The symptoms I'm experiencing, do you see these symptoms in yourselves?

[Mister Anonymity]

Hello guys.

All my life I've been told that I have Asperger's syndrome without the usual testing. A psychologist suggested it to me without any prescribed testing. Then when I was in high school, a couple of students, especially the cute girl sitting next to me, suggested it to me because I was constantly gnawing a bottle cap with my teeth incessantly. I thought the students were ridiculing me especially since I was excelling in academic math and they weren't. They might've been jealous of me my advanced skills, and that that was an attempt to lower my self-esteem so they could feel better about themselves. However, now I'm starting to wonder if I have high functioning autism. My mother told me that, when I was a kid, I didn't talk much. I was always quiet as opposed to when I was in grade school, attempting to make friends. My social skills were sub par, but they've gotten better over the years. I noticed that I have an unusually high vocabulary and a tremendous mastery of syntactical categories. I love writing in quora and places like this forum long and verbose commentary. I have hobbies that I overindulge in continuously to the point that my mother has to force me off the computer.

My nurse case manager told me that I could try and see a neuropsychiatrist to get tested for Asperger's Syndrome. How efficient is Neuropsychiatry in detecting Asperger's and do all people who were diagnosed go through this kind of rigorous testing?
Have any of you experienced what I'm experiencing? Please feel free to share any similar stories you've gone through.

 

[VictorR]

Hi!

What you're describing sounds like possible indicators.

As for getting a diagnosis, keep in mind that a diagnosis is an opinion from one person, and that different professionals may give different diagnoses for the same thing. The type of testing done and how much testing is done can also vary considerably.

There's a number of threads on the topic of testing and different experiences with it.

Someone you may wish to ask yourself if you haven't already is if you need a test? Or is it something you want to have a question answered? As mentioned by many members in many threads, self-assessment is perfectly fine if you don't actually need an assessment, which can be time consuming and/or expensive depending on where you are.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Growing up in the '50s and'60s, high functioning autism was never diagnosed. Those with skills were only nerds. In retrospect I could see the signs; the inability to look at people directly, aversion to being touched, disturbing food textures, and deep social dysfunction. Only when I was having PTSD anxiety due to mental illness from social isolation, many years after the experience, did I seek psychiatric help. It was the psychiatrist who after screening tests and interviewing me about past and current behavior did I receive a diagnosis.

This led me to understand and better accept myself, even if now I have a good mix of NT and ND social behaviors. I think that introspection, with understanding, has let me defang the difficulties I had so they no longer have any power over me. I wish the best for you, because even after a diagnosis the work you put into yourself will be important.

 

[Finder]

We really cannot diagnose from that. It could be many things. However, you can try testing and see what the results are. You can always ask for a second opinion.

As far as being forced off you interests, for someone with ASD that is not always positive. The special interest can be good for stress relief. However, it is good to experience other things.

 

[Gift2humanity]

Hello guys.

All my life I've been told that I have Asperger's syndrome without the usual testing. A psychologist suggested it to me without any prescribed testing. Then when I was in high school, a couple of students, especially the cute girl sitting next to me, suggested it to me because I was constantly gnawing a bottle cap with my teeth incessantly. I thought the students were ridiculing me especially since I was excelling in academic math and they weren't. They might've been jealous of me my advanced skills, and that that was an attempt to lower my self-esteem so they could feel better about themselves. However, now I'm starting to wonder if I have high functioning autism. My mother told me that, when I was a kid, I didn't talk much. I was always quiet as opposed to when I was in grade school, attempting to make friends. My social skills were sub par, but they've gotten better over the years. I noticed that I have an unusually high vocabulary and a tremendous mastery of syntactical categories. I love writing in quora and places like this forum long and verbose commentary. I have hobbies that I overindulge in continuously to the point that my mother has to force me off the computer.

My nurse case manager told me that I could try and see a neuropsychiatrist to get tested for Asperger's Syndrome. How efficient is Neuropsychiatry in detecting Asperger's and do all people who were diagnosed go through this kind of rigorous testing?
Have any of you experienced what I'm experiencing? Please feel free to share any similar stories you've gone through.

Hello

I gnaw on my fingernails, and used to gnaw my toenails.
I know some NT's who nail bite though.

Although maths wasn't my favourite subject, early on in school I was known to be very bright, I lost this though as I wanted to fit in.

It's only recently I realised why a bright girl picked on me at 8, she was jealous.

I talked a lot, just learning now to be less talkative. I am ADHD though, not officially diagnosed but anyone who knows ADHD and me could see it.
I can go really quiet though at times if I feel anxious or uncomfortable.

My social skills were also sub par, I never accepted this and masked, now I know I am AS I can be myself.

Despite not reading as a child, comments have been made on my high vocabulary and the word "wordsmith" was mentioned to me as feedback.
I've been told I am good at writing letters etc.
I'm a good poet, the rhyming type, which is odd as I never read poetry.

I can be long and verbose.

I have various computer addictions, not tech, web surfing etc. I have special interests which vary.

What country are you in. I'm in the UK with the wonderful NHS.
Autism testing seems to vary from region to region.
Here we have an Autism Diagnostic Service where specially trained assessors test for autism. It seems that different regions may use different tests.

I regret I cannot answer your question about neuropsychiatry in detecting Asperger's.

The testing was quite rigorous for me.

Please feel free to ask me any more questions and I hope what I have written has helped.

 

[MyLifeAsAnAspie]

Yes, it all sounds familiar to me. Unfortunately, I like you have only a psychologist opinion that I am ASD, not a diagnosis. In my case, it was my daughters psychologist who commented that I seemed more so than my daughter after my daughter got a diagnosis.

I think the online tests like the AQ are helpful. I got a an AQ of 34 (32 is the threshold) and when I had a friend who thought he might be ASD take it he got a 24. This is about what I expected since I think he is only introverted.

I recently found evidence that would make a diagnosis easy to obtain. A letter from my kindergarten teacher to my parents with great concern over my socialization. A 2nd grade school report card with concern over my attention to the teacher and later in the year conflict with classmates. I suppose the teachers which didn't put concerns in writing may still have discussed them with my now deceased parents.

I recently started considering going for a diagnosis to participate in the SPARK genetic research.

 

[Mister Anonymity]

Hello

I gnaw on my fingernails, and used to gnaw my toenails.
I know some NT's who nail bite though.

Although maths wasn't my favourite subject, early on in school I was known to be very bright, I lost this though as I wanted to fit in.

It's only recently I realised why a bright girl picked on me at 8, she was jealous.

I talked a lot, just learning now to be less talkative. I am ADHD though, not officially diagnosed but anyone who knows ADHD and me could see it.
I can go really quiet though at times if I feel anxious or uncomfortable.

My social skills were also sub par, I never accepted this and masked, now I know I am AS I can be myself.

Despite not reading as a child, comments have been made on my high vocabulary and the word "wordsmith" was mentioned to me as feedback.
I've been told I am good at writing letters etc.
I'm a good poet, the rhyming type, which is odd as I never read poetry.

I can be long and verbose.

I have various computer addictions, not tech, web surfing etc. I have special interests which vary.

What country are you in. I'm in the UK with the wonderful NHS.
Autism testing seems to vary from region to region.
Here we have an Autism Diagnostic Service where specially trained assessors test for autism. It seems that different regions may use different tests.

I regret I cannot answer your question about neuropsychiatry in detecting Asperger's.

The testing was quite rigorous for me.

Please feel free to ask me any more questions and I hope what I have written has helped.

Did you ever get a special written report about yourself in school? My mother got a written report from the school detailing my psychological development and the following evaluation that came with it. I'm under the assumption the other students in my class never got the same written evaluation. Maybe, I think, they were studying me and trying to decipher me like a puzzle in order to ascertain whether I had Autism or not. When you discovered you had autism, was it in your childhood? Did the adults in your life try to study you and figure you out? I feel like the adults in my school were studying me and trying to figure out whether I had some sort of autism. There were detailed reports indicating poor social skills and inability to ingratiate myself with the other students. There was lots of bullying and insults thrown my way. The teachers were concerned that I didn't know how to partake in the usual social protocols that were dictated by the rules of playground and the extended forms of human interaction in the adult world.

 

[MyLifeAsAnAspie]

I think there was often a reluctance to assign labels to school kids. That seems to be changing over time as shown in the "autism epidemic" of rising ASD numbers. Did you ever get evaluated by a pdoc as a kid? Often you will get some related diagnosis instead Asperger's/autism. I think the approach back when you were a kid, was to assign the least alarming label to get the kid services. And that's what the labels are all about, getting the needed services.

I don't know what they labeled me. I was only evaluated once in my early school years and stayed in mainstream classes. I got special help with speech and they kept checking my hearing. Yes, those words were getting to my autistic brain so I could ignore them . That was in the 1960s before Asperger's ideas had even been written about in English.

 

[Running Girl]

Self diagnosis worked fine for me. Take the online tests. As far as symptoms, chewing on pen caps all through school, tapping my fingers, shaking a foot, Social problems, shyness, being bullied, social anxiety, enjoying being alone are all symptoms i guess. A psychiatrist suggested I might be on the spectrum more than 20 years before i realized i am. I was not open to the idea then.