Hi from a NaT newbie

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This is my forth attempt at making an introductory post, maybe it'll stick. I feel weirdly unqualified posting here at WP because I'm so new and know so little, but maybe this introduction will help. WP looks like a fantastic resource and a good place to be, so I'm glad I found it.

About me:

I felt disconnected to everyone around me for most of my life. It got much better in university (where I was able to surround myself with people with similar interests), but I'm still perceived as 'odd' by many. I'm having trouble finishing university for a variety of things that are mostly to do with procrastination, hence my user name.

A friend/acquaintance who's very well versed in ASDs commented that I displayed many characteristics of adult females with AS (hyperverbal, fairly monologuous style of conversation, odd prosody, unusually enthusiastic about / interested in seemingly random topics, constantly unsure whether I'm socially appropriate ...), so now I'm trying to find out more to see whether I should get assessed / diagnosed.

For what it's worth, my stats from the common tests:
AQ: 33, AQ-10: 8.0
RAADS-R: 99
Aspie score: 100/200, NT score: 104/200.

Hi there, welcome

Nice to meet you! Welcome to WP!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

(Belated) thanks for the welcome. I'm learning so much from this place and gaining confidence as I do so -- it's a fantastic place to be.

Welcome always, Always!

Quite a bit of your story sounds familiar to me, but of course at the same time many people with AS have unique experiences. I was a bit of a procrastinator, and I got good at determining what I should do, but always had a feeling of being unsure of what was appropriate. I always feel a little on edge even though I'm pretty practiced at socializing now.

Whether and how you identify yourself as having AS is a very personal thing, but you are of course welcome here whenever you want to be. I hope this will be a great community for you and a good source of information.

Hey guys,

so. It's been twenty-two months from my intro post, and I've recently received a diagnosis of ADD with strong possibility of "mild" (doctor's words) ASD on the side. The doc who assessed me is an AD(H)D expert with limited experience in ASD issues, but they apparently consulted with colleagues, so. Yeah.

It's been strongly suggested I start medication, as doc says that ADD meds that improve concentration may help with my EF problems, which are the main reason I went in for an assessment, anyway. I'm not sure whether I'll go for it.

Doc also said that as most of my current problems are covered under ADD, the ASD assessment, should I choose to go through with it, would mostly be for my own sake of mind (you guys all know that feeling of BUT I NEED TO KNOW, right?), as there's no medication for the problems that do persist. So.

It's not like everything suddenly fell into place with the dx. I've been poking at the possibility for too long for that. I'm just happy to have had doctors confirm that my brain doesn't work the way most people's do, that I'm not neurotypical. Everything else feels like fine print right now.

Hey alwaystomorrow, welcome back.

You're welcome here no matter what any doctor may say.

あんた、どこ行ってたの？Welcome back!

Thank you! I'm glad to be back. I get phases where even internet-based communication gets too much, which means no tumblr, no forums, definitely no facebook for me. And then I'll wander back.
Thank you for your kind words!
あら。覚えてくれたの？うれしい！ この一年半は、いろいろあってな。修士課程の修了試験や論文のことで、手も足もでなかったの。。。 Back now, and with a slightly improved understanding of myself! Thank you~

Autism assessment coming up day after tomorrow. I'm actually doing it.

Good luck!

Thanks!

Figured I'd post an update.
The actual assessment got pushed back by a week on account of the doctor falling ill. I hate having appointments cancelled last minute, but at least it was for a legitimate reason. Day was pretty much ruined though.

Next week: different doctor than I thought I'd be talking to. I think I lucked out though; they were very, very accomodating and nice - started off by telling me what to expect ("this'll take about an hour and a half, this is what's going to happen …") and, when they started asking me questions about my life, seemed genuinely interested, not like they were just checking off boxes in their checklists.
About halfway through, another doctor joined us, which threw me a bit. I'd been told they'd be coming, but still. Lost access to speech for about a minute at one point, which wasn't pretty - I was mortified That kind of thing only happens to me very very rarely; I must've appeared a lot less 'together' than I usually manage to project.

By the end of it, they asked me to leave the room for five minutes (again, they'd told me that would happen from the beginning), conferred, and gave me a stack of assessment forms to complete - some for me, some for my parents, which … I wasn't thrilled about. My parents are fantastic. They also believe there's nothing wrong with me. Which … strictly speaking, I agree! But I find a lot of things very hard that most people have no problem with, so if doctors said there's a label that'll help me access better resources to manage my problems, that'd be great, right?

Anyway. I managed to explain myself to my parents, they filled in the forms (complaining about how imprecise and silly the questions were all the while), I sent the questionnaires back in. Got a follow-up appointment.

The follow-up appointment was today, and I figured ... I thought they'd tell me no, sorry, subclinical.
What actually happened was this: doctor had the scores in front of themselves and told me they didn't add up. Great, I thought, parents' perception and my own are super different after all. That's not what it was, though. Apparently, one of the two screening tests my parents filled in placed me squarely on the spectrum, while the other said "nope, totally NT". Two tests, filled in by the same people on the same night.

So the bottom line is I still don't have a diagnosis, positive or negative. Doc says that if it were just the way they see me at the appointments, they'd say yes, definitely, but they need confirmation that I was this odd when I was little, before I started school. So now my parents will have to talk to my doctor.

I'm not sure how I feel right now. I don't know what's going to happen next, and because the doctor couldn't tell me yes or no today, I'm kind of floundering right now. I expected to have a clear-cut answer by now.

I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for reading.

Greetings.

It shouldn't matter if you have AS or not because Wrong Planet welcomes everyone!