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How Did You Become Diagnosed?

Droopy

Droopy

Founder & Former Admin
V.I.P Member
I'm interested to know how others became diagnosed with AS and at what age. How did you get diagnosed? How long did it take? At what age were you diagnosed?

Myself, I was involved in a car crash that left me with sever migraine headaches and stomach-aches. I started to develop a bad sleeping pattern whereby I would sleep during the day and get up at night (this is still the case today). I was also not eating properly or at the right times. To cut a very long story short, I started to miss school for these reasons and the more days that I missed the harder it was to go back. People started to realise that I was missing more days than normal and started to single me out and I was even bullied. This made going back to school even more difficult.

Throughout most of my school life, I was referred to different support people such as Education Welfare Officers, Social Services and then eventually to a psychologist. I assumed that the psychologist was just there to help me get back into school life and to sort my sleep problems. I was interviewed a lot about my life and was given tests to do - at the time I was under the impression that these tests were to determine my level of education/intelligence to help the school. Then one day I received a letter home to say that I had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

At first I rejected the diagnoses as I knew nothing about it other than it was something to do with not having friends. I thought that it was a simple case that if I attended school more then I would make friends. However, I began to research Asperger Syndrome on the internet and soon realised that there was much more to it. I could see a allot of it in myself and then finally accepted the diagnoses after I understood what it was about. My diagnosis was at the age of around 14/15.

That's basically my story - the short version of it anyway. :D

So, what's yours?
 
I went to the doctor to have some blood work done, because my psychiatrist thought I might have a thyroid problem due to mood swings I was having. But the doctor kept asking me and my mom a bunch of questions that I thought were totally unrelated, such as "do you have intense obsessions with things", "do you have trouble making friends", things like that. When she was done asking the questions, she said "I think you might have a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome". I was given a battery of psychological tests by the doctor and my psychiatrist, and they all came back testing positive for AS. My psychiatrist set me up with an appointment with an autism specialist, who confirmed the diagnosis. I was 15 years old when I got diagnosed.
 
I was about 7 and a half years old when I was diagnosed, but at the time, all I remembered was doing crazy behaviour like trying to shock myself with the plugs without even realizing I was even doing it.

I went to Maudsley and thats how I got diagnosed but I wasn't really aware with what questions they were asking me at the time, I thought it was some special time they were giving me. :P

But yea, thats how I got diagnosed but never was aware of it until I was about 13.
 
Well, i got diagnosed when about 2 months ago and they were asking me all these questions, which lasted for about a couple of sessions.
I felt pretty relieved actually but lost a couple of friends because of it, so my experience was a pretty ****** one.
 
I was out of school because I was falling apart so I did my school work at home for a while. I was also seeing a psychiatrist for a diagnoses. I didn't know then my shrink was suspecting I have AS and my mom wanted a professional to look it over. Back then I was on medication and it was finally messing me up so my parents took me out of school and oh boy I had like a break down and couldn't control myself anymore and I also had a nervous breakdown from all the bullying. Two years of faking being normal and trying to fit in, it was as if I finally broke down and could no longer control myself. Then I was told it was the pills doing it and I felt so happy because I didn't know what was going on. So they took me out of school and said I wouldn't be going for a while. So my mom kept taking me to see my psychiatrist and they talk about me. I don't remember doing any of the tests and I remember being left alone in the room by myself. It took about two months for me to get diagnosed because I was so difficult to diagnose due to my medical history and the fact I wasn't true AS but he gave me the diagnoses because it was the closest match he could come to for a diagnoses. I wonder why not PDD-NOS?
 
For years my parents and teachers noticed my peculiar behaviour and in primary school I had some behaviour problems and was always getting into trouble for things. But it wasn't until I was 11 and nearly at the end of year 6 when my parents finally got up off their arses and did something about it, it could have been all sorted out years before so I wouldn't have had to have the naughty, difficult kid label for all those years.
Then I was taken to the "child development centre" had a few appointments and bob's your uncle I had the aspergers label slapped on me. I don't remember much of it at all even though it was only 6 years ago.
 
When I was 7/8, I was struggling at school and was diagnosed with short term memory loss. When I was 11 my teacher pointed out to my parents that it was very likely that I had Aspergers. I remember my parents reading through the questions with me. These pieces of paper were pretty much describing me. I then had a few sessions where a psychologist would come to my house/school to ask me questions. I then went to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to be fully diagnosed.
 
I wasn't diagnosed until 3 years ago, but it didn't take a doctor to question whether or not I was on the spectrum. I had a counselor who always communicated with my mother, she had a daughter that was also on the spectrum. The moment she mentioned aspergers, I flipped, I had never heard of it and when she mentioned it was on the spectrum of autism, I doubted it. I had the wrong impression of autism then, I thought it to be like the retarded guy in the movie Rain Man.

Anyhow, it took a while to find a person who specialized in aspergers and when we did, I was officially diagnosed. For a while I went through a period of denial and depression. I didn't know anyone who had it and after reading about it, I knew there was a lot I couldn't change about myself. Almost my entire life I tried learning how to fake it or be sociable thinking my social skills would eventually improve. At the same time however I was relieved and learned more about myself. There were so many things I was unaware of before being diagnosed.
 
I was diagnosed at the age of 7 when school teachers complained of keeping a troublesome student (me) in class, and wanted to kick me out so that I can go to a special school (which rejected my application due to long waiting lists).

I only understood autism, ironically, when a group of friends bullied a random guy with Asperger's Syndrome. I wanted to screw him and say 'Ash Burger syndrome', but I stopped it as I feel that I have met someone similar to me. So I stopped it and understood my conditions better since then.
 
Well I feel the same here. I wished I had not been diagnosed then because with my diagnosis, I feel a weird feeling that others do not have. But I had understood my conditions better - and now I think the diagnosis really helped me to understand myself better.
 
ruennsheng said:
Well I feel the same here. I wished I had not been diagnosed then because with my diagnosis, I feel a weird feeling that others do not have. But I had understood my conditions better - and now I think the diagnosis really helped me to understand myself better.
Click to expand...

I would say that there are pros and cons to getting a diagnoses.

Some of the pros are being able to understand yourself better, to have explanations for many things and to pinpoint your weakness (not being able to socialize successfully) so that you can build upon it and eventually get better. In addition, if you get a diagnoses then that opens the door for receiving learning support at school/college.

Some of the cons include being more conscious of the fact that you are different from most people (having that weird feeling) and possibly having difficulty getting a job (employer discrimination if you tell them you have AS).
 
Yeah, I really have to live with all the nasty vibes other people could give me, as well as the inevitable possibility (assuming everything I live with stays the same) of me unemployed after I graduate from college/university (even though I plan to major in Psychology in college).

But I am now thankful for that diagnosis I got when I was 9, because without it, I will never know in what ways I am deficient in and that I can work to improve on.
 
I think of my diagnosis in the same way. I can pinpoint my problems and they are easier to solve.
 
I got diagnosed in the last year. Since secondary school ended (7 years ago) I've struggled to do anything, at school everything was done for me. But having left school I was suddenly expected to do everything myself. I have anxiety and motivational issues.

When asked about my past, I explained that I had very little memory of anything before secondary school and spent most of primary school not being able to speak. The doctor I was talking to was somewhat surprised that I had not been diagnosed when I was younger.
 
I don't remember much about it but I know I was diagnosed at nine. I do remember feeling pretty bad about it though, thinking I was defective and an embuggerance on my family, and blaming myself when things went wrong, but it helped a lot to read up about Asperger's. I'm not defective. None of us is.
 
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