Kamex
12-18-2004, 06:12 AM
Hey, a long time ago I came to these forums, and only posted once. For some odd reason, I found myself too shy to post again. I have decided to give it another try.
Specifically what I have is PDDNOS, which, from what I understand, is the same as autism only less severe. In the early years of my life, my condition was much more severe, but it seems to be improving as I get older. At this rate, I estimate I will no longer be autistic by around 30.
But for now, I still have problems. I was wondering if someone could tell me which of these symptoms are elements of the autistic spectrum, and which ones are probably something else.
1. Inability to handle change - 3 years ago, my very favorite game was Chex Quest. It was the very first thing I happily went to install on the new Windows XP computer I got at that time. Upon discovery that Chex Quest, a DOS game, did not run on XP, I totally lost it. I spent hours a day desperatly trying to find ways to bring my precious game back to me for nearly 3 years. In my free time, I made a Chex Quest desktop theme, and hummed the background music of the game all the time until I could no longer remember how it went. I only recently managed to get it to run by duel-booting. I'm 17 now, and I grew out of the game, or was supposed to have grown out of it long before I got XP. In addition to this, my dreams still tend to take place in my old house, which I haven't even seen for at least 10 years.
2. Lack of Maturity - As previously stated, I am 17, but although I do not need to sleep with them anymore, I still have stuffed animals, and am very attached to them. My primary stuffed animal used to be my security blanket, but as he can never be washed again without unraveling in the tub, I can't really go near him anymore unless something really bad happens. I now carry my 14 year old teddy bear around the house, which, believe it or not, is in pretty much mint condition. I need to hold my teddy bear during stressful periods of the day, and it's very difficult to manage even a small misfortune without him. I also cannot suppress crying at petty problems, and I find I get along much better with young kids than people my age. Ever see the movie 13 going on 30? It's like that only I'm 8 going on 17.
3. Some things hurt that shouldn't - Sliminess hurts...a lot. My face hair became very oily when I became a teenager, which doesn't help the situation. By about 4:00pm my face is too greasy to put on my glasses (it stings too much when the clear part touches my nose. Sometimes before I go to bed, I have to take a shower and scrub my face really hard with my fingers and wash my hair several times until they stop hurting to be able to go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning, my face and hair are dripping with grease, and I have to RUN to the shower to get it off because its so painful. About every other night I get woken up from pain on my face and in my hair. I also must take a hand-washing break in the middle of my meals at restaurants because my dirty hands are painful. Sunscreen is horrible to put on, causing me to wince in pain until it dries. As for butter, well, I scream bloody murder if I accidentally get some on the tip of my finger and desperatly try to get it off...
4. Some things don't hurt that should - Sunburns feel uncomfortable, but not painful. One time when I had a really bad one, I creeped my brother out by scraping it really hard with my nails. Scalding heat also does not hurt, in fact, it makes me laugh. One time, I was trying to strain some mac and cheese and a accidentally poured the boiling water on my hand. It felt like I was being tickled. I can stand barefoot on the hot street when all my other friends have to dance like crazy to get accross it if they happen not to have shoes with them.
5. Problems interpreting things - Even if someone is saying something very interesting, I find it very hard to focus on their words. Often I'll space out in these situations, and when I do you can bet I'm still thinking about the actual subject being discussed, just to myself. I find it really hard to interpret a long sentence. I can read it out loud and I understand the individual words in these long sentences, but I can't get overall meaning. In order to understand these I have to take out a piece of paper and use cliches in the English language to convert the sentence to fewer words, and I can then understand the sentence upon rereading it.
Specifically what I have is PDDNOS, which, from what I understand, is the same as autism only less severe. In the early years of my life, my condition was much more severe, but it seems to be improving as I get older. At this rate, I estimate I will no longer be autistic by around 30.
But for now, I still have problems. I was wondering if someone could tell me which of these symptoms are elements of the autistic spectrum, and which ones are probably something else.
1. Inability to handle change - 3 years ago, my very favorite game was Chex Quest. It was the very first thing I happily went to install on the new Windows XP computer I got at that time. Upon discovery that Chex Quest, a DOS game, did not run on XP, I totally lost it. I spent hours a day desperatly trying to find ways to bring my precious game back to me for nearly 3 years. In my free time, I made a Chex Quest desktop theme, and hummed the background music of the game all the time until I could no longer remember how it went. I only recently managed to get it to run by duel-booting. I'm 17 now, and I grew out of the game, or was supposed to have grown out of it long before I got XP. In addition to this, my dreams still tend to take place in my old house, which I haven't even seen for at least 10 years.
2. Lack of Maturity - As previously stated, I am 17, but although I do not need to sleep with them anymore, I still have stuffed animals, and am very attached to them. My primary stuffed animal used to be my security blanket, but as he can never be washed again without unraveling in the tub, I can't really go near him anymore unless something really bad happens. I now carry my 14 year old teddy bear around the house, which, believe it or not, is in pretty much mint condition. I need to hold my teddy bear during stressful periods of the day, and it's very difficult to manage even a small misfortune without him. I also cannot suppress crying at petty problems, and I find I get along much better with young kids than people my age. Ever see the movie 13 going on 30? It's like that only I'm 8 going on 17.
3. Some things hurt that shouldn't - Sliminess hurts...a lot. My face hair became very oily when I became a teenager, which doesn't help the situation. By about 4:00pm my face is too greasy to put on my glasses (it stings too much when the clear part touches my nose. Sometimes before I go to bed, I have to take a shower and scrub my face really hard with my fingers and wash my hair several times until they stop hurting to be able to go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning, my face and hair are dripping with grease, and I have to RUN to the shower to get it off because its so painful. About every other night I get woken up from pain on my face and in my hair. I also must take a hand-washing break in the middle of my meals at restaurants because my dirty hands are painful. Sunscreen is horrible to put on, causing me to wince in pain until it dries. As for butter, well, I scream bloody murder if I accidentally get some on the tip of my finger and desperatly try to get it off...
4. Some things don't hurt that should - Sunburns feel uncomfortable, but not painful. One time when I had a really bad one, I creeped my brother out by scraping it really hard with my nails. Scalding heat also does not hurt, in fact, it makes me laugh. One time, I was trying to strain some mac and cheese and a accidentally poured the boiling water on my hand. It felt like I was being tickled. I can stand barefoot on the hot street when all my other friends have to dance like crazy to get accross it if they happen not to have shoes with them.
5. Problems interpreting things - Even if someone is saying something very interesting, I find it very hard to focus on their words. Often I'll space out in these situations, and when I do you can bet I'm still thinking about the actual subject being discussed, just to myself. I find it really hard to interpret a long sentence. I can read it out loud and I understand the individual words in these long sentences, but I can't get overall meaning. In order to understand these I have to take out a piece of paper and use cliches in the English language to convert the sentence to fewer words, and I can then understand the sentence upon rereading it.