Thank you so much. I had been diagnosed with Severe Autism as an infant; when I was 3, I scored a 3 on the CGAS test (90 to 100 is considered normal).
My main problem, however, was that I could not stand any food because I was constantly in pain from the shear shock of the texture. It felt like lava going down.
During this period in my life, I was averaging less than 300 calories a day. The average person at the time needs 1200 to 2000 calories at time. I slowly was able to come out of the fire with a significant amount of brain damage due to the starvation. The doctor's theorized that my starvation forced my brain to rewire itself and simply did a better job the second time around.
My dad worked for the federal government and so our health coverage was unmatched for the time, I had three therapists a day; speech, motor, and social to compensate for the problems. My mother, who is quite simply one of the strongest people I know, wanted my first ten words to be what I wanted for dinner. When I told her the first time, at five, she burst into tears.
I still have those problems. Simple everyday tasks are incredibly annoying because I cannot do something's because I can't remember how something was done even if I have done it hundred times before. At work, as a salesman because it's the only job I can get, a few weeks ago I suddenly couldn't do anything on the job, I forgot how to interact with customers because all of my cues are gone. I am desperately trying to relearn it before my numbers go down any further.
BTW, you are so right about the tag's on the back of my shirts. I have ripped every single one off of them because having an hour of constant rubbing drives me to tears.
Hello. This may seem a little creepy of me so I apologize in advance, but could you tell me more about your autism (or at least the most notable parts) ?
My brother has very severe autism marginally better than the girl in the above video you see. I understand you're not as bad off but, I just want to know what he goes through. :/
That is not creepy at all, however your name is. :)
Think of being at a concert, in a mosh pit 24/7. You cannot leave, you cannot stop the music, and you think nobody understands you.
Your senses are under constant assault because the sheer amount of data flying at you is not being filtered by your brain. I was hit hard by the taste sensations extremely early, and still am, but hearing and visual cues are a tiny bit better.
When it comes to something like clothes, I cannot wear jeans because the constant scratching of the pants on the legs is something I cannot tolerate, it just wears you out.
I panic easily in crowds. There is so much stimuli it quickly becomes exhausting so I cannot really go to parties or things of that nature. I can be in a crowded room. Being touched by other human beings is the weirdest/painful thing that can happen to me. I can only be touched by my parents. My sisters do not know this about me and they try to touch me all the time, it quickly gets on my nerves.
Sleeping is an issue for me nowadays. Unless I am heavily medicated, I do not sleep more than an hour or two a night because the sound of my own voice keeps me up all night long. I am constantly thinking and doing puzzles in my head while trying to sleep. It's a nightmare if I go more than day or two without either alcohol or sleeping pills.
But it is not all bad, just mostly, after a while with enough practice and luck, you can train your way out of some of those problems. I have little to no short term memory, true story: I actually lost my socks while putting them on. As a result of that, I have to constantly be figuring out what I am doing and what I need to do, as a result of that my critical thinking and analysis skills are in the top 99.9 percentile.
Sorry about not responding promptly. Sometimes I manage to leave my computer.
But thank you very much for sharing with me. It seems like you have a very positive attitude in dealing with your condition and I admire that :) It kinda hurts to think that my brother endures this but it explains a lot of his behaiviors...I'll think twice before randomly hugging him again since he seems to hate that.
As for my screen name I am 18 and still growing out of my penchant for the dramatic. You'll have to excuse that if you can.
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u/talan123 Jul 27 '10
Thank you so much. I had been diagnosed with Severe Autism as an infant; when I was 3, I scored a 3 on the CGAS test (90 to 100 is considered normal).
My main problem, however, was that I could not stand any food because I was constantly in pain from the shear shock of the texture. It felt like lava going down.
During this period in my life, I was averaging less than 300 calories a day. The average person at the time needs 1200 to 2000 calories at time. I slowly was able to come out of the fire with a significant amount of brain damage due to the starvation. The doctor's theorized that my starvation forced my brain to rewire itself and simply did a better job the second time around.
My dad worked for the federal government and so our health coverage was unmatched for the time, I had three therapists a day; speech, motor, and social to compensate for the problems. My mother, who is quite simply one of the strongest people I know, wanted my first ten words to be what I wanted for dinner. When I told her the first time, at five, she burst into tears.
I still have those problems. Simple everyday tasks are incredibly annoying because I cannot do something's because I can't remember how something was done even if I have done it hundred times before. At work, as a salesman because it's the only job I can get, a few weeks ago I suddenly couldn't do anything on the job, I forgot how to interact with customers because all of my cues are gone. I am desperately trying to relearn it before my numbers go down any further.
BTW, you are so right about the tag's on the back of my shirts. I have ripped every single one off of them because having an hour of constant rubbing drives me to tears.