Could bipolar people also be 'on the spectrum'? I had a natural birth (oxygen could have been cut off to my brain during birth?)

HottieAutie, 11 days ago

I’m not the kind of ‘trendy’ bipolar, although my cunt of an aunt believes I have ‘convinced’ myself of that, despite being to the nuthouse twice (50 days total) and several psycho-shinks having diagnosed me with several other mental disorders; the very first nuttyness I got diagnosed with was of course, ADD/ADHD.

I was diagnosed with several mental health conditions before autism spectrum disorder. One of them was bipolar, but I didn’t really relate to that. Apparently, I was pretty good at masking and high functioning on paper due to vocational success, while the mental health providers I saw were not well-trained in autism. That meant that they never even considered autism and kept guessing what was going on. At some point, I swear they thought I was making things up to make a case for disability. Anyway, someone that knew me for a while mentioned that they thought I was autistic. I took an online test that seemed valid, and the results suggested that I was likely autistic. After that, I saw a psychologist that specialized in autism for a thorough assessment. They said that I was definitely autistic.

So given that I have had a natural birth, the flow of oxygen could have been cut off to my brain. So could I also be ‘on the spectrum’ as they say?

My second cousin, son of my first cousin once removed, is autistic. As I understand chief reason for this is your mom and dad being old. Like my first cousin once removed was 40 when she had her son, her husband was in his 40s too.

There are many potential risks linked with having an autistic child. However, they are only risks, not certain causes. Meeting a risk factor does not certainly cause autism.

How do I know that I am ‘on the spectrum’ without relying much on any external sources?

Considering the complexity of your case, I think that you really can’t be certain without a valid assessment by an expert in the matter. By expert, I don’t mean any psychologist. I mean a psychologist that specializes in autism.

Is it like bipolarity where they give you pills?

Nope. There are no medications for autism.

What does exactly happen when you are known to be an autistic person?

Generally, people learn about themselves as an autistic person, review their lives to make sense of their troubles, then make adjustments so that they can function and be happy while accepting they are autistic. For example, rather than force yourself to sit through a social event that is loud and overwhelming, you might leave early or not attend at all. While this may seem silly for those of us that are masking and gaslighting ourselves, it helps us out tremendously when we put it into effect. There are many areas in our lives that can improve when we make accommodations like that for our autistic traits.

I don’t do well socially either. Again I realize these are ‘funhouse’ and ‘stereotypical’ things people say about people on ‘the spctrum’. But I get annoyed even if people use the apostrophe ’ incorrectly!

I could just be an obsessive asshole.

Maybe! You could also be an obsessive asshole that is autistic as well. lol. But seriously, many adults that are unaware they are autistic have been told they are assholes because of their social differences, so they come to believe it. When really, they socialize differently and would be considered outstanding people in settings that are better suited for them.

I am also a druggie but that’s a whole other story.

Some autistic people resort to self-medicating with drugs because the environment is too stimulating, though they wouldn’t be able to say it that way. Their experience is that they feel horrible sometimes and the solution is to use a drug that makes them numb to it.

My parents were from different cities, different races even. My dad was brown-skinned and green-eyed, my mom is white-skinned and brown-haired. Both are ethnically Persian though. Although my dad’s grandmother was a gypsy, these gypsies are not the ones you find in Romania, these are the gypsies who stayed behind closer to the place of origin. We call them ‘jatts’; and that’s how anthropologists know gypsies come from India (if people close to India call them ‘jatt’, and there’s a group of people in India called ‘jatt’ then, put two and two together I guess!

Pretty cool!

KarthNemesis, 26 days ago

I have autism and bipolar 1.

Autism does not have pills.
Circumstances of your birth have no causation to autism. Neither to circumstances of your life. All sorts of people have autism from all walks of life.

A reason to research and understand one's own autism is to recognize what in your life overwhelms you, and how to structure your life in a way that is comfortable and functional to you, without a judgemental neurotypical lens. To embrace who you are, rather than try to force yourself to be something you are not.

You can seek a diagnosis if you wish, but I can't tell you if it'd give you what you're looking for.

I learned about my conditions through following various mental health communities for years and seeing what had commonalities with me through the fun lens of dank memes. I also learned a lot about medications, warning signs in therapists, and I learned what mental health conditions I don't have. Can't say if that'd work for everyone, either, but I did learn a lot more from the communities directly rather than reading the clinical book definitions.

VubDapple, 27 days ago

You’re describing unpopular obsessions and irritability (which is a form of depression). You’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD does co-occur with depression and emotional regulation problems and with autism.

Your obsessions could be the ‘special interests’ of autism but that sort of thing can also occur in ADHD which is known for deep dives into narrow hobbies and hyper-focus. I’d say that in ADHD the interests tend to switch off and be replaced with a new one more frequently than in autism.

For autism you need 1) a speech/language problem (which could be very subtle) and 2) restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior or interests (eg the special interests). You maybe have the second part, so the question I’d be asking myself is whether you have the speech language problem part. Look up pragmatic language problems to get an idea. You can use language fluently but miss the subtle parts of it like what facial expressions mean and when that happens you can’t understand sarcasm or other non-literal forms of language where you say one thing but mean the other. “How are you?” “I’m fine” (when the person saying this means they are not fine but don’t want to talk about it)

Hope this helps.

TheRealAryan, 27 days ago

I have a lot of problems greeting people, my great aunt used to mimic my way of saying hi. I would say it in a very, very low tone (English is not my first language, I mean the equivalent). And as for saying goodbye, I despise it. People are telling me ‘Yeah I see you around, remain in touch’ etc etc, shit people say at the end of a ‘social unit’ and all I can say is ‘goodbye’.

That was when I went outside though. I have not went outside for months – well this morning I went out to buy cigarettes and that was my first outage in several months.

I have other problems, not gonna lie. I wanna know if they give you pills for autism. Because I want more pills.

VubDapple, 26 days ago

Yeah, what you describe might indeed fit the criteria for an autism diagnosis though I can’t say for sure. I’m not aware of any pills for the condition, but you’d want to talk to a psychiatrist to know for sure. Mostly, I would send you to a speech and language therapist if one is available and affordable.

KarthNemesis, 26 days ago

To add to your statement, irritability is also a very common expression of bipolar.

nublug, 27 days ago

there’s a lot of comorbidity (meaning sharing similar symptoms) between adhd and autism, so it’s more likely you’re noticing those adhd symptoms or are also autistic rather than something to do with your bipolar. “audhd” is commonly used by those who have been diagnosed both. also as the other commenter says, potential oxygen deprivation during birth has nothing to do with any of this, nor does natural birth mean likelihood of oxygen deprivation for that matter.

TheRealAryan, 26 days ago

Funny thing is, my doctors put my bipolarity front and center. I had to beg them to give me Ritalin. I know I had some sort of ADHD because my father was a Ritalin addict, took it intravenously ( he was a dentist so somehow he could prescribe himself Ritalin. The only reason I can get 2 kinds of Ritalin is, my father used to prescribe it in my prescription pad. This was way before digital prescriptions. They rolled that, and now people like my dad are desperate. My dad himself is six feet under, turns out, you can inject yourself 90 tablets of prime Ritty so much before your body gives up) and so there was a lot of Ritty around at our home, so I sometimes took it and I always felt better. Problem is, I never had any issues sitting down and reading a book, I never had any issues ‘paying attention’ either. But I cannot see anything through. I jump from one thing to another. So that’s why they gave me Ritalin.

haui_lemmy, 27 days ago

If you think you might be on the spectrum feel free to do some tests and/or contact a professional about it.

Its very hard to judge if you are on the spectrum from the circumstances of your birth. Also I didnt catch why it matters. There is no evidence afaik that natural birth/oxygen cut off heightens the likelyhood of being on the spectrum.

TheRealAryan, 27 days ago

I have 2 psychiatrists — problem is I don’t know if I should because at 31, would it really matter? Especially when I have an onset condition diagnosed?

What change would it make? I heard you have to pass a ‘test’ to be diagnosed, which kinda sounds like those ‘ICJT’ tests, you know those fake tests where they assign you 4 letters? My brother was a psychology major (the kind without pills, not the medical kind) — he died of COVID just shy of getting his bachelors. He told me these ICJT and tests like that are scams.

Now I’m not saying autism is a ‘scam’, because it is not, I’m saying this ‘test’ sounds like one. At least, and espciallly when a 31 yo shows up and says ‘test me for autism’.

It may sound like ‘badge-seeking’ behavior to the mental health expert. If i were a totally healthy dude, who does not take Lithium, Depakote, Respridone and Ritalin, he could dismiss me as an attention-seeker. Now with this disease added, he could just tell me I am looking for trouble.

Do you guys take pills like I do? What is usually done to treat autism — at least. the kind of autism on the ‘functioning’ end of spectrum?

I wanna know if someone has ever been in my shoes. Diagnosed with bipolarity or ADHD, but late in their life, wanted to know if they are on the spectrum.

Deestan, 26 days ago

Myer-Briggs tests are a grift, yes. Autism testing is nothing like that. It is assessed by a professional and partly through questionnaires.

Autism itself is not “treatable”, so you get no pills or anything. Some symptoms of autism that you may struggle with may be alleviated with treatment, but it’s almost all learning techniques and management.

A diagnosis at your age may make it easier to understand, accept and manage some aspects of yourself. For some, that is useful, for others not.

KillingAndKindess, 26 days ago

Getting tested and diagnosed at any age can be of extreme help.

You don’t don’t want to find yourself in a situation like a job where you know you are capable of fulfilling your requirements,but are unable to fully do so without accommodations. Accommodations, once established, further extend the range of your daily efforts. BUT, they take a diagnosis and time, so start sooner rather than later.

Worst comes to worst, you find out you’re not autistic and can have help with your other issuers.

constantokra, 26 days ago

As to why it might be relevant at 31, according to my psychiatrist drugs may affect autistic brains differently, so that is probably relevant if you’re on psychiatric drugs. Also, symptoms may need to be interpreted differently. So if you’re basically fine then it’s probably not a big deal, but if you’re looking for improvement and you can’t seem to get it you might find out the reason, and hopefully a path to get some better results.

FYI it’s not black and white. You don’t necessarily need to go through the formal diagnosis. If you see someone familiar with working with autistic adults, they may feel confident just meeting with you a couple times.

Autism is written about in medical terms exceedingly differently from how autistic people would explain the experience of being autistic. My best advice for you is to look up autistic adults online. Read and watch them and see if it just clicks that these are your people. We’re all different, but if you find a few autistic people that just click you might want to check into it more.