Published on 12, July, 2020
Hey all, hope this is okay to post.
I’ve recently started to realise I may have autism - I originally thought it was ADHD but when I started looking at the crossover I realise that autism might be playing a role too!
I was just wondering what were the signs that originally made you realise you have/might have autism? Especially if you were diagnosed as an adult rather than as a child.
And a follow on question - looking back what did you do as a child that was likely due to autism? I want to get tested but seeing other peoples experiences I’m worried about the process - my memory is so rubbish I’m worried they’ll think I’m just wasting their time.
Thanks in advance!
I've always felt at odds with the world, but due to the way autism was portrayed in the media thought it could not be something I had.
Fast forward 30+ years of struggling to make sense of the world, social anxiety, being bullied, workplace meltdowns etc and I started to follow the Twitter account of someone who was a teacher.
He and I had identical jobs, and we'd had many similar experiences. During the past few years he'd been diagnosed as autistic as an adult, and started writing in detail about his autistic life experiences and diagnosis.
It was often like he was describing my life.
We chatted via DM and he encouraged me to do some online assessments. I did so and every single one showed I was likely to be autistic, in the 'severe' category.
After a recent MH crisis which caused me to resign from my job (I've had anxiety / depression diagnosis since age 19) I mentioned autism and what I had discovered to the MH nurse. He got the surgery to send me the AQ10 NHS questionnaire. I got 7/10 which triggered the referral.
It may or may not help me to discover why I have struggled with my mental health for as long as I can remember.
This is a very similar experience to mine.
I was wondering if you would mind posting or PMing me the Twitter account name of that person, as I would like to have a look at that too?