I was diagnosed with OCD as a kid and rediagnosed with ASD more recently. Both have compulsions that can cause emotional anguish if not completed and hyperfixations that take a lot of mental energy. It's *why* the ritual and fixations occur for each that is the main difference. ASD rituals are self-soothing routines and the fixations we experience are special interests we typically enjoy. OCD rituals are anxiety driven and performed to mitigate the affect of an obsessive fear-based fixation. The comorbidity rate is pretty high between the two, so having both is a possibility. Feel free to message me if you want to talk about it more ☺️ Also, I am not an expert and this is based mostly on my personal experience and research, so if anyone sees this who knows better, please correct me if you feel inclined.

I'm actually in the same boat as you and would like to know more as well. I'm sorry I can't help with answers though.

I might have ASD, my therapist told me to look into it. But my OCD is anxiety and fear rooted so I am diagnosed with that. But I think sometimes it does overlap because there are rituals that I do that aren't about fear but more about them being soothing to me

OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is in Fact a Form of Anxiety Disorder

As others have said they are very highly correlated. Also ADHD & Autism. If you have one there is a high likelihood you have the other. I have social anxiety disorder and a lot of the symptoms are very much the same as an autistic who masks. For me, I kind of decided it didn't really matter too much to figure out which it was, because either way I needed to deal with the symptoms. I assume I have both though.

Could be Lyme or Babesia.

I have always struggled with diagnosis because I too don't fit into a singlar "box". My doctors/professionals primarily treat me non diagnostic-ly (without a focus on diagnosis, just me as a person). I have found this very helpful, and now we only look at diagnoses to inform medication choices and for the official ticks in the boxes (e.g. benifits)