Do all autistic adults have either OCD or ADHD?

I have Autism and ADHD (self diagnosis until official one) I always craved and wanted routine and order but a part of me just never could. I know now that's most likely due to my ADHD traits. I suppose I have taught myself over time to bring order to the dis-order and over time I've become better at organising the daily things to maintain a home.

I have tried sticking to lists and being more strict on myself to get things more In order but I've found my mind jumps from one thing to the other (especially if it's not a task I'm very passionate about) I suppose it is what it is. 

I've improved in many area's and have my own version of tidy and order that I'm happy with.

I have neither OCD nor ADHD, nor do I have traits of either of them that is not better explained by my autism. I have autistic friends with ADHD and autistic friends with OCD, although their OCD causes them significantly more distress than just a need to have a clean and tidy environment. 

There's plenty of research indicating a common co-occurrence for both of these conditions with autism, but it's still a large exaggeration to ask if ALL autistic adults have one of the two. There's also then a slightly bizarre implication that as autism and ADHD are lifelong conditions, if you don't have ADHD with your autism you have to develop OCD?

Clinical Partners is affiliated with the NHS. I used them for mine and both my so son’s assessments 

I don’t count when I am chopping veg and only sometimes count footsteps to estimate the distance covered. I count numerous types of things when out walking; trees, dogs, cars, shrubs, really anything that catches my eye, but if I run out of plants/trees/animals I continue counting in my head. I sometimes count in multiples and I also do mental arithmetic such as multiplication and division. I like how numbers order the space I am in. I have always counted, as far back as I remember, which was before I started school at aged 4.

As of a couple of weeks ago, I had ADHD (inattentive) added to my list of letters. I'm now just waiting on them to decide if they are going to recommend medication of some variety. Sometimes it does feel like I've got two opposing forces vying for dominance.

I'm sure punctuality and organisation are an autism thing, I hate been late and it irritates me when others are, I'm also very fond of a list and planning as I hate surprises.

I hope you don't mind me asking about your counting. I find myself counting footsteps, or when I am cutting carrots for example I suddenly realise I have been counting when I get to say 12. Is this the sort of thing you mean or something else?

I used to think I had OCD because an NHS psychotherapist told me so. Years ago, a hospital psychiatrist referred me to a psychotherapist. During the course of the sessions, this psychotherapist decided I had “OCD” and I was “fortunate” to be given many months of psychotherapy to address my repetitive counting and other repetitive and perfectionist behaviours. I came away from each session armed with literature on compulsions, obsessions, rituals and distress, alongside knowledge of why many psychiatrists do not believe in what some people describe as a type of OCD called “Pure O”. 

Fast forward many years to last year when my GP referred me for an ASD assessment. He said my medical records do not show a diagnosis of OCD, and as my counting does not cause me distress he didn’t believe I had such a thing. Moreover, the NHS psychotherapist would not have had authority to ‘‘diagnose’’ OCD so that is why it would not have been recorded on my notes. It turns out, my GP was correct because a few months later I was diagnosed ASD. The assessor explained that counting is a stim which helps me to create order and make sense of the world, it is a good and pleasurable thing for me. In times of distress, counting has a different purpose because it calms me down. 

I am currently on the waiting list for an ADHD assessment and I am confident I will be diagnosed.

In many ways I am a perfectionist so I pay meticulous attention to financial budgeting and my favourite interests. I also like using spreadsheets for financial planning and all sorts of other things. I need my home to be well ordered, clean and tidy. I love using graphs and charts to illustrate things. I think these things reflect my autistic brain.

If you came into my house now you would see that it is clean and tidy. The kitchen is sparkling, and the loos and sinks squeaky clean. Yet behind the scenes (cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, filing cabinets, spare bedroom/storage room) mess prevails. This persistent inability to organise and tidy things upsets me. My autistic brain craves prediction, order and precision, yet my ADHD brain means I am messy, inattentive, I make mistakes and I crave novelty. The tension between these things causes me distress—contentment is elusive.

The tension between ASD and ADHD affects how I post here. Sometimes I can’t say what I want to say or I make mistakes because I am inattentive.

Some people joke that they have OCD because they ‘are always cleaning’ or they are ‘always checking the doors are locked’. Some say they are ‘a little bit OCD’ which to me is like saying somebody is ‘a little bit autistic’. It can be offensive for those who really struggle with OCD.

The NHS describes how OCD can affect people. It seems that persistent anxiety and distress is caused by the obsession. I feel annoyed that I have been misled by a psychotherapist who clearly didn’t take time to listen to what I was actually telling them about counting. If they had understood OCD and were qualified to diagnose it, they would have known very quickly that I didn’t fit the criteria.

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/symptoms/

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) affects people differently, but usually causes a particular pattern of thoughts and behaviours.

OCD has 3 main elements:

• obsessions – where an unwanted, intrusive and often distressing thought, image or urge repeatedly enters your mind
• emotions – the obsession causes a feeling of intense anxiety or distress
• compulsions – repetitive behaviours or mental acts that a person with OCD feels driven to perform as a result of the anxiety and distress caused by the obsession

The compulsive behaviour temporarily relieves the anxiety, but the obsession and anxiety soon return, causing the cycle to begin again.

Most people with OCD experience both obsessive thoughts and compulsions, but one may be less obvious than the other.

I have ADHD and it is a life of extremes. In work it's kind of an asset and actually does the opposite of how people view ADHD. ADHD can actually have strong links with perfectionism and over compensating for difficulties so in work I have to make sure everything is done to a high standard. People see me as highly organised - in actual fact I just start about 5 tasks in one go and some how get to the end. My ADHD also means I struggle to do nothing sometimes so from the minute I get to work to the moment I leave I am busy. Autism however, is much more problematic at work.

Home is different. Autism settles. I'm in control of my environment. I don't have to interact. But I'm exhausted from a day in work and I crash. ADHD has nothing to bounce off anymore and dopamine is well and truly gone. So then I struggle to do anything. Housework is an issue for me. I struggle to do any in the week and then have to play catch up at the weekend.

It's a tough and confusing battle. Autism and ADHD don't agree. Sometimes ADHD and ADHD don't even agree.

On the door locking thing I’d say that CAN be OCD but it’s most likely ADHD i described my ADHD before I one it was ADHD as feelijg like I had dementia as I forget so much and it hurts my brain now that I know I have ADHD I know what I can dintk help my self 

also knowing I have ADHD i no longer have impulsive shopping habits becuase I have learned to think about ANY purchase even if that means walking away from the shop and if my brain forgets abour the item then I didn’t want or need it 

and I also online look at my wish lists or baskets and think what else that money could do for me and if it’s an item I could come back to at a later date even though indi really want it 

today alone ive saved my self 100s of pounds that I would of spent over a 6 to 13 month period of stuff I could ask for as a gift or I could get t when it’s cheaper etc 

I try and plan my hobbies purchases no more than a week ahead of buying jt this way im on a tighter budget and end up only buying what will bring joy 

No I have neither.

I hate lateness too, I was brought up to be on time and taught that it was rude to be late. 

Nor do I think being organised is OCD or ADHD, being organised gives you the time to do everything else you want or need to do. I don't know why being organised is being made into a pathology, OK if you have to check every door is locked 3 times before you can leave the house or go to bed and behaviour becomes sort of ritualised then theres a problem.

I think sponteneity can be over rated, it's good to do things on the spur of the momment and seize an opportunity that comes your way, but that dosen't mean that when you get home from your spontaneous adventure you should embrace chaos. I've also noticed that being spontanious can be a bit of a power trip for some, my ex would always want to go somewhere on the spur of the moment when I had to work and complain that I wasn't spontanious, he'd also complain that I wasn't earning enough! I've noticed others often rely on one person being organised so as they can do their thing and yet they'd have a fit if there were no clean clothes, or food in the cupboard and the house was a mess. I've on occaision asked if they think we have housework fairies and that all this stuff just does itself? There's never a proper answer, because that would mean they have to value anothers contribution to the smooth running of life. 

I think autism can have symptoms that nt perceive as ive like needing things ordered a certain way but unless you have like obbsswd be hand washing and intrusive thoughts like I must do this or it will be bad jrs kotnocd but it can occsurr more with Audhd 

i think adhd is more common than even autism tbh so in that sense theres more Audhd than asd about?

No, but I think Trustpilot is frequently accurate.

Here https://uk.trustpilot.com/categories/mental_health_clinic you can type "ADHD" in the search box, and get interesting results.

You do need to check they are linked to NHS, but that will be common on the best reviewed sites.

Definitely heightened anxiety its horrible, I was advised to take propranolol for it

I think i may also have adhd but definitely not OCD, I would like to get assessed for adhd, any recommendations for a place to get adhd assessed which is linked to the NHS?

I think that heightened anxiety is the most common partner of autism. I do not have ADHD or overt OCD, but have been diagnosed with GAD and social phobia. I have a slight tendency to OCD-type thinking, but I ruthlessly suppress any such notions when they occur.

Nearly every or maybe every autistic person I know also has ADHD, OCD or both. And I’ve had two psychologists suggest OCD to me but I haven’t been evaluated for it.

But I think the tidiness with OCD is only if that is what compulsion they have. And even if they are organized that doesn’t equate OCD, it could easily just be repetitive behaviors in autism only. I was reading a book the other day about how to assess OCD in an autistic individual and one of the things it said was to determine if the RRBs are to remove anxiety of the obsession and somthing they wish they didn’t have to do (while in autism they might arrange things a certain way or have routines that they enjoy instead).

OCD has plenty of “themes” like, contamination, harm, s3x and gender, relationship, magical thinking, etc. They’re intrusive thoughts. And the compulsions can literally be anything - washing hands, counting, skin picking, checking things, mental compulsions.. 

Theres also Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder which people sometimes confuse the two. That one I believe is less about distressing thoughts and more about just wanting control of things. I don’t know enough about it to give examples

I have ocd  but anything can cause ocd a think just wish a had cleaning or organising type of ocd 

I had always been told and thought myself that I was OCD. As you mentioned I like things straight and neat and feel better when things are in their place. 
Since having therapy though we believe that it’s more about having order, I have craved this since a young age by arranging things just how I like them. I would not play with toys but would line them up or set a scene. I think my therapist said the difference between OCD and a desire for order is the ritual part like having to flick a light switch so many times or repeatedly checking a door is locked to a point where it becomes a habit and then panic sets in when you don’t do it. I don’t appear to have those rituals but I do have to maintain neatness. 

If you met me you might think I have ocd, my home is immaculate. Everything in my life is logged. Rude and unprofessional people upset me. I think this is a standards thing. I treat others like I might want to be treated, these values seem to be dying out.

Although some of these traits were undentified. I have not been diagnosed with either, it could be a rabbit hole. I would say almost certainly I do not have adhd and am more towards the opposite end of the scale. I view these as habitual preferences, because I know if these standards were not applied my world would quite bleak.

I am waiting for the formal assessment, but I don't think I've OCD or ADHD; not in a level that is disabling at least, or not at the level of my autistic traits. I do have other comorbidities.

But I do relate to your description: everything must be organised/tidy/predictable or it is stressful.

On the autism side intense interests and low social skills do stop me to from functioning "properly" in society (especially for the social aspect of work or other social activities.)

On the other hand, my sister / mom think they have adhd, my dad may be autistic. So from that evidence it does seem related.