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mystranger
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Age: 39
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Location: Albuquerque, NM

09 Sep 2014, 2:16 pm

This is just a thought I had, and I don't know if anyone has posted this.

I've taken ritalin ever since I was seven. Now that I'm working in an autism classroom and helping to teach them what they have, I'm noticing that I have things in common with the students. I've found myself wondering if my years of ritalin have masked another potential diagnosis (Aspergers was not in the DSM until 94, and I was tested in late 94/95).

Am I the only one who has had this thought?



Protogenoi
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15 Sep 2014, 9:23 pm

mystranger wrote:
This is just a thought I had, and I don't know if anyone has posted this.

I've taken ritalin ever since I was seven. Now that I'm working in an autism classroom and helping to teach them what they have, I'm noticing that I have things in common with the students. I've found myself wondering if my years of ritalin have masked another potential diagnosis (Aspergers was not in the DSM until 94, and I was tested in late 94/95).

Am I the only one who has had this thought?


Ritalin is an psycho-stimulant often used, and overused, for ADHD. The drug is Methylphenidate. It could very well have masked your autism. The use of which is often thought help with the supposed sub-performance of the dopamine and norepinephrine in the ADHD brain. If you didn't have the sub-performance of dopamine and norepinephrine, it would likely have overwhelmed you and put you into a shutdown mode though. However, it should be noted that the dopamine and norepinephrine theory has faced heavy criticism as of late a new evidence shows that that chemical imbalance is only present in a small minority and that an equal amount of people with the chemical imbalance don't manifest symptoms. Often psyche drugs work without us knowing why. We also have a bad habit of not testing to see if someone's chemicals are out of line. The drug itself is not nearly as predictable as you'd think...

Side affects that could hide higher functioning autism could potentially include:
Somnolence
Hypomania
Lethargy

A bit of lethargy could stop stims and could stop a singular interest.

The side affects of ritalin include:
Dyskinesia - uncontrollable tics
Irritability
Hypersensitivity
Anxiety/Nervousness
Manic behavior
(abdominal pain)

^The above side affects could potentially mimic parts of the Autistic Spectrum. Quite possibly, some of those side affects might become permanent after extended use.

Just be glad you didn't get the priapism side affect.