Support thread for women who suspect or know they have ASD traits or are on the spectrum

[OxfordBags]

Hello, all! As the title says, I hope this can be a support thread for those of us who suspect or know we have some (or many) Aspergic traits; where we can share experiences, stories, problems, worries, knowledge and info, and hopefully benefit and help each other too.

I found a great link a while ago that is very comprehensive in its description of how Asperger's presents in women and how women experience it. Some of it is strikingly different from the male model and how most people perceive Asperger's. Here: ASD in women

I truly believe two things: 1) that ASD in females is woefully misunderstood and under-diagnosed and 2) that our current understanding and the definition of the AS Spectrum is, in itself, rather ASD in its rigidity, and that there is an actual spectrum of traits much broader and more nuanced than the current model, and that there are a hell of a lot of people struggling with some very typical ASD traits, who nevertheless do not have all the traits required to fulfil a formal diagnosis of having Asperger's or High-Functioning Autism.

So, with that rather typically ASD-style long-winded and unnecessarily detailed intro out of the way, let's chat!

Can anybody advise on CBT for people with AS/HFA? Would it be a different approach than for NT, for example?

I don't really know either. But I did have CBT 10 or so years ago and while it didn't pinpoint the root cause of my 'problems' it certainly left me in a better place.

Another one who is hopeless with medication here. I long since gave up on taking the prescribed dose of anything and half or even third tablets up. Even OTC stuff like paracetamol and codiene (totally WASTED!) or flu remedies with caffiene (palpatations!) are out for me.

holey can you get an early night and sleep the dose off a bit?

DD has her paed apt tomorrow. I can cope if they are non-commital with this one, as long as they agree to see her again in a year or so. I feel vindicated now I've got a diagnosis, it feels like we've broken a cycle. My nan was almost certainly un-diagnosed ASD, mum thinks dad had it, I have my suspicions about XP being on the scale and his sister put an autism awareness thingy on FB a while back. Poor DD could be a perfect storm of genetics and my influence. My mum and sister don't have it though. DS sometimes does present as ASD and sometimes certainly doesn't .

DD assessment update. She is apparently fine, has been discharged and the paed said I need parenting courses, which I knew she would say before we got there .

And it's exactly what Mum was told about me all through my childhood. Mum's face was like this during the meeting.

She asked me if there were any similar problems in the family ("not what you think you might have, what has actually been diagnosed") and I was able to say I got an NHS ASD diagnosis last week. That went down well .

Anyway, we can concentrate on my stuff for the near future, get my CBT sorted and keep an eye on DD as she grows up. My diagnosis will carry some weight if DD continues to be to challenging.

Did you stick out your medication holey?

Hi all, I'm new to the thread and so happy to discover it!

My DS was diagnosed with ASD last year when he was three. Since then, I had the typical 'lightbulb' moment when I started reading about autism and I found a list describing AS in adult women. It was like someone had reached inside my head and described my life.

I score 39 on the AQ test. I once broached the possibility of formal diagnosis with a GP, but I picked the wrong one and he dismissed me entirely. It put me off from trying again and I'm not sure if a formal diagnosis would really do any good. I'd love to know, once and for all and I think it would benefit me hugely, but I'm worried about the wider impact.

I'm thinking about asking my son's paediatrician about me, when we next see her in July, my reasoning being she's likely to be more experienced and sympathetic and tell me what I should be saying to get a GP to take me seriously.

I really would love to know, but I don't know if I can cope with the stress of pushing to be referred. If I get too stressed, I just shut down. I can't deal with more than one major thing at a time.

I'm not working at the moment so I have the luxury of closing myself off for a while until I recover. I got ridiculously stressed earlier this week and it's taken me two days to be able to function normally again. Luckily (ha) I'm not working at the moment, so I could take the time I needed. DP knows I have to be left alone. He found me under the duvet and I shouted 'I'm in my fortress of solitude. FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE' so he laughed and left me to it.

I said I wasn't working twice, oops. Does that make me doubly unemployed? Hehe.

Just trawling Mumsnet looking for any information to help my DS and found this thread.

I wouldn't be surprised if I was highly in the spectrum, I have always been different, I never fitted in anywhere as a child, but learnt to copy what others did at college and uni. Now I am too old to care or change who I really am.

I am me :)

I did a couple of those tests clicked earlier on this thread.

RAADS one I was yellow on all categories total score 187

The other one AQ scored 46

I would be interested on a link to the faces test....I really struggle recognising faces in real life, which can be highly embarrassing.

EQ 15

Found face link but doesn't run on my phone. Have a go at that later.

Same here, Buffy. It dropped off my TIO.

Will have a read and catch up later.

hello .. this is so interesting .. I do't think I'm on the spectrum but I really do think my daughter has incorrect diagnosis of schizophrenia when she should've been diagnosed with Aspergers with learning difficulties, at the v least... what is AQ test please?

Autism Quotient, I think. There are some links to an online version upthread.

I was thinking about what HoleySocksBatman said about being sensitive to medication. That's me too, but in a completely different way. I can take normal doses of medication no problem (apart from anaesthetics, it takes a lot of local anaesthetic to work for me) but I can feel them working to a degree you wouldn't expect. I'm very very sensitive to the effects and side-effects.

I had chemotherapy and had a saline drip first, with steroids. I could always pinpoint the exact moment that the steroids went in and exactly when one drug (in a cocktail of them) had 'run out' but the others were still going. It was very odd.

I can feel medication wearing off too, to the point that I need to split doses to even it all out a bit or it makes me feel weird.

I am waiting for a referral from my GP for HFA/Aspergers assessment, at my request, to come through.

After a near life-time of depression and anxiety, I am refusing all meds (repeated failures due to sensitivity to side-effects) and declining further consultant psych input.

My relationship with the psych. has completed broken down (arrogant, failure to actually listen, meds obsessed). and he is unaware of my request for referral.

Meanwhile, the psychiatrist has discharged me back to the GP recommending CBT approach. I have just started, and have an hour one a fortnight.

My question is, should I put the CBT on hold until I know either way about a diagnosis? Will it have relevance for any therapeutic approach? My feeling is that the majority of my depression and anxiety is as a result of HFA and its impact on me through life, relationships, work etc.,

Hi, Tweedle just to say I've had CBT despite pyschologist knowing I had ASD traits, and it certainly has helped.

I think one of the most obvious ways it helps is that when you are focused on an anxiety, as is the problem with Asperger's, it disentangles the problem for you, and takes it to its logical conclusion (rather than the catastrophe theory one is apt to pursue). It also reminds you there might be a reason you think that way (anxiously I mean), due to your family history, life story and reminds you that there is a positive way of approaching the future.

I've felt very anxious in the past, due in part I'm sure to difficulty with some social situations, where it was expected I should manage "normally". Part of finding serenity, can be accepting one has difficulties but not writing oneself off! That is CBT in a way, I think!

always my late maternal grandmother had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Mum has been looking back at her issues over the years and strongly suspects she actually had ASD but in those days, 60+ yrs ago, it was unheard of. So your hunch may be right.

My DSIS was working in a psychiatric unit for several years and is insistent that there is a lot of undiagnosed ASD and the wrong treatment being given.

Thank you Swan