Do you use prescription drugs for your ASD?

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Do you use prescription drugs for your ASD?
Antidepressant drug 20%  20%  [ 9 ]
Anti-anxiety drug 34%  34%  [ 15 ]
Antipsychotic drug 2%  2%  [ 1 ]
Some combination of the three above 25%  25%  [ 11 ]
Other psycho-active drugs 14%  14%  [ 6 ]
Other (non-psycho-active) prescription drugs 5%  5%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 44

RubyWings91
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28 Apr 2013, 7:12 pm

I don't use drugs to treat my ASD. My symptoms are mild enough that I can do just fine without them. I feel that, unless there is no other option, I don't wan't to mess with medication.



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28 Apr 2013, 7:27 pm

Fnord wrote:
StuartN wrote:
Do you use prescription drugs for your ASD?

No.

I have over 50 years of experience in dealing with life without being medicated into a narcotic haze.

Some people may need them, but I've learned to get along very well without them.


I take meds to get myself OUT of a haze........


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nessa238
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29 Apr 2013, 7:24 am

XFilesGeek wrote:
Fnord wrote:
StuartN wrote:
Do you use prescription drugs for your ASD?

No.

I have over 50 years of experience in dealing with life without being medicated into a narcotic haze.

Some people may need them, but I've learned to get along very well without them.


I take meds to get myself OUT of a haze........


I'm the same

I'm far more 'with it' and able to deal with NTs when on my anti-depressants than not

If I come off them I get very angry but on them I can be more focused and calmer



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29 Apr 2013, 7:46 am

I take 0.5 mg of Lorazepam but only when I feel a meltdown coming on. It's only for emergencies because it is highly addictive and sometimes I go right back to meltdown mode when it wears off :?


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bluecountry
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29 Apr 2013, 7:51 am

Have you felt relief and help from drugs?

Have they outweighted the cons?



nessa238
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29 Apr 2013, 8:01 am

bluecountry wrote:
Have you felt relief and help from drugs?

Have they outweighted the cons?


In my case definitely

Without the anti-depressants I'd be dead as I get suicidally depressed if I come off them



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29 Apr 2013, 10:03 pm

bluecountry wrote:
Have you felt relief and help from drugs?

Have they outweighted the cons?


Of course. I couldn't even walk properly without my Seroquel. I can walk without it but I look like a freak because of my leg tics and it's a complicated process. Anything that makes walking difficult should be medicated.

My Clomipramine controls my OCD which can be crippling. An aspect of my OCD can result in poor decision making. I'm not sure if it's OCD or black and white thinking but the Clomipramine allows me to think a lot more sensibly. Without it I'll place certain things that may or may not be abstract above everything else. Anything else can be sacrificed except my life. With my judgement clouded by OCD and depression I might make a trade-off in life that is clearly not worth it even though I consider it to be worth it. It'd be like paying a million dollars for a peanut. I really want the peanut in an obsessive way so to me it is worth it but to anyone not fixated on the peanut it is clearly not worth it.

Seroquel makes my Tics go away and Clomipramine removes the mind fog of OCD and depression.



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02 May 2013, 1:45 am

I don't take any prescription drugs, instead I use plants/herbs. I was taking Fluoxetine for a while for depression, it seemed to dull down my depression but it also dulled everything else down. I felt numb and disconnected, like a robot, more so than usual.

I've had terrific results using these plants, mainly for anxiety, depression, & low energy/lethargy.


Cannabis, for general anxiety and insomnia.


Mitragyna speciosa (aka Kratom, related to coffee), as an anxiolytic, anti-depressant, and for energy/stimulation. Really helps with socializing and social anxiety, my thoughts seem to flow better, I can get things from my mind and into words much easier.


Mucuna pruriens, as a "tonic" of sorts for the mind, keeping my mood and mind balanced. It is loaded with neurotransmitter precursors such as 5HTP and L-DOPA.


(I've also had a couple experiences/sessions with MDMA that has helped me tremendously in the long run of things)


Those are the plants I use regularly. I also try to keep a healthy diet. Eating real food, not foods that are processed and come in a bag or a box, but actual fruits & veggies, breads, pasta, rice, grains, occasionally some chicken or fish. I drink green tea daily. I also incorporate a few "super foods" into my diet, such as maca root & chlorella.





Those of you that take certain medications for issues related to AS, perhaps they work for you, and that's great!....I just can't bring myself to rely on a pill every day. And those of you taking medications, do you plan on taking them ever day for the rest of your life? To me, that's scary. Seems like they would make things worse in the long run.



nessa238
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02 May 2013, 2:11 am

Soham wrote:
I don't take any prescription drugs, instead I use plants/herbs. I was taking Fluoxetine for a while for depression, it seemed to dull down my depression but it also dulled everything else down. I felt numb and disconnected, like a robot, more so than usual.

I've had terrific results using these plants, mainly for anxiety, depression, & low energy/lethargy.


Cannabis, for general anxiety and insomnia.


Mitragyna speciosa (aka Kratom, related to coffee), as an anxiolytic, anti-depressant, and for energy/stimulation. Really helps with socializing and social anxiety, my thoughts seem to flow better, I can get things from my mind and into words much easier.


Mucuna pruriens, as a "tonic" of sorts for the mind, keeping my mood and mind balanced. It is loaded with neurotransmitter precursors such as 5HTP and L-DOPA.


(I've also had a couple experiences/sessions with MDMA that has helped me tremendously in the long run of things)


Those are the plants I use regularly. I also try to keep a healthy diet. Eating real food, not foods that are processed and come in a bag or a box, but actual fruits & veggies, breads, pasta, rice, grains, occasionally some chicken or fish. I drink green tea daily. I also incorporate a few "super foods" into my diet, such as maca root & chlorella.





Those of you that take certain medications for issues related to AS, perhaps they work for you, and that's great!....I just can't bring myself to rely on a pill every day. And those of you taking medications, do you plan on taking them ever day for the rest of your life? To me, that's scary. Seems like they would make things worse in the long run.


I don't feel I have a lot of choice but to continue taking my anti-depressant tablets for the rest of my life. I can't maintain a stable mood without them and sink into a suicidal depression every time I have come off them so I'd say it's more dangerous for me to come off them than remain on them as last time I felt suicidal I joined a suicide forum and made connections with other people who were planning to kill themselves ie each time I get suicidally depressed I get closer to actually doing it.

So whatever harm long term use of Venlafaxine does cause, I'd say it's preferable to being dead or in the state of mind where you want to be dead.



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02 May 2013, 2:24 am

nessa238 wrote:
I don't feel I have a lot of choice but to continue taking my anti-depressant tablets for the rest of my life. I can't maintain a stable mood without them and sink into a suicidal depression every time I have come off them so I'd say it's more dangerous for me to come off them than remain on them as last time I felt suicidal I joined a suicide forum and made connections with other people who were planning to kill themselves ie each time I get suicidally depressed I get closer to actually doing it.

So whatever harm long term use of Venlafaxine does cause, I'd say it's preferable to being dead or in the state of mind where you want to be dead.



That's kind of what I was getting at. I've heard that from almost everyone that takes anti-depressants, that when they try to come off them they slide deeply into depression and experience a whole bunch of other side effects. So they're left with not much of a choice, other than remaining on the prescription for more or less the rest of their life.

Like I said, if it helps, that's great, some meds do indeed help people....I just think a lot of people hop on board with prescriptions/pills, then once on the prescription there is no chance of them ever getting off or switching to an alternative because coming off the prescription is so terrible.

I'm just one of those people that really despises the pharmaceutical industry, and some of the doctors that deal their drugs, for a plethora of reasons that I won't get into as I don't want to go too off-topic.



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02 May 2013, 2:31 am

Soham wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
I don't feel I have a lot of choice but to continue taking my anti-depressant tablets for the rest of my life. I can't maintain a stable mood without them and sink into a suicidal depression every time I have come off them so I'd say it's more dangerous for me to come off them than remain on them as last time I felt suicidal I joined a suicide forum and made connections with other people who were planning to kill themselves ie each time I get suicidally depressed I get closer to actually doing it.

So whatever harm long term use of Venlafaxine does cause, I'd say it's preferable to being dead or in the state of mind where you want to be dead.



That's kind of what I was getting at. I've heard that from almost everyone that takes anti-depressants, that when they try to come off them they slide deeply into depression and experience a whole bunch of other side effects. So they're left with not much of a choice, other than remaining on the prescription for more or less the rest of their life.

Like I said, if it helps, that's great, some meds do indeed help people....I just think a lot of people hop on board with prescriptions/pills, then once on the prescription there is no chance of them ever getting off or switching to an alternative because coming off the prescription is so terrible.

I'm just one of those people that really despises the pharmaceutical industry, and some of the doctors the deal their drugs, for a plethora of reasons that I won't get into as I don't want to go too off-topic.


Well you've evidently been lucky enough not to have needed heavy duty anti-depressants to cope with life, so your brain is going to be lot healthier and better at coping. I don't think about the long term effects of the tablets generally as I'm glad to be alive. I think anti-depressants are a miracle drug to be quite honest and I'm grateful to the people who developed them. Yes they are used to generate a lot of profit but they also save lives. There's no industry on the planet that doesn't have a certain degree of corruption involved - it's the norm where human beings are involved. If I was to point the finger at anyone it would be the people who've made me feel so bad about myself that I needed to take the tablets and a society and media that continually reinforce gender stereotyping and the need to be perfect, not the drug companies.



Soham
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02 May 2013, 2:46 am

nessa238 wrote:
Soham wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
Well you've evidently been lucky enough not to have needed heavy duty anti-depressants to cope with life, so your brain is going to be lot healthier and better at coping. I don't think about the long term effects of the tablets generally as I'm glad to be alive. I think anti-depressants are a miracle drug to be quite honest and I'm grateful to the people who developed them. Yes they are used to generate a lot of profit but they also save lives. There's no industry on the planet that doesn't have a certain degree of corruption involved - it's the norm where human beings are involved. If I was to point the finger at anyone it would be the people who've made me feel so bad about myself that I needed to take the tablets and a society and media that continually reinforce gender stereotyping and the need to be perfect, not the drug companies.



I understand what you're saying :wink: . You made some points.



Perhaps your situation isn't the best example of what I was trying to get at, sorry if I came across as rude (not my intentions).

I do think there are a lot of people that are prescribed them, though, that don't need to be on them and end up getting stuck on them for life. I'm not saying that to you specifically, but people in western society in general....and that goes for all medications, not just anti-depressants.



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09 May 2013, 8:14 am

I genuinely appreciate the many comments about not using medication. There is no medication "for autism".

My interest is in the use of prescription medication (particularly psycho-active medication) and the relationship between actual use and the optimal use described by the NICE / NIMH etc guidelines on the treatment of non-core symptoms and the treatment of comorbid mental health issues. Many thanks to everyone who shared their own use of prescription medication.

My own current use is pregabalin / Lyrica for generalized anxiety and occasional diazepam / Valium (on PRN) for coping with situational anxiety. In the past I was treated (ineffectively) with many kinds of antidepressant (several SSRIs and a tricyclic). I was also treated with antipsychotics - mostly for the benefit of staff, but I did find that they were effective in moderating intrusive, negative thoughts.



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09 May 2013, 9:25 am

I voted anti-anxiety. I take diazepam to control my anxiety symptoms.

All SSRIs (and one SNRI) that I've taken made me more mentally ill so I gave up on anti-depressants (the doctors were happy to carry on trying different ones but I was tired of feeling like a lab rat).

My psychiatrist suggested I might like to try an off-label prescription of risperidone (an atypical anti-psychotic) (for which there is some evidence that it controls some symptoms in autistic patients) but I refused because of the possibility of extrapyramidal (basically Parkinson's disease-like) side-effects and because I didn't want to end up in a situation where I was dependent on anti-psychotics to function; I think I can achieve a better end-game outcome without.