Aspergers and mental illness.....

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Hi everyone,

I hope I am posting in the right place. No where else seemed appropriate. Moderators, please move if necessary.....thankyou

I have recently been dx with Aspergers. My psychologist has asked me to really start nutting out behaviour, history, getting testimonials from family as a child(my father knew all along and is quite relieved that I am finally getting some help!). The very difficult thing is that I have past mental illness dx. At 21 I was dx with Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizoeffective and traits of PTSD. I had quite a violent childhood and spent many years healing with therapy, medication and hospitalisation. I am wondering now how much might have just been Aspergers and maybe PTSD and not so much of the other? I cannot refute the past nor get it back and I do not doubt my competent therapists back then.......but one wonders.

I was just wondering of others experience. Whether you have had to struggle with mental illness as well as the negatory effects of Aspergers without being dx. It has been a very strange but rewarding experience......for the last year at the age of 36 and suffering physical health issues, I have finally felt relatively comfortable within my own skin. I was only dx AS about 2 weeks ago. I have much relearning to do......much self-esteem to make up.......and much healing to do. At least we are on the right track now.

Thanks all for listening.....

Michhsta

It's fairly likely that at least some of the issues that were interpreted as other disorders were actually autism. I think a lot of people with AS are misdiagnosed as having BPD. Especially since "Borderline" is frequently used to mean "pain in the butt patient," and professionals are going to consider you a pain if they can't figure out what's wrong with you. (Granted, if they can't figure out what's wrong, that's THEIR failing, but they still tend to blame you for it..)

this is fairly standard for many who receive a later-in-life diagnosis. Often there is a host of prior incorrect diagnoses, that never quite adequately explained things.
I've come across many, many, many 30 years plus women who are AS but who received other dx'es not unlike your own over the course of the earlier phase of their lives.

I have never had hospitalization or medication as a child, but I went through a delusional phase when i was in my early 20's...i may have exhibited some borderline traits from time-to-time, but not clinically so..
There is also a possibility that I had PTSD as a child...unless those were just the way my AS symptoms manifested themselves...lots of sleeplessness oblivion and weight gain..

I have been seen as emotionally stunted and emotionally disturbed and in my mid-20's I was called psychotic for my obsessive behavior....because I was trapped in a loop and could not find understanding or closeure....for some dumb issue that had plagued me...

I do not have a full understanding of all the things that have been thought to be wrong with me, but I have largely remained clear of the mental health system..Times I have sought help for mental health issues, the professionals seemed largely not very understanding...

I can relate. Went thru a horrible bout with depression during my teens-late 20s, most of the therapists I saw were just awful, not really listening or seeming to have already made up their minds before I even walked thru the door. And too many were a little too eager to prescribe some of the most god-awful meds, some even lied to me about certain meds not being addictive (guess what, they were. I voluntarily stopped taking some and went thru withdrawel, later found out info regarding the meds and discovered that the shrinks were full of it. ) Dealt with depression by changing my diet, also cutting out a lot of toxic people/influences from my life. But also found out that I have had AS all along. And so it goes.

I would love to find some sorta inexpensive and understanding wholistic practicioner to help me deal with a lot of my reoccurring issues...I still battle with depression from time to time...my worst problems seem to be extreme spaciness and circular thinking...it makes it hard for me to get anything done but post stupid You Tube videos over and over again...

Just from my own experience, changing one's diet can really help a lot with depression. I don't want to come off as being preachy, but for real, stay away from processed food if you can help it. There's so much high fructose corn syrup in everything now, which was banned in Europe BTW.

Also: Your videos rule! You're like a female Robyn Hitchcock!

Welcome to WrongPlanet.

thank you! I try to avoid processed food, I avoid sodas and sweets and most fried foods and white flour....but I am often so spaced out that the act of procuring decent healthy meals gets to be overwhelming...I eat a lot of hummus and wheat-free crackers...but that's a lot of salt....

I have been bitter about my videos due to a lot of low ratings and critical comments lately...most particularly since I acquired my new video editing software, which I thought would make my videos better....
Also I am aware that I essentially have "too many" videos for my channel to be very effective...but it brings me so much pleasure...I don't know how to stop posting them...i need to just disable the ratings and/or buck up and stop caring..or start another more minimalist channel...but I have already done that and those get very few views at all...dunnow...REALLY I need to focus on a ton of other things instead of piling and piling on the things I am obsessed with...but I don't know how to stop...

It may not have been the doctors lying.. especially with new drugs that come out, drug companies keep fudging data and covering up side effects, and until there are more studies and more experiences with those drugs, all the doctors really have to go on is what drug reps tell them. Then there are all the issues with researchers "selling" their names (putting their names to research papers funded by drug companies and ghostwritten by companies contracted to write the papers.) There have been a lot of cover-ups and deceptive practices from within the pharmaceutical industry.. especially if a drug is new, the doctor may just not have known about it. Sometimes doctors lie, but I think more often, they've been lied to as well. (And now there are companies getting fined for actively advertising to doctors to use their drugs for uses that aren't approved, too.)
Plus definitions of "addictive" are sketchy. A lot of times addictiveness is rated by how "enjoyable" addicts find a drug to be. So even if you build up tolerance to a drug, and have withdrawal, and all sorts of other things that would indicate to a logical human being that something is addictive, some drugs are called "non-addictive" just because it's not enjoyable to take them.

Thanks everyone for your great insights.......given me much to think about......

It almost feels like learning to walk again.......challenging but with the anticipation of FREEDOM.....

Thanks all........so many peices falling into place.......where have I been the last 36 years?

Michhsta

The dark ages... AKA today's mental health system.