OdinTheAardvark
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone!
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a 52-year old married man in the UK. I have been working for 30+ years as an IT professional. I have occasionally wondered whether I might be an aspie, but never pursued it until now.
A few weeks ago, I suffered a meltdown at work - pressure got to me until I started banging my head and making barking and howling noises. I went to my GP and was signed off work for 4 weeks, and subsequently placed on SSRI medication.
While off work, I came across an article describing AS meltdowns ... they even used the same term I had used. As I read the article, it sounded like a description of my own feelings leading up to and during the incident at work. I researched further, and more and more things seemed to fit, including the following:
Thanks!
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a 52-year old married man in the UK. I have been working for 30+ years as an IT professional. I have occasionally wondered whether I might be an aspie, but never pursued it until now.
A few weeks ago, I suffered a meltdown at work - pressure got to me until I started banging my head and making barking and howling noises. I went to my GP and was signed off work for 4 weeks, and subsequently placed on SSRI medication.
While off work, I came across an article describing AS meltdowns ... they even used the same term I had used. As I read the article, it sounded like a description of my own feelings leading up to and during the incident at work. I researched further, and more and more things seemed to fit, including the following:
- With the single exception of my wife, I have, and have almost never had, any close friends;
- I have never been able to look people in the eye - they think I do, but I watch their mouths;
- I am poor at reading non-verbal signals, such as when I have bored my daughter;
- I am uncomfortable in social situations;
- I have been told on a number of occasions that people have been flrting with me, but never noticed for myself;
- I am pedantic (although I prefer 'precise', 'accurate' or 'correct');
- I tend to use formal language;
- I am clumsy and have poor balance;
- I have always prefered non-fiction to fiction;
- I can recite 35 decimal places of pi;
- I have problems with loud noises;
- Although I am good at my job (largely), my work space is a tip;
- I have a complicated ritual involving fingers, words, numbers and mental arithmetic that helps me to get to sleep by pushing out all the other stuff from my mind;
- My humour is largely based around puns and wordplay;
- Whenever I applaud, the number of claps I give is always a prime number;
- My formal education started early, after a doctor told my mother I had an 'overactive mind'.
- I tool the Baron-Cohen AQ test, and scored 42.
Thanks!
