Um...I'm new, and I might have AS

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Um, yeah, I've been looking at this site for a few days now and I just joined...Please forgive me if I seem a bit disjointed...I can be an eloquent writer but only if I think for a long time about precisely what I want to say...So...here's my story...and I apologize if it's too long, but I have a tendency to give too many details...You don't have to read it all if you don't want to.

I am 17 years old and a senior in a public high school. As a child, I never really had a concept of "normal" or "abnormal", I was just ME and my world made sense because it was small and sheltered. I have over-protective parents because I was diagnosed with juvenile (Type 1) diabetes at the age of 1. I was also diagnosed with celiac disease at age 10. I have a half-sister who is 13 years older than me. As far as I can tell, everyone in my immediate family is NT.

A few months ago, I started researching AS simply because it was something I knew nothing about, and I wanted to learn about it. As I read some of the symptoms, a lot of things about myself suddenly made sense. I had gone my whole adolescent life thus far thinking that I was merely "weird" or a "freak" Middle school had been a shock to me, I didn't understand the other kids and I didn't know why they were so mean to me. By the time I was in 10th grade, I just thought "I'm just different than everyone else. I'm on a different wavelength."

There are many more things I would like to say but I know this is more than long enough already. Before I conclude, I want to add that I’m not sure whether or not I should bother seeking a proper diagnosis, because A) The worst part of my life is over or almost over, and
B) Though quite a few symptoms fit me, many do not. For example, I sometimes speak with hand gestures, I can figure out certain things that are implied but not said, I do understand common metaphors (though new ones do confuse me), and I don’t really think I “obsess” over my interests.

I think it would be really embarrassing to go to a neurologist seeking an AS diagnosis, only to be told that I’m and NT, just a very freakish one. I take it personally when my ideas are shot down…

Okay, I’m done with my pointless ranting now. Thanks for reading, if you actually bothered to read this far. Sorry if I bored/annoyed you.

Welcome to the Clan, friend.

To WrongPlanet!! !

I apologize in advance for laughing at that remark, its just so sweetly naive. Don't mean to scare you or anything, but if you DO have AS, there's a whole new set of adventures waiting for you on the other side of High School. Ah well, if it weren't for tragedy, there could be no comedy and life would be terribly dull.



Well, not everybody with AS has precisely the same symptoms and behaviors to precisely the same degree, and some descriptions you may initially think don't apply to you, may flash on you sometime later as indeed applying to you, but in a DIFFERENT WAY than you first understood them to mean. I don't think I've ever had a problem understanding metaphor either, but my mind does have a tendency to jump to a literal translation even if I know that's not what the speaker intended. Makes for great puns.

As for whether you obsess over your interests - sometimes the obsessor isn't the best qualified person to make that determination. What doesn't seem at all obsessive to you may be boring the hell out of the person you're talking to. I once attended a two-hour oral dissertation on the wonders of Xena, Warrior Princess delivered by another Aspie. He wasn't bored for a split second. I, on the other hand...




Understand. I think several of us have gone through that particular anxiety attack pre-diagnosis. I guess it just depends on how badly you want to know. Sounds like you kinda know already. If it really flashed a "That's ME!" light bulb for you, chances are you may be onto something. If you feel the need for validation - if having a name for your perceived 'differentness' would help you feel more like you have a place in the world, then by all means pursue it. If you're okay with just knowing in your own mind, that's okay, too. In any case, welcome aboard! Good to have ya.

Welcome greetings to the Wrong Planet community, FallingStar.

Hi FallingStar, I'm sure you will have neither bored or annoyed anyone. Asperger's is on a spectrum so different people will have different severities of different symptoms. Childhood is very difficult for anyone different. But now you can choose who to be friends with, and you'll find people can be a lot nicer. Dean

Welcome to WP!