AS/autism and University/College/School

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Sorry to hear about your medication issues and episodes. They sound very disruptive. I think you are doing well to be in uni at the moment.

I think universities tend to be very helpful to students and they might agree to give your more allowances. Universities want their students to pass, not to fail, and it's not your fault that you happened to have an episode right before exams.

I was a little disappointed with my Honours degree as I had intentions towards a research post-graduate afterwards, but life goes on and you have to move forward. I also studied social work but that also didn't work out, there were a lot of reasons why but having AS played a role.

I'm starting to get that way with medication, although I'm not quite in the same ballpark as you. I've tried five AAPs and the only one that was beneficial was ziprasidone, but it caused random sedation and ultimately I had to come off because it was too disruptive. I don't know if the UK has the newer AAPs but there have been a few out lately, like Saphris, Latuda and Fanapt. I'm interested in trying out Saphris when it hits Australia, although I don't know when exactly.

Its ok, thank you. Unfortunately my mum was psychologically (and sometimes physically) abusive towards me for most of my childhood and teenagehood, so that caused numerous relapses. But I have been in supported housing for over two years now and I don't contact my mum anymore, which has helped me gain indepdendence and my mental health isn't affected by her anymore.

Thanks, I think it is good that I am in uni as I am working towards making a life for myself.

I am actually taking my chemistry exam this coming Friday and the university are giving me many allowances to try and make it an easier experience. The major achievement I made so far is changing my mindset: I won't try to get the highest mark possible (and stress myself out in the process, thus making my symptoms worse), I will just aim to pass. It has made things so much easier. I did A-level chemistry at school so I'm at an advantage anyway.

I am sorry to hear that your Honours degree was disappointing, but as you said "life goes on". AS does make some aspects of university more difficult, I agree.

None of those three new medications are available in the UK sadly, we don't seem to catch up fast enough here.

I am a pharmacology student aiming to specialise in psychopharmacology. If you want I can research those new medications in my textbooks for you and my other resources, and I can provide you some information? I really like researching meds in my textbooks so I'd be happy to help.

Ziprasidone can cause sedation like that. I am on olanzapine 20mg and aripiprazole 10mg; the olanzapine makes me sleep well (I had severe insomnia ever since I was born) i.e. 6-7 hours a night, but I do feel quite a bit tired during the day (I've eventually learnt that naps don't really help). The aripiprazole makes me wake up a bit though. What medication are you on right now? However I've been on 20mg olanzapine for over two years now and I think it is helping more than any other medication has as it is more of a serotonin antagonist than a dopamine antagonist - it works on my positive and my negative symptoms. The aripiprazole is a dopamine and 5HT1A partial agonist which helps with my negative symptoms mostly.