Page 1 of 2 [ 23 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

Grue
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 15 Jul 2012
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 481
Location: Maine

06 Jan 2013, 4:24 pm

As I mentioned in another post, last spring I started Ritalin and I felt wonderful. Confident, smart, larger than life. I had a nice can-do attitude. I felt great. That's since worn off.

I was in a math class back then and I felt super good about myself when I was doing stuff right and it was sticking. One day, I forgot my morning dose and I felt like an idiot. I couldn't really do and understand the concepts that were being presented. I started to feel like a slave to my medication and that I'm going to have to be on it for life. Not a good feeling.

Anyone else feel that way?



jmnixon95
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Dec 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 20,931
Location: 미국

06 Jan 2013, 5:43 pm

yeah when i was like 10 or 11 or something my psychiatrist wanted me to take medication for attention problems; had my first "manic" episode that lasted 1.5-2 yrs as a side effect >.> i took ritalin, focalin, and adderall i think, all had that same messed up effect

i don't really think you're talking about something as extreme as mania but it did make me feel really awesome... then i started doing really stupid s**t and losing my sanity etc.

but i do understand what you say in general about feeling super dependent on medication or something. it pisses me off. i have to take certain medicines every day at certain times or else i won't sleep for days, or i'll fly into a suicidal whirlwind, among other things. dumb



Abstract_Logic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Dec 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 580
Location: Here

07 Jan 2013, 8:00 am

There are a ton of self-deprecating things I can say and think regarding my life-long dependency on medication.


_________________
Autistic (self-identified)
Open source, free software, and open knowledge geek
GoLang, Python, & SysAdmin aspirant
RPG enthusiast
Has OCD, social anxiety, CPTSD


Ann2011
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Jul 2011
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,843
Location: Ontario, Canada

07 Jan 2013, 1:33 pm

I hear you . . . I can't function without my medication either. I have mixed feelings about this. I don't like the fact that my natural state is a dysfunctional crying mess and I feel vulnerable because I know that I'm dependent. But on the other hand, I thank God that I've found meds that work. I'll probably be on them the rest of my life; but really, it's like being a diabetic taking insulin. Without meds I wouldn't be alive.



Abstract_Logic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Dec 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 580
Location: Here

07 Jan 2013, 1:53 pm

Ann2011 wrote:
I hear you . . . I can't function without my medication either. I have mixed feelings about this. I don't like the fact that my natural state is a dysfunctional crying mess and I feel vulnerable because I know that I'm dependent. But on the other hand, I thank God that I've found meds that work. I'll probably be on them the rest of my life; but really, it's like being a diabetic taking insulin. Without meds I wouldn't be alive.


Absolutely. I am ever grateful that there is at least something that could keep my thoughts (mostly) rational and my mood (mostly) stable.


_________________
Autistic (self-identified)
Open source, free software, and open knowledge geek
GoLang, Python, & SysAdmin aspirant
RPG enthusiast
Has OCD, social anxiety, CPTSD


jmnixon95
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Dec 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 20,931
Location: 미국

07 Jan 2013, 1:57 pm

Ann2011 wrote:
Without meds I wouldn't be alive.


personally even when i think about it that way (and it's true), it's still really irritating. i'll just have to learn to deal with it though; it's difficult



StanleyTweedle
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 45
Location: Pennsylvania

07 Jan 2013, 7:12 pm

I feel like a slave to my Cymbalta. It's an SNRI given to people for depression, OCD, and fibromyalgia among other things. I used to take Effexor before that. What really sucks about it is that I started out years ago on Paxil for intrusive thoughts. I had no insurance, so I was on a pharmaceutical freebie program and after a year they yanked it out from under me. So they switched me to Effexor on another freebie program. Unfortunately, I moved to a state that didn't have a program I could get my meds for free and my pharma freebies ran out. I was a mess from the discontinuance syndrome. Eventually I got a disability and medical coverage. I didn't have intrusive thoughts anymore, but I had depression from not having the Effexor. They upped my dose when it stopped working and eventually switched me to Cymbalta. That only worked for 6 months and now I'm depressed all the time, but scared to death of the discontinuance syndrome happening again.


_________________
"I am the son, and the heir, of nothing in particular" -The Smiths


Kalinda
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 9 Jan 2012
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Posts: 191
Location: West Virginia

07 Jan 2013, 8:45 pm

I just quit taking Vyvanse because it started making me feel prone to depression and it stopped doing anything that I noticed; in fact it's making me more fatigued now where-as before it hyped me up and made me focus better.

I was offended by my therapist who says I'm not all there without stimulants. My family recognizes that this is just a quirk of mine. I am typically spacey and I tend to absorb things.


_________________
Your Aspie score: 159 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 61 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better." Martin Luther King, Jr.


Caesaran
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 111
Location: The Divide

07 Jan 2013, 10:12 pm

Umm hate to be rude but doesn't Ritalin have a weird side effect like liver or kidney damage?



IdahoRose
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 19,801
Location: The Gem State

08 Jan 2013, 2:28 am

I feel like a slave to medication. I take Lexapro, Xanax and Risperidone for various things including OCD, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts/homicidal urges/suicidal urges/seeing things that aren't there, etc. I was an absolute wreck before I went on medication. I felt like I was just surviving rather than living. At first my medication felt like a godsend, because I was functioning at a fairly normal (for an autistic person) level within a couple of weeks. But over the years I have come to resent being dependent on medication. At the moment my family members (particularly my dad) are on a health kick, and I'm joining in. We are eating all-organic foods and taking vitamins. I really enjoy it. I just wish that I could completely clear my body of chemicals so that I could go totally holistic/organic. It feels like it's pointless to try to live a healthy lifestyle if I'm still putting chemicals into my body.



Raziel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2011
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,612
Location: Europe

08 Jan 2013, 8:02 am

I'm taking since half of my life now L-thyrosine because of my thyroid. I'm totally dependend on it, but I don't care that much. But without this medication, I couldn't function at all.

I'm also taking testosterone and have to take it for the rest of my live. All 12 weeks one injection, that's a bit more anoying, because I have to go to the doctor every time, have to figure out what to do if I'm not there in this time and so on.

Then I'm also taking melatonin and agomelatonine since a view months every night, so that I can sleep. Sometimes I could also sleep without them, but at the moment this would be impossible.

I also try to get on lithium in the future, but I'll propably have an operation in february and my shrink first wants to try lithium with me afterwards.


_________________
"I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown." - Woody Allen


guitarman2010
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 May 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 578
Location: Erie, PA

19 Jan 2013, 6:36 am

I used to have that same feeling about being a slave. I started taking Ritalin at age 12 and took it until they pulled my prescription at age 18 due to abuse. From age 18 to 27 I was always on a medication whether it was one of the 20+ different pyschotropic meds I've been on or the massive amounts of cough medicine I was ingesting heavily for self-medication. Now I have 10 months of sobriety and do not take any pysch meds and I feel fine.


_________________
When u hit the walls of sanity, u have no-where to go....


bornrebel9
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jan 2013
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 14

21 Jan 2013, 6:41 pm

Yeah, I definitely can't really function right without my medication. I've been taking Risperdal, Zoloft, and Buspirone for almost a year now and without them I think I'd be more anxious and possibly start having suicidal/intrusive thoughts again.



Nibs91
Hummingbird
Hummingbird

User avatar

Joined: 18 Sep 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 24
Location: Ohio

22 Jan 2013, 4:12 pm

Adderall <3 where would I be without it? Literally cannot leave the house without having taken it. IT gives me the push i need to accomplish simple tasks like getting out of bed and dressed. Doesn't help with focus for class, but it does get me to class which would undoubtedly be impossible without it. Maybe i should up my dosage?

I'm also on prozac which has been for about a month and a half. No changes yet. I want to get to a point where I won't need a stimulant and can only rely on an AD. I'm much more comfortable with that.



finger
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 15 Oct 2012
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 96

23 Jan 2013, 6:47 pm

Grue wrote:
As I mentioned in another post, last spring I started Ritalin and I felt wonderful. Confident, smart, larger than life. I had a nice can-do attitude. I felt great. That's since worn off.

I was in a math class back then and I felt super good about myself when I was doing stuff right and it was sticking. One day, I forgot my morning dose and I felt like an idiot. I couldn't really do and understand the concepts that were being presented. I started to feel like a slave to my medication and that I'm going to have to be on it for life. Not a good feeling.

Anyone else feel that way?
of course you couldn't absorb the information. You were taking a psychostimulant which is very addictive. Without it your brain was basically going into a state of withdrawal. A symptom of psychostimulant withdrawal is being hungry and tired like cocaine. You're not a slave to your medication. If you ever wanted to go without it you would just need a couple months for your brains chemistry to return to normal, especially with high doses.



pezar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Apr 2008
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,432

26 Jan 2013, 9:17 pm

Yeah, I take a bunch of stuff. I have so many comorbids, and I have to take a med for each. I never wanted to be on meds, but I finally had to admit that I needed help or else I would kill myself or a bunch of other random people or maybe both, and would be one of those "loners" you hear about on the evening news where they say "well, yeah, the red flags were flying, but nobody actually thought he'd DO anything". So, I'm on Straterra for ADHD, Luvox for OCD, Haldol for Tourettes, Saphris for psychosis/paranoid schizophrenia, and Neurontin for a weird tendency I have to "freeze" when startled, I take it so I can drive, and I live in California so I have to be able to drive. I also take a sleeping pill since the rest of it leaves me "wired". I've neglected my health for so long because of mental illness/AS that I now have diabetes and high blood pressure, so I take meds for those too. I am totally a slave to medication and Big Pharma, but the alternative is a bunch of dead people, including me. I sometimes think of conspiracy theories that say that the people running things deliberately create messed up people so they are easier to control.