Brother has asperger's, but I feel as if I have a little too.

[Coldkilla]

My brother has full blown asperger's. He cannot have a discussion without losing its train of thought, or without having anyone completely understand what he's saying. He has to study 3x as hard, and 3x as longer than any kid out there just to get an C on his papers (he has finally got a habit of 5+ hour a day study habits, bringing him out of a straight F report card, but 5+ hours a DAY for a C average is... well, nuts). He cannot keep a routine, he forgets to tell our parents about places he has to be in the morning, when they work and he never informed them until the night before. He makes up facts to try to prove his point in certain circumstances. As his brother, every time he opens his mouth you cannot help but roll your eyes and say, "oh my god what the hell is he going to say now to humiliate the shit out of me", because he will bring the worst situations to light in the most inappropriate settings and not realize he is doing something astonishingly stupid. This isn't an angry brother speaking, this is truth that has been gone over and over by not just my parents, but psychologists and other doctors my brother has seen.

Now, until recently I've been thinking. I've been yelled at by almost every job I have for the inability to remember anything I'm told. I have to take notes on everything. I have to study quite hard in order to remember any information, not nearly as hard as my brother but still I feel as if it isn't as easy as it could be. I don't remember 99.99% of my childhood from 8th grade down (I'm currently 2 years into college, so thats 6 years back), meaning I don't remember my friends, teachers, school rooms, etc. Sometimes, on the other hand, I can overhear a conversation not involving me, and for some reason a year later recall that conversation. I cannot strike a conversation without getting lost in my own words and am thus unable to complete the story without starting over and/or forced to just drop it.

I have a feeling that I show some faint as they may be, but nonetheless, symptoms, or remnants of the same thing my brother carries. Is there anyway to diagnose this issue, or any way for me to pursue this further? Are they any sort of tests that can check for this sort of thing? I don't believe I have aspergers, but I do believe I have perhaps 10% of the side effects related to it.

Any help appreciated.
Aspergers

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
He cannot keep a reutein

It took me a moment to realize you probably meant "routine". Anyway, I'd suggest having a doctor who is experienced in this area professionally diagnose it. You may simply have a short attention span, or some form of ADD, or maybe even some form of autism.

Good luck!

 

[gururu2]

There is probably a common group of genes where particular alleles render an individual vulnerable to developing AS; if this is the case, the particular combination of alleles would determine the severity and symptoms for each individual with AS.

my guess is that your assumptions are valid. however, it would likely be an extremely mild case as you retain the capacity to filter your behavior before acting on it, something that individuals with clinical AS are unable to do. trying to remember the past (begin documenting as far back as you can remember) is something that you can do to help improve your memory. i think you will find that within a couple days you will remember as far back as most people. as far as retaining information in short memory, again you need to sharpen your memorization capacity. noone has the same long term/short term abilities, so most people in fact would do themselves great service to exercise their brain by doing things like puzzles or setting up time at the end of the day to think a lot about past events. i am not saying your situation is normal. rather, that it is not necessarily abnormal.

 

[SearchMaster]

There is an online test that I've seen - you might Google for it. My 7 year old was unofficially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome by a psych and teacher, separately. We've never gone through the formal testing because we don't want him to feel excused for any misbehavior (if he does have it, it's very mild...he gets excellent grades and has no learning issues whatsoever).

When I took the test, I think I graded out on the low end of potentially having it, though I answered the questions with my adult perspectives/behaviors. When I answered them for how I acted as a child, it was higher on the scale.

 

[Skacer]

I would say not to confuse your brother's issues with your own. I don't remember school rooms, teachers or friends from high school outside of a few exceptions. Memory requires work, you can hone it or you can let it slack off. You seem to think this stuff should all come easy to you, but that is not necessarily the case. Also, there are a lot of things in life that impact your memory. Whether you are eating healthy, whether you are getting enough sleep. If you aren't getting enough sleep, you won't remember what people tell you or be able to focus on tasks. So you should tackle your issues like a normal person would and if you still can't solve them, then look deeper.

What are you hoping to gain by diagnosing yourself with this?

 

[Pepsi90919]

reutein

 

[Skacer]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
reutein

We all boocher words every now and then

 

[Anubis]

see a doc, they prob have meds for this

 

[IceBergSLiM]

how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
He makes up facts to try to prove his point in certain circumstances.

Holy Crap! Half the people on the internet have aspergers!

 

[Coldkilla]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

Your really.. really, ignorant.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

Your really.. really, ignorant.

maybe its the way you are describing it.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

speaking from experience again are we?

 

[hiromizu]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

Probably true, but it's not far from the truth is it? You and your doctors can name your disabilities all you want, however when it comes down to it, it is what it is. If it cannot be cured, you are what you are.

I have similar issues and the doctors will tell me this and that and try to prescribe medicine to help, but eventually it'll comes down to the mass perception that I'm still a moron, idiot, imbecile etc.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: hiromizu

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

Probably true, but it's not far from the truth is it? You and your doctors can name your disabilities all you want, however when it comes down to it, it is what it is. If it cannot be cured, you are what you are.

I have similar issues and the doctors will tell me this and that and try to prescribe medicine to help, but eventually it'll comes down to the mass perception that I'm still a moron, idiot, imbecile etc.

i don't buy your justification for his comment, and yes, his comment wasn't true.
being a dumb ass is not the same as having a legitimate medical condition. being a dumb ass is a voluntary condition as noted many times over and over on this very board.

 

[Platypus]

Coldkilla, I've sent this to my sister who is a special education teacher that specializes in extreme to mild autism and its variants. I'll let you know what she says

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: hiromizu

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

Probably true, but it's not far from the truth is it? You and your doctors can name your disabilities all you want, however when it comes down to it, it is what it is. If it cannot be cured, you are what you are.

I have similar issues and the doctors will tell me this and that and try to prescribe medicine to help, but eventually it'll comes down to the mass perception that I'm still a moron, idiot, imbecile etc.

i don't buy your justification for his comment, and yes, his comment wasn't true.
being a dumb ass is not the same as having a legitimate medical condition. being a dumb ass is a voluntary condition as noted many times over and over on this very board.

I disagree. Some people are just stupid. In the past being dumb was not a disability. I'm sure there is more to this disease than was revealed in the OP but the impression he gave would be accurate for someone who is just really dumb. Did forest gump have aspergers? I don't think so he just wasn't very smart.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: hiromizu

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

Probably true, but it's not far from the truth is it? You and your doctors can name your disabilities all you want, however when it comes down to it, it is what it is. If it cannot be cured, you are what you are.

I have similar issues and the doctors will tell me this and that and try to prescribe medicine to help, but eventually it'll comes down to the mass perception that I'm still a moron, idiot, imbecile etc.

i don't buy your justification for his comment, and yes, his comment wasn't true.
being a dumb ass is not the same as having a legitimate medical condition. being a dumb ass is a voluntary condition as noted many times over and over on this very board.

I disagree. Some people are just stupid. In the past being dumb was not a disability. I'm sure there is more to this disease than was revealed in the OP but the impression he gave would be accurate for someone who is just really dumb. Did forest gump have aspergers? I don't think so he just wasn't very smart.

Forrest Gump likely had aspergers. they just left his diagnosis out of the movie.

And you've got Forrest all wrong, he was smart in many ways. He just wasn't socially "smart". That is a characteristic of autism.

Oh and just so you know Rainman was autisitic too. He wasn't a dumb ass either.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

The irony is killing me

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: hiromizu

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
how is this different from being a dumb ass? no seriously..........looking at symptoms they are ridiculously similar.

that was mean.

Probably true, but it's not far from the truth is it? You and your doctors can name your disabilities all you want, however when it comes down to it, it is what it is. If it cannot be cured, you are what you are.

I have similar issues and the doctors will tell me this and that and try to prescribe medicine to help, but eventually it'll comes down to the mass perception that I'm still a moron, idiot, imbecile etc.

i don't buy your justification for his comment, and yes, his comment wasn't true.
being a dumb ass is not the same as having a legitimate medical condition. being a dumb ass is a voluntary condition as noted many times over and over on this very board.

I disagree. Some people are just stupid. In the past being dumb was not a disability. I'm sure there is more to this disease than was revealed in the OP but the impression he gave would be accurate for someone who is just really dumb. Did forest gump have aspergers? I don't think so he just wasn't very smart.

Forrest Gump likely had aspergers. they just left his diagnosis out of the movie.

And you've got Forrest all wrong, he was smart in many ways. He just wasn't socially "smart". That is a characteristic of autism.

wasent his IQ really low in the movie? like almost legally retarted low?
what IcebergSlim is not understanding is that really smat people even genius lvl IQ people can have aspergers. aspergers does not mean you are "dumb" your brain just malfunctions,

ill agree that we over medicate in this day and age however many people do have legit issues, i have amazingly smart friends with ADD, its literally a night and day difference to when they are on and off their meds

 

[BrownTown]

I would like to just point out that there IS alot of truth to what IcebergSlim is saying even if people in our PC world don't want to admit it. People these days try to make everything out to be some sort of chemical imbalance or a disease or medical condition etc... The fact is that there is just a certain amount of variance in all things in life, some people ARE just smarter than other people, some people just "get" social situations more than other people etc. These days anyone who is in like the tail end of that gamma distribution is labeled as having a "medical condition" when really its completely different. Something like Downs Syndrome where your have an extra chromosome is a REAL medical condition that makes you less intelligent. Just getting the ass end of the intelligence spectrum is not. The fact of the matter is that if this kid lived at any other point in time he would have been labeled as "just a dumbass". Don't get me wrong, I know EXACTLY what this is like, when I was a kid my parents went around trying to get be diagnosed with conditions like this because they though something was wrong with me, so I HAVE been diagnosed as having ADD and having Asbergers. Additionally one of my sisters works in special education and the other has downs syndrome and my mother has bipolar disorder REALLY bad. So don't be telling me like I don't understand this type of thing, the fact of the matter is I have been around this more than almost anyone here. However with these types of "diseases" nobody is gonna just give you a pass in life and say "oh i'm sorry you had a rough life here have some $$$", you are still gonna have to work your ass off to get anywhere in life. And some people have it easy (my twin brother has incredible grades at MIT without even trying), but for some people it comes HARD. Life is just a bitch like that and at some point you just have to man up and deal with your problems. IF you have to work your ass off just to make it in a crappy job then yeah that sucks life was a bitch to you, but there ain't anything you can do except try to make the best of what you have. IF you have anxiety or depression then yeah you may have been shafted in life, but again you just have to work harder in those areas and do the best you can in life.

In summary: life is a bitch, it isn't fair and it doesn't give a rats ass about your problems, so you gotta do the best you can with what you got. The only caveat here are those people who are truly so messed up in life that they need to spend their life under constant care, these people need to be taken care of (for example my younger sister who will never be more intelligent than an average 8 year old). The problem with naming every single little problem in life a "disease" is that you jsut give everyone an excuse to never make anything of themselves, and trivialize the few people who really do have a problem. I would say at most 25% of people diagnosed with "mental disorders" really have something truly fundamentally wrong with their brains that cannot be overcome.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
I would like to just point out that there IS alot of truth to what IcebergSlim is saying even if people in our PC world don't want to admit it. People these days try to make everything out to be some sort of chemical imbalance or a disease or medical condition etc... The fact is that there is just a certain amount of variance in all things in life, some people ARE just smarter than other people, some people just "get" social situations more than other people etc. These days anyone who is in like the tail end of that gamma distribution is labeled as having a "medical condition" when really its completely different. Something like Downs Syndrome where your have an extra chromosome is a REAL medical condition that makes you less intelligent. Just getting the ass end of the intelligence spectrum is not. The fact of the matter is that if this kid lived at any other point in time he would have been labeled as "just a dumbass". Don't get me wrong, I know EXACTLY what this is like, when I was a kid my parents went around trying to get be diagnosed with conditions like this because they though something was wrong with me, so I HAVE been diagnosed as having ADD and having Asbergers. Additionally one of my sisters works in special education and the other has downs syndrome and my mother has bipolar disorder REALLY bad. So don't be telling me like I don't understand this type of thing, the fact of the matter is I have been around this more than almost anyone here. However with these types of "diseases" nobody is gonna just give you a pass in life and say "oh i'm sorry you had a rough life here have some $$$", you are still gonna have to work your ass off to get anywhere in life. And some people have it easy (my twin brother has incredible grades at MIT without even trying), but for some people it comes HARD. Life is just a bitch like that and at some point you just have to man up and deal with your problems. IF you have to work your ass off just to make it in a crappy job then yeah that sucks life was a bitch to you, but there ain't anything you can do except try to make the best of what you have. IF you have anxiety or depression then yeah you may have been shafted in life, but again you just have to work harder in those areas and do the best you can in life.

In summary: life is a bitch, it isn't fair and it doesn't give a rats ass about your problems, so you gotta do the best you can with what you got. The only caveat here are those people who are truly so messed up in life that they need to spend their life under constant care, these people need to be taken care of (for example my younger sister who will never be more intelligent than an average 8 year old). The problem with naming every single little problem in life a "disease" is that you jsut give everyone an excuse to never make anything of themselves, and trivialize the few people who really do have a problem. I would say at most 25% of people diagnosed with "mental disorders" really have something truly fundamentally wrong with their brains that cannot be overcome.

the fact of the matter is you aren't a dumb ass. being a dumb ass is a choice. the most intelligent people on the planet can be real dumb asses if they so choose.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Have to say that the OP's description doesn't really mesh with what I've read about Asperger's Syndrome elsewhere. Nor does it mesh with even the Wikipedia article.

People with Asperger's typically have one or two consuming interests (not mentioned in the OP), they also typically do very well academically as their logic skills tend to be higher than normal. Socially an Asperger's child will tend to come off as a "little professor", speaking in an almost clinical manner and often confining his or her topic to his or her main interest. Asperger's Syndrome, like other Autism Spectrum Disorders, tends to be characterized also by a strict adherence to a routine (albeit often a routine established by the individual that may not have a connection to the outside world).

Most people with Asperger's can function well in society, in fact, in some professions, such as engineering, Asperger's is not terribly uncommon as those professions require lower amounts of social skills and prize the higher analytical abilities that are typically manifest by those with Asperger's.

It sounds more like your brother is a high-functioning Autistic, though there are some clinicians who treat Asperger's as synonymous with High-Functioning Autism.

ZV

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Anubis
see a doc, they prob have meds for this

There are no medications for PDDs, only for other conditions often associated with it such as OCD and depression.

Originally posted by: Anubis
wasent his IQ really low in the movie? like almost legally retarted low?
what IcebergSlim is not understanding is that really smat people even genius lvl IQ people can have aspergers. aspergers does not mean you are "dumb" your brain just malfunctions

It was a movie, Hollywood always takes liberties to fit stereotypes and make things more exciting. Even films based on RL stories do this.