Diagnosis struggle

Hi. 52 yo male, still struggling to process my diagnosis in Jan 26. I admit I'm a bit odd, quirky, eccentric etc... but I find it quite hard to tell people 'I have autism', which doesn't really help with my anxiety (currently on 100mg sertraline).

Cheers, Dan.

Parents
  • Hi and welcome to the community,

    I was diagnosed last year at the age of 57, it’s hard to workout who to tell about a diagnosis, some will reply with negative answers, “ you don’t look autistic. We’re all a little bit autistic.” I’ve heard most of them.

    When someone does answer with something positive, it makes it all worthwhile. Someone said to me recently, “your diagnosis must have answered a lot of questions, I imagine it made you quite sad as well.”

    I don’t actually tell many people, in the end you will workout who is worth telling. I personally wouldn’t rely on family being helpful, they think they know you, it’s hard for them to understand that most of your persona was an illusion made up for their benefit. I find anxiety is always rumbling away in the background, often it makes it’s self more known, I’ve found adapting my life helps a lot, even small tweaks make all the difference.

    Hang around here and keep asking questions.

Reply
  • Hi and welcome to the community,

    I was diagnosed last year at the age of 57, it’s hard to workout who to tell about a diagnosis, some will reply with negative answers, “ you don’t look autistic. We’re all a little bit autistic.” I’ve heard most of them.

    When someone does answer with something positive, it makes it all worthwhile. Someone said to me recently, “your diagnosis must have answered a lot of questions, I imagine it made you quite sad as well.”

    I don’t actually tell many people, in the end you will workout who is worth telling. I personally wouldn’t rely on family being helpful, they think they know you, it’s hard for them to understand that most of your persona was an illusion made up for their benefit. I find anxiety is always rumbling away in the background, often it makes it’s self more known, I’ve found adapting my life helps a lot, even small tweaks make all the difference.

    Hang around here and keep asking questions.

Children
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