30M

Undiagnosed but many people in my life are certain I am autistic, I use autism 'concepts' a lot when discussing my mental health i.e. masking, overstimulation, burnout, overwhelm etc. My therapist seems sure I am neurodiverse. I have many traits e.g. rigid thinking, routine, bit of a control freak, hyperfocusing on small details, social difficulties.

I feel like I was much more resilient when I was younger. I went to university, traveled on my own.. but I feel like as life has gotten more normal i.e. full time work, relationship, 9-5 job, I have become 'more' autistic. These traits are so much more obvious now. I have difficulty with work and have much more meltdown related behaviors and have so much more stress and greater need for control in my life and my space.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I feel like the expectation is to grow and get stronger but if anything I feel like these traits are much more now that 'real' life has worn me out.

I am by their term "a clean freak".

I spend at least once a week cleaning the common area/kitchen, I had asked them before to help but they do not, and after two weeks of not cleaning I had enough and confronted them about messes I left (of theirs). All they had to say was that they were trying (not), as well as spent their time making me the bad guy for asking too much from their busy schedule, as well as how they don't care about the mess (but somehow appreciate my cleaning).

They also confessed they don't like it when I'm in the kitchen with them because I am 'imposing' on them and look like I am checking to see any mess they make. But really all I am trying to do is spend time with them as they all spend time together in each other rooms and cook together, so I spend a lot of time alone in my room.

I feel very heartbroken and feel like I always have to apologize for something thats not even bad behavior, how is cleaning bad? Why can't they clean up their mess? I feel like I am going insane.

For context, they are both pretty regular people that do college people stuff like party and tailgates and like doing popular kid stuff. They have each other as friends and I just have myself as I haven't made any friends, and since move in day they grew close together and kind of left me to the side.

I feel very bothered and sad about it.

Do I jump into books on autism? Do I begin researching therapies? How do I even tell my child in a way he’ll under?

How expensive are all the therapies we’re going to need - I hope we can even afford everything he needs.

It’s not surprising. High functioning or “mild” autism, as they put it, still caused him to be unable to function in a classroom setting to the point that we homeschool now. But reading the full report was emotional anyway. I just don’t know what to do next.

I have a question about an female autistic colleague of mine. There is some age difference between us but we have become very close (at least that’s what I think). She has shared very personal things about herself and is a very warm and empathetic individual. I really enjoy talking with her and would like to be friends with her but…

Her behaviour confuses me.

The few time we have texted I get enthusiastic and funny replies from her but when I follow up there is no reply from her, has happened several times.

At work she once suggested an meeting up outside work. I got back to her on text to see if she was still interested and she answered enthusiastically but when I tried to set a time and date, she never replied. She hasn’t mentioned anything about this when we met at work again.

When we are just the two of us she is very warm and friendly and we talk about quite deep and personal things but as soon as there are are coworkers around she more or less ignores me.

If she had been NT I would have just let her go and given up any attempts of friendship. But because she mentioned she is autistic and I have tried to get more informed how this affects our communication I realise it could just be a NT - ND misunderstanding.
I humbly ask for your input.

My autistic daughter has always struggled with friendships. She gives far too much. She pours herself into these people and ends up becoming their ‘go to’ and emotional support etc. it’s never reciprocated. She struggles to make friends so when she does it’s all or nothing. It’s so painful for me - I know how it feels for her because I can see it.
The continuous disappointment and the starting again.

Has anyone ever found their people? What can I do as her mum to help? I do the ‘mum’ things and I’ve told her honestly don’t pour into an empty cup - she gets it and agrees but she’s just so desperate to even find her one person. It keeps me awake most nights.

I have bpd and ocd and iv had a habit of hitting my head on a solid surface when I'm extremely frustrated or distressed over something.

This started when I was 16-17 , during those years I used to bang my head on a door or on a wall sometimes when I was very irritated (not with alot of force that it caused bleeding, but many moderate hits) it didn't cause any visible damages so I used to act like nothing happened and continue with everything normally thinking those bumps will just go.

I left doing it for about an year and a half but just a few weeks ago , I got into a really heated argument and was so distressed that i did it again, hit my head on a wooden door 4-5 times, again they were moderate hits , it didn't cause bleeding but that area of my scalp hurted alot for 4-5 days after it the physical pain was gone.

But what's troubling me is that I feel like it has impacted my brain because I feel very confused , anxious , foggy, get tired very easily , can't seem to focus for long when I sit to study ,I also think I can't think that clearly as before and overall don't feel like myself . I'm not even sure if it was a concussion, cuz right after the impact I didn't loose any consciousness or had any vision problems infact , I felt normal otherwise apart from the pain where I'd hit

Can those hits have done any brain damage or swelling that could impact my cognitive abilities permanently? I'm so tired of feeling that confusion and disoriention since weeks, is it going to be like this always

I'm undiagnosed but I've been suspecting that I'm autistic for a few years now. Socializing is really hard for me and I've never had a good time trying to make or keep friendships. I've always had a much easier time speaking with adults whether it be clerks at some store, teachers, or other people of authority. I think it's because there's a good format to follow with adults and most uphold typical pleasantries and for the most part aren't usually mean. I have a hard time phrasing things regardless, but I find that the usual structure of conversing with adults is a lot more comfortable than talking to other people my age. Is this a common thing or just a me thing?

Is like non stop thinking and analyzing everything that happens from a “what’s going on with me” point of view , then trying to connect it to various areas of your life a sign of autistic thinking?

Anyone in the autism community that wants to weigh in give me your experience or even ask me questions to help me understand what it’s actually like I’d be more than happy to answer. I’m not trynna be out here saying I fs have it without an official diagnosis but it’s the term that has made me feel the most understood and I think that’s worth looking into

My son just turned 4 in September. He has had delayed speech from the start. We did early intervention so he has had speech therapy ever since he was 2. His doctor has had concerns about autism mainly for the delayed speech factor. But also for the peer interaction aspect too (he sometimes plays with othet peers but not all the time). I once had suspicions due to certain behaviors such as not listening or responding to his name, tantrums lasting longer than 10 min, & running away but those have all gone away when he was about 3 1/2.

Of course theres alot more information I'm leaving out but the Dr. again suggested an autism eval. I just dont want him to get misdiagnosed since its such a huge spectrum thats why im so conflicted. I feel many people out here can be on part of the spectrum with how broad it is. I mean, like maybe hes a little shy sometimes when it comes to other peers & the fact that his peers cant understand him doesnt help to build friendships at that age either.

I absolutely understand the speech delay is still a huge issue for him but does that necessarily mean he has autism if thats most of your basis for wanting an evaluation?! Can a speech delay mean something else?

Honestly idk, maybe I'm in denial. It doesnt help that my husband doesnt even believe in mid/low level autism. Reaching out for other people's thoughts/experiences with being in the same boat.

My friends keep asking me if im autistic but I don't have any of the traits I don't think maybe I'll hyperfixatte on something for days then move to the next thing or cry about a hyper fixation, I also don't like the like wearing pants to bed cuz it feels really uncomfortable or sometimes the light being on will annoy me because it makes the room feel different but that's all.

I'd like to share ahead of time that I have level 1 autism. So, a few weeks ago, I wrote a note to his son, saying I wanted to surprise his dad (my manager) with food he likes and the note asks which restaurant he prefers. His son read the note out loud and asked his dad what he wanted. Wtf... the note said "write your answer here". It is pretty obvious that he wasn't supposed to read it out loud 🤦‍♀️. I am autistic and I would know that.