Adult aspergers??? Or wtf us up with me !!

[bearminimum]

Does anyone have any experience of getting an adult diagnosis for aspergers? Am convined I have this. Seen mental health nurse after having had a breakdown last year caused by work stress. She said there was no way I had it as I was interacting with her normally , good eye contact etc. I have always felt uncomfortable talking to people, find it hard to make friends and get on with people in general e.g in a work type situation. Have been on citalopram about 6 months 40mg for anxiety and depression which has chilled me out but I feel very lazy and still dread talking to people its like I don't know how to talk to people and worry they will think I am boring and dull. I have always felt like the black sheep in my family and have convinced myself that there is something wrong with me. I sm married with 2 kids and worry about having passed something on to the kids. I am fairly sure my dad has aspergers type traits e.g no friends, specialist and involved hobbies etc. I don't work and spend a lot of money on nice clothes to Make me seem more normal. I am young looking for my age and have a nice figure and it makes me feel better in myself when I look nice. I can't afford to spend and now will be struggling to scrape my mortgage money together. Dh doesn't know about that !Sorry for long post it feels better to get it all written down.

I think getting diagnosed as an adult is often difficult as people will have developed a lot of coping strategies and so may appear NT. Also supposedly girls are better at developing these strategies and so Aspergers is less likely to be apparent iyswim.

It is possible to get diagnosed as an adult, though- why don't you go to 'Advanced search' and look for threads on adult Aspergers, there is quite a few, I believe.

Oh, and I think it's possible to have a good eye contact and still have Aspergers. I think there are levels to it-it won't be obvious in everyone. Good luck

Thanks winny. I think I have definitely developed coping strategies which is why I completely crashed and burned last year as I had been pretending to be normal for so long it just wore me out.

Yeah, that would make sense. I think perhaps you just need to make your peace with the fact that you will never be great at small talk OTOH, I found out that once you accept it, it gets easier to do it, bizarrely. Do see your GP. I think there are few places in London that specialize in adults with Aspergers, as well.

I am coming closer to that conclusion winny. My gp practice closed and I have a new GP she seems a bit stern so I haven't brought it up with her yet. But I do feel it's something I need to do. I need to get back to work but am scared that the problems I have been having will haunt me unless I get to the bottom of it all and I will ending up walking out of another job

Recently I have come across the idea that ADD (attention deficit disorder without the hyperactive bit) is often closely associated with Aspergers. So all the procrastinating, being lazy, inability to undertake/finish long projects, inability to stick to one job etc could be explained by that. It is certainly something that I identify with. In fact right now I'm on MN instead of writing my university asignment that's due tomorrow .

But, honestly? Once I've come to realise that I have lots of Aspergers traits, it was such a relief. I always felt odd iyswim and so my self esteem plummeted. Now I suspect/know that it's just due to some little neurological mishap, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Definitely talk to your GP and if she's no help, look for another one. On a recent thread someone mentioned the names of clinics dealing with adult diagnosis-have a look.

Thanks for your responses... Now I need to man up and make the Gp appointment. The more I read the more I am sure I have it. I am wanting to get to the bottom of it as I have a job interview in a month for a job I really want. I so don't want to fuck up this time ...