what was your pre-ASD diagnosis?

[AspergerianYogi]

I was labelled as a sociopath, possible psychopath, for thirty years. That was fun.

You're kidding??!!! I'm not sure if I should say, "I'm sorry you had to go through that!" or, "That's funny in it's own sick way." What type of treatment did they put you on for that disorder? Of course - you do not have to answer that question if you do not feel comfortable and I'm sorry if I am overstepping any boundaries asking.

Also - for the forum - I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS - it was 1989, I believe. I was lucky to have very observant and supportive parents who said, "That can't be right! He doesn't show enough developmental delays to be PDD-NOS!" They read through the literature and consulted with family advocacy centers, and eventually stumbled upon Asperger's Syndrome. They took this back to the doctors, who read over the symptomology and said, "Yes - this sounds about right."

Interestingly enough, I always figured that the ADHD symptoms I displayed were just another manifestation of my Asperger's diagnosis. It was not until about a year ago while speaking with my therapist that she clarified I am, indeed, dually diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD. It was actually a relief to find out that I did have ADHD, because now I felt I could put some work into more concrete coping mechanisms to manage it in my daily life.

 

[Zjezdzaj]

I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety in 2000 and Rapid Cycling Bipolar 2009 before finally getting my Asperger's and ADHD diagnosis 2012.
It was my mom who happened upon an article on Asperger's when I was 13 and thought "Hey, that's my kid!" She brought it up with my teachers who were constantly complaining about my behaviour but they denied it saying it had to be some sort of emotional imbalance, general bad behaviour, laziness and lack of discipline because girls can't have Asperger's. That was the end of the road back then. In High School I was diagnosed Bipolar but it would take a few more years of failed college, job and life attempts before I finally received the correct diagnosis'.
Right now I just trying to cope and slowly move foreward. 2015 has been the year from Hell so I'm hoping for a better 2016.

 

[AspergerianYogi]

I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety in 2000 and Rapid Cycling Bipolar 2009 before finally getting my Asperger's and ADHD diagnosis 2012.
It was my mom who happened upon an article on Asperger's when I was 13 and thought "Hey, that's my kid!" She brought it up with my teachers who were constantly complaining about my behaviour but they denied it saying it had to be some sort of emotional imbalance, general bad behaviour, laziness and lack of discipline because girls can't have Asperger's. That was the end of the road back then. In High School I was diagnosed Bipolar but it would take a few more years of failed college, job and life attempts before I finally received the correct diagnosis'.
Right now I just trying to cope and slowly move foreward. 2015 has been the year from Hell so I'm hoping for a better 2016.

I'm so sorry you faced what was essentially a case of sexism in your diagnosis history. That's unfair and it sounds as though because of it, you faced a lot obstacles that could have been avoided. If it is any consolation, I knew what my diagnosis was my whole life and have in many ways been successful, but i can tell you that learning to cope with the challenges of everyday life is hard enough, let alone having to constantly be trying to self-monitoring and constantly questioning, "Okay...I'm not proud of how I handled that. Which part of my response is the diagnosis and which part of it is just me and my inherent personality?" It never gets easy. But the bright side of it is, now that you have the correct diagnosis, you can effectively work with what's there. I am not you, and so would never tell you what is best for you, but based on my own experience, my one piece of advice would be RELY ON YOUR FRIENDS OR FAMILY OR WHATEVER NATURAL SUPPORT NETWORKS AT YOUR DISPOSAL THAT YOU CAN! If they have hung in there with you this long, they are not going anywhere, and better to get their help working through your demons in the safety of your home. Best of luck to you! I have never met you, but you undoubtedly have my support in this new life journey!

 

[SleepingSun]

Mine were/are major depression and borderline personality disorder. I was diagnosed when I was 35 (I'm 37 now).

 

[unsurewhattoname]

I knew what my diagnosis was my whole life

How? Like even as a baby?

 

[Crossbreed]

Well, we WERE "little professors...!"

"Oy, this is going to be a looooong life..."

 

[AspergerianYogi]

How? Like even as a baby?

Wow - thank you for pointing that out. I guess I should have been more specific.

My parents knew when I was 4. They didn't tell me until I was 11.

I started out my schooling in a special education program and was gradually mainstreamed, so I got a lot of early intervention outside the home. My parents decided it was time to tell me when I reacted poorly to some of my classmates teasing me in 4th grade. My classmates were doing some jocular teasing in response to something I said - I don't even remember, honestly...it was really mundane - but I got really upset and yelled back and them and then shut down for about 20 minutes - by an NT's standards I can now see why it would have been construed as overreacting but I really got upset. So after that my parents sat me down and explained what Asperger's was and how it played into my reacting so strongly to my classmates - I was perhaps not picking up on the subtle cues that they meant no harm and were actually just engaging in another form of friendly play. (Personally, I have learned over time that teasing in any fashion just doesn't sit well with me - it feels a little like bullying, no matter how innocuous - and so for the most part I've just kind of phased its presence out of my life - I don't tease others and I don't respond or engage much when others do it to me.) From that day onward Asperger's became a continuous conversation in our household - what it was, how I could work with it on my own and how the family could work with it together - but even with years and years of this I still had to go through some pretty hard and painful life lessons before I could see really how my diagnosis plays into the way I function daily. It's still a work in progress.

 

[Mr. Cat]

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety
Major Depression
Minor OCD
ADD
Possible Schizophrenia

And nothing they said or did to "help" me worked or even made any sense.

 

[Laughingowl1975]

Developmental Dyspraxia at age 6
ADD/ADHD at age 7
Minimal Brain Dysfunction again at age 7
Occupational Therapist did note some Autistic-like behaviours E.G odd speech, rather narrow interests, hand-flapping, sound sensitivity, strong likes and dislikes being the most notable but did not investigate further.
Also Depression at age 19

 

[hiraeth]

Schizoid personality disorder was the label I was given before I actively sought out an ASD assessment.

I never really agreed with it. While it can look as if all the checkboxes are checkable, most things that schizoid people talked about in regards to their experience I couldn't relate to. I often found myself seeing them as an ideal state, one that would make my difficulties easier to deal with or perhaps not difficult anymore, but I definitely wasn't there.

 

[23andaspie]

I've heard some nightmarish diagnosis stories though I am not surprised that this occurs. The symptoms of ASD easily could be mistaken for another condition, and having at least one (if not multiple) co-morbid conditions has been cited in studies to be greater than 50%. Combine that with some extremely similar though distinct diagnosis (such as SPD mentioned above), the plethora of possible diagnoses in the DSM-5 (think 1000-page manual), the constantly evolving definition of ASD and other diagnoses in such texts, and the lack of experience most clinicians have in recognizing higher-functioning cases of autism.

My pre-ASD diagnosis was ADHD-PI (predominantly inattentive subtype). I do not think this was an incorrect diagnosis and it certainly agrees with the research that suggests a high co-morbidity, especially amongst males, as well as the executive functioning difficulties I experience which can further be explained through my later ASD diagnosis.

At the time of the ADHD diagnosis, which pre-dated my ASD one by only about 3 1/2 years, I did definitely believe there was something else that I had not yet been diagnosed with. What I believed that was varied about for several years, but I suspected something underlying along the lines of a mild but chronic mood disorder.

Reading up on Asperger's specifically, on Wikipedia, in fact, was nothing short of an epiphany that brought chills throughout my whole body at the moment of first reading it. After about 2 years of seriously considering the idea, and some social experiences which confirmed my suspicions, I pursued an official diagnosis which after thorough assessment of over 15 hours of testing and interviews with my parents, confirmed my diagnosis of AS.

 

[Kupu2]

Multiple personality disorder, depression, anorexia, social phobia. Other labels were considered, but knowing they did not fit, I learned to mask myself. MPD never fit either. It was given by my long term counsellor in 1989, when Oprah made the disorder trendy. I was young and naive.

Anyhow, it took ME to figure it out.

 

[WereBear]

At first it seemed like typical menopause issues, but the fake hormones they gave me stopped working.

Had all the symptoms of Addison's Disease, I went with adrenal fatigue but my blood levels of cortisol were "normal." (Which is a whole other rant.) Still, my adrenals were making plenty. So I went with Cortisol Resistance, which helped a lot, but not enough. My GP ran a ton of tests and decided it was "stress," which was accurate but still no help.

As usual in America, unless you bring in the exact organ that has fallen out of our body, if they don't get it right the first time, they blame the patient. I diagnosed myself with online tests before seeking a formal diagnosis to get insurance help.