Do you use prescription drugs for your ASD?

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I was reading through some guidelines on medication for adults with autistic spectrum disorder, and wonder what (in real life) people are actually prescribed as part of medical management of ASD. The main treatments, all for non-core symptoms, seem to be antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and anti-psychotics. Then there must be sleeping medication, various things for issues like gastro-intestinal problems and all the food supplements and diets.

What is your real-world experience?

I take an anti-depressant - Efexor 37.5mg twice a day plus the progesterone-only mini-pill Cerazette once a day. This combination seems to work ok for me.

If I come off the anti-depressants I will slowly go downhill and end up in a suicidal depression so it's not a good thing for me to come off them as this has happened every time I've come off them and it's too much of a risk to take.

The medication is not for our ASDs it is for the co-morbid conditions, such as anxiety or depression which are separate diagnoses.

You cannot treat autism with medication.

Agreed.
I take:
150mg Venlafaxine/ Effexor for depression.
200mg Quetiapine/Seroquel for sleep difficulties and anxiety
300mg Pregabalin/Lyrica for anxiety.

Do you find the Effexor makes you feel really tired?

Not now but I have been on it for years, it made me pretty unwell and exhausted to begin with. I don't find it helps me for the depression but it makes me so unwell when I try to come off it I daren't try until I am really stable and I haven't been stable enough yet.

Proplanolol

I've been on it for years too and I'm on half the dose you are and it makes me feel tired and unmotivated a lot of the time

The only benefit is I don't get suicidally depressed on it and I dont' seem to ruminate on negative things so much

A lot of this is because it makes my mind go blank a lot though I think! My memory is terrible!

I have taken Seroquel in the past too and that made me very tired as well - more tired than the Efexor

I seem to be very sensitive to medication

I can come off Effexor - it's an unpleasant withdrawal process but I can tolerate it and it's easier if on a lower dose

I just end up depressed again if I'm off it too long though

I take 20 mg of abilify
120 mg of cymbalta
and 15 mg 3 times a day of buspar.

Cymbalta 60mg for anxiety, not depression.

Why didn't you include a "none" option?

I'm on Seroquel and Clomipramine but I think they are strictly for comorbid disorders. I don't know if they also happen to help with my symptoms of Asperger's at the same time.

Clomipramine is an anti-depressant but I'm on it for both depression and OCD. Seroquel is for sleep. Either Seroquel or Clomipramine is treating my Tourette's Syndrome and ADHD. I'm not sure which is which but I'm pretty sure I'm on Seroquel for more than just sleep. Either way I experience minimal side-effects on Seroquel as opposed to Risperdal. Risperdal was just awful but Seroquel is okay for me.

Where's the no option?

I'm on Anafranil/clomipramine, which is a tricyclic anti-depressant, but I use it to control my OCD and panic attacks. So, for me, it's really an anti-anxiety medication.

And to seaturtle, it should be the Seroquel that is helping your Tourette's (the actual tics, not the OCD-ish aspects). Tics result from a hyperdopaminergic state in the brain, and Seroquel, like most anti-psychotics, is a dopamine antagonist.

Yes, I could have done, but I was interested in the variety and distribution of drugs that people are using for non-core symptoms. I think most people not using prescription drugs would ignore the poll. The variations in managing anxiety and panic are very interesting. I use both Valium for occasional use and Lyrica daily.

Do you feel that your personal treatments are in agreement with, for instance, the National Institute for Mental Health guidelines on medication for ASD?
( http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publicat ... ated.shtml )

Last edited by StuartN on 30 Mar 2013, 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

This. I don't take any prescribed medications.