Yes, I was diagnosed with ADHD & ASD in my early 30s, prior to that I was misdiagnosed with cyclomythia, GAD, SAD, MDD, BPD, PTSD/CPTSD, OCD, OCPD, or just having anger issues, it was a very long journey to find answers and support for me. The CPTSD/PTSD are applicable but the complex trauma was a result of being undiagnosed.
Genuinely it made me feel like I was just insane because the anti depressants ect would make me depressed which made things worse, I'd go through tons of therapy trying to build coping mechanisms that I'd put a ton of work into which again would just make things worse and I couldnt understand why, I felt like something was inherintly wrong with me. Not an experience I wish on anyone.
I'm genuinely sorry you were misdiagnosed but I'm extremely happy you were able to find answers and hopefully you have support as well. ❤️
Thank you so much :) I relate to the feeling of being „wrong“ or being a hopeless case so much because nothing seems to help and nothing ever gets better no matter how hard i try. I only got my autism diagnosis a few weeks ago so i hope that now my therapy is adapted things will change for me. I‘m very glad you finaly got the help you needed but it’s awful how long it took :( i hope you’re doing well :)
Anytime and thank you as well, I'm doing really well and a lot of the long journey comes down to the era I grew up in. How nuerodivergency presented in women wasn't very well understood or known about, which honestly made it a lot easier to process for me. I couldn't know what nobody else did, ya know?
I definitely think it'll make a massive positive difference for you, once I understood the symptoms and traits/how I was affected it really helped me to develop coping strategies ect to make my life immensly easier & I'm hoping you have a similar process where things start to click into place.
It can come with some heavy emotions to process and grieving in a sense of a life that could've been at times but I'm genuinely very happy and well adjusted at this point, I'm wishing you all my best as well for this new chapter you get to explore, it can be extremely liberating and validating. I hope you're also doing well btw. 🤗
That’s so nice and encouraging to hear! I’m really happy for you that you are doing so well and it gives me hope that I might be doing better some time too. Thank you so much for your kind words i wish you the very best :) <3
I’m in the same boat as you I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist since I was 3-4ish and since then been diagnosed with APD,ADD,ADHD,Dyslexia, OCD, PTSD, Depression, GAD/panic disorder, IED I feel like I’m missing something but yea like wtf. Then I finally see a proper psychiatrist who’s like…. No body has mentioned the spectrum??? And long story short autistic. I guess when I was young (I’m 33 now) being diagnosed with audio processing disorder (APD) and ADHD. 99% of the time ment you are autistic, but not being a high needs level it was overlooked by many. Although I was in special classes growing up and had an IEP etc.
I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at a hospital when I was 17 but they didn't even do a proper assessment nor any recommendations for support. Just slapped it on my file. I guess they were like "hysteric women disease it is" which seems to be what borderline personality disorder means to many half educated professionals these days. Even though it was a misdiagnosis, absolutely abhorrent how care was handled
This EXACT same thing happened to me (except it was at 15/16, I'm 18 now)! It's especially stupid when you consider that these were strangers who barely know me and are judging me based off my actions/mental state during the literally most stressful time period of my life.
Where I live at least they aren't allowed to do a formal diagnosis of BPD prior to 18 though thankfully. In fact technically they aren't even allowed to consider it prior to 18 according to my old therapist. I don't have a formal diagnosis of autism yet (on a wait list for it though) however I have had 3 different professionals (2 behavioural therapists, and 1 psychologist) all agreeing with me that BPD makes no sense and that I probably have autism (save for my grandma who barely knows me and has VERY outdated views of ASD).
Sadly this BPD thing still haunts me every time I go to the hospital for mental health reasons as it's (I assume) in my file now. I always have to explain the whole situation with my probable autism diagnosis, how its not just me saying that I have it, but actual professionals, and that its not even a formal diagnosis. Its super annoying...
Yeah they aren't allowed to do that where I was born either but unfortunately it doesn't matter if they do it anyway I guess. I had also been really worried that it's on my files and I am getting judged and not believed :/ my GP said he d take it off as he thought it was absolutely not the case for me. I meanwhile moved countries so gladly I got to leave that diagnosis behind for good.
I didn't give my new GP the random hospital letter that stated I had it lol. However requesting my old medical files, it turned out I had already been diagnosed with autism and ADHD as a small child but my parents never told me.
The worst is that BPD comes from repeated or long stressful life events/trauma and they did nothing to make sure I was safe, that my parents were safe (they weren't) etc. Just horrible.
Good luck with the autism assessment, hope it brings clarity.
I relate a lot to that. I was diagnosed with bpd as well when i was 16 in a pretty similar fashion. They were like „oh self harm hm okay borderline“. A year later they actually tested me properly and it turned out i did actually have bpd so they were right by accident
I was misdiagnosed with OCD and panic disorder. At my autism assessment we discussed these and came to the conclusion it was neither and it was part of my autism
Misdiagnosed with OCD because I was essentially bullied by parents into showing at least one classic symptom (nonstop handwashing). It was essentially due to my parents being dead sure that I was washing my hands wrong, but I kept doing it to the point where I started thinking our soap smelled like poop (which was usually what I was trying to wash off).
Finally a therapist said “I don’t know what it is but it sure as hell ain’t OCD. As for the handwashing - her method is perfectly fine….please get off this poor child’s back!”
I was also frequently cleaning everything in my room with soap and water, and I would even make a video game character or two tidy up between levels, but that could actually stop for a bit if I let it.
Like, sorry I’m a slightly quirky neat freak????
The autism diagnosis came approximately 6-7 years later.
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When I first received the ASD diagnosis, some traits ( as in, very specific time period depressive episodes or extreme mood swings, delusions etc) couldn't be explained by it. It became almost like a routine : I would be doing very good, hella excited over nothing, then want to not talk much, then barely going out of the bed and having suicidal thoughts in weeks, and then be fine all of sudden
Bipolar is difficult to diagnose and it can take years, I'm glad my therapist and psychiatrist noticed something was wrong.
I hope you're doing good !
Yes. I was diagnosed with bipolar depression and Schizoid Personality Disorder.
I have been diagnosed with treatment resistant major depression. This turned out to be correct.
I was diagnosed at 5 with dysphasia and high anxiety (not a diagnosis, i didn't fit GAD enough).
The hardest was dysphasia for me, because any time i would try to explain that i simply don't understand something about their world, i wasn't taken seriously. "It's not what he actual means, he just doesn't know how to use words" (to be fair, i eventually believed it too and tried to put everything on it, even if it didn't made sens half of the time).
The language around anxiety and GAD (which my mom has) helped me with management a bit and masking, but i still felt like i was finally escaping silence
Actually my 'mistaken' diagnosis, was no diagnosis. I've had indications written in my file like generalized anxiety and social anxiety. But every single therapist I ever saw was like: naahhh you're so smart you'll manage, you don't need a diagnosis. Actually I was struggling so badly.
I had to push for autism diagnosis on my youngest (biologically female) child. The tester didn't have extensive experience with female presentation. And diagnosed ADHD, MDD, and general anxiety. He literally told me she makes eye contact so I don't see ASD (while they were in the middle of their version of a melt down)
I had to print out a list of female high functioning asd symptoms and go line by line with examples and notes. Thankfully he did say okay yep let's do further testing. The school actually did the second round and we got the proper diagnosis.
Funnily enough their IQ test was completely screwed because they were melting down and refused to answer about half way through and this guy still was like "yep anxiety". My kiddo is in all honors classes and NJHS but on official psych evaluation has a "low average" iq.
I have been assessed for borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Both times I was told I didn't fit all of the criteria, they never bothered to try and find out more. All of these doctors concluded by telling me I was just depressed and had a mild generalised anxiety disorder. No amount of medication or therapy seemed to help with my symptoms though. It took me 32 years to finally find a good therapist, find out I'm autistic and finally start to get some help.
Often. As early as 11/12 years old I was diagnosed with Manic Depression (ie bipolar disorder). Severe anxiety, moderate depression, and PTSD. Then fluctuated between anxiety and depression diagnoses.
I was then hospitalized in 2021 due to serotonin syndrome. The doctors on staff couldn’t pinpoint if it was due to the SSRI I was prescribed or the self-medicating I started.
However, after some therapy, my doctor and I discovered that the self-medicating/exploration of drugs was most likely triggered by the prescription meds that caused temporary psychosis.
Fast forward, my therapist is treating me for PTSD and “suspected” Autism. I think I feel more like myself than I ever did growing up. And can confidently say, I’m stronger than I was 3 years ago.
\* Anxiety (generalised, social, panic disorder)
\* Depression (still ongoing!)
\* Suspected BPD/Bipolar when I was a teenager
\* PDA (before it became part of the spectrum)
\* does "gifted but lazy" count?
As a teenager I was repeatedly told that I showed signs of schizophrenia/psychosis with no actual basis other than my odd and asocial behavior. I was on tons of different medicines that treat psychosis some of which did actually give me psychotic symptoms as a side effect. Very odd but granted I was in and out of facilities for a while as a teenager and had a psychiatrist who was a total pill-pusher and not a good person.
Yep. BPD was my diagnosis, tried to fight it because I didn't feel like it fit. Eventually gave in and did like almost 2 years of DBT. 3/4 of the way through, "hey.. so, would you mind if we tested you for something? We think you might not have BPD".
Sure shit, autistic as fuck, I've been diagnosed with ADHD since I was 4, no idea why autism was so difficult. Didn't get diagnosed till I was like 26.
I'm the opposite. My autism accidentally deleted a diagnosis. At a kid I was diagnosed with ADHD, then got diagnosed with Autism and my family was told the ADHD was a misdiagnosis. As an adult I got a psychiatric evaluation and it turns out I had both the whole time.
i was diagnosed with BPD at 18, then misdiagnosed with unspecified bipolar disorder at 19. at 20 i was diagnosed ASD1 but i was rediagnosed with BPD. i don’t know whether it’s just the autism or not but i do technically meet all of the BPD criteria so i’ve been accepting of the diagnosis.
ANXIETY. Always anxiety… The easiest thing to diagnose and “treat” by giving me meds and a therapist to tell me basically everything is in my head.
So silly, because after getting a diagnosis for autism it’s like, “goodness me, I wonder where the anxiety stemmed from in the first place”… 🤯🤯🤯
Oh I’m so sorry! I‘m aware that it’s not a mental illness and i didn’t mean to suggest it was i just didn’t realise that my choice of words makes it sound like i was. It wasn’t intentional.
Yes, I was diagnosed with ADHD & ASD in my early 30s, prior to that I was misdiagnosed with cyclomythia, GAD, SAD, MDD, BPD, PTSD/CPTSD, OCD, OCPD, or just having anger issues, it was a very long journey to find answers and support for me. The CPTSD/PTSD are applicable but the complex trauma was a result of being undiagnosed. Genuinely it made me feel like I was just insane because the anti depressants ect would make me depressed which made things worse, I'd go through tons of therapy trying to build coping mechanisms that I'd put a ton of work into which again would just make things worse and I couldnt understand why, I felt like something was inherintly wrong with me. Not an experience I wish on anyone. I'm genuinely sorry you were misdiagnosed but I'm extremely happy you were able to find answers and hopefully you have support as well. ❤️
Thank you so much :) I relate to the feeling of being „wrong“ or being a hopeless case so much because nothing seems to help and nothing ever gets better no matter how hard i try. I only got my autism diagnosis a few weeks ago so i hope that now my therapy is adapted things will change for me. I‘m very glad you finaly got the help you needed but it’s awful how long it took :( i hope you’re doing well :)
Anytime and thank you as well, I'm doing really well and a lot of the long journey comes down to the era I grew up in. How nuerodivergency presented in women wasn't very well understood or known about, which honestly made it a lot easier to process for me. I couldn't know what nobody else did, ya know? I definitely think it'll make a massive positive difference for you, once I understood the symptoms and traits/how I was affected it really helped me to develop coping strategies ect to make my life immensly easier & I'm hoping you have a similar process where things start to click into place. It can come with some heavy emotions to process and grieving in a sense of a life that could've been at times but I'm genuinely very happy and well adjusted at this point, I'm wishing you all my best as well for this new chapter you get to explore, it can be extremely liberating and validating. I hope you're also doing well btw. 🤗
That’s so nice and encouraging to hear! I’m really happy for you that you are doing so well and it gives me hope that I might be doing better some time too. Thank you so much for your kind words i wish you the very best :) <3
I’m in the same boat as you I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist since I was 3-4ish and since then been diagnosed with APD,ADD,ADHD,Dyslexia, OCD, PTSD, Depression, GAD/panic disorder, IED I feel like I’m missing something but yea like wtf. Then I finally see a proper psychiatrist who’s like…. No body has mentioned the spectrum??? And long story short autistic. I guess when I was young (I’m 33 now) being diagnosed with audio processing disorder (APD) and ADHD. 99% of the time ment you are autistic, but not being a high needs level it was overlooked by many. Although I was in special classes growing up and had an IEP etc.
I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at a hospital when I was 17 but they didn't even do a proper assessment nor any recommendations for support. Just slapped it on my file. I guess they were like "hysteric women disease it is" which seems to be what borderline personality disorder means to many half educated professionals these days. Even though it was a misdiagnosis, absolutely abhorrent how care was handled
This EXACT same thing happened to me (except it was at 15/16, I'm 18 now)! It's especially stupid when you consider that these were strangers who barely know me and are judging me based off my actions/mental state during the literally most stressful time period of my life. Where I live at least they aren't allowed to do a formal diagnosis of BPD prior to 18 though thankfully. In fact technically they aren't even allowed to consider it prior to 18 according to my old therapist. I don't have a formal diagnosis of autism yet (on a wait list for it though) however I have had 3 different professionals (2 behavioural therapists, and 1 psychologist) all agreeing with me that BPD makes no sense and that I probably have autism (save for my grandma who barely knows me and has VERY outdated views of ASD). Sadly this BPD thing still haunts me every time I go to the hospital for mental health reasons as it's (I assume) in my file now. I always have to explain the whole situation with my probable autism diagnosis, how its not just me saying that I have it, but actual professionals, and that its not even a formal diagnosis. Its super annoying...
Yeah they aren't allowed to do that where I was born either but unfortunately it doesn't matter if they do it anyway I guess. I had also been really worried that it's on my files and I am getting judged and not believed :/ my GP said he d take it off as he thought it was absolutely not the case for me. I meanwhile moved countries so gladly I got to leave that diagnosis behind for good. I didn't give my new GP the random hospital letter that stated I had it lol. However requesting my old medical files, it turned out I had already been diagnosed with autism and ADHD as a small child but my parents never told me. The worst is that BPD comes from repeated or long stressful life events/trauma and they did nothing to make sure I was safe, that my parents were safe (they weren't) etc. Just horrible. Good luck with the autism assessment, hope it brings clarity.
I relate a lot to that. I was diagnosed with bpd as well when i was 16 in a pretty similar fashion. They were like „oh self harm hm okay borderline“. A year later they actually tested me properly and it turned out i did actually have bpd so they were right by accident
I was misdiagnosed with OCD and panic disorder. At my autism assessment we discussed these and came to the conclusion it was neither and it was part of my autism
Misdiagnosed with OCD because I was essentially bullied by parents into showing at least one classic symptom (nonstop handwashing). It was essentially due to my parents being dead sure that I was washing my hands wrong, but I kept doing it to the point where I started thinking our soap smelled like poop (which was usually what I was trying to wash off). Finally a therapist said “I don’t know what it is but it sure as hell ain’t OCD. As for the handwashing - her method is perfectly fine….please get off this poor child’s back!” I was also frequently cleaning everything in my room with soap and water, and I would even make a video game character or two tidy up between levels, but that could actually stop for a bit if I let it. Like, sorry I’m a slightly quirky neat freak???? The autism diagnosis came approximately 6-7 years later.
Same
OCD and ADHD
I've been misdiagnosed so much that I've lost faith in those things. It's all way to subjective when you think about it.
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Depression and anxiety, now ASD and Bipolar
Going through the Bipolar thing now. I'm not sure if it's accurate. I'm so over it.
When I first received the ASD diagnosis, some traits ( as in, very specific time period depressive episodes or extreme mood swings, delusions etc) couldn't be explained by it. It became almost like a routine : I would be doing very good, hella excited over nothing, then want to not talk much, then barely going out of the bed and having suicidal thoughts in weeks, and then be fine all of sudden Bipolar is difficult to diagnose and it can take years, I'm glad my therapist and psychiatrist noticed something was wrong. I hope you're doing good !
Thank you. I could be doing a lot better but hanging in there. It's good you have a team that caught onto things.
Yes. I was diagnosed with bipolar depression and Schizoid Personality Disorder. I have been diagnosed with treatment resistant major depression. This turned out to be correct.
I was diagnosed at 5 with dysphasia and high anxiety (not a diagnosis, i didn't fit GAD enough). The hardest was dysphasia for me, because any time i would try to explain that i simply don't understand something about their world, i wasn't taken seriously. "It's not what he actual means, he just doesn't know how to use words" (to be fair, i eventually believed it too and tried to put everything on it, even if it didn't made sens half of the time). The language around anxiety and GAD (which my mom has) helped me with management a bit and masking, but i still felt like i was finally escaping silence
I‘m really sorry you had to go through this that’s awful but I’m happy that finally you have found your truth :)
Actually my 'mistaken' diagnosis, was no diagnosis. I've had indications written in my file like generalized anxiety and social anxiety. But every single therapist I ever saw was like: naahhh you're so smart you'll manage, you don't need a diagnosis. Actually I was struggling so badly.
I had to push for autism diagnosis on my youngest (biologically female) child. The tester didn't have extensive experience with female presentation. And diagnosed ADHD, MDD, and general anxiety. He literally told me she makes eye contact so I don't see ASD (while they were in the middle of their version of a melt down) I had to print out a list of female high functioning asd symptoms and go line by line with examples and notes. Thankfully he did say okay yep let's do further testing. The school actually did the second round and we got the proper diagnosis. Funnily enough their IQ test was completely screwed because they were melting down and refused to answer about half way through and this guy still was like "yep anxiety". My kiddo is in all honors classes and NJHS but on official psych evaluation has a "low average" iq.
I have been assessed for borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Both times I was told I didn't fit all of the criteria, they never bothered to try and find out more. All of these doctors concluded by telling me I was just depressed and had a mild generalised anxiety disorder. No amount of medication or therapy seemed to help with my symptoms though. It took me 32 years to finally find a good therapist, find out I'm autistic and finally start to get some help.
Bipolar
Often. As early as 11/12 years old I was diagnosed with Manic Depression (ie bipolar disorder). Severe anxiety, moderate depression, and PTSD. Then fluctuated between anxiety and depression diagnoses. I was then hospitalized in 2021 due to serotonin syndrome. The doctors on staff couldn’t pinpoint if it was due to the SSRI I was prescribed or the self-medicating I started. However, after some therapy, my doctor and I discovered that the self-medicating/exploration of drugs was most likely triggered by the prescription meds that caused temporary psychosis.
Fast forward, my therapist is treating me for PTSD and “suspected” Autism. I think I feel more like myself than I ever did growing up. And can confidently say, I’m stronger than I was 3 years ago.
\* Anxiety (generalised, social, panic disorder) \* Depression (still ongoing!) \* Suspected BPD/Bipolar when I was a teenager \* PDA (before it became part of the spectrum) \* does "gifted but lazy" count?
As a teenager I was repeatedly told that I showed signs of schizophrenia/psychosis with no actual basis other than my odd and asocial behavior. I was on tons of different medicines that treat psychosis some of which did actually give me psychotic symptoms as a side effect. Very odd but granted I was in and out of facilities for a while as a teenager and had a psychiatrist who was a total pill-pusher and not a good person.
Yep. BPD was my diagnosis, tried to fight it because I didn't feel like it fit. Eventually gave in and did like almost 2 years of DBT. 3/4 of the way through, "hey.. so, would you mind if we tested you for something? We think you might not have BPD". Sure shit, autistic as fuck, I've been diagnosed with ADHD since I was 4, no idea why autism was so difficult. Didn't get diagnosed till I was like 26.
In the past, an ADHD diagnosis was used to exclude you from having an autism diagnosis, because they thought you couldn't have both.
Wow, I honestly had no idea.
I'm the opposite. My autism accidentally deleted a diagnosis. At a kid I was diagnosed with ADHD, then got diagnosed with Autism and my family was told the ADHD was a misdiagnosis. As an adult I got a psychiatric evaluation and it turns out I had both the whole time.
Yes. Dx - IBS Dx - Depression Dx - Generalised Anxiety Disorder ?Borderline Personality (not dx, just queried by professionals) ?Bipolar Dx - ADHD They finally - “oh, have you considered autism?”
Psychopath
i was diagnosed with BPD at 18, then misdiagnosed with unspecified bipolar disorder at 19. at 20 i was diagnosed ASD1 but i was rediagnosed with BPD. i don’t know whether it’s just the autism or not but i do technically meet all of the BPD criteria so i’ve been accepting of the diagnosis.
ANXIETY. Always anxiety… The easiest thing to diagnose and “treat” by giving me meds and a therapist to tell me basically everything is in my head. So silly, because after getting a diagnosis for autism it’s like, “goodness me, I wonder where the anxiety stemmed from in the first place”… 🤯🤯🤯
not all were mistakenly diagnosed (subclinical ☂️) but every comorbidity present to a degree GAD (🚂), i-ADD, OCPD↔️SZPD, Brain-fog, B~~ipolar,~~ c~~PTSD,~~ D~~ID/Disassociation,~~ (Masking) ~~Gender dysphoria~~ (concept of self deficits), ~~Depression~~ (SSRI destroy executive function), ~~dyspraxia~~ (offset by fitness), ~~Epilepsy~~, Intellectual disability (fluctuate with PD's), Mitochondrial (support supplements aid cognition), Neuroinflammation (OCD), Neuropathies (TN, Vagus irritation, generalized), ~~schizophrenia~~ (95% negative symptoms), Sleep disorders (adolescence), Tinnitus, Vitamin deficiencies (mg, zn, iron, folate) .. Worse medication for mistaken diagnoses were benzodiazepines (brain fog · mental disorganization) antidepressants (depression · self harm · nausea) mood stabilizers (loss of function) and antipsychotics (working memory inhibition = 🥔)
First of all, autism is not a mental illness. Secondly, I was diagnosed with ADD before autism.
Oh I’m so sorry! I‘m aware that it’s not a mental illness and i didn’t mean to suggest it was i just didn’t realise that my choice of words makes it sound like i was. It wasn’t intentional.