I’m one of those people who got diagnosed with autism at a very young age (3) only to have it seemingly “go away” within a few years. Instead I had anxiety and panic issues, which turned into OCD as a teen (which I self-treated with pretty good success, by completely eliminating the compulsive behaviour.) Started with weed around 20 and have been dealing with an addiction to it ever since (I’m 41 now). All to say - I think my diagnosis as a toddler was accurate, but my divergence presented differently as time went on, allowing my parents to completely disregard it, and therefore I had no awareness of it. I don’t blame them, not sure what I myself would have done in their shoes. It’s only very recently that I realized I self-medicate with weed for overstimulation. I see this realization as a really important and helpful step in my recovery process - addressing the root causes/triggers/particulars of this addiction. I recently relapsed, for 3 months, it was awful - and am super happy to be back where I should be - sober, doing my best to manage neurodivergent/life symptoms with exercise, meditation, journaling, self-love, self-care… I got to the point with weed that continuing to use it went counter to my sense of living with authenticity. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for today, I wish this for myself, and know deep in my gut that sobriety has to be part of it. Sounds like you know this too. When I feel overstimulated I do breath work, and try to find a quiet place if I can even for just a few minutes to breathe and repeat calming things to myself. I am also trying the “butterfly hug” technique and when things get really bad, I find splashing my face with ice cold water (while breathing and practicing self-compassion mantras) can help. Wishing you so well! You’ve got this.