Is it possible for Aspergers to be misdiagnosed?

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Please forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong section of the forums, but anyway. I feel like I may have been misdiagnosed on three separate occasions. The first diagnose was when I was seven, with the second being at around the age of nine and the third when I was 14. The problem here though is that I had never displayed more than one or two of the characteristics seen in those with Aspergers. I do recall having some awkward hand gestures and movements for awhile back when I was in primary school but I stopped with corrections. However, I never did encounter issues with making friends until the seventh grade. To give anyone who's reading this a little background though is that I transferred schools when I entered the seventh grade and as such had no one I knew in the school. What really pushed me over the edge though was constant bullying from my peers which led to me isolating myself from others around me. It was also around this time when I picked up playing an online game where I spent most of my awake hours playing in solitude with brief moments of socialization with other players. As the school year dragged on I played the game more and more, skipping school to play and ignoring all aspects of school as I felt like I was worthless and that I was not competent to do any of my class work. It was also around this time my parents had the guts to tell me I had Aspergers which I took badly, as I've explained above I stopped trying and part of my lack of effort was because I saw Aspergers as a terrible disabling disease that would not get better. Unfortunately with the mindset I had I only continued to do poorly at school, barely passing seventh-tenth grade, and failing to make any friends. However, halfway through my sophomore year I saw my real potential, I tried hard to do well at school and ended up going from a 1.8 GPA to a 3.8! On top of that when I pushed aside the negative views of Aspergers I was able to make several new friends. But now I sit here with high school being over and pondering the question to if I really did have Aspergers or if I did have it did I just learn how to cope better? I still find it difficult and frightening to speak to new people/situations and being capable of carrying on a conversation. So is it possible that I in fact was possibly misdiagnosed with Aspergers? I feel as if I am still in a stage of denial.

Of course it is possible to be misdiagnosed. There is no scientific test for it. Even if there was there would probably be a very slim marginal of error that likely wouldn't happen but is possible. Oh and please use paragraphs next time.

Try answering these questions for us, or just think about them:

Do you get upset or dislike when things change -- must have things a certain way, can't have a schedule change?

Do certain noises bother you that don't bother others? Do clothing tags bother you, or certain types of fabric? Do you dislike others touching you?

Do you respond to things differently then other people? -- do people say you don't make facial expression? do they say your movements are funny? do you cry when you aren't supposed to or laugh? are you unable to cry or laugh? Do you find things funny that others don't?

Do you feel like an outsider? Do you not understand people's intentions?

Can you read body language and use it appropriately?

Do you have intense interests that others would call obsessions? Are they unusual in intensity or focus?

Do you find it difficult to start projects or finish them? When you're focused on something can you be focused for hours and forget to eat or sleep? Do you need specific directions and can't fill in the blanks in conversations or directions?

Do you notice small details others miss? Do you miss the big picture?

Have you ever had issues with figurative language?

Do you have repetitive movements and behaviours?

Are you clumsy or delayed in motor skills?

Is your speech described as unusual? -- robotic tone, pedantic, unusual vocabulary or accent?

If you answered most of these in the negative you were probably misdiagnosed.

Personally, I think bullying and the lack of adequate social opportunities can result in a condition that mimics Asperger's--you display poor social skills and seem to be overly interested in whatever you find as a substitute for social interaction--but this goes away when you are no longer outcast by your peer group.

Diagnosis is hard because the person doing the diagnosis usually doesn't have Asperger's--which can be explained as a having a brain wired differently than normal--so we are better at some things and worse at others. For instance, given the appropriate tools and supplies, I can build model airplanes to better than museum quality--working on them hour after hour, day after day, until I'm done. My mind can get "locked in" for weeks or months! But, it isn't really OCD, as I can switch off to another project, much better and faster than any OCD.

I've thought about this possibility, but even in the face of good relations in a peer group, various elements show up in my own life anyway. People make note of it, but don't attribute it to the possibility of Asperger's because they don't even know what it is! And telling them about it doesn't give those people an AH-HA moment, either! I get a lot of the, "YOU just need to..." I'm the only one who understands that it just isn't that simplistic for ME.

But that's okay, because unless I have a definitive answer, it's BETTER that I don't mention the possibility to people anymore.

Thanks everyone who gave their two cents on this matter! Anyway, I think I will take a look around these forums and try to figure out Aspergers more fully, which in turn should help me be more friendly to some of the people I know who have it.

Whether you are diagnosable or not may not matter if you are coping well. What remains to be seen is how you'll do in college or in the workplace, on your own; those changes often do require some support (anywhere from minor accommodations to intensive training), so don't dump the diagnosis too soon--you may need it again.