mbellis

Yes, definitely! Your body makes its own MDMA ("E"). Dopamine is the reward chemical and adrenaline and seratonin are related to it. Artificial Es raise seratonin levels but users lose natural control of it and get a downer afterwards, making it more addictive. I don't know if such addiction is more prevalent or more pronounced among people with ASD. I would like to know if someone has studied that. How we get our natural highs might differ from people without ASD. The most healthy buzz I get is from delivering an issued report at work. It means I've passed an objective and the burden of outstanding jobs is reduced. I'm sure I'm not alone here in not liking too many tasks at once! It can be good to do sport to get a high. I wonder if sport helps improve control of it. Perhaps sport should be recommended for that reason. I'm fairly sedentary at work and in hobbies (computers, electronics, LEGO, music) so I have to make an effort to bother to exercise. Mark

I have quite sensitive hearing and I tend to work out what the source of a noise is and put it on a plan in my head. I find intermittent noises worse than constant ones because a constant one is predictable and can be masked out if it is not too loud. Often when others in the office are on the phone I can't hear myself think, but I do use ear plugs sometimes and they help a lot. The orange ones (3 pairs) from Superdrug are good; I sometimes use them when I have a lie-in. I didn't find the ones from Boots much use at all as their foam is not so dense. I could hear my older PC from downstairs but the new one is nice and quiet By contrast my hearing of conversations is not selective enough in a pub. Perhaps everything just gets amplified as a cacophony. I try to lip-read to help with this. Mark

OK, I've done the survey. I think my Christian faith makes a big difference considering some of the answers I was able to give, like feeling supported and being able to contribute to society. I would not have such a hope without it. Perhaps you would like to include questions about faith in a future study. Mark

Hi, I just joined the forum. I guess it would be right to say a bit about myself. I'm Mark, an engineer approaching 40. I was diagnosed with a mild ASD a couple of years ago as it was helpful during counselling to recognise and develop my coping mechanisms. I felt isolated at school and was bullied; looking back I can see that it was already happening at nursery school. I retreated into the world of technology, sci-fi and dance music till I left uni. Some positive things along the way were in what I learned on my own, using LEGO a lot as well as computers and electronics kits. I sought relationships with girls but they didn't last long. I used to write stories (when I had to!) with a beginning and an end but no middle. Spelling and punctuation were fine because I just memorised the rules but the content was a struggle. My Christian faith has been very important, knowing that God understands my condition and has the patience to persevere with me where others might not. I married a Christian girl in 2001; my wife and I look after each other; we didn't have any children but recently some people we welcomed at church have asked us to be godparents. That is a big compliment and shows how much I have grown in coping mechanisms in recent years. The prayer and counselling has helped a lot too. I welcome people because that is what I would like them to do for me, something that I used to lack. Since my diagnosis I have been interested in how a mild ASD affects different aspects of life; which difficulties can be overcome temporarily or more permanently and which have a substitution as their coping strategy. My theory has been that the more I understand, the more I can trap some of the effects before they become too obvious. This doesn't work all the time and I know it is more difficult for many people than it is for me. The next trick is to get beyond welcoming, to make friends out of acquaintances, and this is more challenging. I'm still highly analytical and quite verbose on technical topics so it is too easy to put people off! I tire of people quickly and enjoy solitude. I prefer email to the phone. I hate crowds and try to keep an exit clear in busy situations. In competition I either wanted to win at all cost (losing people in the process) or not compete at all. I still do LEGO, electronics and computers as hobbies. Some models have led to developments at work, including patent applications. In the LEGO community I tend to build stuff that is highly specialised, based on Technic or trains rather than on the minifigure themes. Some pictures of my models are here. With a lot of help from my wife, we exhibited the trains a few years ago. I planned to rebuild the layout with better scenery but the project became too big! LEGO is definitely good for children, and also for parents to find out about their children's approaches to life i.e. do they focus on people or things, predictable outcomes (trains) or unpredictable ones (planes). I understand that those with a more pronounced ASD might benefit more from Duplo or the giant soft-play bricks. I have tried to back-fill my musical education because I left that to my sister through school years. I find that music is capable of entering an inner vault even if other things cannot. The music I play or create is useful as an emotional outlet but I don't like anyone else hearing it! There is a free piece of software called Musescore that allows composition on a stave, so I can perfect the tune before sharing it! Another coping strategy is that once I buy into a change that cannot be avoided, I deliberately become a pioneer of that change because that lets me exercise a bit more control over the final result. I would like to help others as I can, and take part in surveys and studies so that ASD conditions can be understood better. I think society has a way to go to understand mental health and bring out the best in people. There are many people who are undiagnosed, probably a lot in most engineering firms, so I think these companies in particular ought to learn about ASD. Mark

Are you still recruiting? I would be willing to take part. I have relatively mild ASD and I'm interested in how it affects different areas of life. If this means I can help others then that's great. Mark

I find it necessary to have ear plugs at work (in an office) - sometimes I have an inner sigh of relief as I put them in! With English and the need for quietness, the obvious jobs that spring to mind are librarian and author, but I wouldn't want to pigeonhole you - take time to choose. If you add History or a language then there are wider possibilities. If you like the outdoors then maybe archaeology! I suggest you have a recording device for your lectures so that you can catch up back in your room, where you can concentrate better, in case you miss a point. Have ear plugs for sleeping too, as students and loud music often go together! Mark

Diagnosed as an adult, about 2 years ago. Looking back through life I can see the traits and how they affected many situations. Mark

INTJ Introvert(56%) iNtuitive(38%) Thinking(38%) Judging(67%) You have moderate preference of Introversion over Extraversion (56%) You have moderate preference of Intuition over Sensing (38%) You have moderate preference of Thinking over Feeling (38%) You have distinctive preference of Judging over Perceiving (67%) This doesn't surprise me as I am an engineer; INTJ is the character type seen by industry as "ideal" for engineers. What did surprise me was that I am still INTJ as I have fluctuated over the years. My score at work was quite different in 1998, probably more polarised. I felt I was born an engineer, and knew by age 11 that it was what I wanted to do. I got a dx about 2 years ago saying there was definitely evidence of ASD, but the consultant couldn't be more accurate than that. Since I am "high functioning", Asperger's was suspected. I have become more extrovert over time, especially at work because, having gained experience as an analyst, I enjoy the job more as I try to set the agenda and invent things using my experience. I still find pressure from managers to focus less on the details, especially in presentation and communication. I have listened more as I got older, but still go with my intuition, especially under pressure. I also allow myself to feel more than I used to, even if I don't express it. I now see feelings as a useful sensor suite rather than as a hindrance, but I don't subject myself to high emotions such as TV soaps. I perceive more and judge a bit less. Perhaps this happens with age to many people as I realise life is not so black-and-white. Embracing the ambiguity of a more colourful life is a struggle but I will persist. I think some of the questions could appear in an ASD survey as much as in a Myers-Briggs type test e.g. "Do you prefer a book or a party?" is most likely to be "book" for those of us with ASD because the predictability of our surroundings is helpful. This would lead to a perception of an overlap but I think the truth is that all character types may be affected by ASD but that there might be a skew in the results towards introversion and "things over people". In other tests I have come out as primary Melancholy (introvert, things) and secondary Sanguine (extrovert, people) (the other traits being Phlegmatic and Choleric). I read the book "I love you but why are we so different" by Tim LaHaye, where he advocates primary and secondary traits but says we can all do the others at least 5% of the time. It is a good book to examine marriage relationships and how partners fit together. There are times when I think I can succeed in relationships by trying harder to make up for the extra social challenges, but other times when I feel like giving up and isolating myself. I guess this change of feelings is common. Mark