Medication

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I'm currently on Effexor. It's an SNRI class psychiatric medication, and it's also supposed to help with obsessive thoughts.

Can medications like these distill the intensity of Aspergian special interests, since they counteract obsessive thinking, which is commonly associated with Autism?

I've been on 12 different antidepressants of various classes and none ever affected my special interests. Only periods of major depression affected my intensity of my interests.

Years ago I was on Effexor and I don't feel it had a noticeable impact on my special interests. I do feel it helped with my depression, OCD, irritability, and (possibly) anxiety. The down side was that it made me tired ALL the time. (Interestingly, I was just told that sedation is a common SSRI/SNRI side effect in autistics.) Also, coming off the Effexor was an absolute nightmare! (and that was with tapering down the dose.)

Effexor XR has the worst withdrawals of any antidepressant ever so don't ever miss a dose and if you decide to go off of it, wean off very slowly, even open the capsules and divide out the beads as the lowest dose size capsule is too large of an interval to avoid withdrawals regardless of what any doctor says otherwise.

I take Seroquel XR. It helps a lot with anxiety and mood swings caused by sensory overload. It doesn't dull me at all, just keeps me from fixating as much on things that aren't productive to fixate on and on a more even keel.

Opening the capsules and dividing out the beads (which I calculated to be roughly 1mg per bead in the generics) is exactly what I had to do. It was really annoying because my psychiatrist said that he never had a patient have trouble going off of Effexor if they tapered. I was tempted to go back just to tell him how hellish it was for me but I never bothered.

They tried to put me on Ritalin when I was a little girl. It turned me into a zombie.

I was on Zoloft for some time. I was less anxious, but I think it dulled me and held me back from life. I am doing much better without it.

I do take one medication which is absolutely crucial to my functioning. I won't disclose it for privacy purposes.

I'm taking 5-HTP as my anti-depressant. When I take it on it's own, It can make me feel very yawnish, but otherwise ok. I now take it with Ginkgo Biloba (which increases blood flow to the brain) and I feel perfectly awake.

Your psychiatrist was either being intellectually dishonest, willfully ignorant, or just flat out lying. Either way he is incompetent and should dropped off at the curb where he belongs.

I once had a dishonest psychiatrist try to claim that Effexor XR had no withdrawal, and he tried to use a logical fallacy to support his position by claiming he is right simply because he has been a psychiatrist for 25 years. I just laughed and called him right out to his face that he was an idiot and that I didn't give a damn how long he has been a doctor or where he went to school.

I quit having intense special interest after I started taking the seizure med Neurontin/Gabapentin for my OCD. Not having intense special interests is kind of a benefit thou because I can enjoy a wider range of activities instead of only doing one.

i am on truxal, and tranxene for anxiety

I was on Effexor for a long time and never noticed any difference in my special interests. I am currently on Gabapentin and my special interests are actually stronger than when I was younger. I've been on a lot of different medications and I don't think any of them have affected my special interests. It's probably different for every person though.