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Awaiting Diagnosis

Sgt Romeo
over 9 years ago

Erm, right, OK.  I've been wondering for a couple of years if I have Asperger Syndrome.  i finally plucked up the courage to visit my GP a couple of weeks ago, who has referred me to the local MH team.  Sadly, they have only offered me an appointment in November (more than three months away).  I just wondered if anybody (particularly females, I'm a 26 year old female) could have a look at my main problems & see if they sound like typical problems faced by girls with AS.  I have a Cadet course in October that may be slightly easier if they know I have AS, but I don't feel comfortable telling them without an official diagnosis.  Basically;

  • I have had problems sleeping - whatever time I wake up, however long I am asleep, I ALWAYS wake up feeling like I could just turn over & go back to sleep.
  • I scored 40 on the AQ test, which I have done several times over the last few years, each time getting a very similar result.
  • Only occasionally do I misunderstand a joke/sarcasm.  Normally I am the one being sarcastic.  I have no trouble understanding metaphors.
  • I am not a girly girl.  At all.  I joke at work that I 'don't do girly s***'.  Most of my friends are male, I love watching sport, I like my cars, planes, whatever.  I also wear mens' t-shirts & jeans the vast majority of the time.  Don't like the tight feeling of female fit clothes.
  • I get told at work that I talk about my role with the Air Cadets WAY too much.  I don't have any other hobby, between that & work I get very little down time.  Hence why I talk about it.
  • I work for the emergency services & volunteer with the Air Cadets.  Discipline makes me feel safe.  I know where I am & what the rules are.  I never question anybody more experienced than me (to my cost at work.  Kept my job by the skin of my teeth).
  • I am ridiculously helpful to everybody.  I will always be the one to lend a hand to a colleague struggling or with tons of work to do.  I will always take on extra jobs.
  • My writing has been stupidly tiny, ever since school.  I have had at least 16 years of people telling me to write bigger, but I physically cannot.
  • I LOVE people 'stroking' me.  It sounds weird but somebody running their fingers lightly over my body (any part) really soothes me.
  • As a child had speech therapy as I still wasn't talking at age three.
  • The vast majority of my behaviour/conversations with people has been learnt over the years.  I often get left 'on the edge' of conversations.
  • I have been back & forth to my GP, been on three different brands of antidepressant, been diagnosed with low iron, underactive thyroid & only recently my GP admitted he was 'stumped' as to what was going on with me, but believes AS may be the answer.
  • I HATE talking on the phone unless it is to my parents or my partner.  I will do anything I can to avoid using the phone for calls.
  • I am VERY good with navigation.  I have been in my current job three years & already know the borough as well as people who have been there at least 15 years.  I want to work either in the police helicopter or the air ambulance.  Both jobs require good navigation.  Strangely I don't have the same aversion to using the radio in work like the phone.  Maybe because I know a lot of the time who I'm talking to on the radio.
  • I am EXTREMELY picky with spelling & grammar.  I will always pick up & mention a mistake a colleague has made in work, whether they want me to or not.
  • I also cannot physically see another's point of view.  Just cannot see or understand any other view other than mine.  I always think the other person is in the wrong no matter what we are arguing over.

I apologise for the length of the post.  There are other things I struggle with but I think I've said enough for now.  If anybody has any coping tips, they would be much appreciated.

  • over 9 years ago

    Hi sgt,

    I'm not exactly coping myself so no great tips to give. Just on the sleep front; if your GP is feeling helpful he may prescribe your Melatonin. It's the body's natural sleep regulating hormone and alot of us on the spectrum don't make enough or something. I got some and it made the world of difference - at least for a few months anyway. I seem to have become resistant to it or something, it no longer efects me like it used to so I stopped taking it. Hoping the resistance will go and I can use it again sometime.

    Kind regards,

    Soldersplash

  • over 9 years ago

    Bit of an update for you, I'm now working 8-4 Mon-Fri.  And my sleeping is still the same.  In fact I was falling asleep on the bus home the other day and my dreams were so vivid I confused reality with the dreams.  In my dreams I was having proper conversations with people, was doing things I would do normally, and generally just going about my day to day life.  Does anybody else get this & how do you deal with it?

    Something else of note - I had less sleep last night than I did that day, yet I stayed awake all the way home today (might have had something to do with walking halfway, but maybe not).  However today I really had to fight the urge to sleep at my desk, whereas the other day I had no issues with that.  I have also fallen asleep during meetings at work, in vehicles and also at a football match!

    This now really starting to get to me, and I agreed to go to the gym with my step-dad tomorrow, however I am dreading that alarm going off in the morning & want to just stay in bed more than anything.

    I am halfway through Aspergirls and can relate so much to it.

    Some days I think I am the world's biggest freak who will never understand human conversation.  Others, I think I am merely mirroring Aspergers traits and am not actually on the spectrum.

    However, I have discovered the following:

    • I get stressed quite easily
    • I can't stand people telling me different things.  In my mind there's only one correct way to do things.  That raises my stress level (eg yesterday I was delegated a task by a manager, only for him to come back to me today to say he's sorted it, while I was still waiting for a reply to emails!)
    • I need specific instructions in order to carry out a task, whatever it is (eg at cadets I am in charge of uniform, yet being told to 'raise standards' is not good enough for me.  Telling me me to do this or that will mean I will succeed without getting stressed)
    • I am not too upset by routine changes.  For example when I got to the station this afternoon, there were no buses running due to the area being cordoned off.  I could deal with this because it is a hazard of relying on public transport.  However when I turn up at cadets and the training programme had changed and I only find out 15 minutes before, I get upset.
    • I think I also have alexithymia.  Basically I can't describe feelings.  I can say I am angry, but when I am asked to explain why or what angry is, I can't.

    Please, can anybody relate to this, or give me coping strategies to help.  I have spoken to a friend's husband, who is affectionately known as 'the autism whisperer'.  He said he thought I was suffering quite badly with anxiety (having never met me & going by me describing my main issues via email) but I can't say I feel particularly anxious about anything.  So basically I have no clue.  I guess that is explained by the alexithymia.

    Oh I dunno.  Just ready to give up trying.

    Thanks for getting this far (if you're still reading),

    Jess

  • over 9 years ago

    Thank you for replying, glad to see I'm not on my own.

    I haven't read the book however ordered it off of Amazon last night so will read it when it arrives.

  • over 9 years ago

    I'm a 20 year old female and I have a lot of these traits. Rarely wake up refreshed, understand most jokes perfectly, my sister teases me about how small my writing is, I ADORE being touched, hate talking on the phone and I mentally correct every incorrect spelling I see. So I wouldn't be surprised if you do have Asperger's. Have you read Aspergirls by Rudy Simone? That talks about how Asperger's shows in girls and it includes a lot of anecdotes from a group of women who have it.