philipo

Personality disorder is an intellectual construct/abstract.the very phrase 'personality disorder' is an assault on the individual and the DSM model is far from proven or based on rational independant research.Without the DSM 'bible' most of the psyhciatric establishment would be unemployed and the drug companies wopuld be much poorer.Its about contolling your behaviour through drugs not real world assistance/treatment/self understanding. Try reiki,bhuddism,meditation,crystals,at least they have been around thousands of years.

Just seems a bit too common for mental health services to be doleing out diagnosis for autisim/asd/aspergers when most of them hav'nt a clue,except with younger people.the DSM diagnostic bible gets in the way because inexperienced/badly trained staff are nearly always predisposed to refeeriing to a mental health diagnosis,and they are nor helped at all that the mental symptoms can be easily misinterpretted as various 'personality disorders'. I was misdiagnosed as CPTSD in 2000.I thoroughly disagreed with the diagnosis and ended up leaving my missus and kids because they clung to the misdiagnosis and completly ignored my perceptual problems,like time,calenders,days of the week.When my family started putting my odd diet and clothing/bathing/hearing/sleeping problems down to 'thats cos you've got CPTSD' it was the final straw,so I dumped them. A few months ago I was at a church group (nice people) when a woman did a talk on 'how god has changed my life etc' talk.She explained that through her faith she had been able to 'manage' her 'bipolar' personality disorder.After a short while my alarm bells were ringing when she descibed what many would intepret as 'classic' aspergers symptoms,which is a bit broad I know ,but it was chillingly clear.....So for this person a prescription of heavy drugs and her religous faith had really helped her but while she was doing her talk I was watching her boby languauge and it was really clear she was reacting to all the background noises and not realising it. a year after being diagnosed (I'm 48) and having the grace of much hindsight I would urge anyone to be very wary about diagnosis from the mental health service,ask them how much experience/proffesional competence they have with ASD's,usually you'll find they are mainly concerned with 'mental health' and preoccuppied with prescribing drugs for symptoms. The problem is that the mental health service are obbsessed with secondary problems and don't have the time or money to make proper assesments and are nearly always subconciously prejudiced to diagnose/divine using 'mental health' criteria such as 'personality disorders'. if you are an adult with 'higher' functioning asd you very probably know a lot more about it.After all ask yourself,what is the success rate or cure rate for the mental health service,very probably virtually nil.If the mental health model/institutions were a private company they would be closed down like a quack therapist.

you could try mixing it up with some food he does like and not telling him.if there's any gacky sweet stuff he likes then just mix it .Some antibiotics are available in 'flavours'.it might help if it was pills,you could undo the caps and mix it in food much easier. Its easy to say,and i wish i could take my own advise more but,don't stress out!

The stuff about behaviour and clothing preferences rings very true,you could try using non bio.You could try rducing milk and dairy and see if this helps change his behaviour.The extreme techniccal stuff and taking things literally.The symptoms/behaviour you describe seem typically 'aspergers' but remember that aspergers,in the light of recent awareness about the subject may be high fintioning autisim.Talking about feelings will help.try and tire him out a bit,physical exercise will help him sleep and chill him down at least a half hour before bedtime,excluding any stimulus,like tele,computers,conversation.Be wary of any drug 'treatments if offerd,these are usually about containing 'negative'behaviour and do little if anything to 'treat' the symptoms.

Agree with Pancakemaker,EXCEPT,if he's been living/coping with undiagnosed asd then he needs training.Dont wait for any majick cure from the doc.Check his physical symptoms and cognitive stuff and get him to talk about feelings.Its obviously hard to say but asd or not his behaviour is a little calous.Is he saying he's aspy/asd just to exuces his behaviour? Years ago (I'm 48 now and recent dx) I lived with a woman for three years,I eventually left her because she kept being really jealous with twenty questions etc.It got worse and worse and stressed me even further.After chewing on my late dx I realised very quickly that because I kept staring at the wall alot and into space this woman thought I had a big secret and interpreted my behaviour as suspicous. Your bloke may appear quiet detached and aloof but if he's asd job then you should expect some tenderness and feelings.their s a myth that aspy/asd jobs are not very good at feelings or empathy with others,I think thats quite mistaken ,along with many other traditional myths. If he wont work on it and do some self help 'cognitive stuff ' then like any reltionship ,dump him. asd 's or not its all about self realisation and working together,if he is stuck in his ways then get a dog or have a happier time dating the elephant man,your personal happiness comes first ,dont be a rescuer. philipo x

Have just got precription for melatonin and will be experimenting on myself tonight!!!!The negative effects of insomnia seem to severely aggravate many of the other symptoms.Thank you decent,intelligent patient overworked doctor!!!

Spongebob is my hero and a role model to spiritual happiness!!!!!More alive than Jesus.

Trust yourself,you know a lot more about it than the nhs,they can help but only by knowing what you want.I find that the nhs 'words' never match the reality.Like the nhs is some dissasociated'cult' ,far more concerned with how it appears to itself than the pactical reality.Anyway,it's their jobs next,pretty soon you'll start meeting nhs staff down the jobcentre,it will give you the oppertunity to give em some coping skills advice,like how to deal with anxiety and depression!!!Self help/awareness is the greatest,asd or not.

These tests are a very good indicator but the asd/as/autisim thing covers a much wider range of behavuoirs likes/dislikes/responses.Being aware of what particular mix makes an individuak helps.Theres a thing about social mimicking for instance,but thats true for everybody in how we learn social behaviour and understand the world.I feel that my late dx would have been a lot earlier if there was more a focus on physical symptoms/responses.i think that it might be a dangerous course to concentrate on the purely 'physcological',and in many ways this thing of ignoring physical symptoms could easily lead to as asd'r being misdiagnosed with a 'mental illness'. I like Clint Eastwood although I have problems with most film television cos its a reflection,not truthfull ,as in real,Fly on the wall stuff tv ,although real,is a turn off because its not real ,as in cameras intereferig with real life,irony? I like visual portrayal of the story and think heavier scripts are for thin stories and more undeveloped(as in unreal/more unbeleivable)characters. Love cartoon as it doesnt pretend to be real,can't stand soaps.I can relate more to the characters in Southpark and the Simpsons than in Corrie and eastenders.

As above,as above, anyone who complains about children having fun at a reasonable hour is a killjoy.Do nothing except keep on doing what your doing.We all have to get along,(although I wish I could take my own advice a bit more!).

I did them tests to see,I got 45/50 and 180/200,but I remember before being dx'd that I 'd done the 200 one last autumn when my freinds put me up to it. Whats very positive is that you understand yourself.obviously many of the answers/questions could apply to many other physical/mental health issues. one question that I found spot on for me in the 50 point one(although everyone as/asd or not has their own tendencies)Is the one about a strong dislike for fiction,I find it physically revolting and wonder why people read untruths.But thats all part of it I suppose.I once read Joseph Conrad...Heart of darkness and liked it and was puzzled that I'd managed to find it relevant like,fact.A freind gave me a book analyzing Conrads books and then I relaised how much of his stuff was clearly based on his experiences.Its because his 'characters' are real people,not based on real people as they say. You are aware of your tech obssesiveness and your obssesional side with relationships.Yhe midwife interveiw/discussion thing strikes a chord when it comes to 'social context/appropiatness'.I've learnt to shut up and be breif after a short while,as in group discussion I find that at first the 'group' listens intently because my observations/talk is not shallow but then realise that i can wander off the point very quickly.I used to think I was thick for years cos I could'nt do a lot of simple things ,now I relaise that most people don't have a 'depth of intellect' and are generally shallow and take little time to do any in depth study,so appear 'shallow'. i am absoloutly ###### at numbers and time ,and was puzzled when I first looked at the subject of as/asd as there's a myth that asd'rs are mathematical geniuses,I'm great at resolving/discovering other relational values,like mechanics/electronics but numbers fail me. Thanks for the links Littleplum

As a very anti drug person ,I'd like to say that the use of this drug appears very positive.the most intrusive thing about as/asd whatever in all my years has been sleep patterns and I've tried with varying success to control my sleep patterns. the use of a drug that helps 'natural' sleep patterns seems very promising.i am in complete agreement about the 'window of oppertunity' and it seems to strike a chord with me.if I don't try to sleep at a 'normal' time then i easily get my second breath ,and like Darkkshine get into a sleep pattern thats' more to do with physical exhaustion. i 'll ask my quack about it,my biggest mistrust with medication is that there is an overhelming pressure from the nhs to treat asd/as/autisim as if its a mental health condition and to prescibe drugs that were designed for serious illnesses. thanks for all the posters help.i've no problem eating my hat if it works!unlike most of the nhs.

I found out years ago that watching what I ate had a big impact on my skin sensetivity.I stopped dairy n tomatoes and bread with yeast in it.I still get sensations like a fly has landed on me and am sensitive to draughts.You should play with food more and try stuff that you'd never thought of eating.having no appetite is normal when the weathers hot,try doing a few new meals to keep you interested in food.A big help,although easy to say (I find it so hard to sit still and not think all the time) is sitting still and meditating,by calming down the mind the body relaxes more.Don't mean to sound patronising,when \i try to meditate I usually forget what I was doing alot of the time.When I say meditate I mean just do some slow controlled breathing and ignore any thought,negative/positive that come into your mind. cheers philipo

Now you have a dx then give yourself and your family some time to understand.If you think about it then work out some areas in your life that can be understood more clearly and think about suggestions/ways that you can get your family to relate to your experineces of as/asd.Time is the key and being patient is very hard.Confrontational stuff won't help.Just do it bit by bit because its important that your family understand ,not just for you but for others they may meet /know with the 'condition.being angry and confrontational will encourage them to be defensive and interpret your as/asd as a menta' health problem .I was so ppsssd offf at 48 getting dx'd and very angry at my family for treating me as a non specific nutter for years,but its not their 'fault',it just is,and as they are becoming aware of as/asd it brings out feelings of anger/blame in them that are directed at the nhs.i try to reassure them that the subject of as/asd in in its early stages and that it's not just been hell for me being undiagnosed,as we've had to acknowledge/examine the implications for my kids,one of whom is clearly on the as/asd spectrum, Keep happy and don't try to force people to understand,after all a lot of people are too thick!!!!

Not true ,heating of body tissue and dangers of hypothermia are some that are listed,these are rare .ASD?AS?AUTISIM seem strongly associated with the fine nerves/wiring in the brain and their 'different sensitivity.While physical visible science has made up the main bulk of medicine ,its only in recent times through atomic medical imaging methods that it has become apparent that human beings are an electrical phenomena.messing about with the bodies bioelectric feilds can be dangerous ,particulary with cells containing Keratin which is electrically polarised. MRI technology will greatly aid the research into many ailments/disorders etc as well as mental health and the functioning of the brain,as well as many normal well known forms of disease, but I do feel that due to the lack of long term /large sample health research,combined with the sensitivity of new growing tissue may present dangers. Just been on Wikipedia and read about my 'chilblains'!!!! MRI is one of many technological spinoffs that started with early radar and physics.Many imaging technologies are spinoffs from military projects/contracts.The electric coils used to create a strong magnetic feild found their first applications in 'Cyclotrons' used to seperate radioactive isotopes for nuclear bombs.many technologies have multipul crossovers. The human body is not atomically transparent and the different electrical ccharacteristics of different cells and the elements that make them up is by no means mostly understood. but its just an observation and an opinion. there does exist the possibility that in the future the uses of atomic technologies may have the ability to 'cure' any organic brain 'defects',but before that happens there would have to be a 'consensus' on whats 'normal' biology. OPINION is there any radiologists out there who could help?

Quite right Mumble, i spent 7 years building mono/stereo FM pirate radio stations,tuning ariels and learning about ionising radiation,and worked making corona discharge high voltage equipment for industry.In the ealry days I learnt about climatic/geographic problems with radio wave propogation and blew hundreds of light bulbs.Its a case of technology running ahead of empirical research/mass studies.like the new phone frequencies and new wireless broadband standards.MRI saves thousands of lives but as for exposeing babies to em?

An anaylasis of dna from both parents may be a better method in the future.The idea of having every hydrogen atom 'polarised' is'nt appealing to me .i have had one and apart from the discomfort of the procedure,i developed 'chillblains' for a few months after,its never returned ,despite living outdoors alot,last winter it was minus15 outside my tent.That was ten years ago. due to to the technology and expense no large scale research over a long time period has been conducted.they are a marvellus diagnostic tool and saved many lives but having a powerfull high energy pulsed radio signal blasted at sensetive tissue while your atoms are being pulled in a magnetic feild thats more reminiscent of a massive powerstation generator ,cant be good for young tissue. Now if they said 'we've tested ten thousand babies and followed their health history for 30 yaers' that would be a different matter. Theres a silly beleif that 'non ionising radiation' is harmless.Mri scans cause tissue heating as the 'energy' is partialy absorbed as the human body in an mri scanner acts as a resonating ariel to reflect the signal back for data collection/pc digital information.

Since its summertime take him backpacking with a tent if possible.Obviously there's lots of 'rites of passage' for the younger ones.You already understand that he atad slower in development so nows the time to get him into a subject he likes,be it mountain biking ,engineering ,tech probably?If he has a visual bent then positivly distract him with one of his interests and use the 'obbsessive' side of him for his own benefit ,i.e. he may be soon saying to his mates..'sorry ,i'm messing about with cameras next week' then his younger mates may think he's a bit uncool so be a little less social.Try to encourage computers rather than consoles.You did say 'but I do think he's more sensible than that' ...Its hard to be objective about our own kids but remember one common assumption thatcause many asd'rs go undiagnosed because people talk to them and think they are 'intelligent' above average clever' and forget they usually completly miss the simple things,I can't do time/rotas/days of the week and despite telling freinds/doctoers/ex(now dumped by me)they can't conceive that such 'intelligent,clever' people could have them simple problems and function.Socially/emotionally/educationally there's a clear tendency to hide what not understood.Eg.when ex says 'we'll go to IKEA in Ashton next sunday' I'd say 'yes,fine'.Not admitting to her (after getting sick of years of repeating myself!)that I have no idea of where sunday is in relation to now ,but knowing I'd hear her talk about it on the relevant day.i.e. pretending to understand things when I dont because its easier.

Had to find an internet cafe....listen to radio 4....the countrys mainly on drugs and anti psyhcotic drugs are a mass epedemic in America. The origional meaning of health was 'wellbeingness' .Celebrate difference...nature knows what she's doing.Saw nhs cbt psyhcologist today ,ended up talking about the misuse of mental health drugs,he said they are usefull short term but longer usuage causes more problems than what they are worth.He also thought that concentrating on physical symptoms/clear learning impairments was best to diagnose asd/as/autisim/hfa whatever. . I 'd rather live with a load of 'demanding' people who have lots of mini cisises than a world of chemical normality.Drugs arrest evolution and cause a tendency to stasis.The problems of asd/as/autisim whatever is the seperation of needs ,rather than the 'holistic' approach,or as many people call it, 'Joined up thinking'.Maybe its the natural atrophy of intellectual specialisms,aimed more at the vested interests of 'specialists' than the 'clients'they are supposed to help. I personally beleive drugs encorage denial in the proffesional establishment of individual needs. Remember the people who have asd/as/autisim who can't even clearly verbalise their experience and count yourselfs lucky that computers now mean that many (d)isabled with handwriting problems can now write their experience and that they can at last be read by others. isability

The medical establishment is not inherently evil,just like many other areas of study,mostly 30 years behind.Firstly we have ourselves and our actions,asking the docs usually results in PILLS FOR SYMPTOMS!!!!The pills (not in all cases)lead to addiction and side effects,like serotonin problems.Even the education service are behind with it,rather than spendind more money on teachers and classroom assistants ,special needs workers,they are going along with new DSM definitions rather than getting back to smaller classes and less poltical interference in teaching.Its a brave parent in these days of ever more SOCIAL CONFIRMITY who teaches their children themselves.Apart from the hard work of teaching the social pressure are immense with others attitudes.Looking back ,especially in employment/politics/money, as a society weve never been more robotic and conformist than ever.The way its going it wont be long before the whole population is taking drugs/alchohol and anti pscyhcotic medicine. DSM creates 'semi quasi disorders' from symptoms,and assigns these symptoms to 'mental health'.Completly ignoring the social economic and enviromental factors,just like we're supposed to look the other way after an illegal war in Iraq thats killed 300k plus civillians, a distintergration in public services,student fees,and all the while expected to pay more.Television ...drug of a nation. Social contol is the biggest assault on people with disabilities and the definitions of mental illness increase with more social control. Thats why I'm ever happier in woodland ,collecting my own water,hunting and fishing when I should be living at my 'care' home staffed by amylltriptaline zombies who serve unhealthy cheap freezer food and are worried about their jobs and morgates ,ahh thank you asd/as/autisim.I always thought i was mad for 30 years,now I realise I'll live a lot longer...No drugs or irrelevant socialisation for me,back in a week.cao! trust yourself,we mostly get let down by our own silly expectations...especially from the nhs! ps money tip....sell i pads.... buy sacks of flower and pasta.

Then again parents should be wary about exposing their children to a powerfull oscillating magnetic feild that is stronger than a small local power supply transformer .The risks outway the pluses.

To be objective as possible we must mostly forget about the mind.Depression/anxiety/bi polar/shcizophrenia/mani depression/etc.....these are SYMPTOMS.The DSM is all about SYMPTOMS,not clear defined,backed by research ILLNESES. I would only accept my dx at 48 because the PHYSICAL effects were the most cruelly objective,completly standing alone from 'mental health' definitions.The shrinks are unaware that they are the hidden hand in their own experiments.They make a good living diagnosing others and will never examine some of their true primal motives.Thats why everyone and his dog is training to be a Cognitve behaviour expert.just like the late 80's when all the intellectually challenged decide to train as 'Counsellors'.Then it was REIKI,Its an intellectual fashion and most 'mental health' descriptions are the same.Questioning the higher order of things is unusal but by understanding the proximal power situation betweem 'experts' and the subjects who ask the 'experts' we can easily see that social pomp.position/beleif systems are the main reason why many people get undignose/misdiagnosed .And its all based on a book called DSM that provides a fantastic oppertunty to mislabel people and sell drugs. Concentrate on the body and its symptoms and stop getting wrapped up in defintitions that are not relevant to AS?ASD?AUTISM?HFA like depression anxiety manic 'personality disorders. Your body knows whats going on ,trust your inner monkey.Not an abstract mental health peice of string.Where is the research and statistical data for the DSM model?Its vested interest group /peer OPINION.

For the medical establishment ,the new limited awareness of hfa,means that they will be strarting from nearly scratch,and being overworked,underfunded and underinformed they have .quite rightly,decided on the dsm interpretation of level of need/assistance.The reality will be DRUGS,MORE DRUGS and NEW DRUGS for most.Above ASD's class is everything and how much money you have will mean a great difference in treatment.NHS proles will be drugged up by staff who know no better and who unconciously will treat people with asd's,as mental health cases. By taking the drugs people will get tempory releif,followed by screwed up brain chemistry symptoms,i.e.drug dependent so whats the difference between an NHS addict or a pothead or smackie/alkie apart from free drugs and more socially accepted 'habit'. Its clearly a biological difference with brain/body chemistry that causes ASD's and to let the 'mental health' experts wade in a set a course of 'treatment' for somthing they have little grasp on will create misery in the long term for most 'Afflicted'.Buts thats going to be much cheaper and easier than bringing in legislation on equality,or extra testing of electrical appliances and introduction of noise legislation.Judging by my experiences of the nhs over 35 years I'm saying all you can expect is mass crapulence and misinterpretation.The nhs will obviously work with vested interest groups that have already accepted the myth of drug treatment. I firmly beleive that many of the symptoms ,particulary mood swings/depression/sleep problems are made far worse by being treated with drugs designed for shizophrenic/pshycotic/manic behaviour.Check out the fraudelent drug trials for these 'medications'.many like Seroxat were done on american prisioners!!!So the UK follows America again...Trust yourselfs. As a parent another big concern I have is seeing many parents rushing to get their kids diagnosed with various disorders.This just stignmatises the kids for what I beleive is a parenting problem.it seems that some parents would rather give their kids drugs than teach them unpleasant behavioural facts,like power/control issues .Things that are not sorted out in 'the terrible two's' come back with a vengance in early teens.The wider interpretation of ASD has clouded these issues and parents with money have gone to 'specialists' to have their childrens behaviour 'diagnosed'.I know they hav'nt found a cure for cancer(there's loads of types though and a magic bullet is an absurdity) but ASD/AS/hfa/Autisim should clearly show biological evidence as there are numerous PHYSICAL symptoms,and thus,STOP BEING TREATED AS A MENTAL ILLNESS.The drugs don't work ,mostly.

The biggest factor in all my life has been SLEEP PATTERNS,or lack of them.When i can tire myself out in the day i sleep better.The hight is lovley becasue i can hear myself think alot better,but then again many people find this to be true.Withot a few days good sleep I'm ratty lose focus/concentration.I think sleep is the biggest factor that can make a positive contribution,daily exercise and sleep.many times i 've found that quiet noises at night can make me more insomniacal.I'm thinking of taking up drinking,at night before i sleep.never been a boozer in my life but am thinking of self medicating when my sleep patterns go out.I'd rather do this than pills.Pills don't work after a couple of days unless you increase the dose.i think the metabolism of as/asd/hfa/autisim whatever people quickly rejects many medicines,far more than a 'nt'(rather than say 'normal') people and while its easy to get lost in the mind,i think that the 'condition' is fundamentally one of BIOLOGICAL difference and thats why for many food/clothes/sensitivity to noise and light are important factors.its not a mental illness,its a biological inherited 'difference' with many plus's.