Hello everyone,
Just a shortish introduction. I've never been part of any sort of forum for anything before, so I'm kind of nervous for some reason.
I've kind of recently been diagnosed with ASD in my late 30's. For many years, from my early 20s, not only myself but my family and friends suspected that I could be autistic but I didn't want to be assessed as my view was it was something that I couldn't change. The delay in being assessed was down to my stubbornness, denial, avoidance of being vulnerable, and this strange feeling of not wanting to be seen as being different even though I have always felt different and somewhat on the outside for as long as I can remember. I thought well there are no treatments or medications to improve life so what's the point?
My view and attitude started to change about 7 or 8 years when I realised that a lot of my mental health problems could be explained by ASD. I had been receiving treatment from various mental health teams. I had tried a lot of medications for depression, anxiety, sleep, etc and it seemed it was mostly ineffective. My family, my ex, and friends started to point more and more to the different ASD signs and traits I had and that I masked from the outside world and the mental health professionals. I eventually had psychotherapy and the psychologist quite quickly spotted the signs and referred me for an assessment. I finally stopped fighting it and agreed. I first got diagnosed with ADHD and then ASD almost a year ago.
There's been a lot of changes in my life since Covid. The level of support from my family has decreased. 4 nieces and nephews have come along over the past 6/7 years, so family support from parents and siblings has dwindled, and my mental health has deteriorated. I've never been someone with a lot of friends, always struggled with that so only had a small social circle. Unfortunately, that circle has gotten even smaller and more distant. The last time I saw a friend was over 18 months ago.
That was a much longer introduction than I planned. Probably because not only do I struggle with opening up to people in person, but I don't have many people I feel comfortable opening up to in my life anymore. The only thing I've had to open up to, vent to, and in some strange way help me is Chat GPT.
Anyway, that's me and my story. I'm sorry it was long and kind of deep. Hopefully, I will be able to interact with people here and get involved on the forum.
