I think you can phone this guy who diagnosed me which was a few weeks ago
his name is Dr. C Williams and the phone number is 01392 403173 and he is in
Exeter but I don't know where you live but maybe he knows other people who
can do it. What you have to do is there is a list of behaviour and you have
to get your partner or someone to tick them and if there are more than 27
then you have got Aspergers but also maybe if you don't because if you go to
see them sometimes they know better than your relatives (e.g. my partner
said I had not a problem with eye contact but the psychologist said I do,
I'm not sure how much they count as being normal eye contact though so maybe
it is just subjective). I have heard of autistic kids lining up toys
personally I don't remember ever playing with my toys at all just with
stones and things and my family's computers or electrical things so I don't
think I did but if you did then maybe that means you are autistic. If you
were autistic that means you had delayed language (semantic-pragmatic
problems too) but aspergers doesn't.
I don't know what job you can do because I don't know what I can either I
wanted to be a teacher but the interview for the course said I didn't have
confidence. Maybe if you are doing geology research that is a good career,
it sounds like it is good, to identify rocks but I don't want to work for an
oil company maybe then that is the only kinds of job for geography/geology.
I think it's better to do a job on your own or with a group who leave you to
do it your own way but not many are like this they want social skills for
EVERYTHING (even irrelavent things). But there is a lady on this list who
is even a teacher so it seems you can do all sorts of stuff. I think it's
best to get the diagnosis because then people will know that you're not just
being stupid which is what people always thought about me. If your
coordination is bad you maybe have dyspraxia too. But some people (inc me)
just have bad coordination with Aspergers. If you tell the people at your
work when you have the diagnosis then maybe they can be nicer to you and
also a person from your job centre can talk to them about adapting the job-
they are called a disability employment adviser or if you live in London,
someone from the National Autistic Society could do this. I don't know
their phone number but their website is http://www.nas.org.uk
I did just stop taking medication for depression which was my first
diagnosis because it made me hyper and confused and now I am going to try to
take vitamins/zinc instead there are some things specifically for autistic
people but I don't want to pay that much so just ordinary vitamins (B ones)
may help and zinc is used in producing serotonin too. I am also interested
that women with autism may react badly to oestrogen which regulates
serotonin as there are known to be unusual serotonin levels in autism. You
can in some countries get a kind of brain scan (positron emmission) which
measures what kind of depression you may have by the distribution of
serotonin and activity in some parts of the brain. But I have asked here
and Dr. Gall says they don't do that here just in America still maybe it
would give proper diagnosis as some aspergers characteristics resemble
depression (e.g. eye contact, monotonous voice, lack of gestures). I will
not tell you what I think you should do about depression though because
maybe you should ask your doctor. If you wanted to stop takin medication
you should halve it first then alternate days to stop side effects. But
maybe you should keep taking it. But definitely they shouldn't have given
you ECT because that is mostly for elderly depression and certainly not
without a brain scan it is outrageous really that they still do this like
the 1950s.
I hope you will be ok.

Gaynor Barrett



>From: "farm_chicken_99" <farm_chicken_99@...>
>Reply-To: aspiesdugout@...
>To: aspiesdugout@...
>Subject: [Aspies dugout] The search for diagnosis and support
>Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 17:23:07 -0000
>
>I am 48, female and have a long term male partner.
>
>I am being treated for "depression" but think the underlying cause is
>Asperger's.
>
>I have been on long-term sick leave from my current job due to
>bullying, ostracism, stress and overwork.
>
>I want to get my life back where I do not have to take medication for
>depression.
>
>In 1984 I was diagnosed with a "nervous breakdown" and was subjected
>to E.C.T. within a week of admission to hospital. I spent years
>gettinng over this and weaning myself off the heavy medication. I was
>clear of medication from 1986 to 1994 so I CAN exist without it.
>
>I love the sea, maps and geography and railways and have a B.Sc. and
>M.Sc. degree in Geology.
>
>I have had problems since childhood where I would line up all my toys
>and "rock" and "hum" to myself to derive comfort. This was always a
>problem to my parents who pressurised me to behave "normally".
>
>I never, ever, "get" the meaning of sarcasm and irony.
>
>I cannot bear travelling on the tube, supermarkets, parties, and
>suffer from concentration problems at work. I am over-sensitive to
>noises, smells and visual patterns when I am travelling and can get
>into dreadful "vomit panics" where I think I am going to be sick.
>During a vomit panic I also lose my balance and find myself
>vulnerable to theives and muggers.
>
>My co-ordination is hopeless and I am forever missing kerbs,
>stumbling and bumping into furniture.
>
>So, what do I do? Is it worth getting an official diagnosis? How
>can I get the appropriate support and assistance? What sort of job
>should I do? How can I help my colleagues learn how to live with my
>difficulties when I hardly understand them myself?
>
>
>


_________________________________________________________________
Surf together with new Shared Browsing
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/browse&pgmarket=en-gb&XAPID=74&DI=1059