Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello all,
I'm a runner and was reading an article from Bob Brown who is a UK endurance runner. he went on to say he suffered from alcoholism, social anxiety etc while still functioning as a PE teacher. I saw a lot of similarities between us. He further said a friend suggested he might have AS, and took the AQ test getting 56.
This got me thinking and I took the test last night and got 36. My wife was with me and she was giggling because she was seeing so many things that relate to me i.e no empathy, avoiding eye contacted, not liking social situations etc. I have previously done some googling on Social Anxiety Disorder, and past a test with flying colours. So sort of knew there was an issue there. I suffer greatly with IBS (undiagnosed), whenever i get anxious I have diarrehea. I'm permantley on Immodium. My stomach is in knots if I have to go shopping, or anywhere where's there are people. Funny, because I hide it well from my family. Apart from the wife.
The fact is, I'm quite a 'normal' person on the outside, after reading some discussions, i pretty nervous about going to the GP who is probably going to look at me and think there's nothing wrong with this bloke.
Just wondering if anyone else has anxiety issues, which connects to AS.
Sorry, it was supposed to be an introduction. lol
Hi runningman,
I finally got my referral via a therapist I was seeing for MH problems - specifically anxiety and depression. She recognised other traits and got my GP to refer me to a local Autism Unit. I finally had my diagnosis last year, after a 2-year wait from the initial assessment. I scored highly on all the tests. The final diagnosis was a wonderful thing to have! Suddenly, my whole life (I'm 57) makes sense - all the difficulties I've had with social situations, relationships, making friends, eye contact. Why I've always preferred solitary activities. Why I find co-habitation difficult. Why, when I'm with people - even those I know well, like at work - I'm constantly anxious. The actor Paddy Considine has Asperger's. There's a snippet on YouTube of a radio interview he gave where he talks about it. It's about 4-mminutes long - but everything he says I could have said myself!
I'll check out those books that have been recommended - thanks Pixiefox I'm currently reading 'Autism - A Very Short Introduction' by Uta Frith and 'Neurotribes' by Steve Silbermann.
See you around!
Tom