3rd Psych tells me I either don't have autism or only have "mild autistic traits"
(Male, 23) Hello my lovely AuDHD people,I have a little bit of a rant here. ADHD has been extremely prevalent throughout my entire life, and everybody could tell I had it. But my sensory issues do not scream ADHD to me. I have a few of them, but the big one is with food. Texture of foods and bitterness of foods are a big issue for me, which leads to me avoiding vegetables unless they are very tame like carrots. I also don't like sauces on a lot of things, and prefer them to be dry or mildly seasoned. This isn't just disliking, I have tried many of these foods and I quite literally start gagging. Too many ingredients in one food item is a no-go for me as well. The other one is light sensitivity. I've been told this is just because I have blue eyes and live somewhere with intense sunlight, but I have to wear sunglasses outside half the time otherwise it's miserable. Sometimes even bright lights inside can bother me. I also would like to add that I only have a few narrow interests (tennis, politics, gaming, skin care, psychology, and learning new things in my college classes) and prefer to spend more time alone than with others. When I talk to folks with only ADHD, a lot of these things don't seem to be present for them. Despite this, 3 psychs now (2 are autism specialists) have said I "don't meet the criteria" and that these symptoms could be attributed to ADHD or anxiety. The last one said what I'm describing could be "mild autistic traits", but could also be ADHD since I become more social when I take stimulant meds (he said this generally doesn't happen with autism). I would love to hear some thoughts from you guys and if you've experienced this before.