Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to say a quick hello, since I'm newly diagnosed and finding it tough. I had no idea I was different!! I feel like I'm the only AS person who was clueless that they weren't "normal"
My husband finds it difficult communicating with me, and he did some online research and found that Asperger's was a good fit. Just had it officially diagnosed last month. It left me feeling pretty shocked! But all the pieces make sense now, having been described as 'hard work' when I was a kid and with problems sleeping.
The consultant said that I hide it well, but that all falls apart when I have a temper meltdown Does anyone else suffer with these? Do you have any advice on how my NT partner and myself can handle these? I lose perspective and my tone becomes snappy.
We're based in East Anglia but there aren't many groups listed locally. Any advice you have on an AS/NT partnership would be much appreciated! It can literally be like we're speaking different languages!
Thank you in advance
I came to the realisation that I may very well have Asperger's only a couple of months ago. I've suspected that my husband is on the high functioning Asperger's end of the spectrum for over a year now, and it's only after I attended The Autism Show in Birmingham in June that I might too be on the same end of the spectrum. Hearing four women speakers talking about their experiences of late diagnosis and their life, they could have been describing my own life back to me. I did the AQ test and came to an initial score of 35 (using self-editing) and retested with a score of 39 (answering more truthfully if there was no risk of negative social consequences, lost friendships, etc). I started freewriting the things about myself that could be associated with Autism/Asperger's, and that document ended up being 26 pages long. I started reading up on the subject and finally felt brave enough to approach my GP to request an assessment (and even then, I just took in my 26 page document, a few pages printed from the NAS website and my local NHS Foundation Trust). She agreed to refer me, so I filled in the form and returned it, and I'm still waiting to be contacted for the next steps. In the intervening time, I've started a blog to help me get my thoughts out and hopefully help others who suspect or are seeking a late diagnosis as an adult, especially women, as we display our Aspie traits in a different way. My blog is relatively new, but if you wish to check it out, it's at http://iammyownexperience.com/