Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] 

Mootoo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Oct 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,942
Location: over the rainbow

14 Jul 2012, 5:56 am

Is it possible that one's ASD traits can become worse over time? It's kind of baffling me, but I was much more functional as a young teen (although still committed faux paus) - especially alone - but now I seem to be made of remnants of the past, with much worse noise/light sensitivity than I ever had (seemed to be immune to noise as a child, and became worse in the mid-teens; recently became light sensitive).

What really frightens me is that I don't seem to optimally function on my own, and this is not just the result of being lonely. I seem to have naturally developed problems with managing my affairs (logistically) and being overwhelmed by many things that I simply took for granted as a child.

Who says adulthood is better, really? Gah.



snayl
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 33
Location: SWMI

14 Jul 2012, 7:43 am

I feel that I've worsened with age as well. Some areas have improved, though I attribute those mostly to life experience and the patience that often comes with maturation. There are other aspects of my life/personality/functionality that certainly feel weaker than when I was in my 20s or 30s.

In my case, I have a [completely unprovable] hypothesis: my wife and I went through a series of significant life traumas in close temporal proximity, which has effectively "tapped out" many of my internal & emotional resources. Sort of a low-grade PTSD, you could call it.

I certainly do not function optimally on my own either. Every day I count myself lucky that I met, befriended and married my best friend (who turned out to be what Attwood calls an "extreme neurotypical"). Our strengths and deficiencies complement each other very well; we each have said that together we make one really awesome person, but that separately we each function as below-average individuals. In my younger days I had problems, mostly due to naiveté, but think that I was "more above-average" than I am these days. When my wife is out of town, I slip into a sort of cocoon mode -- even as I become more lonely, I leave the house less frequently and have increasing difficulty making necessary phone calls and similar things.

All of that said, I wouldn't trade my present life for one moment of my pimply, hormonal, perpetually-confused, outsider-y adolescence.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,609
Location: the island of defective toy santas

14 Jul 2012, 7:45 am

i can only say what forced me to learn to cope, was a stint in the military. that won't work for everybody and i could not have imagined it would've worked for me. but it did, in that it forced some self-discipline onto my normal lazy self, and forced me via saturation exposure to just about everything that bugged me [excess light and noise and ickiness in general] to become relatively inurred to those things. when i got the deer-in-the-headlights brain-freeze, the DIs would savagely kick me in the ass and grab me and physically move me along and shake me out of it to the point that i would perform on instinct/habit. i had to learn to keep things very simple in order to function on a mundane daily basis, and i still must keep things idiot-simple to function. for me, childhood sucked compared with the adulthood which at least allowed me some small degree of autonomy which i totally lacked in childhood.



bnky
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 19 Nov 2011
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 486
Location: England

14 Jul 2012, 11:02 am

OP, when were you diagnosed? Early diagnosis seems, in many cases, to lead to less social and EFD problems in adulthood... and vice versa :?



Mootoo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Oct 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,942
Location: over the rainbow

14 Jul 2012, 5:11 pm

Well, that's that then, as I was only diagnosed some years ago. What's EFD, by the way?



bnky
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 19 Nov 2011
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 486
Location: England

15 Jul 2012, 3:03 am

Mootoo wrote:
Well, that's that then, as I was only diagnosed some years ago. What's EFD, by the way?

EFD=Executive Function Disorder
Causes problems with organising, scheduling and completing tasks.
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/7051.html
http://www.aane.org/asperger_resources/ ... order.html



vanhalenkurtz
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 9 May 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 724

15 Jul 2012, 3:28 am

My asperger's has hardened over the years. I'm no longer subject to classic institutional pressures - school, military, family - plus, with my independence, I've had time to lock into my preferences. Normal course I'd say.


_________________
ASQ: 45. RAADS-R: 229.
BAP: 132 aloof, 132 rigid, 104 pragmatic.
Aspie score: 173 / 200; NT score: 33 / 200.
EQ: 6.


Mootoo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Oct 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,942
Location: over the rainbow

15 Jul 2012, 7:55 am

vanhalenkurtz, you think it becomes worse due to lack of pressures?



Gnonymouse
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2011
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 145

15 Jul 2012, 8:06 am

I think it becomes "worse" because in middle and high school kids are still awkward so it's easier to fit in. And since it's a structured environment it's easier to interact socially, you don't have to make an effort to go out and meet people. When you enter the real world there's jobs, insurance, money, rent, groceries, cooking, and a million other things you are suddenly responsible for.

I'm not sure about sensory issues, that could be heightened anxiety or less coping mechanisms than you had as a child.