Medication for Autism

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Hi. I have been taking Fluoxetine (Prozac) for a couple months now. At first, when I started to use it is was amazing how motivated it made me and the difference it made in how well I could process my thoughts and keep calm in situations where I'd normally get angry. In the last couple weeks I've noticed that I am a bit more tired and don't have the same motivational drive as I did when I first started to take it.

Not meaning to be disgusting on purpose but it can make my bowels quite loose as well which is putting me off it.

So does anyone have any tips on getting the best effect from Fluoxetine?

And can anyone tell me about any other medications, preferably anti-depresants, that can be used for treating autism because I may condsider asking for a change.

I was on citralopam before it was not for me. Felt far too spaced out and touch with reality.

Thanks

If the drug is working well on your mental and emotional states, then maybe you should adjust your diet and take more exercise improve your bowel function. Changing drugs should be a last resort because you will just run into a whole new set of side effects without necessarily solving this one.

Drink plenty of fluids and eat plenty of fibre, including fibre supplements if necessary.

Thanks! I'm eating a lot of fiber and fluids as it is but it feels like fluids are almost going straight through me sometimes.

Away to replace bran flakes with porridge though. It is slower to dighest and is also good for absorbing cholestral.

Think I will stick to my medication for now but out of interest, what other medications are commonly used for autism?

I tried Sertraline, which did nothing for me. Mirtazepine, which helped a little with my anxiety and insomnia and lifted my mood a little for a while, but it absolutely knocked me out and had no energy or motivation, could not even walk up the stairs without feeling like I was going to collapse.

I've only been on Venlafaxine for two months - I've been through a severe bout of depression that I'm still not fully out of and so it's really hard to tell yet if they are working. I certainly feel a lot more energetic, and have felt more sociable and less anxious, and have noticed no bad side effects apart from for the first week or so - apart from sweating a lot and having strange dreams which I can cope with.

All drugs have side effects, it just depends whether you think the benefits are worth putting up with them. If you change drugs then the side effects could be a whole lot worse.

fiber is great but maybe you should cut the fiber a little to get rid of the diarrhea. Maybe add a probiotic(they really helped
with diarrhea when I had it.)

though I am at a point where medication is far from my mind...and have come to the conclusion it does more harm then good (From much experience....)

Buspirone is a good one....takes a month to work and has a low side effect profile.

Did wonders for my anxiety/overall focus but then i started getting a wierd electricity jolt feeling....though the side effect I got is rare and unlikely.

My current "medication" is just omega 3-6-9, a time released multivitamin, and black tea.

Best combo I've tried yet..

Thanks for the replies. I am going to look some of these things up.

I have a lot of different points to make to this question. My kids were on all sorts of antidepressants through the years. There were on Fluvoxamine (Luvox) the longest, with a good run on Zoloft. I think it is very common to need to increase the dose as time goes on. I would say talk to your doc because there are so many out there you do not need to deal with bowl issues.

I agree with what everyone has said about increasing the water you drink and increase the protein you take. I find I need to take iron daily to keep me feeling not tired. Plus that would help with the loose stools. Watch the sleep and yes exercise.

My son drinks this protein drink for football to build his muscles that he has me make for him. Long story short, now I drink it more than he does. What I do is take a scoop of Muscle Milk, 8 oz milk, 1 packet of oatmeal (for my cholesterol), 2 Tablespoons P-nut butter, and perhaps a fruit, mixed in the blender with a ton of crushed ice. This makes a whole pitcher and I drink that for breakfast and lunch and I am never hungry and feel great because my blood sugar is balanced.

Maybe google Brain Gym, they have activities to do to help both sides of your brain connect and this helps you feel less tired.

I could probably give my opinion for another hour on your email but I will stop now.

Wishing you all the best.

BTW- I am on Effixor for hot flashes from chemotherapy. What a difference at first but found to help my depression I needed to go up. But warning with this med and it's generic you have to REALLY watch to make sure you take it around the same time every day. If you miss a dose....you might as well just stay in bed the whole next day it really screws you UP!

Thanks for that advice I think it is probably protein I am missing because i tried to eat less of it after calculating i was going over my daily protein amount. That is probably what is missing.

You might also see if lowering the dose slightly helps any. Temple Grandin says she believes spectrum people should be started on 1/3 of a normal dose because we tend to be so much more sensitive to medications. She said that she takes something like 1/3 to 1/2 the normal dose of her anti-anxiety medication and it gives her the results without unpleasant side effects.

From my experience with anti-depressants I can tell you that you may have to get the dosage increased after a while because it becomes less effective over time. I have not been on Prozac, but I have been Effexor, Risperdal, Lamictal, Amitriptaline, Wellbutrine, and Citalopram. All were the same as far as having to increase dosage, except for Wellbutrin.

I currently take Wellbutrin (buproprion) and Ritalin, both in the smallest effective dosage, and I have been taking this since May of this year. I was diagnosed with ADHD-I, but my doctor agreed that I had a lot of autistic traits. He just felt that I would be helped most by treating the ADHD. He was right, and it has helped me immensely. He also said that his treatment for me would not have been any different with an Aspergers or HFA diagnosis.

That said- tell you doctor that you are losing motivation again and see what he or she recommends. It may just be a tweak in the medicine.

Was on luvox for awhile but I find that more "natural" treatments help without weird side-effects. the omega 3-6-9 capsuls plus ginko biloba work as far as attention and having a more stable mood. For me its mostly about working with my depression and inattention.

I go the supplement/diet/exercise route as well. For me, the ones that have made a difference for me are: magnesium (but only the powdered kind you mix in hot water. The pills do nothing for me except make my stomach hurt.), D3 (5000 IU/day, gelcaps), B-complex with a megadose of B-12 (liquid, administered under the tongue), and I go on and off 5-HTP on an as-needed basis (tapering up to as many as three 100mg capsules per day, if needed, and then tapering back off them when I sense the need for them has passed.)

I'm like a different person when I'm keeping up with my pills.

I also eat a diet of whole foods with no gluten, dairy, eggs, meat, MSG, artificial sweeteners, or caffeine. This helps both my health and my frame of mind. For those who wonder what's left, I eat lots of salads, smoothies, home-made chips and crackers, homemade fruit and vegetable juices, home-made soups, mung-bean noodles with pasta sauce, brown rice and veggies. I don't specifically exclude soy, but I don't make it a regular part of my diet.

For exercise, right now my focus is on making sure I get at least 2000 steps on my pedometer every day (that's about one mile for my pace-length.) Some days I double or even triple that count, but if I haven't hit 2000, I force myself to get up and walk someplace. I have plans for increasing my exercise later, but I have to increase in small bits or I burn out and then my pedometer has a big zero on it for sevreal days in a row.

If I'm vigilant about all of the above, I have amazing coping abilities. If I let any of it slide -- supplements or diet or exercise -- I start getting more anxious, more depressed, more reclusive, etc. It's a lot more to keep track of and a lot harder work than just taking a pharmaceutical, but I have such nasty side effects from most pharmaceuticals that they're not really an option for me anyway. (We're talking side-effects that send me to the emergency room for an injection so I can turn my head and open my mouth again! Not side-effects to ignore or play around with. My understanding is that people with the sort of side-effects I get can develop permanent tardive dyskenesia (sp?) if they keep taking the meds.)