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Doctors Often Overlook Asperger's Diagnosis In Girls
New York, 11:07 PM
Sun Nov 29
22 posts in the last 24 hours
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Doctors Often Overlook Asperger's Diagnosis In Girls |
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11/15/08
Now the real scary nightmare of a the system began for me when my son was born. While I was pregnant with him it was a very rough pregnancy and he managed to break two of my ribs when I was 7 months along. After he was born he did everything early from talking, crawling, walking and all. The child never seemed to stop even when he was asleep. He was the most active child I had ever seen and I had worked with and been around children my entire life. I literally had to padlock everything that he could open and get into. The front and back doors had several different types of locks.
Once he was old enough he was tested and we were informed he had ADHD. At first I resisted medication as my parents had but eventually when he was having so much trouble we agreed to try. After a period of time my child began having other issues and was placed in the hospital. The doctors diagnosed him as ICD (impulse control disorder) ODD(oppositional defiant disorder)they released him on a whole batch of medicine and a new psychiatrist. We went for a period of time trying to cope with him and wondering which of us was losing our minds. Eventually he went off and tried to stab his sister and me screaming that we were the devil and he was saving us. He was placed back into the hospital and while there they found that he was paranoid schizophrenic and bi-polar so he was placed on medication for that. To top all of this off he is also an epileptic. He is now 20 years old and has been in and out of hospitals many times and at one time for 18 months. He has went through several doctors and therapists. We don't agree with many of his diagnosis and one of them was Asperger's. He has had several therapists and his present psychiatrist who believes that he has Asperger's with the schizophrenia. I tend to believe them but I also know that his other problems make it difficult them. If you have read all of this sorry for it being so long.
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Lisa Simpson...the face of Aspergers.
11/14/08
So... me? I was also diagnosed with depression at an early age and later, ADD (but that one I didn't reallly buy and ended up selling my Ritalin because I hated how I felt on it). I like being around people, but I generally prefer to be alone or in small groups. And sometimes I feel like I don't "get" the way we're supposed to act. However, I am excellent at fitting into society because I've had 28 years to perfect it. Generally if I just shut up you can't tell I'm a giant nerd
11/14/08
I've come to terms with it, though, and now I'm just delaying getting an official diagnosis from a doctor. The people I've chosen to inform, though, have all said that that makes a lot of sense about me. So hooray for support!
11/14/08
I remember in 1st grade finding myself alone during recess the first day of school. Then I remember feeling exactly the same way on my first day of medical school. Apparently, some things don't change, I just have a hard time integrating into large groups. Personality is kind of a fixed thing, I think, there's only so much you can wiggle around with it. While I'm an introvert and don't feel the need to be around too many people all the time (it wears me OUT), I think what makes me feel bad about it is not being by myself, but the fact that OTHER PEOPLE make it sound like there's something wrong with it. I have a few very close friendships that I've held on to for a long time, so I'm not completely socially inept. I do okay in small talk but prefer not to talk ALL THE TIME...why do we need to? I don't get it. I just prefer small social circles. I like quiet. I'll pick a book over a concert almost any day (I hate large, loud crowds...it's just not fun for me).
I'd really hate to think that these personality traits are being mislabeled by over-concerned parents as abnormal or something that needs to be changed.
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I don't think I have Aspergers; rather, I think it's just my personality combined with some social anxiety issues. Small groups where I know most people, or where everyone is friendly and welcoming are fine. Larger groups or groups where I don't feel welcomed terrify me. I do wish that my parents had done something to help me out. I can count the number of female friends I have on one hand(I'm a girl, despite my name), and while I am mostly OK with having a small group of friends, I worry about other people judging me for not having lots of friends. My bf has a huge group of friends and I feel like a loser for not having that many friends.
The main reason my shyness/social anxiety bothers me is because, like you said, OTHER PEOPLE judge me for it. People comment on how quiet I am and it makes me really frustrated. I wish my parents had gotten help for me when I was younger, just to make me more comfortable with myself, but they just accepted me as shy and thought my shyness was "cute".
God, I need therapy. When I am no longer unemployed and get insurance again, I will be looking into that.
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So I worry about over-diagnosis, and shunting people into the "diseased" category when they don't see themselves that way. But I do know that people who reach out and claim an identity like Asperger's do so because they're suffering, and because it offers an identity and, ideally, a community of support. I'm all for increased pediatric mental health services, but I think it's important that we leave a space for people to renegotiate these identities for themselves as the grow older.
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HOWEVER, many persons with HFA and Asperger's don't even like to talk about a "cure" because they don't necessarily think of the disorder as something that needs to be cured, just a different way of experiencing the world.
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/rant over
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Looking back on my childhood under these criteria, you could make a case for me being diagnosed with Asberger's because I didn't fit in with the kids at my school and I could recite every line from certain broadway musical tapes that I listened to over and over again. I also didn't know how to plan a dinner party or throw a dance. But then again, my parents never taught me. They were perfectly happy to have me be a quirky outsider who didn't play video games or gossip about boys, but instead liked to read. It was a different family structure; one I have problems on looking back on it, but not necessarily better or worse.
I don't know, I think most "quirky" people tend to have awkward adolescences and young adulthoods, yes. But most also end up finding a place for themselves in the world where they are comfortable in their own skin. Perhaps we should focus less on labeling everyone who acts slightly differently from the desired norm, and focus more on accepting and tailoring education programs to different learning styles and personalities.
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I think it's a slippery slope. But, as in most areas of life, I don't think an all-or-nothing answer is appropriate. Some mislabeling will inevitably occur -- and that's why psychologists are continually working on better diagnostic tools.
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As an amusing aside, my best friend is an Aspie as well, and our conversations are really, really disjointed and hard as hell for her husband to follow.
11/14/08
That said, I'm pretty sure my dad has some Asperger's traits. When my other sis and I were kids we'd call him out when we thought he was acting "Rain Man." Now I see some of those slightly obsessive traits in myself and it really makes me wonder if this stuff isn't pretty dang genetic.
11/14/08
For example, around age 9 or 10, I realized that I have an uncanny (and useless) ability to count the number of letters in words. Like you show me the word "hyperextension" and I immediately know it has 14 letters. I used to count letters in my head when I was bored. Years later, I somehow mentioned it to my sister, who said, "OMG, I do the same thing!" Tell me that's not some random genetic quirk that we both inherited...
Of course I also wonder what else my brain could be doing if it weren't counting letters! Stupid genes.
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I am less sure, however, that I don't have ADD. My brother was diagnosed. I exhibit some of the same random thought patterns and inability to concentrate, however I was somehow able to knuckle down and do well in school anyway. I have often wondered if they were more likely to identify it in him because he is a boy.
11/14/08
My ADD made life practically unlivable in elementary school, and I still struggle with it every day now that I'm an adult. I had a neurologist make my diagnosis when I was 8.
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