unable to learn how to be otherwise despite many attempts, and I also thought my father and possibly other family members fit the category. It does seem to be about 50% genetic. And somewhat hereditable. Like being neurotypical maybe

 

[Fitzo]

When my young nephew showed signs of autism, I started reading about it and was initially shocked when I recognised myself. I always felt like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole but never knew why.
After my initial shock, it was an immense relief and my life started making sense for the first time. That was last year and now I really enjoy my daily connection to AC. I have finally found my tribe!

 

[OneAnneOli]

This was around 2016
1. My bf once got upset and told me why he didn't understand why I wouldn't look him in his eyes..
No one has ever said that to me annnnddd it really hit me.
2. Then some time went by and I saw a video on FB when I had one at the time, someone posted a video about a dog protecting its owner from self harm. It was a girl who has Aspergers... I guess she was in the middle of a melt down and started hitting herself in the face :/ the dog kept jumping on her arm to help her stop it was SO SAD... I have always heard the term Aspergers but never took the time to research it. So after the video I looked up YouTube videos and discovered someone made one about me and traits that women with aspergers have. It was alllll self discovery and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I've been thankful ever since. If i ever come up on a million dollars ill get an official diagnosis. But until then I rely on personal research..

 

[AO1501]

I always knew there was something that made me different, but there was never any way to know what that actually meant. As a mental health professional once reminded me, even those with serious mental health issues think they are normal, because thy only have themselves to judge by.

So I had no way to know that other people didn't see things the way I did, didn't think the way I did and that their minds didn't work the way mine did. There was no way to even suspect this until I was old enough to be able to see that there were differences, even as I didn't know what they were.

It wasn't until I was working, and designing a complex product, that I found out that my mind wasn't the same as others. I had calculated all the product's parameters and built a model of it, then tested it for proper function, all in my head. All as usual. Then it became clear because the engineers couldn't visualise what I could, that something wasn't right. The more I asked, the more obvious it was that I was very different mentally.

Over the years, that difference has become an understanding of other differences, such as sensitivity to sounds and inability to discriminate them, poor fine motor control and short term memory, inability to recognise faces, unusual problem solving skills, highly analytical and strategic focus... but even then it wasn't until last year when trying to help my daughter deal with the pressures she felt when trying to deal with a highly socialised workplace that was causing her serious problems that we realised that the cause of her 'deficiencies', and mine was Asperger's.

Edited to add: It is, I think, important for anyone puzzling over a possible diagnosis to realise is that because none of us can see ourselves from the outside, it is often very hard to connect all the 'symptoms' together as a single thing, rather than just a bunch of individual and discrete oddities.

 

[Potterprincess]

thanks for the replies when i was 18 and went into further education college i was on a bit of everything course for people with learning disabilties i was on it for 3 years and a lot of the people on that course i made friends with had disabilities or mental illness but becuase i had such a strong bond with some of them and felt like they understood me i would talk to my mum about my friends and when she would meet them if if i was out in town with them or had a event at college my mum would get embaressed about who i was hanging around with becuase they were loud and would say and do stuff in public that wasnt what everyone else who wasnt disabeld wouldnt do and when i would get home that evening she would say to me cant you find any NORMAL FRIENDS to hang around with you are NORMAL compared to them. i would say you know i struggle to talk to people its hard to do that.
but everytime she would make me feel like i didnt belong and my friends were not who i should see

ffwd ---->to 2013 i went through a really traumatic experience and some of the friends who i was close to in college stopped speaking to me apart from 2 but i ended up aruging with them and one i hardly see now but the other i see occasionally when hes not working.
i met this guy on my bus home he new about my traumatic experience and asked if it was true and if i was ok i said nothing and burst into tears he held my hand and gave me his number said if i need him to ring or text him we became really close friends still are to this day he helped me through everything and works and is disabeld himself and his words to me when i told him i dont feel like i belong no one understands me because im not NORMAL he said what is NORMAL nobody is you are who you choose to be . and when you say NORMAL we might be the NORMAL ones and everyone else might be ABNORMAL i know how you feel as i feel the same

 

[s k y]

Aspies in Media
my 2 cent blog

 

[Fino]

I saw a therapist for depression and anxiety when I was fourteen and it was revealed that one of the main causes of these problems were my difficulty with figuring out social interaction like an alien anthropologist or somethin! Phrases like, "what's up?" were breaking my brain!

But yeah, she told me.