Any members out there with Asperger's?

HappyNewTamera2014

I find it a daily struggle to socialize with the friends I have made thus far. I have recently been diagnosed with Aspergers that I have had since childhood but was misdiagnosed as Bi polar disorder. Thankfully since 1994 they are finding that many have been misdiagnosed. Now that I know what I am dealing with after many years in and out of Psych hospitals and group homes and all the Lithium and other meds I was forced to consume (that never worked) I am forced to deal with this as positively as I can. I appreciate the friends I have accumulated but I would like someone like me. I am finding it a daily struggle to be "nice" when I see fellow friends diaries and they aren't as good as mine<

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another thing I am trying to get through...accepting that others have their way of doing things even if it makes NO sense what so ever to me. It would just be nice to have one person like me on my list. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

mom2sons02

My 17 year old son has PDD-NOS which is quite similar to Asperger's. So while I can't totally understand how you feel, I understand what kinds of feelings you are having. Glad you got properly diagnosed though, sounds like it was hard for you.

coltonbean22

Hello, I am new to MFP (only four days in). While I do not have aspergers, my 5 year
old son is high functioning autistic. Since my husband and I have committed ourselves to helping him, we had to realize that to help him is to try and understand him. He also has social type therapies to help him learn to socialize and what's appropriate as well as deal with his self regulation. We give him lots of help and he has come so far. And he's only 5. Anyway, I am a neurotypical but I certainly can emphasize with your struggle. Have you ever read the book, look me in the eyes? I forget the name of the author but he's got aspergers and tells about his life and way of thinking and he's so funny. May help you to read.

crrampersad

@coltonbeam - you are referring to John Elder Robison. He has another book that he wrote as a guide for those with Aspergers to help them "fit in with the neurotypicals". He also has a number of videos on youtube.

@happynewtamer - in December my seven year old son was diagnosed as being a high functioning autistic. Due to the changes in the DSM his psychiatrist isn't allowed to officially say Aspergers to us, but we were told he is off the record. I spend a lot of time with him and can understand his struggles.

danyvaone

hi , i'm new here .....i'm a bodybuilder and wanna burn some fat

lisatrish

I hope you find someone you can relate to on MFP. I have a sixteen year old son with Asperger's so I know the struggles and trials you can go through. It's hard when people don't always get things the way you do or understand what you are going through. With my son I have learned that he might not always see things the way I do but he has so much more to offer - his knowledge and ability to learn and remember new things is amazing. Friend me if you would like - I don't have Asperger's but am willing to listen and help any way I can.

Gabrielm80

I was diagnosed with autism and then later just Aspergers when I was young. It was in the early 80s so I had a very few teachers that understood how to handle me and treated me like I was mentally challenged. My fifth grade teacher used the world retard more than once. I went from a d- student to a graduate if honors, and even graduated college first in my class. Aspergers is not a curse that people might think. You just need to be honest with your "limitations" and find a way to work past them. I find it hard to look people in the eyes. So I don't, I just fake it I look at and past them and make sure my eyes are focused beyond them. Really helps fight that.... So hard to explain... Criminal feeling eye contact makes me feel. I get fixated when something is gritty. So I rarely go to the beach and always keep clean sheets on a bed. My wife one night didn't believe that I felt a single grain of salt on the bed so I turned on the light found it in 3 secs and showed her. Aspergers comes with benifits though I am a wonderful out of the box thinking. I have no idea if that is truely linked with my Aspergers or the fact I like puzzles, but I can get pretty creative at times, which is weird because I don't seem to be able to truely picture things in my head. I can recall a rose and describe what it looks like but if asked to close my eyes and picture it. Nope nothing, but if doing a jigsaw I can usually figure out where the piece goes pretty fast. So just know for every thing you think of that might be a short comming you probably have some gift that off sets it. Your brain isn't jacked up, just unconventual to the norm. And with that you hold untapped potiental in areas that might be impossible to others.

HappyNewTamera2014

Thank you for all your responses....well...minus the (insert name I cannot call do to Forum rules) that commented and had nothing to do with OP. It has def been a struggle. Your kind words have encouraged me to continue on even when I feel awkward and want to delete all my friends and regress back to solitude.

LishieFruit89

hi , i'm new here .....i'm a bodybuilder and wanna burn some fat

You need to read.

OP, im of no use here but good luck in all of you endeavors. And kudos for keeping your friends around and not hiding. Having friends on here is awesome - the kudos and Q&A sessions and the random convos make this all suck less.

DeliriumCanBeFun

Aspie here! I'm going to send you a FR. I used to keep to myself on here, but I have found that "forcing" myself to interact has really helped motivate me. I am even starting to enjoy it a bit.

DeliriumCanBeFun

I was diagnosed with autism and then later just Aspergers when I was young. It was in the early 80s so I had a very few teachers that understood how to handle me and treated me like I was mentally challenged. My fifth grade teacher used the world retard more than once. I went from a d- student to a graduate if honors, and even graduated college first in my class. Aspergers is not a curse that people might think. You just need to be honest with your "limitations" and find a way to work past them. I find it hard to look people in the eyes. So I don't, I just fake it I look at and past them and make sure my eyes are focused beyond them. Really helps fight that.... So hard to explain... Criminal feeling eye contact makes me feel. I get fixated when something is gritty. So I rarely go to the beach and always keep clean sheets on a bed. My wife one night didn't believe that I felt a single grain of salt on the bed so I turned on the light found it in 3 secs and showed her. Aspergers comes with benifits though I am a wonderful out of the box thinking. I have no idea if that is truely linked with my Aspergers or the fact I like puzzles, but I can get pretty creative at times, which is weird because I don't seem to be able to truely picture things in my head. I can recall a rose and describe what it looks like but if asked to close my eyes and picture it. Nope nothing, but if doing a jigsaw I can usually figure out where the piece goes pretty fast. So just know for every thing you think of that might be a short comming you probably have some gift that off sets it. Your brain isn't jacked up, just unconventual to the norm. And with that you hold untapped potiental in areas that might be impossible to others.

This really identifies the differences that men and women experience with aspergers, and yet we have so much in common! "And with that you hold untapped potiental in areas that might be impossible to others." This is so true! It's taken almost 40 years for me to really start to understand how I work. We definitely expect that to be easy for others to get.

HappyNewTamera2014

I was diagnosed with autism and then later just Aspergers when I was young. It was in the early 80s so I had a very few teachers that understood how to handle me and treated me like I was mentally challenged. My fifth grade teacher used the world retard more than once. I went from a d- student to a graduate if honors, and even graduated college first in my class. Aspergers is not a curse that people might think. You just need to be honest with your "limitations" and find a way to work past them. I find it hard to look people in the eyes. So I don't, I just fake it I look at and past them and make sure my eyes are focused beyond them. Really helps fight that.... So hard to explain... Criminal feeling eye contact makes me feel. I get fixated when something is gritty. So I rarely go to the beach and always keep clean sheets on a bed. My wife one night didn't believe that I felt a single grain of salt on the bed so I turned on the light found it in 3 secs and showed her. Aspergers comes with benifits though I am a wonderful out of the box thinking. I have no idea if that is truely linked with my Aspergers or the fact I like puzzles, but I can get pretty creative at times, which is weird because I don't seem to be able to truely picture things in my head. I can recall a rose and describe what it looks like but if asked to close my eyes and picture it. Nope nothing, but if doing a jigsaw I can usually figure out where the piece goes pretty fast. So just know for every thing you think of that might be a short comming you probably have some gift that off sets it. Your brain isn't jacked up, just unconventual to the norm. And with that you hold untapped potiental in areas that might be impossible to others.

This really identifies the differences that men and women experience with aspergers, and yet we have so much in common! "And with that you hold untapped potiental in areas that might be impossible to others." This is so true! It's taken almost 40 years for me to really start to understand how I work. We definitely expect that to be easy for others to get.

Oh the release of breath from my chest reading your post. I do not think ppl fully understand what it is like to live this way, much less be misdiagnosed at a young age. It is a big part of why I ended up here to begin with. Being told you have a Bi polar disorder and than being a guinea pig of sorts whilst they figure out a proper med is very damaging. Especially when none of them work because I was not Bi polar. In the eyes and mind of even a semi gifted child it is hard to understand why everyone is so angry at you and can make you feel very bad which makes seclusion so much easier.

I know it is just as hard for my MFP friends to accept me and my forwardness as it is for me to try and be social in a manner that considers their feelings. No one can know this until they have to mentally prepare and MAKE themselves comment or like a post. There are days I just cannot summon the energy to make myself be social. I would rather just delete everyone and do my thing.....this has happened 2 times since I started my journey in January, and I only returned and started being social because 2 ppl noticed I wasn't very active and said come back. I was there.....but you would never know because I was withdrawing.

Below is a link...plz fast forward to the last 3 mins of the video. There is a high probability that you will be curious enough to find and watch part 1 of the 2 videos. It is very easy to judge me or call me mean or rude if you do not understand why I am the way I am I. My very first forum post was a fiasco! I am retraining my brain..I am perfectly capable of learning these skills and have as a matter of fact. An MFP friend brought to my attention on one of my blogs explaining why she does this things the way she does even though I did not understand it or couldn't find a logical justifications for some of the actions of most of the ppl on MFP. I respect her highly for not just bailing on me. Most people just shut me out or leave because we do not see things the same...which again is almost everybody so seclusion is very easy for me *snorts* It is hard to retrain your brain if you have no subjects to lean on for help. I cannot do this alone even though I want to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dbjFDaK6lk

HazelHare

I've got Aspergers! I only realised it last year, so it's all kind of new and exciting for me. It makes sense of the struggles I've had my whole life, and finally understanding my limits and boundaries has made me feel so much better. I think it's one of the reasons I feel able to try to make a life-change like this one.

HappyNewTamera2014

I've got Aspergers! I only realised it last year, so it's all kind of new and exciting for me. It makes sense of the struggles I've had my whole life, and finally understanding my limits and boundaries has made me feel so much better. I think it's one of the reasons I feel able to try to make a life-change like this one.

May I friend you? I have a long journey ahead of me. Of course I am a decade older than you and you are significantly more over weight than I am, but I think we may be able to give each other positive reinforcement. Since diagnoses I have stopped my last obsession and made this my new obsession. The food aspect of it is no issue as I only see food as sustenance. It is the physical aspect that is very taxing for me. I hate going out in public. I do not own any exercise equipment nor will I waste money on weight loss regimens or books and such. I did not buy those items to get obese I am pretty sure I can reverse my actions by doing the opposite of what landed me here.. It also helps I have stop self medicating.