17 Year Old Boy Who Screams

by Aedan G.
(United States)

Last Spring, when I was still 16, a couple of people told me that it was believed by doctors that I had had Autism when I was younger. I met some symptoms, but not enough that I felt it applied to me.

I went into the hospital for a Depression related incident only a couple of weeks later, and many of the symptoms from childhood reemerged. I did not know how to handle it at all, and had several intense shrieking episodes over the course of that month.

I have always been very sensitive to sound, but that and the amount of stimulants and general palpable aggression there gave me an exaggerated response. At that time, I was also diagnosed with PTSD, so I attributed the response to that.

Then, recently, I had a other episode and remembered tonight talking about a number of other sensory issues I have with people. For example, I cannot eat off of a metal fork and the texture of my laptop sleeve bothers me so much that I leave my brand new computer unsheathed. It turns out I have over 3/4 of these symptoms, but I never even considered that my quirks (which are often almost hindering) could be the sign of a real condition because I have always performed well and my more extreme outbursts are rare.

I always dismissed my more minor moments and my clumsiness and all of these other things as being just aspects of my personality.