Zelan wrote:So sometime in late January, maybe early February, I-not-so-subtly brought up the topic again. They told me that they honestly didn't know still. So I made the proposal that the two of us try a date again, but I wouldn't be too pushy/expectant/clingy about it. Basically, just a really casual date. S agreed to this, and we were all set to pick a day to go to B & N.
Oof, friendzoned. Did you say that if she said no that it wouldn't change your friendship, maybe she was worried about that? Or she didn't want to hurt your feelings, it's too bad you can wear a 'honest critique' label in real life to let people know they can be honest with you.
Mard wrote:All I can say is to keep moving forward. I broke at age 10, and it took nearly twelve years, many hospitilazations, meds, and plenty of counseling for me to get stable. Now I'm barely on any meds. To be honest, if all you've got is Bipolar, you're much better off than me. For me, it's Bipolar, Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, Aspergers, alongside various other things thanks to being on the Autistic Spectrum. All you can do is keep moving forward, working with the doctors along the way.
I will say that what is truly frustrating is the fact I am severely prone to Seratonin Syndrome, due to having it happen so many times over the years due to all the meds. Though I can't complain too much, as without those meds I'd be a basket case, and be either living on the streets, locked up in jail or a mental ward, of simply dead.
Are you sure you've got all those issues? Doctors, especially if you switch between them for second opinions, can easily diagnose you with something different over the same sympthoms or because of the side-effects of the meds. Once you can start to sum your diseases and disorders up, it's more likely that the doctor's flaws or in some cases unwillingness to tie your sympthoms to medicines (Yes, it sounds bad but there are doctors that will know something is a medicine side effect and diagnose it as something else because they're on the med-producers' payroll.)
I don't know much about the other sympthoms, but I can say with Syndrome of Asperger that you either don't have it or that you don't have any of the other sympthoms. I have it myself, and know what it is like. Especially if you were to combine it with meds instead of proper attention from your parents and counselling on how to overcome it, it can easily lead to Anxiety and ADHD and maybe even Bipolar disorder. If that's the case you don't actually have any of those rather than that they're sympthoms of your Aspergers.
Before I continue, I know there's quite a lot of false information about Aspergers floating around so let me explain what it physically is: It's a genetic difference from 'normal' people that causes different brain surface patterns. It's a physical trait that forms in the uterus and cannot, with absolutely no exceptions, form later in life. If you hear anything about a flu shot giving a child Aspergers then with 100% certainty I can say that statement is false. If someone were to develop Aspergers after birth this will come with a side-effect called death. (Or at least brain-dead)
Do you have Aspergers? Ask yourself if these traits apply to you:
-Intelligent. Compared to your parents/family DNA, you've got a higher IQ than you should have.
-Creative. Specifically if you can easily imagine or understand complex things such as scientific theories (such as Einstein's relativity theory, made by someone with Aspergers.)
-Empathic. You can understand the raw feelings of others quite well, but not what they're thinking. Especially if you tend to feel the emotions stronger than the people themselves do, and can put these feelings over your own.
-Focused/organised. Especially at a young age you are way more focussed on things than your peers with a much greater sense of perfection/dedication. While your classmates are drawing stick figures that the teacher will say is a lovely horse, you'll be making your drawing detailed enough for them to see it's a deer, donkey, etc. (This gap between you and others will fade later in life)
Do you not have any of these positive traits of Aspergers, especially in your early childhood (2-8 years)? Then you probably don't have Aspergers and you're one of the many people who get misdiagnosed with it. Because unlike the negative sympthoms which are rather vague and differ greatly between cases, the positive ones are pretty consistent and you'll be able to self-assess yourself. (Because if you have Aspergers, you have a rational look on life and yourself, and will remember events like the ones above quite neutrally.)
Why are the negative symthoms so vague? Because they can all be dealt with. Unlike Anxiety Disorder, the unease that will overtake you when you have Aspergers is one that's hard to overcome but not impossible. The introvert nature you have is hard to overcome, but so is the shyness of normal people. The ADHD-sympthoms you have aren't actually impulsiveness rather than a lack of the instinctive understanding of society rules that normal people have, and these are rules that can be learned instead. And your inability to understand the feelings of people? Well, that's because you don't have the instinctive knowledge to understand expressions. If only there were some way to learn those expressions. *Cough cough Visual Novels cough* Yes, it's not as if there's a kind of game with very simple and straightforward sprites and expressions corresponding with very unnuanced emotions that can act as a way to learn these expressions. Hm...
So, if you have Aspergers according to the above then take it from me: You can overcome it. Meds cannot, because Aspergers cannot be cured without literally killing you (or at least reducing you to a vegetable) and merely inhibiting some traits through hormones may not work in the long run. But
you can learn the basic skills you weren't born with, and use the enhanced skills you have to actually become even more successful than a non-autistic version of you would be. If you don't have Aspergers, then good luck. Unfortunately I cannot help you with Bipolar, ADHD etc. and know little of those subjects.
. But you apologising for it does suggest Aspergers as well, I have the habit of sounding judgemental or aggressive in posts without any intend myself, and know plenty of others who do to. Our 'The way it is, rationally.' does come off like that sometimes. Even when we know of it, it will happen at times.
