Hi

Hi, my name is Faith. I'm almost 26 and recently was diagnosed with Autism. I'm happy to have finally been diagnosed, it's a relief to have an explanation for my inability to communicate properly with others and my over-sensitivity to things like clothes and sounds. It's all a lot to take in but I'm hoping I'll find some support and help here as it's all a bit confusing.

All my life I have been different but I never thought that something like Autism would be behind it. Slowly but surely I'm learning to improve some aspects of my Autism, one thing I do when with people and when I'm out in public is listen to and monitor my breathing. I'm teaching myself to control and keep myself calm, that way if I start to have a panic attack then I can try and control my breathing. It's working well, I've even managed to go on a few dates and keep myself calm which is good. Two years ago I used to faint or come out over poorly when on a date. Now because of my practice of breathing I cope better when I go out and when I go to work. Next I'll try and better control my over sensitivity to touch, but I'm a long way off from that.

I enjoy music and play the violin. The sound used to really upset me, my ears just couldn't handle it. It's better now but sometimes the noise from the violin really irritates me, I play my violin and sometimes I'm wincing and gritting my teeth. But I don't want to lose my love of playing my violin so I'm determined to keep at it and not let my Autism hold me back.
I play my violin nearly every day and my profile picture is me playing a concert in our village hall last year, it was fun but very crowded on Christmas Eve and it lasted for four hours until 9 p.m., I enjoyed it but felt very anxious and after I paid the price. Shaking, feeling sick, I was sick and then I went home and slept until about 10 a.m., very often when I get anxious I sort of lose it and go in to a really poorly state. But hopefully I'll be a lot better this year at the next concert.

Hello. It's good to meet you all.

Faith. x

Parents
  • Hello Faith.  Good to hear you're trying to get on top of your diagnosis and work out what you can get on top of.  One of the housemasters in my boarding house at school used to play violin as well, so we would often hear him practising in the evenings.  He also used to play a lot of viola as well - he said that actually there was a lot more music written for viola than violin.  The reason I mention that is that if you find the violin sound getting to you, you could try viola and see if that bothers you less until you're feeling like playing the violin again.

  • Ooh thank you for telling me. I've never heard of the viola before but I will defos look it up. I do like my violin and I'm becoming more skilled at it now, but the sound can be really uncomfortable for me. I'll be playing it and then suddenly throw up, this is a normal occurrence for me.

Reply
  • Ooh thank you for telling me. I've never heard of the viola before but I will defos look it up. I do like my violin and I'm becoming more skilled at it now, but the sound can be really uncomfortable for me. I'll be playing it and then suddenly throw up, this is a normal occurrence for me.

Children
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