A little lesson in assuming...

[tollbaby]

There's some tests online you can take which are just about identical to the ones your doctor would give you...the forum over at http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com has them. There's one that has like, 200 questions or something like that on it, that's the one I'd go with.

okay, that's just freaky. I took all the tests listed because my son has Asperger's and I wanted to relate in my head what they would say about him.... so I took the tests and answered all the questions honestly, and WITHOUT FAIL, I got a RIDICULOUSLY high asperger's score.... hrm. No one has ever suggested that I might have Asperger's before. I think I'm going to erase this afternoon from my memory :P EEK just saw Cia's comment about OCD above as well.... I'm MASSIVELY OCD, especially where making lists, collecting information are concerned *blush*.... err... i'll just be behind this rock over here.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The wired test, got 36. I'm pretty much self diagnosed myself; however, I don't see the point of getting an official diagnosis.

[Discourtesy Clerk]

Thanks, I'll have to go check those tests out. It would explain a TON, let me tell you...

EDIT: Oh, whoa...got a 39. Maybe I was even more right than I thought about all that stuff sounding like me...

[Dreamstalker]

Weirdly, I was officially diagnosed, and yet continually get very low scores (as in, low enough to be within a point or two of the control group scores) on all the online tests I've taken.

[Rapscallion]

We had a customer I mentioned who claimed to be coeliac and therefore in danger of serious harm from eating gluten (her words). She'd diagnosed herself from a questionnaire in the back of a magazine and refused to see a doctor.

Her complaint was that we'd added a gluten warning to wheat bran, so therefore we'd added gluten. It hadn't had any effect on her before the warning, though...

I'd agree that questionnaires are not the best way to diagnose an illness. See a professional if you think you have a condition such as this. It could be masking something more serious.

Rapscallion

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'd rather not, just in case I do turn out to be sociopathic, like on that online quiz. XD

[tollbaby]

well.... errr... I spoke to my son's psychiatrist last night (he's confirmed Asperger's and attends a special class with one teacher, three aides and seven kids) about something unrelated, and then I (I thought jokingly) told her about the tests I'd taken.... and she was like "oh, I just assumed you knew!"....

wtf?

Apparently she's thought I had Asperger's since the first time she met me.

Do I give off a certain vibe? yikes.

I guess I'd better go get officially tested *sigh*

[MystyGlyttyr]

Apparently she's thought I had Asperger's since the first time she met me.

Do I give off a certain vibe? yikes.

I guess I'd better go get officially tested *sigh*

Actually, in the People magazine article I read, there was a 50-year-old woman who didn't realize she was an Aspie until after both of her sons were diagnosed on the spectrum, and then the doctor asked her to be tested, since it's apparently somewhat hereditary.

Everyone has SOME autistic traits...those little odd quirks that you do. It's the number and the severity that are really the more distinguishing factors. If you like to listen to the same song 10 times in a row, that's a quirk. If you listen to it 89 times in a row while rocking back and forth, patting yourself on the head and sucking your thumb, and then bolt from the room in a sobbing panic when a vacuum starts (done it), then you may want to look a bit more closely

[Ree]

Well it certainly opened my eyes to see just how many of our members are self-diagnosed, (I had naturally assumed they were under doctors' care)and it's interesting to see the numbers climb after people have taken the quiz.

I have to wonder why someone who has self-diagnosed, or is concerned about a high score, wouldn't want to seek a professional opinion.
That's like taking a magazine quiz to see if a person has diabetes or has high heart attack or stroke risks, and then just ignoring the results, but identifying themselves as being diabetic or high risk.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I have to wonder why someone who has self-diagnosed, or is concerned about a high score, wouldn't want to seek a professional opinion.
That's like taking a magazine quiz to see if a person has diabetes or has high heart attack or stroke risks, and then just ignoring the results, but identifying themselves as being diabetic or high risk.

For me, it's because everyone I have talked to "unofficially," which includes two psychiatrists and a pediatrician, have confirmed my suspicions, and having done the research, there's no real reason for me to "officially" seek a diagnosis. I've already muddled my way through school, I've made peace with my particular idiosyncracies, I have no big dreams for college or advancement outside the wrestling profession, I am holding down a job so I don't need disability, there's no need for me to medicate, and the people who currently need to know how to handle me already know how. I thought about it a lot and it's just not that important to me to have it branded into my doctor's files forever. If it ever comes up that I will need to go to a doctor on the record, and have it permanantly stamped in, I will then. Until that time, though, I prefer to leave it alone.

[tollbaby]

If you like to listen to the same song 10 times in a row, that's a quirk. If you listen to it 89 times in a row while rocking back and forth, patting yourself on the head and sucking your thumb, and then bolt from the room in a sobbing panic when a vacuum starts (done it), then you may want to look a bit more closely

err..... I have been known to feel panicky WHILE vacuuming, and freaking out at loud noises, crowds, unexpected turns of event, the slightest bit of stress, etc. I have also been known to listen to a CD 30 times in a row.....

Since speaking to my son's psychiatrist, however, I have decided to be formally evaluated. My boyfriend's a bit upset (mainly because he's never heard of Asperger's) and is afraid that this will mean some massive changes in our lives... I tried to explain to him that whether I have it or not, I'm still me, and I'll still be the same me I've always been - I'll just have a new label to tack on (odd that someone mentioned diabetes, since I am diabetic).

Actually, I think I like the Asperger's label a bit better than the OCD one. OCD has such a negative connotation to it.

And yes, I go crazy if I can't listen to music at work. I'm one of these people who would rather type something over again than copy-paste it (ok, I think I'm the ONLY person who would rather type something over rather than copy-paste it), so a lot of my job involves typing (it's also a time killer... I never have enough to do at work, no matter how busy it is). If I'm not listening to music, I get confused, substitute letters, and generally aren't as efficient as when I do have tunes. I can TELL when I've mistyped something, because the word FEELS wrong, but I do it a lot more without music.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I agree with Mysty. Also, all the people who I've told agree with me about my self diagnosis, including my mum who's a nurse and my boyf's mum who works with children, including a few Aspies. Also, I had a chat with a customer the other day who had the same job; she actually said to me, "Don't take this the wrong way, but am I right in saying you have Aspergers?"

I self diagnosed my migraines too, by the way; I went to the doctor only when they became unbearable cuz I wanted to know what was causing them. The Aspergers has no such urgency; it's not affecting my life in any way, and I really don't see what the point would be in getting an official stamp. For one thing, there is still a huge stigma attached to any kind of autism and I really don't need people treating me in a shitty way cuz of it. I had enough of that at school, thanks very much.

[Knifeman]

I got a 38 on that test.

But I dislike shrinks so...

They seem to do everything in their power to screw up my life.

[Hemily]

i got 20 on the test, strange questions to answer...

[Discourtesy Clerk]

But I dislike shrinks so...

They seem to do everything in their power to screw up my life.

Oh man, do I feel you on that one...the last one I went to spent the entire session trying to prove wrong everything that came out of my mouth, meanwhile ignoring the issues that I'd come to solve and inventing new ones that were way off base. And she's not even the worst I've had. So yeah, now I'm a tad reluctant to go get professionally diagnosed for anything else. Otherwise I'd probably jump on this Asperger's thing.

The way I figure, if I have it, I've always had it, and nothing changes just because I know what it's called, 'cause I'm still just as weird as always. And if I don't have it, then, well...I'm still just as weird as always, only I'm not spending any cash on psych bills for it.