Might have AS, people with experience please read.

Hello my name is Frank Arne, I am 21 year old boy/man from Norway, I appologise for my bad english in advance.

I found this forum after searching for a while, and I seem too have a number of symptoms asociated with AS, and I am confused as to wether or not I should visit a phsyciatrist too get this confirmed/ruled out.

First I would like some experienced people too give me theyre advice as too wether or not I could have AS.

My symptoms:
- I cannot hold eye contact without feeling anxious or unconfortable. I have had this propblem for as long as I can remember.
- I often find my self repeating words or phrases in my head, for instance I heard the word indubitably recently, and I found I could not get this out of my head, I kept repeating it. I have had other simmilar experiences before.
- I have troubles feeling empathy with people, for instance my grandfather died abbruptly and I could not even confort my mother becaus I simply did not know how. In general I am seen as a cold person and in school many tought me evil, tough I am not.
- Ive had problem with my motor skills in regards too hand writing for as long as I can remember, in school they went as faar as trying too give me special teaching too improve it, but too no avail.
- I only think in logic, for instance It has never been a question too me that life is all there is, I cannot logically belive in a religion.
- I have very poor body language and can not read or interpret other peoples body language well, for example I have never been able too smile unless I am laughing.
- I have very limited interests and I always have one interest that occupie most of my time, one dominating interest.
- I have some ticks, like when sitting in general my right foot can race up and down constantly, and when I get unconfortable I start rubing my hands and fingers in the joints.
- I got bad grades at everything that did not interest me in school, as I saw no reason too do the homework unless it interested me, but in the classes that did interest me I achieved very vell.
- I have a very detailed memory for small things that noone else I know seem too have.
- I get extremely agitated by certain sounds such as snoring and chewing sounds, this is normal but I find that I can get many times more agitated then anyone else I know when I hear theese sounds.

I am not however depressed with my situation as it is and it seems this is a common thing among people who have AS, if someone who has experience with AS would be kind enough too maybe look trough some of my symptoms as listed and give me hes/hers oppinion then I would be very gratefull.

I am sorry for writing so long, but I am very curious and interested in knowing this before I talk too a psychologist.

Hello, jeg heter Kevin, hvordan har du det?

You do not have to be depressed to have AS. In fact, there are many people with AS that enjoy life: They are the ones that do not post here because they are content in their life. They are probably living their life without even realising that they have AS. Depression is a consequence of the symptoms of AS, and it is not directly related to it.


The symptoms you listed are the classic symptoms of AS and I would recommend going to a psychiatrist to get a diagnosis. However, you should consider the following two questions:

1) Do you think that a diagnosis of AS would help you?
2) If the psychiatrist disagreed with you about AS, would you be happy?

Kevin.

Hallo, Kevin jeg har det bra takk, hvordan har du det?

Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it very much, now that you mention it it seems very logical that depression is sideeffect of the symptoms of AS and how they affect theyre life, rather then directly coming from AS.

I think too get the diagnosis would help me in a way that, I would be more confortable with the way I am, for instance I feel some distress too the fact that I cannot feel empathic too other people, and if I have AS it would explain why I am that way, and it would certainly not make me feel empathy but it would make me realise that I "programed" this way and not just a cold person.

If the psychiatrist disagrees with me, then I would get he/hers advice as too what I have, as I am certain it is something, I guess I would be happy if I got confirmation about what I have.

Thank you for your insight in this matter, it has helped me get a more experienced view on my symptoms and I will be going too a psychiatrist too get a diagnose set.

Frank Arne

God kveld Frank,

You seem to be an intelligent person and you also seem to be ready for the diagnosis. When I was diagnosed it made me more comfortable with who I am. You have already stated that this would probably happen for you too. It appears for definite that you have Asperger's.


Good luck,
Kevin.

Det er utrolig hvor mange snakker norsk her! Been in Norway for a year. Sounds crazy, me going for a whole year to a foreign country. It was. It actually started as a joke (that was not understood like that). I entered the office of a university professor that just got off the phone. A post-doc (that was teaching us a course btw) had just cancelled his research in Norway. I was attending my second year and joked "oh, but I want to go if you don't mind.". The professor didn't get it, and said : "so you want to go to Norway? No problem, I'll arrange a program for you."

Well, there I stood. Since my mom put me on camps the whole summer since I was a small kid, I am used to changing environments and different people. So I thought about it as another holiday, only longer. That worked. And since I'm not attached to friends or family, I didn't miss them there. Everything was arranged for me (luckily ), the only thing I had to do was taking care of food, washing and studying. Now that's not too difficult, is it?

It was more easy to deal with Norvegian people though : they tend to keep a bit at a distance and don't talk much. Maybe they're all asperger? (joking!)

Anyway, if you feel comfortable in testing, do so. Mine is planned for the end of the year (too many people need a diagnosis here). And a bit for the same reaon : finally being able to place some things in perspective.

btw, I'm Belgian.

Hey,

I wish I had the opportunity that you had, mindyou. It sounds awesome! One of my former girlfriends was Norwegian. I met her while she was studying in Dublin, Ireland. I live in Ireland by the way. It is important for 'us' (People with Asperger's) to move around. If we stay in the same place all of the time we tend to be alone and lonely. This is why I plan to move to England when I finish at college.


Kevin.

Hello, thank you for both your replies I appreciate it!

You are very correct about Norwegians being a pretty cold and distance keeping "people", I do not know why this is, but most tourists that visit Norway usually claims exactly that, and having visited a number of countrys (including Belgium) I can confirm that it is so. And I hear the nature in Ireland is very nice.

Regarding traveling, that is the foremost driving pover of my life, and it is my desire too visit a number of countrys within each continent.

Is it an AS sign that sometimes I find my self completely intrigued by an normal objekt, like for instance a candle, and find that I cannot stop staring at it, this happens too me sometimes.

Frank Arne

Arne wrote:Is it an AS sign that sometimes I find my self completely intrigued by an normal objekt, like for instance a candle, and find that I cannot stop staring at it, this happens too me sometimes.

I do that too - Beauty can be found in every object. In fact, I usually try to figure-out how different objects are made. This usually involves disassembling it. Just make sure that you don't stare at people! ...They don't like it!

Kevin.

Arne wrote:Hello, thank you for both your replies I appreciate it!

You are very correct about Norwegians being a pretty cold and distance keeping "people", I do not know why this is, but most tourists that visit Norway usually claims exactly that, and having visited a number of countrys (including Belgium) I can confirm that it is so. And I hear the nature in Ireland is very nice.

I didn't say cold! More distant. But I also noticed that norvegians are very helpful when you ask for their assistance, and are often willing to invite you. They just don't react as enthousiast as southern people. But that doesn't mean they're worse friends.

BTW, chucky, you're very right about people. I know first hand... But I don't try to disassemble them, I know how they're made

kind regards

Hello again, I am sorry about misquoting you, it was not intentional.

I rarely look people in the eyes, so I stare at people rarely, sometimes when I get abit drunk, tough I rarly drink I tend too stare more.
And I am very bad at interpreting how long, or in what context I should hold eye contact, I am not a shy person so most people are surprised at the lack of eye contact I have,it is almost impossibol for me too flirt with girls as I cannot read theyre body language nor hold eye contact.

On a side not I took the Autism Spectrum Quotient test, or AQ test, by Simon Baron Cohen I belive hes name is, and I scored a rating of 38, and as I understand it that puts me on the "spectrum" atleast.

Frank Arne