What Are the Common Traits of Autism?

For me it was severe anxiety and sensory issues

Sensory issues was the first thing and that was really significant for me. After that I learned about shutdowns and meltdowns. Special interests and stimming were the next things for me

Recommenting since my first reply went way off-topic; I haven't taken my ADHD meds yet. I'm self-identifying as autistic at the moment, since the diagnosis would do more harm than good at this point in my life. Any accommodations I could ask for are covered by my anxiety or ADHD diagnoses already. So I originally started looking into autism when I was 15 or 16 because of sensory overload; I'd had a bad episode of sensory overload at summer camp, which was the first time I can recognize having such, but I wonder how many other times I was overloaded before I knew how to recognize it. I shelved the idea for a short while, because I also have GAD and c-PTSD, which can both come with sensory overload, supposedly. After I got diagnosed with ADHD, though, I ended up looking into ASD again. I know it's a little different when you have both, versus one or the other, but here's what made me notice things: - Going on trips, even ones I'm excited for, really screw with me emotionally; it messes with my routines, so I can't do my normal before-bed activities and everything is different. Also, I can't bring my weighted blanket. - I stim pretty often, and even more so, now that I'm trying to unlearn shame associated with "seeming autistic". I flap, I rock, I spin, and I fucking l o v e pressure and movement. It turns out that I'd be considered sensory-seeking for vestibular and proprioceptive input! - music would definitely count as a special interest for me. Music has been as essential to me as breathing for the past 15 years, and I definitely treat it very differently than any allistics I've met. - Sensory issues. Last night I had sensory overload from hell. Even with my eyes closed and covered, the literal darkness was still too bright. I can usually deal with sensory input if I'm well-rested and mentally okay, but if I'm tired or upset, who knows? - Adding onto that, I would be considered sensory-sensitive to light and sound, sensory-seeking for taste, movement and pressure, and sort of in between for smell and touch. - Let's not even get into social issues, my unsolicited nickname in elementary school was literally E.T. - Most importantly to me, I had a lot of things I thought I might have, on top of things I'm actually diagnosed with. I've been diagnosed with ADHD, generalized anxiety, and PTSD, but going off of diagnostic criteria for issues I couldn't explain, there were times I also thought I might have OCD, SPD, selective mutism, and cluttered speech. Turns out, these are all issues seen in ASD, and when you pair that with... well, everything else about me... I know the puzzle piece logo is frowned upon for good reason, but it feels like "autistic" was the picture on the box that explains all these "pieces" of me, if that makes sense.

The noise sensitivity started my journey to finding a more clear diagnosis. I thought it was medical so I started there. I still think some vitamins from my Dr could help lessen the severity of this specific issue. But I found TicTok and quickly discovered I had so incredibly much in common with the ADHD community there that i asked my mental health Dr about it. He said, yes. They've known I was for a very long time. I asked why they didn't tell me, they stubbled over incomprehensive words for a minute. I let it go.

I went my whole life thinking everyone dealt with a certain amount of nausea, until I talked to some friends about it and no one could relate to me. And then it led me to discover that I had a lot of sensory issues that my body would alert me about through gagging, and also that I couldn’t tell if I was hungry which led me to only ever feel starvation which would make me nauseous. I had even thought I had an eating disorder in the past but knew that didn’t quite fit what I was going through. That’s what opened up the floodgates for me, after that I was surprised by how many other things about me fit with an Autism diagnosis.

Social difficulties (except with other autistic people), sensory sensitivity, masking, difficulty with eye contact, executive disfunction, emotional regulation issues, stimming. (And loosely related my anxiety and depression all relating to the above issues)

Stimming like crazy, being very specific about routine and how I do things and meltdowns over sensory issues

I haven't been diagnosed with ADHD, but I definitely do have hyper fixations fidgeting and stimming and sensory issues and I've had quite a few meltdowns here and there

Well it started out with an ADHD diagnosis. But hyperfixations, fidgeting/stimming, sensory issues, and very rarely even meltdowns.