Aspies For Freedom

I decided to finally buck up my courage and go consult with the Student Issues Counselour.... Not about Aspies.... because I honestly realized that after talking to this woman she was polite, but nothing more than an over glorified nurse.... she helped me with my anger issues.... I suffer from unexplained explosive anger that is more and more present everyday that it's becoming crippling.... So now I have to keep a log of what she called "Angry Days" and then in the summer I have to show that log to my physician.... but I don't know If I can say... I think I have Asperger's.... because I don't want to look like a Hypochondriac.... Maybe I should bring in some literature and my test results online.... I have realized more and more that the symptoms that I have for Apies have gotten more and more prevalent... and they were existent before i knew what Aspies was let alone I've probably had the following symptoms since about age 8...

1) I've always been a slow learner because I'm I terrible at imitation and I have bad hand eye coordination.... so learning hands on was always slow
2) I've always had an extensive vernacular....there are videos form when I was about five reffering to a rock as a geological formation.... verus a rock....
3) Noises freak me out... i don't have any type of spasm.... but I get anxious and want it to stop.... things such as the printer or the lights or tvs at school tend to drive me insane
4) I have an awkward way of carrying myself and tend to take conversations to a weird place that other people wouldn't. I tend to bore my friends with the quirky knowledge I've learned over time.
5) I have a peculiar walk and posture and sometimes my speak goes very monotonous... I've only started to notice this happens because my Dad calls me Rainman sometimes.... because of our similar vocal pitches
6) I am prone to obsessions about things, movies, or subjects and they consume my everyday life and I'm okay with it, but my friends are getting impatient when i cancel plans to devote more time to my obsession
7)I like routine, not like an OCD type but I like some time of daily schedule only because it keeps me from forgetting to do normal things throughout my day
8) I am a little distracted and possibly even spaced out... i spend a lot of my day dreaming or reading.... anything to get me out of being involved in the moment.... more times than one my mom has had to bring food to me or drink to me because I am so involved in something ridiculous... like labeling videos or drawing full scale models of the room that I'm in...

I just don't know where to turn and my parents are not an option.... they won't understand and they'll think that I'm just pretending to have these problems because I've read about them online.... I just want to understand better who I am, rather than just the freaky girl.... The advice i recieved here a month ago helped my look for more people who could help... but I'm trying to be... incognito so as my parents won't tell me to stop my nonsense and move on with my life and my "quirks" as they put them nicely

Thanks to all who can help
_Kato

Print out this post and show it to your family doctor, next time you have a checkup. Say you think they match Asperger Syndrome, and you want a referral to see whether you're right about it. (Writing it down is a good idea for people who are not good at communicating verbally.)

Hopefully you are wise enough to keep away from folks when you are angry, so that you don't hurt anyone?

I don't think you're being a hypochondriac; your description sounds like AS is a possibility that could bear checking out. Most of the time, I'd say, "AS isn't a huge problem, so the decision of getting a diagnosis is up to you"... but in your case, I think it's a really good idea. These angry outbursts are really messing up your life, and if they are connected with AS, you might be able to get a handle on them more easily if you understand where they come from and what triggers them.

Temper tantrums are common among Aspies. I had tantrums into my late teens--fall to the floor, kick and scream tantrums, too. I've overcome them, as I learned how to predict them, and when to withdraw and cool down...

Usually, around here we call Aspie tantrums "meltdowns"--it's what happens when the world becomes too unpredictable, or your senses are overwhelmed with information, or you don't know enough about your own emotions to control them well. That's why "meltdown" is such a good word for it--you don't know what else to do because you're totally overloaded, and the energy just has to go somewhere.

So: First step, get to a doctor. Just a family doctor is fine; because he can get you to your next step. There can be biological reasons for anger as well--if your hormones are off, for example--so a doctor is a good idea in any case. Chances are, you'll get a referral--hopefully to a child-development specialist, or else a psychologist/psychiatrist. Make your case to that person; ask questions; get as much information as possible. You might be diagnosed with AS, or you might end up with some other diagnosis, or you could be AS + some sort of comorbid... Like AS + bipolar, for example, or AS + OCD, or AS + ADHD... those are pretty common combinations.

The point of all of this, of course, is to learn more about yourself. The more you know about yourself, the better you can control yourself, especially when this unexplained anger hits.

Er, when I say "print out this post" I meant your post, not mine. Sorry...

*kicks the lack of an Edit feature*

Do a Google search for  "Aspie quiz"
and another for the QA-wired test
These are not offical diagnostic tests, but you will get pretty definitive answers there if you are an Aspie.

Apparantly almost all self-diagnosed aspies ended up getting an official diagnosis if they wanted one. So if you think you are an aspie chances are you are one.

I don't know why this occurs but it might be because if an aspie is interested enough to make a self-diagnosis, s/he is more likely to learn alot of small details about it and therefore be in a good position to come to an eductated conclusion.

I am very happy for you!

I can understand why you aren't sure if you should say whether you have AS because a lot of people don't know whar Asperger's Syndrome is.  I'm almost positive that they have heard of autism, though.  Instead of saying you have HFA, you should say that you have "a high-functioning form of autism."  The fact that you have HFA is not true, but if you explained it in such a way that people would understand, I'm sure everything will be ok.  I'm sure people know what the phrase, "high-functioning" means.

Again, I'm very happy for you that you went to your school social worker and showed some courage! That is a great thing to do!