Published on 12, July, 2020
I am so thankful I found this Web site. I have learnt a lot in the last 2 hours!
My daughter is nearly 17. She had / has anorexia and was not responding to the usual therapy. An experienced nurse wondered about ASD and arranged an assessment which to my surprise gave an autism diagnosis.
Since then my daughter seems to have totally changed. All of a sudden she now says she has sensory issues with food textures, this is the same girl who age 10 was enjoying everything from sushi to snails and steak. She is now saying she can't eat with us as she needs total silence in the kitchen, although she had been eating in busy noisy restaurants before. She now says she can't focus on school work and need decompression time. She studied so well for her National 5's (scottish gcse) She now says she can't speak on the phone, the list goes on.
I am so confused, how can getting a diagnosis change her so much? Has she always had these issues but now the diagnosis has given her permission to reveal them?
Well that does sound horrendously confusing for you. I wonder which is the true underlying driver for your daughters current food & easting issues - the ASD or the anorexia. I would image that they are inextricably linked - thus compounding your confusion!
NAS83261 said:how can getting a diagnosis change her so much?
This I can help you with however, in relation to me and my journey. Becoming self-aware of autism has resulted in some very profound changes in my behaviour - and there is no teen-angst complicating my 50+ year old brain.
Personally (although others here may disagree) I think that when the person concerned becomes self aware of their autism in how they think and how they behave, that self awareness can change certain aspects of that persons life quite profoundly......and in my case, virtually over night.
I do wish you and your daughter well. Goof luck.