Published on 12, July, 2020
I know I should consult a professional but even if I do have autism its probably mild and I also have other conditions which might get mixed up with it, which makes me think I wont be able to get an accurate diagnosis, atleast not without spending lots of money.
I wont diagnose myself as anything before visiting a professional but im just looking to see if it's even worth the hassle first. Any opinion would be appreciated.
Im currently 18 years old. I'm pretty broken mentally. Mostly due to bad parenting but I wonder if autism might be a part of it.
I don't seem to have most talked about symptoms but some symptoms I've noticed I have are:
- I've had social anxiety since atleast the age of 12, the social anxiety could have been developed due to isolation but I think it started before I was really isolating myself too much and that the isolation just made it way worse overtime. Could have just been due to bad parenting tho.
- Im pretty sensitive to some smells, light, sounds and textures:I would easily get carsick when in an old car because of the smell, and would most times have my shirt over my nose for the entire ride.The smell of coffee in a car also made me carsick easily, im slightly sensitive to the smell in general but I think that it's mainly because I associate it with car sickness.Im a bit sensitive to light after not being exposed to it for a while, but im pretty sure thats normal.I cant stand the dry texture of my feet or hands and the sound when rubbing my feet against certain things or rubbing my hands together when they are dryI get shivers just from imagining the texture and sound id get from rubbing my feet against a couch for example.As a kid I would sometimes lick my hands to avoid the dry, stripy feeling.- Im slightly hypermobile, my knees are hyperextended and my fingers sometimes cave in too much
- My posture is bad, but that's probably caused by years of being sedentary.
- I've definitely felt different and inferior to the rest of society in the past, and still do, but that's probably just because I have had and still have bad life circumstances. It was social anxiety, body dysmorphia and as a result depression at first, then I've started isolating myself more and more and now my life is a complete wreck. So I'd say I have a reason to feel different and inferior. Also, I've always been super self aware and self conscious, regarding what I do, how I look etc, but apparently autists lack self awareness?
- I struggle with social interactions ( social anxiety ) and eye contact too.
- I was told that as a baby I needed some physiotherapy to strengthen and my teeth took longer to show up and to fall off.
Theres probably more that I just dont know of right now or can't recall.
cptsd and autism do have significant overlap in the symptoms, but either way, your life will be better if you can get some help and therapy. Either therapy to deal with your childhood issues (I am doing this now at 50 after a blighted life) but also guidance on how best to manage autistic issues (assuming you have autism). I suggest writing everything down you can think of ... Go though the diagnostic criteria for cptsd and autism (there are great videos on youtube) and list everything out that applies to each of the criteria. You will find that you need to teach your doctor about what autism and cptsd look like - this is why it is important to list your issues under the headings of the diagnostic criteria.If you review the videos on youtube, you will notice many other things that you thought were 'normal' that are not ... things that you do that are typical of autistic people, rather than the general population.
There are also online assessments you can do .... do all of them and include the results!
GOOD LUCK!
Thanks for the feedback .
Do you think it is likely I have autism based on the symptoms that I have listed alone? Or is it not enough to even assume
NAS92080 said:Do you think it is likely I have autism based on the symptoms that I have listed alone? Or is it not enough to even assume
Don't take anyones advice here in it - do an online test, be honest in your responses and the result should give much more accuracy than any of the keyboard warriors here.
There is a free, non profit organisation supplied autism test here:
https://www.thevividmind.org/blog/test/autism-test-online/
Make notes on the results of this (maybe some screen shots) and read up on autistic traits to see which you exhibit (write them all down, especially how your traits exhibit themselves) and supply this info to your GP.
Your GP may well lack much knowledge of autism so having this info should make them realise that you are better informed and will use this to justify the referral.
I have heard that waiting lists are between 3 and 5 years at the moment so once a referral is confirmed, ask your GP for the "right to choose" which means the right to chose a private referal company that the GP pays for - that should bring the referal time down to less than a year or even less depending on which county you are in.
I suggest taking care before dismissing anything. In my case, my abusive childhood led me to being VERY emotionally repressed - I am alexithymic (inability to feel or identify my emotions). This masks a number of autistic traits - I basically lived in a state of shutdown for 40 years. Only now that I am starting to recover from the abuse am I starting to have the emotional toll of some of my autistic traits become apparent.
NAS92080 said:My point is, is it possible for a person to have autism without exhibiting most of the common symptoms?
Possible? Yes
Probable? Not so much.
Autism is a fairly arbitary label assigned to those who have sufficient neurodivergent traits at a serious enough level to be in need of being labelled as disabled.
There are plenty of others who have neurodivergent traits at different levels of severity where these may or may not impact their quality of life but who do not meet the criteria for autism.
From what you describe you could be one of these (it sounds like this is a much larger percentage of the population than who are classed as autistic.
As a point of etiquette, I would recommend that you use the following conventions:
1 - you don't "have" autism, you "are" autistic. It isn't an illness but a permanent state.
2 - you don't have "symptoms", you have "traits" as the word symptom refers to an illness which autism isn't.
This is to help you phrase things in a more accurate way in future.
Looking at the traits you mention, there are indeed some that align with autism but plenty more are more common with gen-Z in general so it will be difficult to assess without using proper autism test.