Too Old?

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First post. I'm going keep this short. I really wonder if it worth opening this can of worms. Most everything I find seems to be related to kids. What kind of help is there for adults? Old adults. I am a man, 61. "THE" issue of my entire has been my inability to communicate and connect with other people. I've never had a successful relationship and few friends. I simply don't know how to do it. It's not like I have not sought help in past; counselors, therapists, psychiatrists. I always get the same unhelpful answers. You need more self confidence. You need practice. Loosen up and be yourself (What does that even mean?). It will get better as you get older. It didn't. Always the same stuff.

I have not been "officially" diagnosed Asperger's but I'm pretty sure it is true. I remember around 1980 seeing a TV show about autism and wondering to myself if it were possible to be slightly autistic. Apparently my instincts were on target. I've taken these online tests several times and every time score above what they call the diagnostic level.

So I'm thinking again about what kind of "help" there might be but is it really even worth it my age? There is not a darn thing can be done anyway and the thought of trying to talk about it with someone when the thoughts and concepts are there, but the words are not, scares me and frustrates me.

Maybe not so short after all. But what kind of help is there, out there, when you're 61 and not 6?

From society you might get disability benefits but on the whole if you go this route it is should be for purely personal/selfish reasons. I suspect selfish goes against your grain, but I also suspect trying to please everybody has gotten you little but pain in return, so you damm well deserve a little selfishness. You get to finally interact with people who do get you in some fundamental ways, we have lived decades undiagnosed. Nobody helps us so we try to help each other. That is far from what it should be but it is better then what you have gotten all these decades.

Are you satisfied with your self diagnosis? Can you live the rest of your life and leave this earth knowing why things happened the way they did and who you really are? Or do you need more validation from experts in either a professional specialist in Adult autism, or those of use who are experts because we have lived our whole life as an "Aspie"?

People have been telling me to loosen up and be myself for almost 6 decades. It has not worked because when I do that it shocks them. I thought people would eventually get tired of their advice not working give up. I thought wrong.

Welcome to Wrong Planet. I wish for you better times

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I am 58 with 6 children and by mid-next month my 12th grandchild will be born.

I have been diagnosed with strong PTSD and have two "informal" tests showing solid Autism Spectrum Disorder. (That was all in the last 2 years.) I am going through a formal test at the VA next week.

Do we bother working on this now? I figure that if I will be around even just one day I might as well make that day better.

Good luck!