do most aspies have to be on antidepressants permanently?

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I doubt it, I have never had a good experiance from them so I doubt it's what I need.

I was put on SSRI antidepressants for a while back in the 90's. I was very sensitive to the stuff and it did not take much for me to get side effects. - tried two or three different types, with zoloft being the longest tolerated. (This was long before I discovered the AS - it was not even a dx for adults in those days). ...I was diagnosed with panic attacks, depression and fibromyalgia. The stuff pretty much flattened me out - in the end, I was still depressed, but no longer cared about it, or cried or anything else emotional. It totally killed my libido...I finally weaned myself off, but it changed me, or maybe I just changed...

I'm on an SSRI, but not for depression. It's for anxiety and OCD. I tried lowering my dose for a few weeks, but then I had some trouble with ruminating too long about my special interests, and my parents insisted on putting me back on the high dose. I'm not totally sure if the drug was really the cause. I don't really know how much any of my drugs honestly help me. I think they help a little.

I ended up getting off that stuff due to the side effects. It may still have caused bipolar disorder, which would really suck. Too soon to tell.

There are natural seratonin boosters like 5-HTP and aniracetam that probably work better anyway.

When I was on zoloft, by the way, everyone treated me like a big f*****g creep. I also literally became big. Zoloft is a good way to get fat and more autistic.

Lexapro gave me schizoid symptoms and symptoms of bipolar disorder when I got off it. My doc suggested it may have damaged my nonverbal/performance IQ as well.

I need to go on anti-depressants really because I am not in a very good state at the moment. But one thing what is holding me back from going through with it is the side effects. I know a few people that went on anti-depressants drugs and none of them get on with them. I seem to have a strange paranoid obsession with taking meds for anything. Right now I have really bad ears, but I am afraid to take antibiotics because the last time I took them I had diarrhoea each day, which isn't like me, and I hate having that. I know it's completely irrational because they say an ear infection is worse than a bit of loose bowels, but I just don't like the thought of putting something inside me that isn't agreeing with my stomach and causing my toilet routine to become messed up. So now I've got to just suffer an ear infection, along with bad pains from a wisdom tooth, and also a flu I have picked up from God knows where. I am not in a very healthy state at the moment.

I haven't taken them in a long time, but there have been times where they have been a necessity. I have mostly anxiety issues anymore, which I try to manage on my own. If I started feeling completely overwhelmed again, I'd probably give them another shot.

I spent years on anti-depressants. At first they seemed to help with my depression, but then maybe I developed a tolerance for them or something. After the first year it became a situation like : "Keep taking these pills because your life will get worse if you stop." But for the first eight - ten months or so they really had a positive impact, in spite of the weird side effects.

I took buproprian for a year and a half. I made severeal diet and lifestyle changes while taking it, and then I tapered off of it over a couple weeks and now I don't take it at all. Never been better.

Try some relaxing teas... Chamomile?
I know with my system, it would likely be a bad result to go on medication.

Drugs NEVER have helped me, if anything they've made my situation worse. The best things that have helped myself is time, keeping myself healthy, and lessen the suffering of others around me.

So I did not have specially bad experiences, but on long terms I wouldnt want to use them. So I had for 6 weeks some medics that were a combined antidepressant and sleep medicine. So it really helped me to get a normal sleep rhythm again. Anyway, as long as I took them I simply "faded out from reality into my own thoughts" all the time. I wasnt even able to order a burger menu at burger king, without fading out two times. So I ordered and when the waiter didnt listen, as usual, and had to ask something again 5 seconds afterwards, I already was again in my own thoughts and so on. When driving through city traffic, I always faded away into my thoughts, when I had a red light. One time I stood in first position, faded away, got back, saw that I had green, wanted to start and saw in the last seconds that somehow a big motorcyle had passed me, and stood before me now. So it was loud and it must have passed me slowly, but I didnt get it. This was really making me afraid. So for 6 weeks, to get back to sleeping again, its ok, but for a longer time, I were afraid of traffic accidents and so on.

I was on antidepressants for 10 years, and quit them two years ago. I can honestly say that I do not feel any different from when I was on them, probably meaning that they did not have the desired effect. Then again, my body has always either been resistant to medication, or typically I had a bad side effect.

My question to you is: have you been on behavior-altering medication before? If so, how did your body react to it? It varies greatly depending on the person.

I stopped taking the medication under the careful guidance of my doctor. No, things have not improved greatly, but they have not gotten any worse than they were before. I had suicidal thoughts and other bad stuff of depression while I WAS on the medication.

A friend/coworker of mine has found antidepressants to be a great way for her to deal with crippling depression; then again, some of our friends have had bad side effects while on antidepressants.

For clarity's sake, the antidepressant I was on was Celexa/citalopram. Each drug might be different.

My bad, it's for the OP.

I was on an anti-depressant for about 5 years. It wasn't actually doing anything useful except reducing tension/cluster headaches. So I went off it when I went on anti-anxiety medication, which was actually what I needed and which I expect to be on for the rest of my life and gladly so. The anti-anxiety med keeps the boogie men away.

I used to take them for depression. I ended up with no emotions at all and disturbing intrusive thoughts (and though I didn't know it at the time, they increase the risk of suicide). When I stopped taking them I had a couple months of pretty intense withdrawal symptoms. Do some careful research if you're considering starting them.