• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Newly self diagnosed female

Mad

New Member
I’ve been occasionally browsing this forum for a little while now. I feel comfortable enough to post now, I suppose. I’m hoping the long welcome at the top of the page disappears after I do.
My name is Madelon. I am a 33 year old female currently living in Wisconsin. I would love to hear what comes to people minds when I mention Wisconsin. It’s quite the stereotypical place like in the movies.
I am a Registered Nurse by trade, currently working in the field of organ donation. I worked as a critical care nurse in a burn ICU until late 2021. I loved it but definitely had my social struggles. Especially dealing with families and care team rounds. Being directly responsible for keeping someone alive is stressful as well, obviously. Then COVID threw all hospitals into a panic. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear among all staff. Add mistreatment, unsafe work environments, and under compensation... I could go on forever.
My current position is remote and I work in a office. My position coordinates every aspect of organ donation from start to finish. It’s A LOT. I’m away from the stress of bedside nursing, but now there is a whole new social stress of adjusting to office life. I’ve never worked in an office before. I feel like I’m in school again. Things change often and the numerous job resources we have are overwhelming and hard for me to navigate. AND since I work remotely I’m obviously on the phone all day. I’ve adjusted to this better than I thought I would though. I have two coworkers currently that were my fellow ICU friends before, so that has helped things a lot. I work night shift (always have. Less people!) so I don’t have to see many office people but anytime I might it makes me incredibly anxious. It takes me time to get to know new people and more than two people at once is overwhelming. I mask amazingly and get through it, but that doesn’t negate the internal feelings.

This was long. I figured I’d just let myself write. I’m an avid journaler. It’s how I cope with life.

I used to do pretty much all of my socialization in online forums when I was a teenager. All animal related, as I am ever the animals enthusiast.
I stopped socializing on forums when I left high school and ditched social media about 8 years ago.
Writing on here is already causing me some anxiety but I’m sitting with it and pushing the post button regardless.
Autism has ran through my mind occasionally over the years but I’d never seriously considered it until a new friend’s husband was recently diagnosed. I’ve always had an extreme interest in psychology and brain science so I did some further research into adult diagnosis. There is so much new info coming out related to females on the autism spectrum. It’s been mind altering to see myself so clearly in what I read. It’s an odd feeling of relief.
It’s thrown me onto a new path of self discovery. I’ve only told 3 people so far. My wife, one close friend, and my new therapist. And now you all.

Post.
 
Welcome to the forums Mad. I hope you find us less stressful than your previous forum experiences.
 
Welcome! It took me a little while of lurking before I felt comfortable jumping in as well.

When I think of Wisconsin, the three things that come to mind first are "cheese head", ginseng, and the Green Bay Packers.

While I haven't worked as a nurse, I have RN friends I've met through work and I sympathize with the many challenges that your profession has faced in particular over the past three years.

I too haven't been on social media for many years and have a very small network in real life but here I've found a supportive home.
 
Yo to you, and l love the Dells. I swear l was the only older lady at the top of the water slide. What a quaint place. Such a beautiful state.

Welcome to the forum. We have a severe nursing shortage in Florida, sometimes patients get scuttled to other hospitals an hour away even though we have 3 major medical facilities.

Thanks for coming out. I think you survived it.:)
 
welcome to af.png
 
Hello and welcome!

Many of us hover over the post button for a little while, gathering the courage to hit it. It can be anxiety inducing, sharing yourself with the world like this. As a lurker, hopefully you have learned that we are a friendly group.

When I think of Wisconsin, I think of driving through it. I passed through the southwest sticking to route 90 pretty closely. I was on a road trip across the country and feeling weary in the midlands.
 
Hi. Plenty of self diagnosed here as well as folks investigating the possibility, so you can feel at home in that respect.
 
Hello & welcome @Mad.

I was born in southern California, but have lived the last 35 years in Wisconsin (16 in & around Kenosha, and 19, so far, near Rhinelander).
 
I’ve been occasionally browsing this forum for a little while now. I feel comfortable enough to post now, I suppose. I’m hoping the long welcome at the top of the page disappears after I do.
My name is Madelon. I am a 33 year old female currently living in Wisconsin. I would love to hear what comes to people minds when I mention Wisconsin. It’s quite the stereotypical place like in the movies.
I am a Registered Nurse by trade, currently working in the field of organ donation. I worked as a critical care nurse in a burn ICU until late 2021. I loved it but definitely had my social struggles. Especially dealing with families and care team rounds. Being directly responsible for keeping someone alive is stressful as well, obviously. Then COVID threw all hospitals into a panic. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear among all staff. Add mistreatment, unsafe work environments, and under compensation... I could go on forever.
My current position is remote and I work in a office. My position coordinates every aspect of organ donation from start to finish. It’s A LOT. I’m away from the stress of bedside nursing, but now there is a whole new social stress of adjusting to office life. I’ve never worked in an office before. I feel like I’m in school again. Things change often and the numerous job resources we have are overwhelming and hard for me to navigate. AND since I work remotely I’m obviously on the phone all day. I’ve adjusted to this better than I thought I would though. I have two coworkers currently that were my fellow ICU friends before, so that has helped things a lot. I work night shift (always have. Less people!) so I don’t have to see many office people but anytime I might it makes me incredibly anxious. It takes me time to get to know new people and more than two people at once is overwhelming. I mask amazingly and get through it, but that doesn’t negate the internal feelings.

This was long. I figured I’d just let myself write. I’m an avid journaler. It’s how I cope with life.

I used to do pretty much all of my socialization in online forums when I was a teenager. All animal related, as I am ever the animals enthusiast.
I stopped socializing on forums when I left high school and ditched social media about 8 years ago.
Writing on here is already causing me some anxiety but I’m sitting with it and pushing the post button regardless.
Autism has ran through my mind occasionally over the years but I’d never seriously considered it until a new friend’s husband was recently diagnosed. I’ve always had an extreme interest in psychology and brain science so I did some further research into adult diagnosis. There is so much new info coming out related to females on the autism spectrum. It’s been mind altering to see myself so clearly in what I read. It’s an odd feeling of relief.
It’s thrown me onto a new path of self discovery. I’ve only told 3 people so far. My wife, one close friend, and my new therapist. And now you all.

Post.
Welcome to the forum Mad! When I think of Wisconsin I think HOME! I live in Wisconsin too.
 
There are a lot of dairy land folks on this forum! Must be the cheese, the Dark Side only has cookies. I grew up on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi, but have lived on the cheese head side for the last five years.
 
Last edited:
I would love to hear what comes to people minds when I mention Wisconsin.
Ironic, isn't it, of all the things we could say in introduction that a lot of us here have gravitated toward commenting on WI instead? What I think of when I think of WI is my favorite dairy. They serve a grilled cheese and pickle sandwich. I know, sounds gross, but mmm is it good. That & how appreciative that gas on their side of the fence is cheaper than on ours. Guess that says how close I live to WI, eh?
 
Is it possible to get rid of the ad at the bottom of the page? How?
It keeps messing me up when I try to type a response on my phone.
I think this forum might require the effort of a computer.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom