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hyder13
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24 May 2009, 2:13 pm

The main reason I was diagnosed(originally with a severe care of autism) was because I wasn't talking or showing any signs of interaction until I was about 4 years old. Apparently I had some sort of major breakthrough around 4 and a half years old and I started talking and reading very quickly(now Im a polyglot). Now Im diagnosed(since around 5) with Aspergers but I havent seen a psychiatrist or doctor about it since I was 9 and I havent been on any meds at all. Although I desperately need medication for depression and anxiety(which is slowly ruining my life). My mom just kinda avoided talking about what I had and treated me like a normal child, which I am grateful for, but I do have some pretty bad mental problems.
Anyway I have been living with severe anxiety and depression my entire life and am now finally about to see a doctor to get some medication for it. Now to fellow people with AS, does medication or therapy actually help or is it just useless?



WardenWolf
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24 May 2009, 2:50 pm

Medication can help for some of the secondary conditions that often go with Aspergers, such as depression and anxiety. For me, antidepressants saved my life.


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ignisfatuus
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24 May 2009, 3:09 pm

Meds work for some, and not for others. I've been on seven, including Nardil, which is at the top of the anxiety psychopharmacological pyramid, and they did nothing for me except make me sleepy. The side effects from Nardil would take a page to fill and turn your stomach. Another drug, Moclobemide, caused me to lose my sense of taste within a day of taking it. I nearly crashed into a teleophone pole on 1.5 mg of Klonopin, a quarter of the maximum possible dose. I took Cymbalta last year, and developed a pressure in my groin that causes me to urinate every 15 to 20 minutes. It has been there for 8 months now despite my having stopped taking the drug last October.

So clearly, drugs are evil to me, and I would dearly love to carve one of those f*****g psychiatrists up. But that is a biased opinion ;)


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KingdomOfRats
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24 May 2009, 4:49 pm

am have another form of autism,but have been extremely helped by meds,life saving to extent.
Meds originally helped am to discriminate between people and objects,which resulted in rarely ever going for people when set off or in meltdowns,but they have never reduced it towards self or objects.
They help am be hyper interactive to an extent in the form of actions with those am have built a long routine with [eg,hiding their keys,bag,coat,throwing things at them,putting a brown crayon mark on the toilet seat so it looks like someones pooed on it,wiping hair gel or whatever can find on door handles etc],otherwise it's akin to being a deaf horse with blinkers on.
They have lessened the severity of 'incidents' and meltdowns slightly.
They make am less likely to abscond.
The highest dose am get numbs senses so am not as in agony as usual from them [highest dose being at night,cant have it the same at every doseage as am already on the max dose possible].
They're not sleep meds,but they help am get tired [not that they do any good],neuro wants to prescribe a sleeping drug but he's trying to see if getting night staff to alter night routine long term helps,it hasnt worked and knew it wouldnt.

Meds can help a lot of autism and AS as well as the comorbids,they can make Autists be able to communicate and interact,they can numb accute senses,sensory overload and 'anxiety' problems,they can reduce meltdowns and/or the length of them,they can reduce challenging behavior,they can reduce obsessive and OCD like problems and so on.
But meds work very differently on everyone,what is one persons quality of life giver is another persons zombie drug,it's best to find out about different drugs,and go to doctor about possibility of getting medication.


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LostAlien
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24 May 2009, 6:32 pm

I, thankfully, haven't needed meds really but I've heard from others who did that they sometimes were very sensitive to them and needed child doses rather than adult doses, I've also heard from some that they needed stronger meds than the usual. Only reason why I've posted this is make you aware of this. Hope it turns out well for you. Take care of yourself.



GeneralDisarray
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24 May 2009, 7:47 pm

I have severe anxiety and depression and meds have really helped me. It took a lot of trial and error, unfortunately, but now I've finally found the ones that work for me. I'd say look into it, and if it doesnt work out, it doesnt work out. But if it does help, then you may find that life can be a bit easier to cope. Also, therapy has helped me a lot, I've learned ways to deal with stress and other things.


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Ana54
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24 May 2009, 8:24 pm

Celexa and antipsychotics saved my soul to an extent. Now I'm on 10 mg of loxapine succinate, an old antipsychotic. I was thinking of going back on an antidepressant but I don't know if I need it. If my mood goes down again to the point where I can't get out of bed again, I'll probably get one.



MattShizzle
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24 May 2009, 8:29 pm

I'm on Celexa too (well, technically Citalopram, the generic equivalent. ) 60 mg a day which is the maximum dose. Guess if that ends up not enough I'll get some pill that has a sad face with that circle with the slash through over it called "no i-hi-hi" "I-hi-hi" has always been the way I wrote the sound of crying (a short i sound , not long - all I sounds in it are like the "i" in "this" not in "bike".)



886
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25 May 2009, 1:31 pm

anti-depressants and anti-psychotics might as well have saved my life.

I pretty much don't think I could function without them. Too bad I have no function without them, 'cuz I can't afford em.


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hyder13
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25 May 2009, 9:54 pm

thanks alot posters, I'll go see my doctor on the 3rd for a refferal. Thanks to you I actually see some hope :D



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25 May 2009, 10:30 pm

I take an anti-depressant for PMDD (severe pms), luckily the PMDD is now regular pms. The pills have also made me less obsessive.


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