Asperger's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/me...-b/1166811.stm

although not officially diagnosed iexhibit 99% of the symptoms :S

its spooky

thought it for a while

even a friend has said how much it sums me up :S

p.s. was first mentioned by a councellor to me

hmmm...
When it says obsessed with something it means OBSESSED! My brother has Aspergers - he was diagnosed 4 years ago. It's a horrible affliction - from talking to you I don't think you have it which you'll be relieved to know. It's a very very difficult problem to live with for all involved. It's incredibly subtle and complex. For example my brother's biggest quirk is his ship obsession. Since the age of 3 he has been obsessed with ships, mainly the titanic, and until recently (where he developed a new obsession) he used to watch it 4/5 times a day - and draws literally hundreds of blueprints of ocean liners. He's been doing this for years, still does it - so as you can imagine we now have about 1000 scrolls with pics of ships not just any pics you understand, in depth, to scale drawings with every rivet, boiler and notch!

He's now obsessed with making animations - and spends several hours of every day making tiny chunks of claymation film... it's all very odd. My brother is a wonderful character, but totally bonkers lol - after all - they don't call Asperger's 'mad scientist' disease for nothing

you'd do well to look into googling 'Temple Grandin' - a most interesting woman, who I found utterly fabulous when I watched a programe on her recenly. She has aspergers, and has totally revolutionised the american cattle welfare system, as she sees things from their point of view if that makes sense? (the cows, not the cattle industry )

Another thing to note is that Aspergers kids/adults are frighteningly intelligent! They spend a lot of time studying what's important to them - Temple Grandin has one of the most frightening and impressive CV's I've ever seen!

And finally - autism of all forms is genetic - so you'd notice it in your family also. For example, both my father and I exhibit signs of autism - though on a far milder scale to my brother. That said, it also affects people to varying degrees - so if you had it, you could be from very very mild where no-one even notices it, to being very very severe where you don't even have the ability to communicate.

It's a very interesting topic - one I could go on about for just about ever - but it really is noticeable - on many levels. I also haven't found that aspergers kids get depressed at all as a rule. They tend to be too busy for depression etc. and they don't have a real grasp of human emotion - they are by nature unable to communicate or understand human suffering etc - and are known to have/show no empathy.

Hope that helps a bit - from someone who's lived with this for years?

xx

ETA: Just re-read that BBC Article - and it's really inaccurate. I would take it with a hefty pinch of salt. Britain has no understanding of the problem, or of aspergers at all - and really should take a few tips from elsewhere in the World. there are still UK docs who think autism doesn't exist I don't rate Britain's knowledge of autism - and certainly not a tiny BBC article! hah!

yeah it helps a bit, jsut ishow alot of symptoms off that a few other lists i have seen.

Before I had my boys I worked for a charity that helped adults with mild learning disabilities live an independant life - one a lady with Aspergers. Years later she still sends us cards and gifts, she says I am one of her best friends, even though we haven't really spoken for years.

There are varying degree's, the lady I am talking about is pretty clued up about life but has some odd little quirks.

A big thing with this is the inabilty to see the world from another persons point of view - I don't see that in you Ceiron, when I lost my cat last year you were there for me in your kind and caring way and totally understood how I felt.

Yes Cieron, this wa smy thought - you really seem to feel empathy for others - which is the first thing about Aspergers sufferers, they really can't, as I said earlier. My brother for example, doesn't understand that other people 'feel' and is quite happy to physically or mentally hurt them, and doesn't understand then why they take it so hard. :/

xx

Zoundz: never were truer words spoken when you say that ... "Britain has no understanding of the problem, or of aspergers at all - and really should take a few tips from elsewhere in the World. there are still UK docs who think autism doesn't exist I don't rate Britain's knowledge of autism "

My daughter has ADHD and Semantic & Pragmatic Language Disorder, amongst other problems. As you know, ADHD/Autism/Aspergers are on the autistic spectrum - a lot of overlap between the conditions. Things are a lot better now in the UK than they were when my daughter was 4 or 5 and we first started on our quest to find out "what was wrong with her". We were called everything from over-anxious middle class parents who couldn't accept their daughter was thick (my word, not their's), to bad parents because we sent her to full time nursery when she was 2 to God knows what!!

There are still idiot medics in the UK who, as you say, refuse to believe that autism and autistic spectrum disorders exist, but thankfully they are far less in numbers than 14 years ago.

I too am fascinated by Temple Granlin, a truly remarkable woman, and I for one envy her for her incredible talents and insight - with every negative, there is always a positive, as I have always told my daughter. She has always had a greater than normal empathy with animals, which has now translated into a so far successful college course working towards a Diploma in Child Care & Education.

Lists of symptoms for mental health things are really quite vague so it is easy to associate them with yourself. Two completely different disorders often have similar symptoms lists
If you're a worrier like me you could diagnose yourself with loads of things It kind of bugs me that there are so many sites out there with just minimal information on them

I don't know much about Aspergers in particular but from what Zounds has said it doesn't sound like you have it (((hugs)))

Well - another point I noted, is that in the article it mentions Ritalin as a treatmeant. I know several people with ADHD children (2 lads in Ireland and one here in Swansea) who have used Ritalin to grreat effect, and wouldn't be a day without it. That said, my brother was at first misdiagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin, and it made him a hundred times worse. Within 3 days of coming off the drug, he was back to his normal, if insane self - so I would not say ritalin was a suitable drug for aspergers.

There is a fabulous boarding school for children with Aspergers in Surrey i think - a good friend of mine who is now 22 and a fully qualified (and darned good) chef went there until he was 18! It did him th power of good!

xx

Zounds - I think you're right about Ritalin at Aspergers. It's great for a goodly percentage of ADD-ers, my daughter included, although there are a lot better drugs now such as Adderall and best of all the latest one Atomoxetine, which my daughter is on.

It is so difficult to pick the wheat from the chaff on some of these websites, but as a medical scientist my husband is able to negotiate the chaffy bits and get to the wheat !

My brother has been on Risperdal for years, and it really works for him. He's a different kid to how he was before we moved to Ireland. They've given him so much help over there. much better than this country - where they told my parents that he was just a very intelligent child, who was bored because he was too intelligent for the classes

I think routine is vital to an aspergers sufferer - I know Christy suffers awfully if his routine is put out - and he becomes very very anxious and lost.

xx