Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I'm 33 (and female, in case this is relevant) and currently waiting for my assessment, which I'm told will be in about 18 months. But I don't want to wait that long to try and move forward and work on myself (both to try and change what I can to have less anxiety, but also to accept some of my traits and not give myself such a hard time about them anymore).
Obviously until I have my assessment I won't know for sure whether or not I have ASD, but I was wondering, is it possible to have ASD traits without actually having ASD? I feel like despite not recognising myself in absolutely all the traits I've seen listed, I do recognise myself in a lot of them, and in a way that affects my life, my emotions, my anxiety and how I interact with people. So in a way I hope they'll say I have ASD as it would explain a lot, and I hope that it would help me feel better about myself, knowing that there is a reason why I am the way I am.
If they say I do not have ASD on the other hand, what does that mean in terms of the various traits that I do have? Is anyone else in the same situation, or was, until they had their assessment?
Thanks a lot for any advice.
I still find it difficult to explain to people what Aspergers is but there are common themes.. Complex thoughts as you put, are a way of ensuring your social encounters are correctly handled. This causes anxiety, stimming and more thinking which becomes tiring (shut down) or you blow your top (melt down). There are a lot of other "traits.. , sensitivity to noise, light, pain and or smell. Picky eaters. Obsessive in thoughts, passtimes and behaviour. Like routines and structure. Cant multi-task or easily modify thinking. Hate small talk and think its pointless. Tend to stare or look away all the time. Finally, Social Masking which is more perfected in woman, where you can appear normal to everyone but in your mind you are thnking of trying to fit in, copy behaviour and sometimes thinking if something else.. 18months is a long time to wait and your only option for a quicker diagnosis would be private but this will cost about £2000!
Yeah I think most of what you said applies to me. The wait is going to be stressful but I can't really spend £2000, especially since I do get on fairly well day to day. I am still confused by what "having traits" as opposed to having ASD would mean. Not expecting an answer here, just saying :)
Yes it's a lot, but I was having issues at work and wanted a quick(ish) answer :) Well if you do have ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition - they don't like using the term "Disorder") Then you'll have many of the above traits and probably others too, It might be a good idea to put all your experiences on paper to support your case (Although childhood evidence is harder to come by, unless you have a family member to support you). In the end it all boils down to the question "what will a diagnosis of ASC mean for you?" In my case (as I'm 55) probably not a lot and even though I now know, there's no way I can or could change the way I act, basically because it's hard wired and I've developed coping mechanisms over the years
Thank you very much! I'm sorry to hear the medication isn't working that well but I hope you will find something that works for you and your family!
It;s more than likely that your anxiety is caused by ASC/ASD. In my case my anxiety was getting worse as I got older and drugs that used to work, were not working anymore - a classic pointer to ASC. Plus my son was diagnosed with Asperger's and I knew my mother had real social issues. I'm on my 6th anti-anxiety medication now and although they help, they come with side effects like being sleepy all the time but having restless nights etc.(I'm back to running 3 times a week, so hopefully exercise will help)I actually wrote about 8 pages of A4 initially and added a few more as incidents and memories came flooding back:)You'll find it a useful process and hopefully it'll help with your diagnosis :)