Autism

[sinklink]

Hello guys and gals,

This is my first post in these forums so I will be interested to see the comments :)

I am currently 21 and I am starting to find myself having extreme trouble communicating with everyone except my family members. I have seen videos and remember from when I was a kid, I had similar sypmtons, such as trouble speaking and tantrums. I have never been diagnosed so I am unsure of what to think. Is there any way I can find out if I have autism or if it may be something else.

The reason why this is bothering me is because I find myself getting frustrated that I am unable to communicate to people what I am feeling. This makes me feel, well dumb.


I was wondering if anyone has similar experiences.

[jewellolli]

I have been wondering the same thing about myself, but don't know where to go or who to talk to in order to find out what's wrong. I am 29 and an English major, so I feel I am intelligent and should be able to express myself in perfectly understandable sentences. However, when I am speaking to others, I know in my mind what I am trying to say, but I cannot express myself clearly. My mind goes blank and I cannot say the words I want to use. Since I cannot finish my sentences, I feel confused and start going off, trying to explain what I'm talking about in whatever way I can. I confuse people and make myself feel stupid. I know what I am trying to say, but it doesn't matter. If other people don't understand your speech, you start to get left out and ignored. People never ask me questions because they assume I will not know the answer and they will get stuck listening to me babble on forever trying to explain myself. At work, I sit and listen to others talking and I want to join in, but whatever I say always comes out wrong and I either look rude or stupid. I try to leave others alone, but I get in trouble for not talking to my teammates. I feel like I am the nicest person in the world, but I am not looked at that way at all. People think I am strange and I have often been told that I talk to myself and exhibit strange expressions or laugh for no apparent reason. I am always worried that I am going to lose my job because of the way people perceive me. I don't necessarily hope something is wrong with me, but a diagnosis would help explain everyting and help people understand that I am not weird or doing something wrong on purpose. I hope an adult with autism will read this and be able to help.

[elinda3]

hmm, i have the same problem. i always just thought that i processed things differently than other people and that was why i had trouble explaining things. i used to feel like everyone thought i was stupid, but i have a pretty steady friend group now and everyone has sort of figured out how to interpret me; so i haven't really thought about it in a while.