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Sufferers Stories:

Diane:
Asperger Syndrome  

Gary: Asperger syndrome and OCD 

Luis: OCD, depression , Aspergers syndrome and eye floaters
New e-mails October 2007

Steve: Brontophobia
( fear of thunderstorms) 

Lynda:
Anorexia nervosa, agoraphobia, panic disorder GAD.

Zed:
OCD, Tourettes syndrome, Trichotillomania

Christine:
OCD, depression, social anxiety/AS, GAD, ADD, Hyphochondria.

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Gary has Aspergers Syndrome AS as his primary condition with secondary OCD. Below is a selection of e-mails which Gary  has written which have some very useful information from the perspective of an AS and OCD sufferer.

Gary has also written two articles concerning his experiences at age five

Page one:  The Most Important Lessons

Hi Christine,

I found your blog comments re the Internet very interesting. I totally agree with what you say about the difficulties in using email, forums, chatrooms. For my other hobbies I have used all of these. Sadly, when things go wrong online, I often blame myself. Yes, there are jerks, spammers, flamers, trolls, etc. and I detest such people. However, I am probably more guilty than anyone on simple miscommunication. I love the internet (it makes communications like this one possible). However, I also long for the bygone days when people worked harder at communicating. The Internet is so fast I find it totally 'unforgiving.' Least little problem, people leave in a huff and set up somewhere else. Sad!

Thank you for your kind comments concerning my flawed article. You are the first person I have shared it with. You have my permission to put the article on the sufferers' page. You may also use this and my prior emails, including my email address. For future articles and emails you have my permission unless I specifically tell you otherwise.

You asked what I meant by 'pervasive dread of the future,' whether it related to fear of old age, death, or whatever. I will try to give you a direct answer to this very difficult question, but you will have to be patient.

Several years ago I read an article about the death of a middle-aged woman. Apparently alerted that something might be wrong, the authorities broke into the woman's house and found her dead. The coroner determined that she had been dead NINE months! The journalist who wrote the article was obviously appalled by the subject matter (I suppose that news articles are supposed to have cute angles, quick fixes, happy endings, and this one had none of that). She almost apologized for doing the article.

My initial reaction to reading the item was quite different. First, I thought, "This could happen to me (dying at home, not being found for some time)." My next reaction was, "Sad, but really not that bad either. The woman had died of a brain aneurism and didn't suffer for more than a few minutes. An obvious loner she got to die in her own safe domain among the things that she loved."

As an AS/OCD person I have spent much of my life keeping 'the wolves, real and imagined, at bay.' My greatest fear is that old age and disability will blow all those hard-won gains away.

They say that old age is like a second childhood. That certainly is no comfort for me. I didn't like my first experience. If it happens again I will have to take the trip as an orphan with little or no social support network. I cannot tolerate health care workers, except in small doses and  on my terms. The thought of living in an institution appalls me.
That is all I can say about this for now and I hope that you will not consider it a non-answer or an evasion of your question.

I just checked the KFA site and again found the 'drawings section' offline. I hope that will change soon. I would very much like to see your son Kevin's drawings!

Sincerely,

Gary

Gary has given his consent to publish the above e-mail correspondence, please be assured that I do not publish anyone's e-mail to me without his or her permission.  

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