Autism and schizoaffective bipolar Disorder

I have both ASD(Asperger's) and schizophrenia/schizoaffective. It's my daughter's belief, which I strongly agree with, that  the psychological pressures,stress, of being an undiagnosed autistic  child and teenager were instrumental in my developing a severe mental illness.

I do not think you need to worry about that, my family/among relatives first discoveries were other mental illnesses before the autism was discovered (but to my understanding they also changed the criteria over time) and no previous diagnosis has been removed because of it. They are like yours, bipolar and schizophrenia. 

I'm happy for you that you are doing well with your medication. Best of luck with everything. 

Tears_before_bedtime said:

My understanding is that it is a distinct and separate diagnosis

There is an interesting article here that explains the differences:

https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/schizoaffective-disorder-vs-bipolar-disorder

Some experts believe the significant overlap between these three conditions suggests they occur on something of a spectrum: Bipolar disorder at one end, schizophrenia at the other, and schizoaffective disorder representing a midpoint between the two.

I have bipolar and have just been diagnosed with Autism this month, so one can be diagnosed together with the other - it's called a "comorbidity" if you haven't come across the term already.

In fact there is a high instance of comorbidity with autism and bipolar. Having one does not "knock out" the other, so don't worry about that. What I would be wary of is "overshadowing" where professionals tend to ascribe symptoms, traits or concerns to one "main" diagnosis and overlook the potential for it to be related to a second/third/fourth condition etc. It sounds like that may have happened to you already with a diagnosis of Schizoaffective and no further investigation despite some of the traits not fitting with just the one diagnosis.

Most of the questions in my assessment related to childhood, including birth complications, meeting developmental markers (talking, eye contact, pointing etc), interaction with other children at playgroup/nursery/infant school, how you played when young etc... Given bipolar is usually something that becomes apparent later in life it didn't come into a lot of what was discussed so I was comfortable my assessor wouldn't try to rescind my (accurate) bipolar diagnosis.

On a side note: I'm interested that you describe it as Schizoaffective Bipolar Disorder. My partner has a schizoaffective diagnosis, which started as a bipolar diagnosis. However, he says he is "schizoaffective" without the mention of bipolar, or sometimes says "schizophrenic" when people don't know what schizoaffective is so look at him a little blankly (or even "paranoid schizophrenic" if he wasn't people to go away and stop badgering him). My understanding is that it is a distinct and separate diagnosis, but at the same time shares characteristics with both bipolar and schizophrenia. So I think you are both are right, but was just interested in the distinctions you and he make.

I'm digressing...

Neither my bipolar, nor my recently diagnosed autism, have stopped me having a long career and I have several "reasonable adjustments" under that diagnosis. It helps(!) that I also have migraines and tinnitus, which I have used for adjustments like needing to be near natural daylight and not in the middle of a busy section of office with a lot of background noise. Now I have a diagnosis of autism if feels like that is at the route of hatred of bright neon lights and too much noise, but migraines and tinnitus got me the adjustments.

So, employers can be helpful, although it's useful if you have an idea what you want and that it is possible with the job you have. I am wary of professional help as I've had a history of extremely unhelpful "therapy" interventions, all of which made me worse not better. However, I'd suggest that input from a professional might be useful if you're looking solely at work focused adjustments: what you need and how your employer can provide it.

...finally, I just want to say that this is my first time posting, I've only just been diagnosed and I've only just joined this site. I'm trying to find some reassurance and acceptance here because, despite my own mum telling me repeatedly that I'm "on the spectrum" for years, I'm now getting pushback (or perceived pushback) from various people who doubt my diagnosis due to me having a successful career and a long term stable relationship. So: just a plea for some kindness from anyone who disagrees or doesn't like what I had to say :)

Dream said:

I'm so worried about my assessment, I don't want them to say it's autism but now you don't have schizoaffective Disorder

It is entirely possible to have both autism and schizoaffective disorder as I understand it - they are not exclusive.

I would recommend persuing a diagnosis as it could open a much more informed approach to helping you deal with the symptoms.

Dream said:

I really need help with managing my emotions and coping strategies.

I believe the most effective way to do this is with the help of a therapist who is skilled in helping people with your neurodivergent traits.

If you can afford to go privately then you have the best chance to get something effective but if you rely on the NHS then it can be more of a pot luck approach on whether they can offer therapy and whether the therapist knows their suff.

Knowledge = power. You can have the power to read up on your conditions and develop your own coping techniques if you allow yourself to.

All in my opinion of course.

I always recommend that people try to take control of tehri own life adn not leave it entirely up to the professionals who are actually only really in it for the money, and you are lucky if you get one who does a good job as well as bills you / thestate.

As far as I can determine my dad was a flaming Autist who got the *** diagnosis and all the ect and insuln therapy that went with that dx in those days. 

In your case you can hie over to the aspergerstestsite.com website, do the free test and find out for yourself what's what.

Apart form the heavy meds SCHIZ dx gets you more social help / help finding and keeping a job, / access to benefits etc.But Autism diagnosis doesn't prevent you taking flying / heavy machinery lessons... 

Hi Dream,

Thank you for posting to the online community. I am sorry to hear that you are worried about your assessment. I advise you speak to the people conducting your assessment about your concerns however we do have advice and guidance pages on the NAS website that may be useful to you:

What happens during an assessment - refers to co-occuring conditions including mental health conditions: 
https://autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/assessment-and-diagnosis/what-happens-during-an-autism-assessment

Support at work:
https://autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/employment/support-at-work

You could also try using our service directory to search for counsellors who specialise in autism: 
https://autism.org.uk/autism-services-directory

I hope this helps, 

Gina Mod