Which Conditions did you consider before AS?

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I bought a copy of the DSM-IV when it came out in the mid-90's and read it cover to cover. I was looking at it partly as a sort of spell book of interesting things to do with one's brain, but also partly looking for self labels. About the only thing I considered at all was DID. But I don't fit the criterion.

Ironically, I skipped the section on childhood maladies because I wasn't a child. And that's where autism diagnoses were listed. I only heard about autism years later from strangers in response to some things I was blogging.

Alcoholic.
Emotionally ret*d.
Morally superior.
Too intelligent.
Total social f u c k u p. (All self diagnoses.)

Discovering Asperger's 2 years ago at the age of 50 has been sobering.

Rearranging my life to be as comfortable as possible for what's left of it.

Doing a pretty good job. It's just what we do, when left to our own devices, isn't it?

Being able to "do something about it" has been the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I live alone on a boat in the Whitsundays, tinkering, fixing, thinking, drinking coffee and smoking rollies, occasionally connecting with people, working enough to pay the bills...

Life's good for this aspie

Propagnosia, ADD, Dyslexia, and just plain clumsiness

Social anxiety and ADHD

First it was Avoidant Personality Disorder, Dependent PD, PDNOS, Anxiety Disorder and EDNOS. (These where *all* attributed to me by a psychiatrist.
After a year of pushing the exact opposite treatment of what's helpful for Aspergers I tried to commit suicide and got re-evaluated by a better psychiatrist.

Now the record shows Aspergers, PTSD and EDNOS, which I feel is correct.
Well, to be honest it's Anorexia, but I always threaten to quit all treatment if they go ahead and say that out loud...

I started out with clinical depression, and then moved on to ADD, was incorrectly diagnosed manic-depressive (couldn't believe how far off-base that was) and then suspected Asperger's but couldn't understand why it seemed to have faded as I aged, and finally hit on type 3 hyperlexia. DING DING DING! It felt like coming home.

I do not have an official diagnosis of anything but I have realistically considered:
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia, I read my mother the DSM-IV criteria and she thought that it fit me remarkably well
- Dyscalculia, basic arithmetic is very, very hard for me, but understand the rules behind mathematical concepts is very easy
- Learning Disorder NOS
- Mental Retardation, although that seems very unlikely given my academic performance
- ADHD Inattentive Presentation, which is within the realm of possibility, the symptoms fit me well
- Depression
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Effects of a neglectful and abusive childhood
- Hypochondria
- 'Sensitive person', although only sensory sensitive, not really emotionally

The ones of those which fit best, in my opinion within my understanding of the conditions and myself, are effects of a negative childhood, LD-NOS (because I fit Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia equally strongly), ADHD inattentive presentation, depression and also I fit the criteria for autistic spectrum disorder well.

The most frustrating thing is that beyond two home videos I have no objective point of analysis of my behaviour as a child, so I am unsure if I can satisfy that it has always been this way. My memory of childhood is patchy, mostly because of traumatic events. Although I have always been considered strange, and my acute sensitivity to sound is one thing that everyone who knew me as a child commented on. A teacher suggested to my mother that I should get my hearing tested because I would walk around with my hands over my ears when the other children were playing - I'm not sure why she suggested that, because I think my behaviour seemed more indicative of a child with painfully good hearing, or very poor auditory filtering/sensitivity to sound. I would also tell my mother to stop singing, and to turn her music off.

I'm of reasonable intelligence but I still cannot use a knife and fork well enough to get the majority of food in my mouth, spell coherently without lots of corrections and spell checker, tie my shoe laces, do basic household tasks such as laundry or make cups of tea etc without extreme effort and mental planing out of the steps required, tell time on an analogue clock, tell when people are being sarcastic, tell when people are teasing, know what will offend people, tell when I have offended a person, know how to comfort people. I'm extremely forgetful about basic tasks such as feeding myself, and my immediate area. I spend lots of time staring into space, and tap boards, walls, objects etc that I walk past. If I feel anxious and I have enough room I'll spin in circles, move my hands - specifically my fingers - in a manner similar to playing an invisible piano (this I know I have always done), find small spaces to wedge myself into.

But, all of this speculative diagnosing means very little to me - and many others - with a professional opinion to back it up.

Social anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder

I considered befor my officiall diagnoses:
Bipolar and afterwards Asperger, but I turned out having HFA.
But I still might have Bipolar II...!

So I wasn't that wrong.

i know i have SLD from a young age including: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia. but i still felt this wasn't all.
iv looked at schizophrenia perhaps with negative symptoms, but this was no match at all
iv looked at bipolar to explain meltdowns but this was no match
iv looked at several personality disorders
borderline cote my eye because of the self harming behavior but a virgin can't quite be promiscuous and im not manipulative or impulsive. on the other hand i have experimented with psychedelic drugs. im not shore if i fit that MO? probably not

my SLD teacher in high school once told me he believed i had aspergers. im now in my late 20s
looking at every thing Aspergers explains a lot. although i don't have flat-affect but i did as a kid. iv imitated my pears and learned to be expressive thew my expressiveness is a bit over bored, it is one of the things people say they like about me.

Anxiety and depression.

i was originally diagnosed with adhd and depression, when i was around seven, then bipolar disorder when i was thirteen or so, and then finally got my asd diagnosis this year.

I thought I had OCD and possibly bipolar, though I didn't fit the criteria exactly. When I was diagnosed I was told it was AS with OCD traits, but they were reluctant to formally diagnose OCD as the behaviours of OCD and AS can overlap quite a lot.

As an adult I think the OCD affected me more as a child and teen, and the AS I think is quite mild, or at least I'm intelligent enough to compensate for my lack of social skills by analysing and mimicking other people.

People have been telling me (unofficially) that I had some OCD traits since I can remember. When I started trying to find out what I was, I went to OCD and Schizoid Personality Disorder first. Then, I found AS and didn't need to look any further. I don't have an official diagnosis because, like Patchwork above me, my symptoms are either mild enough that I can get by without assistance, or I learned at a young age that it was easier to just act like everyone else as much as possible.

My only official diagnosis is SAD and I was put on Paxil which both did and didn't help and the withdrawals are freaky. As I am gifted I've mostly been ignored. I'm just starting to carve out my niche in society as I am 26 and it took me a little longer than most to get through college. I've found ways of "socializing" at least at the work level and my hobbies have developed my coordination to an acceptable level. While my life hasn't been as easy as many I've met I've had a lot of support from my father and two really good friends with my father and one of the really good friends likely aspies. I apologize if this seems a little off for this thread but I'm coming out of a bout of depression and that tends to make me a little optimistic in my outlook.

Social anxiety most recently - 4 years ago. Finally. That got the ball rolling.....

previously lots of situations where I felt anxious , people telling me - and me feeling like I'm doing the wrong thing socially. As a kid - huge problems with behaviour at school, trouble with friends, being withdrawn often as a result, crap at sports, depression

I've suspected AS for several years now - it seems to fit so i'm sticking with it