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Undiagnosed for now

ElleRose

ElleRose

New Member
Hello. I'm not sure what to write here. How much info is too much info? I'm a mom, a wife, and a homemaker. I've suspected I was on the spectrum for probably about a decade. I think I purposely didn't research it further because I wasn't ready. I made a video appointment with a therapist for 12/29.

Learning about autistic traits has been a rollercoaster of emotions. I'm glad to have names for what I'm dealing with and that I'm not alone, but it's also so painful to look back at the past 3 decades through a new lens. I look forward to learning, growing, and understanding with all of you.
 
Welcome.

I was diagnosed this year at the age of 56. It was a huge relief and put so much of my life in context.

Before my diagnosis, I went through a lot of school records to get evidence of my early years and interviewed my mother. I also tried to examine my behavior. (My wife also joined me for my appointment.) I found the preparation was useful in organizing my thoughts.

I wish you well on your appointment, whatever the outcome.
 
Hi! i joined recently. It can be a relief knownig you are not just super unique and there is other people with similar issues.
 
Hi and welcome. It sounds like it's been a journey for you to face this, but remember a lot of what's written is seen through a filter of deficit, and out in the world too autism is very misunderstood and thought of in relation to popular film portrayals such as Rainman. Although I think Dustin Hoffman was quite interesting and sympathetic as a character in that film. However not typical of high functioning autism at all.

Try thinking of this as difference. A lot of what we experience as not fitting in is about difference, not deficits. I hope your appointment goes well, it's an autism expert you'll need, not any therapist, as some have no real idea what autism is. Hopefully you have found someone who's well up on this.

For women in particular it can be hard to get diagnosed, even when you show all the criteria, as the diagnosis has been skewed to the male expression of autism, and change in recognising and correcting that is slow, with a lot of clinicians surprisingly uninformed and unable to cope with the different presentation caused by social conditioning as female.

I hope you enjoy it here and find it useful and supportive.


:snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake:
 
Thinx said:
... remember a lot of what's written is seen through a filter of deficit, and out in the world too autism is very misunderstood and thought of in relation to popular film portrayals such as Rainman. ...
Try thinking of this as difference. A lot of what we experience as not fitting in is about difference, not deficits.

:snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake::snowman::snowflake:
Click to expand...

Apparently it's a deficit if you do the right thing in private as well as public :rolleyes:

Autistic People Care Too Much, Research Says » NeuroClastic
 
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Welcome! :DIt's a good community full of support, here... :)

Whatever path you were on in the past, it lead you here...:cool: Pain can be a difficult emotion to get through, but having a support system to help you get through it is beneficial to your recovery...

Good luck on your journey of self-discovery! Regardless of any outcomes in your discovery, enjoy your life and don't restrict yourself from being happy...
 
If you are anything like me, you might have a difficult time with the interview process. I think everything through, but then come time to actually talking to someone,...my brain seems to shut down and I can't seem to get my thoughts out in a meaningful way. A word of advice,...write your thoughts down before your interview. I made a list of all of my sensory issues, my experiences, my interactions, etc. It ended up being an itemized list of nearly 175 things,...I titled it "Random Thoughts",...but it might as well have titled "You might be autistic if...". Get yourself educated. There are a lot of scientific articles on PubMed, Google Scholar, etc....there were things that I had that were associated with autism that I never would have associated with autism. https://images.pearsonclinical.com/...DiagnosticCriteria_AutismSpectrumDisorder.pdf My personal experience as an adult being screened was hours of cognitive performance testing, interview, and written testing. A lot of valuable information for you,...regardless of what your diagnosis may be,...sometimes it ends up not being autism.
 
Welcome! Definitely for those of us who started our journey to discovery as adults, wherever that took (or is taking) us, the journey itself can be adventurous, full of starts and stops, questions and what-ifs.
 
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