Struggling as parent of adult with Asperger's and OCD

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There is some overlap, so they can look the same from the outside although the internal motivation is different. However, at the simplest, the intense consuming interests of a person on the spectrum give them pleasure, whereas the obsessive thoughts of an OCD sufferer cause them distress. Your son isn't distressed by his interests, is he?

Nope, not at all.

Thank you so much for clarifying this for me.

I had an uncle with severe germphibia who would shower multiple times a day until his skin bled. It was a terrible situation for him.

Last edited by lannistua on 05 Jan 2014, 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

With the more classic types of OCD of worrying about germs and overwashing, checking and re-checking door locks, rituals when walking through doorways, various types of counting rituals, etc., there's an outside chance it's an autoimmune condition called PANDAS.

This is controversial. Some doctors don't believe in this at all. But if the theory holds, it is a subset of rheumatic fever involving an autoimmune reaction to strep, including at times to minor and subclinical infections. Now, so far they've only looked at this in children and for the more classic types of OCD, but rheumatic fever itself can cause initial attacks in adults in their twenties and occasionally later.

PANDAS is serious, but easily treatable. I think it's kind of like hitting a home run if it turns out to be the case. Perhaps the first step is finding a sympathetic doctor and then a blood test for antibodies to strep, unless the strep infection has been too recent.

http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/tc/str ... c-overview