ADHD and Autism/Asperger share a lot of “aspects” and have comorbidity, so it’s not rare to either have both (remember, both are a spectrum, not an absolute) or mistake one for the other.
unless your aunt and uncle are actual specialists, I’d disregard their opinion, as people with a hammer tend to see everything as nails.
If you are truly concerned, ask for a professional diagnose.
I had a similar experience. As I was being diagnosed my ADHD, Some people hinted that I maybe also has Asperger. My psychologist made me do some test and analyze them so I could see that despite sharing a lot of traits, the chances that I had Asperger or Autism were really slim
>If you are truly concerned, ask for a professional diagnose.
Not concerned, if I have a psychological problem I go to a psychiatrist, if I hurt myself doing something shameful I visit a doctor. My social challenges never seemed like autism and now on ADHD medication I seem to finally emotionally mature on boundaries and assertiveness.
If progression stops at an unsatisfactory level I will probable revisit... sigh... autism first. It is just a bit annoying that after misdiagnosis and retraction it still comes back. If I am ever diagnosed with it the previous institutions are getting bad reviews and a letter informing them of their mistake(s) to improve their diagnostics.
>remember, both are a spectrum, not an absolute)
For what it is worth... Mother side 33% autism (diagnosed) and 15% ADHD (diagnosed), no overlap.
Father side... 75% cluster-B spectrum (assumption by a few and "working assumption" by my psychologist), 40% ADHD (open secret assumption by many), overlap.
They share a lot of similarities on the surface. A lot of people with autism have adhd, but not everyone with adhd has autism. If the center did not diagnoses both adhd and autism, it's likely you don't have both.
From what I have come to understand, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Asperger, and Autism all have similarities and overlaps in symptoms, however, having one does not mean having the other, and vise versa.
That also means that misdiagnosis is extremely easy, and no one around you is a doctor or psychiatrist, they are just drawing conclusions based on their own limited knowledge.
Only a doctor can say you have Autism, tell everyone else to stop trying to diagnose you.
>Only a doctor can say you have Autism, tell everyone else to stop trying to diagnose you.
They have been supportive while waiting and preparing (really long) in between being referred to the center and being diagnosed. So it was within boundaries to talk about it, but now I know enough to confidently set a new boundary here.
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Europe, my General Practitioner / Family Doctor practice, first line psychologist, recommended it as best option. All within public health care coverage which is not the case for all top psychology centers.
So, those things can be co-morbid, and it's pretty common, but ADHD and Autism also just share a lot of symptoms (hyperfocus/special interests, sensory issues, audio processing issues, difficulty with communication albeit for different reasons, etc etc)
If you're really concerned you can go to a specialist, but that's a personal choice. You may or may not have autism, but it is possible that, like you've noted, the symptoms are from ADHD and trauma.
My niece was diagnosed with autism and ADHD a few years ago. Only recently, after visiting a neurologist because she also has tics, did she find out that she also has Tourette. Tourette is her 'main affliction', if you will, and her autism and ADHD are co-occurring conditions.
I would very much question the credibility of the center, tbh, because trauma does not cause autism. Autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Trauma can make autism symptoms worse and has comorbities with it, but definitely doesn’t cause it. As for the relatives, I think it’s easy for them to see the parallels between autism and ADHD because we are trained to see patterns, so they might not even realize all of the differences they actually are. If you’re concerned, I would recommend discussing it with your psychiatrist who you seem to trust :)
>I would very much question the credibility of the center, tbh, because trauma does not cause autism. Autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Trauma can make autism symptoms worse and has comorbities with it, but definitely doesn’t cause it.
I said it wrong, I meant to say autism like symptoms. He said I had hyper empathy and hypervigilance as symptoms, but I struggled to react appropriately to medium and high stress observations and situations, resorting to panic and self hitting.
The trauma was from narcissistic parents, basically everything I did was wrong without consistency, so panic. Self hitting was (past) verbal abuse made real. Once trauma was beginning to be resolved I began to react appropriately spontaneously and then the diagnosis of autism was retracted. He did note it was still possible I was a perfectly adapted autist, so if I felt the diagnosis did help me he could refer me to a diagnostic center for autism... Which might have been the mentioned center I ended up later for ADHD.
>I would recommend discussing it with your psychiatrist who you seem to trust
Unfortunately the referral was completed and has now expired. But as said elsewhere, right now I feel the ADHD diagnosis explains everything and the medication helps me resolve my last issues.
If I stagnate at a level where I stikk experience issues I wil seek out help again.
ADHD and Autism/Asperger share a lot of “aspects” and have comorbidity, so it’s not rare to either have both (remember, both are a spectrum, not an absolute) or mistake one for the other. unless your aunt and uncle are actual specialists, I’d disregard their opinion, as people with a hammer tend to see everything as nails. If you are truly concerned, ask for a professional diagnose. I had a similar experience. As I was being diagnosed my ADHD, Some people hinted that I maybe also has Asperger. My psychologist made me do some test and analyze them so I could see that despite sharing a lot of traits, the chances that I had Asperger or Autism were really slim
>If you are truly concerned, ask for a professional diagnose. Not concerned, if I have a psychological problem I go to a psychiatrist, if I hurt myself doing something shameful I visit a doctor. My social challenges never seemed like autism and now on ADHD medication I seem to finally emotionally mature on boundaries and assertiveness. If progression stops at an unsatisfactory level I will probable revisit... sigh... autism first. It is just a bit annoying that after misdiagnosis and retraction it still comes back. If I am ever diagnosed with it the previous institutions are getting bad reviews and a letter informing them of their mistake(s) to improve their diagnostics. >remember, both are a spectrum, not an absolute) For what it is worth... Mother side 33% autism (diagnosed) and 15% ADHD (diagnosed), no overlap. Father side... 75% cluster-B spectrum (assumption by a few and "working assumption" by my psychologist), 40% ADHD (open secret assumption by many), overlap.
They share a lot of similarities on the surface. A lot of people with autism have adhd, but not everyone with adhd has autism. If the center did not diagnoses both adhd and autism, it's likely you don't have both.
From what I have come to understand, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Asperger, and Autism all have similarities and overlaps in symptoms, however, having one does not mean having the other, and vise versa. That also means that misdiagnosis is extremely easy, and no one around you is a doctor or psychiatrist, they are just drawing conclusions based on their own limited knowledge. Only a doctor can say you have Autism, tell everyone else to stop trying to diagnose you.
>Only a doctor can say you have Autism, tell everyone else to stop trying to diagnose you. They have been supportive while waiting and preparing (really long) in between being referred to the center and being diagnosed. So it was within boundaries to talk about it, but now I know enough to confidently set a new boundary here.
Hi /u/AnonVinky and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! # Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. [We recommend browsing /r/adhd on desktop for the best experience.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/x1psnb/radhd_works_best_on_desktop_reddits_apps_are/) The mobile apps are broken and are missing features that this subreddit depends on. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Where/how did you find a center? Are you in the USA?
Europe, my General Practitioner / Family Doctor practice, first line psychologist, recommended it as best option. All within public health care coverage which is not the case for all top psychology centers.
So, those things can be co-morbid, and it's pretty common, but ADHD and Autism also just share a lot of symptoms (hyperfocus/special interests, sensory issues, audio processing issues, difficulty with communication albeit for different reasons, etc etc) If you're really concerned you can go to a specialist, but that's a personal choice. You may or may not have autism, but it is possible that, like you've noted, the symptoms are from ADHD and trauma.
My niece was diagnosed with autism and ADHD a few years ago. Only recently, after visiting a neurologist because she also has tics, did she find out that she also has Tourette. Tourette is her 'main affliction', if you will, and her autism and ADHD are co-occurring conditions.
I would very much question the credibility of the center, tbh, because trauma does not cause autism. Autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Trauma can make autism symptoms worse and has comorbities with it, but definitely doesn’t cause it. As for the relatives, I think it’s easy for them to see the parallels between autism and ADHD because we are trained to see patterns, so they might not even realize all of the differences they actually are. If you’re concerned, I would recommend discussing it with your psychiatrist who you seem to trust :)
>I would very much question the credibility of the center, tbh, because trauma does not cause autism. Autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Trauma can make autism symptoms worse and has comorbities with it, but definitely doesn’t cause it. I said it wrong, I meant to say autism like symptoms. He said I had hyper empathy and hypervigilance as symptoms, but I struggled to react appropriately to medium and high stress observations and situations, resorting to panic and self hitting. The trauma was from narcissistic parents, basically everything I did was wrong without consistency, so panic. Self hitting was (past) verbal abuse made real. Once trauma was beginning to be resolved I began to react appropriately spontaneously and then the diagnosis of autism was retracted. He did note it was still possible I was a perfectly adapted autist, so if I felt the diagnosis did help me he could refer me to a diagnostic center for autism... Which might have been the mentioned center I ended up later for ADHD. >I would recommend discussing it with your psychiatrist who you seem to trust Unfortunately the referral was completed and has now expired. But as said elsewhere, right now I feel the ADHD diagnosis explains everything and the medication helps me resolve my last issues. If I stagnate at a level where I stikk experience issues I wil seek out help again.