newly semi-diagnosed aspie

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Joined: 4 Apr 2014
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05 Apr 2014, 5:18 am

So this has been an insane situation for me the last couple of days. Yesterday I had my first visit w/ a psych in over 10 years. I have always had terrible luck w/ psychs being rude and get this - bored - when i overshare my life and ramble incessantly - so bored in fact they seemed to have missed the fact that my rambling was a sympton of autism. Instead I was repeatedly diagnosed w/ ADHD and just accepted it. So yesterday I'm rambling and the psych actually LISTENED to me and told me he's at least 90% sure I have HFA/ASD. I did research while at work today, mainly on Aspergers, and holy crap did all the puzzle pieces of my life come together!! I can take just about every weird or awkward thing I have ever said and done where I thought i was just hyper or scatter-brained and see Aspergers bright and clear. I took the quiz and got a 37!

So I decided to join a community asap and plan to find a group. My question without having done a lot of reading on this forum is do you guys tend to suffer from addiction? I'm a recovering opiate addict and found they really made me feel "normal" - at least until they made my life hell.

Oh well i'm rambling again so hi everyone. I look forward to coming here for support and advice. Thanks

Waterfalls
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05 Apr 2014, 6:04 am

No, nothing makes me feel normal other than when other people treat me as belonging. It's nice to be treated as normal, and I have noticed sometimes if I'm around someone who is high, they might be caught up in being high and not treat me like I'm weird.

I don't know the statistics, and wouldn't trust them anyway because there's so much variability in functioning and we don't have great ways to measure it. Meaning someone who has caregivers probably not the same as someone living independently in terms of risk for addiction, but both could be identified as having ASD.

There are however many members here who have struggled with addiction and who have ASD. I hope you find the support you need here. Welcome to Wrong Planet!

linatet
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05 Apr 2014, 6:21 am

Welcome ! !!

nemokin wrote:

. I took the quiz and got a 37!

what quiz?
also try the ritvo scale (RAAD-S). It can be found online and for me is the best. It will help you find more aspie traits in yourself. Ask a relative to answer it for you without telling them what it is, say it's a personality test or something.

Quote:

So I decided to join a community asap and plan to find a group. My question without having done a lot of reading on this forum is do you guys tend to suffer from addiction? I'm a recovering opiate addict and found they really made me feel "normal" - at least until they made my life hell.

Oh well i'm rambling again so hi everyone. I look forward to coming here for support and advice. Thanks

probably there are some addicted, but that is not my case.

kraftiekortie
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05 Apr 2014, 8:24 am

I once had a psychoanalyst fall asleep while I was talking. True story.

Special interests tend to drive NT's batty.

Welcome to the Forum. Glad you could feel commonality.

yournamehere
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05 Apr 2014, 8:58 am

I have not been formerly diagnosed. I pritty much just knew what was going on with me 20 years ago. I have taken just about every online test you can think of. Everything leads to this place right here. If I did not have a genius level special interest, and payed less attention to everything, I would pass for adhd. If I had less social issues, no meltdowns, and could actually keep a job, I would probably pass for NT. I am always one to try and find ways to be o.k., without some guy in a white coat, with pens, and a stethoscope, that may be right at least possibly more than half the time if he is lucky, plus pills?

Anywho, I hope this place gives you some piece of mind, and some help on your journey if you need it. It has helped me alot, and I cannot thank these people enough. I had a horrible meltdown last year, that led me to this place.

stabilator
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05 Apr 2014, 10:57 am

I've never taken illegal drugs, but I am addicted to coffee and energy drinks. They help my brain wake up and get the brain gears turning better.

And alcohol can relieve a some muscle tension and stress slightly for a while, but doesn't make me feel more neurotypical or less anxious of possible social difficulties, and it does not improve my socializing abilities.

I think for me feeling 'normal' similar to what other people just said. I feel more normal, but not more NT, only more okay,peaceful and unstressed or anxious if I feel accepted by others and in no need to worry about people getting bent out of shape and wanting to beat me up or have me fired from work and forced into homeless over my eccentricity and my unintentional social clumsiness.

nemokin
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05 Apr 2014, 7:37 pm

yeah my psych told me addiction is fairly rare for aspies so I have an even more complex set of issues - but i really respond to the post about other people's acceptance of me being a huge high. Whenever i tell a funny joke or say something and people respond positively to it i get a feeling of euphoria. when I'm criticized or insulted i get the opposite - an overwhelming feeling of dread - although i do a great job of hiding it most of the time I want to tear their head off. I have played this 'part' my whole life trying to make people think i'm normal when my thoughts are so abnormal and atypical. I envy anyone i think may be NT and never knew why.

Sethno
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05 Apr 2014, 8:39 pm

nemokin wrote:

...Whenever i tell a funny joke or say something and people respond positively to it i get a feeling of euphoria. when I'm criticized or insulted i get the opposite - an overwhelming feeling of dread...

Familiar. VERY.

I'm guessing it means when they laugh you realize you actually "made contact" (more than difficult for an Autistic) but the other...that makes you feel like you lost some ground in your effort to be "a real boy".

Welcome to the club, Pinnochio.

_________________
AQ 31
Your Aspie score: 100 of 200 / Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 101 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits

What would these results mean? Been told here I must be a "half pint".

redcatbluecat
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06 Apr 2014, 7:41 am

nemokin wrote:

I could have written this post. I have spent my whole life trying to be normal too. I feel really sensitive to other people's feelings - even though I don't always understand them. If I feel that I've done something wrong, I feel so low, but yes when I get it right, when a conversation actually flows rather than falters, when people laugh at my jokes, it's brilliant.

I was addicted to alcohol and it did work for me for a while, I could go out - to pubs, parties etc as long as I was drunk - then it stopped working but I was drinking more and more and acting really weird when drunk. My psych was not sure whether to diagnose me as asperger's initially because of my history of alcohol addiction. I have been diagnosed now. I was shocked when I sobered up at how hard I found going out - I think that for me the alcohol toned down some of the sensory stuff about being in pubs and bars with people chatting loudly. I never liked really noisy bars, always preferred old man's pubs but now I find all of it too much.

Do you go to recovery groups? I have tried, it went OK for a while, but I haven't been for a few months because I found it all too much.

nemokin
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08 Apr 2014, 4:15 pm

redcatbluecat wrote:

nemokin wrote:

\
I'm going to a Recovery program 3x a week and this is how i ended up agreeing to see a shrink (so i can get the medicine I need to help w/ my recovery) and I told him my life story (that took awhile lolz) and he could tell just by how i 'presented' myself that I didn't have ADHD (which i was diagnosed with at the age of 8 years old) and had HFA instead. The recovery is great although I'm a bit of a disruption there as well. As soon as i get comfortable in any surrounding I begin to project my autistic behavior.

yournamehere
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09 Apr 2014, 8:17 pm

I am sober. I once was not. I am a cold turkey quitter. Just soo long as you really want to stop, you refuse to go back, and you just do it, it works the best. Everything changes when you make it happen. It needs to, or it doesn't work.

Loose the triggers!

Be impeccable!

AutisticGuy1981
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09 Apr 2014, 8:31 pm

nemokin wrote:

I did research while at work today, mainly on Aspergers, and holy crap did all the puzzle pieces of my life come together!! I can take just about every weird or awkward thing I have ever said and done where I thought i was just hyper or scatter-brained and see Aspergers bright and clear. I took the quiz and got a 37!

HFA is essentially the same as aspergers.
according to wiki

Quote:

High-functioning autism is characterized by features very similar to those of Asperger syndrome. The defining characteristic most widely recognized by current psychologists and doctors is a significant delay in the development of early speech and language skills before the age of 3 years. The diagnosis criteria of Asperger syndrome exclude a general language delay.

Further differences in features between people with high-functioning autism and those with Asperger syndrome include the following

People with HFA have a lower verbal intelligence quotient
Better visual/spatial skills (higher Performance IQ) than people with Asperger syndrome
Less deviating locomotion than people with Asperger syndrome
People with HFA more often have problems functioning independently
Curiosity and interest for many different things, in contrast to people with Asperger syndrome
People with Asperger syndrome are better at empathizing with another
The male to female ratio of 4:1 for HFA is much smaller than that of Asperger syndrome

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders, including high-functioning autism, have a very high risk of developing symptoms of anxiety. While anxiety is one of the most commonly occurring mental health symptoms, children and adolescents with high functioning autism are at an even greater risk of developing symptoms

giantstep
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10 Apr 2014, 12:57 pm

yournamehere wrote:

I have a history of going cold turkey as well. I quit cigs after smoking three packs a day. Quit alcohol, etc. I just stop. It is never an issue to quit. When Im ready I just do it. I wonder if being AS makes it easier to quit things. We have less of an emotional attachments than NTs, who tend to have a hard time quitting. ? Speculating here.

Being AS really is not that bad.

yournamehere
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10 Apr 2014, 7:58 pm

giantstep wrote:

yournamehere wrote:

More than 80% of people who quit using support groups, gums, patches, pills, horse hairs, or whatever, relapse. The success rate of quitting cold turkey is higher.
All that stuff that is sold to "help you", is a license to steal. The cure is within you.

There are people that are considering addiction a disease, because your body gives you a fix of endorphins for doing something that is actually harmful.

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