Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone. I am 40 and currently undiagnosed with any ASD, but, particularly in the last year or two, after reading reams of information regarding Asperger's/ASDs I genuinely feel that I was born with it, although my memory is a little clouded by the fact that after anaphylaxia I stopped breathing for...I don't know how long, I, nor my parents, were ever told how long to my knowledge, but I believe that I suffered brain damage which has, I think, caused me to display autistic tendencies/behaviours ever since I suffered the anaphylaxia. This has recently been exacerbated by the fact that I have Hydrocephalus, which, my parents tell me, anyway, as I can't remember, has led to me recently(it seems longer to me)developing sensory problems. I find our HDTV incredibly difficult to watch, and, because my parents are now quite old, my mother needs the volume set at a level that I find almost unbearable. This has led to meltdowns and bad behaviour on my part, and I have no doubt that I must drive them insane.
In the intervening years I have become increasingly secluded, have lost friends because of my reactions to how they have behaved, and now I spend most of my time in my house with my parents. After speaking to a sibling yesterday on skype(I have barely spoken to her face to face since I was 17)I have come to realise that I find face to face communication almost impossible now with anyone new, and I have no interest whatsoever in making new friends. I would much rather spend my time on the computer or reading, which I love, and I would consider one of my special interests to be the attainment of general knowledge, and I absolutely love answering questions on quizzes like The Chase.
This is just a little about me, and I look forward to reading any replies I receive.
Thank you all for reading this post.
Hi Paddy and Welcome to the forum,
There are a lot of things about autism that can't be known. I suspect that you may never know what caused your autism unless you can see clear traits in your parents or unless you can pin it to an event such as birth trauma. When did you have anaphylaxis - was that at birth or some time later?
Sensory issues are very common with autism. A lot of people struggle with noise and I, for example, find that I need noise cancelling headphones to cope in some situations.
Face to face encounters are also a problem and some people, like you, end up avoiding any encounters - I would encourage you to try and practice this though as you will find that the vast majority of people are actually kind and honest and won't try and pick on you.