I thought it was autism; turns out it was OCPD

Hi. I joined this forum last year and was invigorated by discussing what I thought was my high functioning autism / Asperger's. After contacting my GP and going on to my local list for an assessment, I waited impatiently for them to get in touch.

After a long few months of obsessive research, posts on this forum and chats with somebody I know who is autistic, I decided to take the matter into my own hands and contacted a local clinical psychologist who was qualified to make an assessment privately. After some form filling, a few chats and a couple of interviews with family, last week I had my final outcome discussion.

Turns out it isn't likely I have autism because of how I present myself, and that due in particular to childhood trauma and other significant markers it's very likely I have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. I am expecting my notes and an official diagnosis in a few weeks.

Of course the first thing I did was Google the hell out of OCPD and it's so accurate it's untrue. Whereas I felt I had 60-70% of the obvious symptoms of high functioning autism, with OCPD I felt I had about 90%+ of them. 

OCPD should not be confused with OCD. Here's a basic overview lifted from msdmanuals.com: "In patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, preoccupation with order, perfectionism, and control of themselves and situations interferes with flexibility, effectiveness, and openness. Rigid and stubborn in their activities, these patients insist that everything be done in specific ways." 

I also did some digging and it turns out that high markers for OCPD can cross over with high markers for HFA / Asperger's - and speaking to another family member whose stepson has recently been diagnosed with autism, OCPD was considered during the diagnostic process. Issues such as the need for order, rigidity, struggles with emotion, etc. are obvious shared traits.

I share this because for those of you who have yet to be diagnosed or are thinking about starting the process, have also scored highly on the AQ test and see some of the symptoms, you may want to look into OCPD - especially if you present yourself relatively normally.

I hope you don't mind me posting this. Let me know if you have any questions before I leave this forum for those who really need it. Thanks for reading.