Re: CHAT: OT CHAT: Asperger's syndrome

In hindsight, I think I sounded cavalier about developmental disorders such
as autism and Asperger's syndrome.  I mentioned I was diagnosed with autism,
but I had (and still have) an exceptionally high IQ.  But I hated people.
My mother put me in nursery school at age 3, but she took me out in only
weeks because I was unable to handle all the other children.  I spent a lot
of time alone, and sometimes even now I might go for a week without even
leaving my apartment one time, and I would only call people if I really had
to.

Of course that's hurt me socially.  I never dated in school.  In fact, I
didn't date till my mid-20s.  Not that I didn't want to.  I just didn't feel
like I could handle it.  I didn't do well later on in school because I just
didn't care.

I'd have to be focused on an activity, like playing bass guitar, for me to
really let myself "cut loose".  But since I was abandoned by the band I
played in earlier this year (I never was fired; they just never spoke to me
again, I've been a real recluse.

Currently, however, my diagnosis is schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type.
Kinda like a mix of schizophrenia (paranoid in my case) with manic
depression.  I've been on more than a few different medications; right now
I'm on three.  One, Seroquel, is for the schizo symptoms (which made me gain
a lot of weight -- I was 200 lbs/91 kg in mid-96; now I'm 300 lbs/136 kg.
And my joints are stiff, my feet and ankles often swell and I already have
symptoms of arthritis, or maybe bursitis.  Bear in mind I'm not yet 30.
Then there's the antidepressant Paxil, which is not only for the depression
and anxiety, but to control severe migraines I have on occasion (because of
another antidepressant I used to take).  The other one is an anti-manic and
anti-seizure medicine, Neurontin.

The drug that made me real sick in late 96 was Risperdal, which worked
wonders for one of my best friends, also a paranoid schizophrenic.

If I sound insensitive, it's because I've taken a defiant and sarcastic
approach to my mental problems.  I've gotten used to saying "f**k you" to
most everything and everybody pretty much all my life.

>From: Danny Wier <dawier@...>
>Let's see... In my life, I've had an unusual obsession with:
>1) flags of the world
>2) street names
>3) language phonologies
>4) scripts/alphabets
>5) state and national capitals
Whoops, forgot a few others:

56) The Simpsons (DUH!)
57) correcting myself (like this post)
58) counting things (that's supposed to be OCD)
59) sex (until Paxil made that impossible :P)
60) guns (thank God I don't own one)
61) military ranks
62) making sure I get my point across *absolutely perfectly*, even in
e-mails...
63) joining lists
64) joining multiple IRC channels
65) setting and resetting Control Panel stuff
66) making sure I have the latest version of all software
67) a strong temptation to convert to Linux
68) a strong temptation to throw this 10 year-old monitor out the window
69) seeing sexual connotations in everything... heh heh, "69"...
70) making sure all my lists end in a multiple of ten

DaW.
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