Aspies For Freedom

I’m 15 years old I’m thinking I might have asperger’s…

-social interaction has always been hard for me, from a really young age. I had practically no friends up until the age of 13. Things are better now, but I still have quite a bit of trouble with meeting new people, unless they are eccentric like me.
-People say I am really eccentric.
-Also, I’ve never really followed directions and was basically labelled a “bad kid” when I was little.
-I have a hard time with reading comprehension on deeper levels, even though I was reading by the time I was less than 3 years old. I don’t get sarcasm a lot of the time , and have a hard time telling how people are really feeling.  
-In conversation, I talk about myself/my own interests a lot, so people sometimes thing I am selfish, even though on the inside I really do care a lot about other people. People have accused me of being self-absorbed on several occasions, but what they don’t know is that something I love to do is send cards and gifts to sick kids (through the websites makeachildsmile.org and hugsandhope.org)
-I have really strong interests that are a little unusual: the Dixie Chicks (my favourite band), Pam Grier (my all-time favourite actress), the L Word (my favourite TV show), and Jim Henson (my all-time hero). Sometimes people think I am a stalker!
-I digest lots of useless trivia.
-I have a gift for music, even though my voice isn’t all that great. I sing, and I play piano, guitar, bass, violin and African drums. I can easily pick out and name intervals, chords, sometimes even individual notes. I have been learning songs on the piano by ear since I was six years old.
- I also find I am very fidgety, and I have a compulsion to chew things… I ALWAYS am chewing either gum, or more often, pens and pencils… I chew plastic ballpoint pens to the point that the ends end up literally breaking off. I always find I have to be moving. Sometimes I run around my house just for the heck of it, and I know that’s weird but it’s almost like I can’t control it.
-Little things bug me, like if my pillow isn’t totally centered on my bed.
-My intelligence is above average – I am in the gifted program at school.
-I am a lesbian and have an unusual gender identity (Bi-gender- I go back and forth from feeling like a guy to feeling like a girl, sometimes both, or neither.)
-I find it difficult to get the words out when I talk, I miss-speak a lot, but I am able to communicate well in writing.
-People say I repeat myself all the time when I talk.
-I’m extremely ticklish, and HATE being tickled.
-I have been depressed on and off for a couple of years, and have anxiety issues (feeling like I am going to faint or throw up before tests or presentations, deathly afraid of needles)

So what do you think? Do I have AS? I’m worried I might have a mental health issue, because of the depression/anxiety… In a way I am hoping it is AS, because I’m scared that I might be mentally ill instead. Maybe I’m just eccentric… any thoughts on this?

sorry for the long post.

I hear ye on a lot of these things, and I'm sure you'll find a lot in common with many people here. Nobody online can really tell you whether or not you have AS, and to be honest it's hard to find a decent specialist who can, too!

Anyway, I'd suggest reading up lots on AS, perhaps not just online. If it's how you've been all your life, it is not likely to be mental illness... (Not that there is anything wrong with mental illness).

Another thing... loud noises make me uncomfortable as hell...even though I had a mild hearing loss as a child, my parents used to have to take me to another floor of the house if someone was vacuuming, becasue I would scream and cry at the sound... I couldn't stand the sound of a vacuum cleaner up until I was 8-9 years old.

Did you have ear infections (or was there another reason for the hearing loss)?

Anyway I bet you weren't hot on balloons either in that case?

Ouch yeah I guess at least that means you have an "excuse" people tend to understand. I still can't be around kids with balloons (balloons on their own are OK since they don't tend to combust spontaneously) but people seem to have little understanding for the adult who ends up putting her hands over her ears when she sees a balloon

Yeah I had chronic ear infections too by the way, my eardrums burst at least 3-4 times each. I never said a word until blood came out and all, partly because it only really began to hurt then (even though in theory it is supposed to hurt before that, when the pressure builds, and the bursting's not meant to hurt) and partly because it never crossed my mind to say anything. Plus even when it did start hurting, I hated the situation because I didn't know what to say. ("Ouch" might've done the trick )

are you saying that ear infections have something to do with the syndrome too?

because i have had a lot of those in recent years, i don't think i had any as a child, but i got the first really bad one when i was 16, it hurt so bad that i had to take painkillers and it was still terrible, i got another big one last year when i was 19, but since then i luckily only had mild ones that i could barely feel, my doctor suggested using a salt water solution and spraying it into my nose every evening. i think this helps.

i also hate loud noises, especially people screaming, yesterday there was one of those on a bus stop and i just couldn't stand it and had to move away

and i still find blood on the stick when i clean my ears even though they are better now

Not directly, they're just very common among people on the autistic spectrum in general. I'm not sure whether this is because some genetic traits (lax joints etc.) common on the spectrum ALSO cause problems with the eustachian tubes (which then cause ear infections) or whether it's the other way around, e.g. ear infections in childhood lead to a higher likelihood of someone developing an ASD (because of unreliable hearing, I can see how that would affect your ability to cope with noise, and language, if the brain is only partly able to rely on hearing, unlike with say deafness where it is constant).

That could just be from scabs in the ear canal though

I have a reaction to orange cordial, dairy can mess my stomache up. I've always had nose bleeds, bone and muscle problems etc. There little things you would tend to generalise with 'Geeks'.

Allergies and immune system issues, no specific physical "mutations" as far as I know, although I think there are some genetic syndromes that cause autism-like symptoms that do carry a risk of certain malformations (nothing to do with bladder & kidney AFAIK).

There are some people who develop similar social difficulties because they have been very sick (and thus missed out on opportunities for the brain to form social skills etc.) in childhood, but that's not considered the same as AS etc.

There are also some visual problems that are common on the Spectrum (Nystagmus, squints etc.), again it's hard to tell if it's because tissue differences that come with ASDs and cause lax joints etc. also cause these problems, or whether deprivation from regular stable and reliable visual input can contribute to ASDs.

I had bad asthma as a kid and got sick more than most kids, but it didn't interfere with social exposure in childhood, actually I spent time around others (besides my family) quite a lot.

I also had a bizarre incident in high school where the school nurse gave me Advil for a neck-ache; I wasn't aware that I was allergic to Advil, and some really strange things happened, and I was feeling like I would pass out so they sent me to the hospital.  So I guess I am severely allergic to Aspirin/Ibuprofen.

I never had the ear infections, so far as I can remember, anyway.

Did you play outdoors a lot? (Just wondering, this is not to do with AS but with the theory that allergies are caused by a lack of exposure to dirt etc.)

Ouch... Definitely something to keep in mind. I get a bit lightheaded from aspirin and don't like the feeling but I'm more OK with Ibuprofen. You might want to look into allergies to salicylates as that can be related to such experiences with aspirin (and cutting them out of your diet might help your concentration/ability to learn etc.).

You probably would remember them unless you only had them when you were less than a year old or so.

Did you play outdoors a lot? (Just wondering, this is not to do with AS but with the theory that allergies are caused by a lack of exposure to dirt etc.)

I played outdoors just as much as any other kid my age.