Asperger's Syndrome

[Amazon D]

I had it more when i was younger. I have it less these days. I'll probably have it more when i get older. My 88 yr old mom seems to have it now. She use to run a chemistry lab but has always been an isolationist. I think it will come and go over time. In the test i just took i was a 30 and it says i needed to be a 32 so i am low for testing positive.

Oh in the poll i marked i don't know

[Nikolai_S]

I honestly don't know. When I first read about it, everything sounded exactly like what I had experienced, I don't think there was a symptom that didn't match up. I've read about three books about Asperger's by now, and I do think there are some similarities. However, not only am I unwilling to diagnose myself, but I also think a lot of the symptoms could be explained by other things. For example, social anxiety, OCD, and a very high IQ, paired with some naturally bad interpersonal skills, would look just like it while being entirely different. Additionally, I am considerably less awkward socially in a male role than a female one... and though I still have below average socialising abilities, I'm inclined to think gender had a good deal to do with it when I was younger. I also haven't had some behaviors consistently, like "special interests." I've had obsessions, but I've also gone lengths of time without them. So at the moment, I wouldn't say I have Asperger's. Though everyone else disagrees...

My mom, dad, oldest friend, and all of my dad's colleagues (doctors, though not psychiatric) think I have Asperger's. I think my therapist finds it likely as well, but it isn't something we've spent time discussing. As far as I'm concerned, I'm currently able to read facial expressions and intonations, and to express them myself, well enough that I find it unlikely I'd have more than very mild Asperger's. I do have difficulty telling when someone is feeling an emotion that they are not actively expressing, but I don't think that's terribly uncommon. Previous criticism of my level of emotional expression, or lack thereof, I'm inclined to attribute to being gender-atypical.

So that's quite a rambling, but there you are.

[Kreuzfidel]

I thought I was the only one who has had these sort of problems.  I have wondered for a long time if that is what's going on with me, but I'm too afraid to ask a professional.  Plus I can't be sure if a lot of my symptoms aren't stemming from my decade of social isolation and my dysphoria.

[RhinoP]

With me, I have two cousins who have forms of autism, and physically, I fit many, many bills that you see with mentally handicapped folk; severe facial deformities effecting every facial feature, irregular vocal tone, undecipherable handwriting, extreme social flaws, stunted physical growth. And concerning mental abilities, I've always had an extremely high IQ because of my extremely precise memory capabilities, but when it comes to interests, I've always had extreme obsessions with things like the imaginary worlds I create in my head when writing books or scripts (I draw the characters, compose the scores, write the entire things, ect ect) and I do have quite a few obsessions about random things like certain video games or books that I know every single detail about fanatically.

However, I really don't think I have any form of autism really. I think any social awkardness I have is attributed to how, when growing up, my family was both abusive and very strange, and that I had very few friends even in my youngest of years; I just had no way to develop socially and my parents were socially stuck in the 1940's. Even growing up in school, my autistic appearance (I truly looked like I had mild down syndrome, I have very typical facial features of autistic children) caused constant bullying and complete sexual/social alientation, so I never developed social skills even growing up as a teenager and into an adult. Plus, on top of being self-concious about appearing autistic, the same features plagued me because they were also very masculine and not at all female.

One thing I've always been curious about is way back in 3rd grade, I suffered a significant trauma to my skull when one boy plowed into my head on the playground when he was running at super-speed without looking; it knocked me out unconcious for a few seconds and left me with a black eye that lasted forever. Before that incident, I looked very normal, my handwriting was very good, and I had virtually no negative tendencies. Post-accident, all of my pictures showcase features that started to grow rapidly in a direction that looked very "twisted" and handicapped (everyone here has seen autistic children), my handwriting became downright horrid unless I concentrated on it to the point it hurts, and I started developing a lot of OCD periods concerning very weird stuff. Not to mention, my biggest concern at the moment is still figuring out wether or not I have Acromegaly, which can be caused by trauma to the brain.

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

With me, I have two cousins who have forms of autism, and physically, I fit many, many bills that you see with mentally handicapped folk; severe facial deformities effecting every facial feature, irregular vocal tone, undecipherable handwriting, extreme social flaws, stunted physical growth. And concerning mental abilities, I've always had an extremely high IQ because of my extremely precise memory capabilities, but when it comes to interests, I've always had extreme obsessions with things like the imaginary worlds I create in my head when writing books or scripts (I draw the characters, compose the scores, write the entire things, ect ect) and I do have quite a few obsessions about random things like certain video games or books that I know every single detail about fanatically.

However, I really don't think I have any form of autism really. I think any social awkardness I have is attributed to how, when growing up, my family was both abusive and very strange, and that I had very few friends even in my youngest of years; I just had no way to develop socially and my parents were socially stuck in the 1940's. Even growing up in school, my autistic appearance (I truly looked like I had mild down syndrome, I have very typical facial features of autistic children) caused constant bullying and complete sexual/social alientation, so I never developed social skills even growing up as a teenager and into an adult. Plus, on top of being self-concious about appearing autistic, the same features plagued me because they were also very masculine and not at all female.

One thing I've always been curious about is way back in 3rd grade, I suffered a significant trauma to my skull when one boy plowed into my head on the playground when he was running at super-speed without looking; it knocked me out unconcious for a few seconds and left me with a black eye that lasted forever. Before that incident, I looked very normal, my handwriting was very good, and I had virtually no negative tendencies. Post-accident, all of my pictures showcase features that started to grow rapidly in a direction that looked very "twisted" and handicapped (everyone here has seen autistic children), my handwriting became downright horrid unless I concentrated on it to the point it hurts, and I started developing a lot of OCD periods concerning very weird stuff. Not to mention, my biggest concern at the moment is still figuring out wether or not I have Acromegaly, which can be caused by trauma to the brain.

i don't know if you're confusing autism spectrum with down syndrome, but asperger's people really don't physically look "twisted." at least not that i know of. there is someting called hyptonia which is a physical part of asperger's and autism. it means i have really soft muscle tissue which affects alot of things like my posture, walk, and i often lean on things when standing for long periods of time. i get fatigued more just getting through the day, but i'm not sure what you mean by features of autistic people.