Adults On The Autism Spectrum

Posted by Mamacita, Alumna Mentor @mamacita, Apr 29, 2018

Maybe you were really shy as a child. Perhaps you took home a huge stack of books from the school library, read them, and returned them the next day. Or did your best friend find you crying in your closet, unable to answer the question "Why?" At any rate, your life could be traced to the Self-Help section of the local bookstore. Unfortunately, most of the books were not much help. ADHD seemed to fit, at times. Your shrink said you might be Bi-Polar, although she wasn't really certain. All you knew was that you rarely fit in, anywhere. One day at work, it hit you square in the face: I don't speak these people's language! Really, it was like you were all playing this game, and everyone knew the rules but you. You couldn't tell a joke, and you never "got" any joke your co-worker tried to tell you. People started getting annoyed with you, because you had a memory like a steel trap. They didn't appreciate it when you called them on the carpet. Who knew? This was my life, and worse. I finally aced several tests that pointed me to the answer to my questions. The Autism Spectrum. Guess what? Little kids with Autism grow up to be Adults with Autism. Diagnosed late in life? This is the place for you!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Autism (ASD) Support Group.

@auntieoakley , that baby is adorable. And I bet you do indeed make a very handy Auntie! Animal lovers are the best.
Mamacita Jane

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@gingerw, what is it about babies that manages to make life so much more worthwhile? I don't know. I just know that my chubby little Princess and my Warrior Logan light up my world . All the difficulties and stresses of being Neurodivergent fade away when I think about them. And the in- house Teen. Every thing is worth it because of him.

Mamacita Jane

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to see your grandbabies grow up and that the family will continue on after our passing .except in my case i was unable to have children impotent and the goldings finish with me

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@sirgalahad

to see your grandbabies grow up and that the family will continue on after our passing .except in my case i was unable to have children impotent and the goldings finish with me

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hugs gingerw

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@sirgalahad

to see your grandbabies grow up and that the family will continue on after our passing .except in my case i was unable to have children impotent and the goldings finish with me

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@sirgalahad, you would have been a wonderful father. You have a kindness and a heart for little children. The compassion you give to them and to everyone blesses beyond measure.
Mamacita Jane

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@mamacita

@sirgalahad, you would have been a wonderful father. You have a kindness and a heart for little children. The compassion you give to them and to everyone blesses beyond measure.
Mamacita Jane

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awww shucks thankyou miss mamacita

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@lisalucier and everyone, I've been coming down with something for days. Woke up this morning with a super sore throat. Cough.Could be an allergic reaction to food and environmental allergens. I did take part of the yard two days in a row. I may try to hold our going to a doc in a box. I have an appointment with my PCP on Monday anyway.If I can find some Elderberry syrup I will try that. Lots of hot tea and lemon. Vitamin C. @gingerw , @sirgalahad, I will be checking my emails and trying to respond as much as I can.

@colleenyoung , I will try to respond to the email where you mentioned me. As soon as I can. This throat is very painful, but if I don't have a Strep infection there's not much use in seeing someone I don't know who will charge me a bundle to tell me I need to force fluids and take it easy.

Have a great TGIF y'all. Keep up the good work, advocating wherever you have an opportunity. We are not less than. We just want to sit at the table. We have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. Once they are addressed and supported we can work hand in hand.

Love and light,
Mamacita Jane

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@mamacita

@lisalucier and everyone, I've been coming down with something for days. Woke up this morning with a super sore throat. Cough.Could be an allergic reaction to food and environmental allergens. I did take part of the yard two days in a row. I may try to hold our going to a doc in a box. I have an appointment with my PCP on Monday anyway.If I can find some Elderberry syrup I will try that. Lots of hot tea and lemon. Vitamin C. @gingerw , @sirgalahad, I will be checking my emails and trying to respond as much as I can.

@colleenyoung , I will try to respond to the email where you mentioned me. As soon as I can. This throat is very painful, but if I don't have a Strep infection there's not much use in seeing someone I don't know who will charge me a bundle to tell me I need to force fluids and take it easy.

Have a great TGIF y'all. Keep up the good work, advocating wherever you have an opportunity. We are not less than. We just want to sit at the table. We have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. Once they are addressed and supported we can work hand in hand.

Love and light,
Mamacita Jane

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@mamacita Rest, take care of yourself! Sending you healing thoughts.
Ginger

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@mamacita, Well that is a bummer, sounds like you have done everything possible to make this “thing” wear itself out quickly, my best, Chris

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Hello, @Chris Trout, @gingerw ....It seems like every time I turn around it's Arthritis pain in all my joints, pain from discs that have seen better days, or allergy issues. I'm on Lyrica, Aspirin, Turmeric, Flaxseed Oil Capsules, Magnesium tablets, Garlic and Parsley capsules, Xyzal, Viibrid, and soon to be Deplin. It will take a week to get here.

Viibrid is for Depression. Deplin is to help my body and brain function without the enzyme necessary to process Dopamine and Seratonin. Genetic testing by a reputable company was done to see which medicines would work the best for me. And which ones would not work very well at all . The test results were an answer to prayer.

All these years I was enduring side effects from medicines that did little to alleve my many symptoms of "high functioning" depression. Depression is not just being sad, lonely, or in pain. It is that, but there is so much more to it. In my case, I have always been lacking that enzyme that is important to the body's ability to manufacture the "happiness" hormones. Cymbalta worked, to an extent, for years. But I always had what some refer to as "breakthrough" depression.

Fortunately, I had a determined investigator in my corner who listened closely to me. I even shared with her that I was on the Spectrum. But, that I didn't feel like that was the whole story. I had been prescribed Buspar previously, for anxiety. That was working really well, with no apparent side effects. With off the charts hearing, superior observational skills, and extreme sensitivity, not treating the anxiety was simply not an option.

Cymbalta was raising my blood pressure, so I was put on Adelaide . I stop breathing and get very close to not breathing, 58 times. I will have another sleep study done to see if I have improved enough to where I can use the mouth piece instead of a C Pap machine. My old one finally gave up the ghost .

I'm not perfect about eating exactly what I should. I had some things recently that undoubtedly put me in this situation with my throat and coughing. Allergic to dairy, supposed to be on a gluten free diet, allergic to fish, waternelon, tomatoes, cantaloupe. The list goes on and on.

As one of my medical team so aptly put it, I am a "train wreck."

But I'm my tribe's train wreck. @colleenyoung, @sirgalahad, and all of you smart, funny, sweet, lovely people, you put up with me, along with all my others "irl." Perhaps we can all learn a lesson here. When the Allergist tells you not to eat certain food items because you are severely allergic to them, you had better pay attention.

Because if you eat enough of the foods that bother you , you might end up in the emergency room.

Thank you for allowing me to vent and explain my "train wreck" of a situation.

I will check in with you guys in the various groups where we meet. I promise I won't be so long winded next time. And no more forbidden foods that trigger an anaphylactic response. It's a deal.

Love and light,

Mamacita Jane

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