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npantsu
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30 Aug 2017, 10:55 pm

Hello, this is my first post here and I am in a tight spot. My life is spiraling out of control and it feels like I have just woken up from a dream. For 23 years I have felt out of place, like I have been viewing life from outside a window looking in on everyone else doing their thing. Friends have never been easy to make, nor have they been easy to keep. Connecting to people emotionally is very hard for me, I have never been able to feel what another person has felt. I've only been able to guess and act accordingly, addressing a laundry list of options that I've collected and comparing them to the situation, picking the one most appropriate. Often I get it wrong. I'm always misinterpreting others only to have a "oh" moment a few seconds to a couple of minutes later, it's a cycle that keeps happening even though I am aware of it being an issue. Sometimes talking to people feels like I'm trying to play a character, a role to reciprocate the other person. Often I get it wrong. My own feelings do not come easy to me and many times I have no idea how I feel or think about something. I only know when I feel good, when I feel bad, and when I feel angry. The only way I can judge myself is through my action, but I misinterpret and find myself just as lost with myself as I am with others.
Looking back at my childhood there's a bunch of things.
-When I was full "overflowing," (had a ton of energy) I would shake around really fast to release it.
-Cars appeared to drive themselves because I couldn't see a face in the driver's seat
-Would get attached to people who I felt a connection with. Sometimes it felt like a physical bond, and when it broke I would get extremely upset and very depressive. It felt like a piece of myself dying.
-People always telling me that I was either too loud or quiet
-Extremely quiet because I was afraid to upset and felt like I would step on someone's toes
-Never understood when someone wanted to be left alone or if they wanted to talk (talking on the phone is a nightmare)
-Always ate the same food over and over and some foods I just couldn't eat for their texture (yogurt with the fruit in it for example)
-Could get lost in something I enjoyed for hours and hours, we're talking up to 12+. Often I would lose track of time and not realize how late it got.
Some of these haven't gotten better, like food. I can eat many things now, but I still find it hard to try new things. I no longer release my energy by shaking, or at all anymore. Instead I am constantly fidgeting and having to readjust myself otherwise I get uncomfortable. I'll tap my things with my hands or feet too, or click things like a pen or mouse. I am still really quiet, I do not speak unless I am spoken to and I will not keep the conversation going, at all. I am extremely sensitive to social settings now and pay close attention to facial expressions and tone of voice. I have no idea if the information I am receiving is right or wrong, so I usually stay silent or risk misinterpreting the situation.
Now that I'm older and working a job I have begun to realize many other things like my face having no expressions ever. My voice is never animated and I find it hard to emulate emotion. I am constantly getting lost in my own head thinking about everything all at once and that can lead me to tuning out my environment. Many people have to yell at me to get my attention.
I just don't know too much about myself. I grew up in extreme isolation with only a computer as my parent and haven't really thought about any of this that hard. Guess you could say I went online very recently when I looked around and realized everyone in my life was gone. When I was younger I just assumed everyone thought like me and that I was normal, but as I'm getting older I can see a difference between myself and pretty much everyone I have met. I'm just so lost and have no idea anymore. Can anyone help me? Do I have autism? If anyone needs me to clarify or bring up anything else, just ask. It's incredibly hard for me to think about specifics when I haven't thought about this kind of stuff before. Thank you.



starkid
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30 Aug 2017, 11:16 pm

Compare your behavioral patterns to the diagnostic criteria.



npantsu
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30 Aug 2017, 11:24 pm

Well I repeat the same routine that I have since I was a child. Go to school (now work) and come home to sit in my room all day by myself. If anything challenges this pattern I get upset and begin to throw fits of anger or shutdown emotionally and get very depressed. Beyond that would to get into personal details and I am not comfortable with sharing those.
I'm not too good with people or with myself so if I misunderstood what you meant can you please be more precise? I am not that smart either.



starkid
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30 Aug 2017, 11:57 pm

npantsu wrote:
I'm not too good with people or with myself so if I misunderstood what you meant can you please be more precise? I am not that smart either.

I meant that you should look up the criteria for diagnosing autism and see if you fit those criteria. You can find a list online.

One of the criteria is restricted/repetitive/stereotyped behavior, and your routine fits that criteria. But you have to have other traits too, like social/communication problems.



npantsu
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31 Aug 2017, 12:13 am

I wrote how socializing feels to me in my original post, but to be a little more specific: People have always felt like mysteries to me. They can go on and on about the most boring topics like the weather while I would prefer to talk about stuff like psychology, books, video games, my hobbies and interests. Weather has no special meaning to me so I can't think of what to say, but give me something that does have special meaning to me and I could talk all day about it. There's also never being able to tell if someone is interested in me or not, whether they want me to continue talking or not, or if I should leave or follow them. Socializing is hard, very hard.



Feralucce
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31 Aug 2017, 4:35 am

This LINK should help you


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peregrina
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31 Aug 2017, 5:05 am

npantsu wrote:
I wrote how socializing feels to me in my original post, but to be a little more specific: People have always felt like mysteries to me. They can go on and on about the most boring topics like the weather while I would prefer to talk about stuff like psychology, books, video games, my hobbies and interests. Weather has no special meaning to me so I can't think of what to say, but give me something that does have special meaning to me and I could talk all day about it. There's also never being able to tell if someone is interested in me or not, whether they want me to continue talking or not, or if I should leave or follow them. Socializing is hard, very hard.


Yeah, mate, I agree with you. Socializing is hard and can be draining. I have struggled all my life and I feel burn out now. People talk about unimportant things and worse they gossip. As I listen to their conversation, I yawn and think to myself "Do I need to know this? Hmm, why do I need to know this?" I think those boring topics you mentioned are a part of "small talk". We on the spectrum are not good at it. Yes, our interests can make us give a "lecture", but that makes most people run away from us.



Voxish
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31 Aug 2017, 7:35 am

peregrina wrote:
npantsu wrote:
Yes, our interests can make us give a "lecture", but that makes most people run away from us.


True, true, so very, very true :roll:


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Voxish
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31 Aug 2017, 7:37 am

I see I have become a Toucan, pity I liked my life as a Seagull


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StampySquiddyFan
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31 Aug 2017, 8:21 am

Voxish wrote:
I see I have become a Toucan, pity I liked my life as a Seagull


Ah pity. Soon you'll be a boring Veteran, and you won't have any fun seeing the names you get.


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Hi! I'm Stampy (not the actual YouTuber, just a fan!) and I have been diagnosed professionally with ASD and OCD and likely have TS. If you have any questions or just want to talk, please feel free to PM me!

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