Meds.

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I take Gabapentin for migraines and Olanzapine for schizophrenia.

I'm just wondering if anyone could share their experiences of taking psychotropic medications are?

Is anyone here hypo or hypersensitive to meds?

I'm on 25mg Olanzapine, which is above the BNF maximum. Yet i an barely sedated by it and my appetite is normal. My blood values are normal too. And I'm not overweight. And I still experience symptoms of schizophrenia. That's the seventh antipsychotic I've tried (Clozapine went very badly).

Gabapentin on the other hand, knocks me out at 900mg/day so I'm on 600mg/day. I still find it hard to concentrate on it.

What about you all with your meds?

Does the "differently wired" autistic brain react differently to meds than to non-autistics? I've read that it does.

I do well on the meds I'm on now. I've never been on Olanzapine, or Gabapentin, so I can't give you much of my experience there. Although I've been on at least 20 other psychotropic meds. I do have a question for you, though. You are dx'ed Schizophrenic and Autistic? The doctor who did my evaluation said that wasn't possible, that if a psychotic disorder better explains it, you can't be diagnosed with autism. Is she just wrong, or is it different for everyone, or...? Sorry, don't mean to take over your thread, I just really wanted to ask you that.

I have taken quite a few medications though most of them have not worked. I have tried various anti-depressants prozac, wellbutrin, celexa, effexor and all those just made me more anxious/edgy. I have been prescribed a couple anti-histimines for anxiety which do not work as for one they don't really help the mental part of the anxiety if anything maybe sedate the body....and also I hate the way anti-histimines make my head feel makes me feel detatched and like theres a big fluffy cloud in my head so yeah those are no good. Once in the psych ward they tried giving me seroquel for anxiety and sleep and it just made me irritable and tired.

I also had zyprexa prescribed to help my depression which I did not get since that's an anti-psychotic, either way didn't work just made me feel entirely numb and uninterested in everything. I have had Gabapentin, it wasn't prescribed just got ahold of some and tried it a couple times just for the hell of it and I actually did sort of like the effects it caused a sort of mellow yet pleasant feeling I can see how it could knock someone out in a high dose though....does it do a good job of helping migraines?

Currently I take valium for anxiety, which works alright and doesn't cause issues like I had with klonopin(that one was way addictive and I got a little out of control), trazodone for sleep and I have a new prescription for the generic of Lamictal to potentially help the depression, kind of unsure about starting taking it though.

I have paradoxical reactions.

When I was on methyphenidate for my ADHD and was prescribed too high a dose, I turned into a narcoleptic zombie. I really had to fight to stay awake, and my brain functioning was stuck in that "just woke up" state where you can't think properly and it's like you're in slow motion, until the medication wore off.

Ive been good with my meds too. Only once did I get a rash with a new medication that went away on its own.

Schizophrenia and autism can exist together and be diagnosed, if the autism symptoms are traceable from a very young age, but the schizophrenia symptoms come later.

I've shown autistic symptoms from a toddler age according to my parents, although they said that when I was born, I only slept 4-5 hours a day in total, and that I would cry and scream for most of the day.

I first started spring schizophrenia symptoms at age 12. When I was in primary school you wouldn't have seen any major mental illness in me at all.

I took 0.5mg Clonazepam yesterday for severe anxiety and it only made me 50% calmer and not at all sedated. I could try 1mg next time I suppose. But I don't often use Clonazepam so I'm not sure why I am getting reduced efficacy. It could be because my liver has become so used to metabolising numerous drugs, I can take 20mg Olanzapine at night and fight it so I can stay up several hours. My mum once (stupidly) took 5mg of my Olanzapine (to help her sleep apparently) and she slept for almost a whole day continuously. She became dehydrated as a result.

used to be on 600mg of gabapentin as well for trigeminal neuralgia,was absolutely sedated by it and it caused a stroke like reaction with half of body dropped and drooling out of that side.

am on 5mg of haliperidol [anti pyschotic] a day for severe challenging behavior & extreme autistic related anxiety and dont get sedated on it,even though its highly potent and a terrible one for sedation.

am on over 1000mg of tegretol SR for epilepsy and mood related challenging behavior,dont get sedated by it.

am on 120mg of cymbalta [SNRI anti depressant] and DO get sedated by it,however yesterday the pyschiatrist changed it to prozac because its more suited to autistic behaviors and she was surprised to find had not been on it already.

am on a small dose;6mg of diazepam a day,for severe challenging behavior,reduced dose as am coming off it,was never sedated by it even at a high level.

with things like like codeine/opiates/morphine am stimulated by them and become interactive and hyperactive,even on 10mg of IV morphine or oramorph [oral morphine liquid].

KingdomOfRats, how is your challenging behaviour now that you're on the meds?

My challenging behaviour seems to stem from both autistic overload and delusional thinking from schizophrenia. I've been in secure units several times because the general adult psych ward couldn't handle me apparently. I remember being convinced I had to save the world from dictatorship and that I would become God if I did (which is odd as I'm not religious). When the police came to my house, I kicked them, shoved them, screamed swear words at them etc. It was a mixture of overload and extreme paranoia / voices. I ended up handcuffed in the back of a police van and somehow I managed to self harm.

I was on 20mg Haloperidol (5mg 4x a day) for schizophrenia. It dulled my cognition so I stopped taking it. Ended up sectioned and they forcibly gave me Zuclopenthixol IM which did nothing, but then I agreed (through coercion) to start on 15mg Olanzapine. Olanzapine has been the best antipsychotic for me. I'm classified as "severe / treatment-resistant" as I still hear voices evey day for hours, I hallucinate visually frequently, I get debilitating paranoia, especially when I go out, etc, but Olanzapine, even though it doesn't kill off the psychosis, mellows me down to the point that I can get useful things done. I don't get severe negative symptoms thankfully. I'm diagnosed as paranoid-type schizophrenia (F20.0) which generally presents with less negative symptoms and mostly positive symptoms.

I used to be on Clomipramine for severe OCD but it made me go manic and I had severe constipation on it. So I had to come off it and now the Olanzapine helps, at a high dose, with my OCD, although I still count almost everything and I get symmetry / ordering compulsions as well as frequent obsessional thoughts.

OCD I can deal with (sort of) but schizophrenia has f***ed me about too much.