Autism, Trauma, PTSD and FND

[Catz128]

Greetings Everyone

I was searching for more info on autism and neurodivergence and came across the following video.

Autism, Trauma and PTSD -

youtu.be/Thv5bNNNRzU(Not working as expected?)

Many of you wrote about your experiences with having autism and being diagnosed with FND as welI. After watching the video, I can now understand the overlapping symptoms.

Here is another link for latest information on autism in women specifically.

spectrumwomen.com

I hope this helps in expanding your horizons. It certainly did for me.

[whirlygirl16]

Hi thereI just watched the video and it is very interesting indeed. For a long time now i believe I'm autistic as well as having trauma. I've always felt different to other people from a young child. I have never been diagnosed. I took an online test and it said i had moderate Asperger's. I'm in my fifties now and would feel silly saying it to my GP is there any other way to get diagnosed?

[Catz128 in reply to whirlygirl16]

Hi Whirlygirl16

I'm glad you found your truth.

I have linked another video which highlights autism in women.

7 Signs of autism in women.

youtu.be/HfalX7DJbdk(Not working as expected?)

You might identify more then.

[whirlygirl16 in reply to Catz128]

Oh thank you Catz that's very thoughtful of you x

[Willothewisp81 in reply to whirlygirl16]

Hi whirlygirl16,

I'm 43 and ended up going down the private route for my autism diagnosis as I had just come out the other side of a 3 and 2 year waiting process for my boys autism diagnosis on the NHS and I just could not cope with more waiting.

It was not cheap and I thought for a long time that self diagnosis was enough but as I had noticed a huge link between my FND flare ups and sensory or social overload I decided I really needed to know for sure.

The great thing for me is that after I was diagnosed I had a neuropsychology referral as part of my FND care and the neuropsychologist was really autism aware, this meant that for the first time (I've had plenty of therapy over the years) I received therapy that looked at my experiences through the lense of autism and it made a huge difference to understanding myself and reframing my life. The neuropsychologist also mentioned that a really high proportion of women she sees with FND are either diaganosed or suspect they are autistic, she said she thinks it is because women tend to use such a lot of energy masking and this extends to times when they are distressed or overwhelmed and therefore the nervous system becomes silently burntout. Having a diagnosis has not changed much in some ways but in others it has changed everything for me. If you are interested in understanding female experiences of autism I would highly recommend this podcast squarepeg.community/podcast/

[whirlygirl16 in reply to Willothewisp81]

Hi Willothewisp Àfter reading your message to me, which I'm very grateful for and thank you for the link as well. I think i may also look at going the private route. I don't want a two to three year wait like you had with your boys that's shocking! I can imagine that knowing you are autistic now is such a relief to understand why you behave differently to others? You feel like an alien and that you don't quite belong that's how i feel anyway. Do you feel the same? x

[Willothewisp81 in reply to whirlygirl16]

yes I think I always felt different and like I was running to keep up but it wasn't until I developed FND and had to stop, that I realised that all my goals and all the things I have carried shame about for not completing or not being able to do, were based on neurotypical expectations and I had spent most of my life stuck in the threat response of 'fawning' and had been using all my energy people pleasing to stay under the radar and feel safe.

[whirlygirl16 in reply to Willothewisp81]

I really get where you are coming. I've been exactly the same for most of my life and it's been exhausting. Hopefully with more research and steps forward they will find more help and more ways for us to cope better in life because i find it so hard🤞 x

[Van604]

Thanks so much for posting this - it's so clear and informative. Prof Edwards at St George's in London has been doing studies on the link between autism and FND. He told me many of his FND patients have autism. Autism wasn't even suggested to me until I was 60! (This was by a psychologist). My neuropsychiatrist just kept insisting that my FND had to be a result of psychological trauma, even though the trauma couldn't be identified. Over the course of 2 years, this had the effect of gaslighting and resulted in medical PTSD. I used to be the happy, fulfilled type of autistic person; now I'm anxious and depressed. I'm so glad people like the guy in the video, my psychologist and Prof Edwards are out there trying to make sense of all this.

[Catz128 in reply to Van604]

Hi Van604

Thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm glad you did not give up on finding out the right diagnosis, in spite of your bad experience. I firmly believe that if we arm ourselves with knowledge, we have solved part of our illness/conditions.