Hello :)

Hi Karen - congratulations on your diagnosis and welcome to the community!

Following a diagnosis, it can be common for us to experience a lot of emotional dysregulation, so please don't worry if you experience this - it's normal!  Besides perhaps feeling some relief about now having an explanation for our past difficulties, this can also include working through a phase where we experience confusion, uncertainty, so-called "imposter syndrome", and/or (backward-focused) anger, frustration, grieving, and more. 

As for many others here, my own diagnosis turned out to be much more of the start of a new journey, rather than a conclusion full of instant solutions for my difficulties.

The NAS has a great set of articles focused on "after diagnosis", including one covering how you might feel during the subsequent days / weeks / months. You might find them of interest and/or helpful:

NAS - How you might feel after a diagnosis - includes perspectives from other autistics

NAS - Other advice covering post-diagnosis including:

• Talking about and disclosing your autism diagnosis
• Emotional support for family members after a diagnosis
• Formal support following an autism diagnosis
• What can I do if formal support is not offered or is not enough

In case they're helpful in making sense of your experiences, here are some articles that discuss, in the context of autism, some of the issues that you mentioned:

NAS - Depression

NAS - Anxiety

NAS - Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

NAS - Eating disorders

Therapy (or counselling) is often recommended after a diagnosis, as a follow up action for your GP to arrange. If you prefer, depending on where you are in the UK, you may instead be able to self refer for talking therapy on the NHS.

Before arranging it, you might find it helpful to borrow or buy this book, which includes discussion of various types of therapy and counselling, together with advice on choosing the right therapist or counsellor - all from an autistic person's viewpoint. Several of us here have found it very helpful:

The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy

Finally, I'll just mention a couple of books that I and others have found helpful early on in our post-diagnosis journeys:

Self-Care for Autistic People: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Unmask!

How to Be Autistic (free download currently available via this page)

Hi karen

Welcome to the community forum

Joined this forum after a few tricky experiences with postal pen friends. 

Looking for someone around my age (40-48), female, with similar interests like reading, photography, art, crafts, jigsaw puzzles

Hi and welcome! 

Hello Karen, 40 here from the south east. Welcome to the community.

Hi and welcome to the community. I'm a woman in my mid sixties and retired, and I enjoy reading and playing video games. Hope you enjoy chatting with us.