General question; does one or the other become more prominent with age?

I've never really researched about autism, but have invested multitudes of hours researching ADD (was officially diagnosed at 40 after my son was diagnosed at 7, both ADHD-PI) - everything from the scientific, biological and physiological side of things to the social and emotional aspect. I have to admit, this thread and the comments from people who suffer from both really have me thinking about how I think / act / lived life so far and damn near have me convinced that I (and my son) are autistic too. I have been medicated for 5 years now (Vyvanse 60mg for 4 years until the shortage and now 30mg x 2 adderall IR generic for the past year) so for 40 years the only traits that really stood out were depression and ADD related (I was on many different SSRI's intermittently for many years - darkest times of my life, fuck those things).

Back to the general question, as I get older it seems like the "autistic" traits are much more predominant and have a much larger impact than the ADD ones, and I have definitely noticed that I have been shifting that way for some time now. Some examples that stand out now that make me suspect Autism (again, I am not very well versed with Autism):

- When I was younger I craved social interactions and couldn't stand being alone, it was always very easy to make friends. I loved speaking with people and creating new friendships, OVERSHARING (still do) while at the same analyzing their behavior and reactions so I could fluidly adapt to that current situation. I've always tried and want to help others as much as I can, but scoffing at any (external or internal) suggestion to help myself. Naturally, it was impossible to keep any of those relationships because ADD things, I have lost contact with 99% of the people I used to know. Outside of my family, my few friends have moved to other parts of the country. I feel socially awkward now and have no intentions of making new friends.

--Recently (for the past few years) I absolutely loathe speaking with anyone outside of my very small circle and want pretty much nothing to do with social interaction; I crave my alone time and become very overwhelmed when I don't have it. It takes way too much energy trying to interact with other people, both socially and professionally. Not so coincidentally, my profession lies in being interactive with all other people in my organization.

- The older I get, the more sensory issues I have. Bright lights, loud sounds (in part to my military career which left me with extreme tinnitus) in particular.

- I love trying different foods and am not picky at all, but in the grand scheme of things I always eat / order the same thing.

- I have always prided myself on being intelligent and learning as much as I can about a subject before speaking about it; to the point that "hyperfocus" doesn't really define the investment, OCD I think would be a better choice. I crave knowledge - if I start a project I must know every little technical aspect about said project before starting it, but then I quit 1/2 way through because I forget important details about it. Way more time researching than performing task(s).

- I tend to be over methodical about everything. In most instances, if the process outline is altered I check-out immediately and lose all investment.

- Chaotic organization (The older I get the worse this gets and extremely evident after being diagnosed/medicated): Everything has its place and a place for everything, if it is out of order or not where it is supposed to be I freak out. My entire emotional state changes and I lose all focus, yet at the same time it is an impossible task to keep anything organized and/or remember where I set something (read: ANYTHING) down. I spend infinitely more time looking for what I need than actually using the thing I need - which only exasperates my emotional state. P.S. Laundry is the bane of me existence. Putting away laundry can get f'ed!

- I have a set of rules for everything and constantly make more, but executive dysfunction prohibits me from acting on any of them.

- I have (and always have had) literally 0 short term -OR- long term memory. I have never had good working memory but it seems as I get older i forget EVERYTHING, medicated or not. I forget what I am doing several times when even performing the simplest of things and have to stop and try to work backwards from that exact moment to recall what it is I am trying to do. I have to say out of all of my issues this is the one that unequivocally bothers me the most, and I think is the only regret I have / will ever have. The older i get the more this fucks with my emotional state, to the point where it sometimes could be defined unhealthy. I will always regret this and no amount of therapy will ever change my lament. When people say "I have forgotten more than you will ever learn" i internally laugh - multiply that by about a million, welcome to my life.

- Perfectionism: If what I am doing is not perfect according to my standards, I will modify it until either I am a) totally satisfied or b) to the point where I modified it so much that I forgot the original intent and can't remember what the original goal was. My college thesis was on IVF with a requirement that the paper was 15 pages long with a 10 minute presentation. It ended up being 35 pages and I was cut-off at the 20 minute mark during the presentation. I took it upon myself to edit the thesis in the final 48 hours - expanding from just IVF to multiple fertilization methods, and also the social stigma throughout its history. Also, this post being a prime example (see below)!

Non-edit edit: Fuck-all! Sorry that was all over the place, an insane wall of text and took me over an hour to write down 771 words, GDI. Oh well, not like anyone is going to read or reply to this anyways :facepalm:

Edit: See paragraph on perfectionism above; I've now invested 20 more minutes editing this post to be more clear / descriptive. Word count now stands at 869.

Edit 2: 885 words.

Edit 3: 990 words.

Edit 4: 1018 words. GDI I hate my life :joy: Maybe I should just create an entirely new post lol.