Topic: Could I have been born with this?

I can't give you any answers, and given the personal and relatively obscure nature of Alexi, I doubt anyone else can. But I'll give you what I think based on personal experience and observations.

Alexi is considered a personality trait, and our personalities are equal parts biology and history. But it seems quite possible that, given enough biological predisposition, someone could be Alexi from a very young age.

Personally, I think my dad has many traits indicative of Alexi, which I definitely inherited or learned or both. But, given that we're not prone to "heart-to-heart" talks, I can't say if we experience the same thing. I also think that, though I may have had some traits to begin with, there was a tipping point that occurred from a particular personal experience. Which means that I think that Alexi for me owes as much to my history as it does to my biology.

If you have had Alexi for a long time, then it might be more difficult for you to learn how to deal with the disconnect with the rest of the world. Or it might even make it easier, I don't know.

I am happy to finally find a name for this and happy to find this forum. It is a major disruption to live with this.

I'm in my late 50's and have been aware of this since my 20's, but there was no name for it, and people would look at me funny.

I don't understand why people can know INSTANTLY that they don't like something you said, and for me, it takes me 48 hours to sometimes two weeks to figure out that something someone said has upset me. By then, the person with doesn't remember that they said it and they won't talk to me.

This has really been an ongoing issue with my Mother, who is still alive. She thinks I shouldn't "wait so long" before telling her I was upset with her.

I'M NOT WAITING! It's just that it took me a long time to process something she said or did.

This has really been an issue in relationships. I have given up on them. Never married, but I made that decision when I was 12.

I did the "quiz" and it showed I have "possible" alexithymia, but each separate "category" showed nothing specific.

well, my issue is that sometimes I feel "something" but cannot put a word to it. I don't know that I'm angry, sad, happy, whatever. Someone will say something to me, I get a physical reaction, but cannot describe the "feeling." It takes me 48 hours to two weeks to process it. And I get told, "don't hold things in." Well, I'm not "holding" it in, I just can't describe it.

I love the current TV show SCORPION as I can relate to all the characters. However, I think the main character, Walter O'brien, is more autistic and not alexithymic.

My mom told me that when I was born, the doctor used forceps and the forceps smashed my head to the point where the top of my head was at my eyebrows. In a couple days, my head snapped back into place.

I am rather bright, but I don't think I have the high IQ of the people in SCORPION. And I doubt I could get into Mensa. But I am considered pretty smart.

Nice to meet you all.

Des,
You have a lot of Asperger's symptoms. Half of all people with Asperger's have sky high Alexi scores, so at 131 you could still be part of the other half. If you have Asperger's then you were probably born with Alexi.Try the AQ test (wired.com has it), and if you score 32 or higher then you probably have AS (which means your Alexi is "low").

Dave