I think I could have Asperger's, but I'm not sure. Insight?

Sforzi · Yellow-bellied Woodpecker Joined: May 23, 2008 Posts: 51

Hi, I'm new here. Smile

My boyfriend (let's say J) has Asperger's, and recently, I've been starting to question myself, as a lot of our similarities lie within his AS traits. It's easy to talk to him about most things as he seems to be able to relate to them.

For example, our love of having the same cereal every day, dry, and with milk on the side. We each thought we were the only people who did this, before we met each other! I like to have the same food on certain days: roast on Sunday, curry on Wednesday, and fish and chips on Friday ... etc.
I'm quite withdrawn with anyone but my closest friend, my immediate family and J: I have a lot of acquaintances but I don't let a great deal of people get that close to me ... it just makes me feel uncomfortable, and often stressed, like I can't keep up with it.

I was constantly bullied at school for being intelligent, studious and "different", so much so that I had to move school a fair few times! I found I could never read people's intentions, so I wound up trusting no-one in the end and becoming a recluse - trying and failing to maintain good friendships.
Nowadays, I often feel I'm not being myself around friends and family, that I'm putting up a front, almost like people wouldn't get the "real me". I don't naturaly know how to act around people, and I often feel disconnected.

I can be slightly OCD, straighten curtains if they're wonky, straighten drink mats wherever I am ... else it bugs me so much that it makes me anxious. My hair and teeth have to be brushed a certain amount of times, too. It just feels more "right".
I'm hopelessly pedantic within spelling and grammar - so when I get it wrong, I get so ashamed! *lol*

For me, my computer is an obsession: I spend many hours per day on here, either on forums or chatrooms, or coding layouts.
As a result, I've made friends online (I find it a lot easier this way), and both relationships I've had have been from online dating sites. I can get to know people from a distance, which puts my mind at ease.

I detest loud noises, they can quite disturb me sometimes - I'll flinch or hold my hands to my ears or eyes.
Recently went to the Cambridge ARC website ... my AQ is 42, while J's is 46.
Another test I've taken came out as:

Your Aspie score: 137 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 81 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie.

So ... yes. Apologies for the essay - have a Star

for getting through all this. Razz

What do you think?