Antipsychotics to treat autism

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I had a very bad experience with Zyprexa as not only did it cause me to gain weight, I slept through the day, and missed at least a week's worth of university classes because of it. This was before I was diagnosed with Asperger's, and I was being treated for depression and PTSD. Fortunately, I was able to quit taking Zyprexa right away, and the side effects were gone. It did take me a while to lose the excess weight I gained as I did that through diet and exercise.

I took Risperdal and later Geodon for a few years as an adolescent. It's been about 8 years since I ceased using them.

Personally I'm very sensitive about this topic, after taking an abnormal psychology class, I learned when these drugs are actually designed for, and it bothers me greatly that my parents and doctors were willing to pump them into me as a kid. Anti-psychotics are wonderful when they given to people who actually need them. For serious schizophrenics, it can allow them to live a perfectly happy life. But the idea of giving them to a preteen with some general emotional stability issues, such as the problems that are often associated with young people on the autistic spectrum, is unsettling to put it mildly. These are powerful drugs that can carry serious side effects, and I really do not like the idea of giving them to anyone unless the person has a serious need for it; ie psychological problems like schizophrenia that cannot be combated by simple therapy alone.

I tend to be anti-drug for issues with children concerning things like autism and ADHD. For me, when anxiety ridden, I have absorbed myself into interests or other rituals to deal with it---and sometimes it works. Sometimes I just have to weather through it. But I do not take meds for my AS.

Experiences:

My oldest son was put on Strattera when he was young---he shook and became very depressed and zombie-like. No more Strattera for him!

My youngest son is diagnosed with AS. The child psychiatrist did not recommend meds for him. I was glad of that.

When I was a child, I had to take Benedryl for allergies. If I didn't take my Benedryl I arm flapped a lot---so I've been told, even when I was in college. I quit taking Benedryl during my college years. I have always finger flapped though (Benedryl or not)---still do.

Thoughts:

I am around several autistic children where I work. And due to some severe issues I have witnessed, I cannot think badly about meds for some of them so long as it doesn't turn them into a zombie.

^ So, it's okay to drug the ones we don't like?

No Meadow---I never said that did I???

I am referring to a matter involving severe seizures in some of them. I happen to like all autistic children.

Seizures is a different matter altogether. Thanks for clarifying.

Meadow---You are welcome.

I've only ever had Risperdal (and Zyprexia and Geodon (serially)) prescribed for sleep. Since they made getting out of bed and everything else 3 times harder I stopped taking them pretty quickly.

My fear about those meds for behavioral problems is: are they masking problem(s) that could be solved another way? In some cases people probably do due diligence, but in other cases it might be tempting to use the drug as a shortcut, since working out what might be causing meltdowns, for example, might take a lot of time and energy.

I agree with that.

I sincerely feel that giving children medications for the behavioral aspect of autism, ADHD, etc. is that it changes our children into different people---although perhaps slightly. But it does change them. My philosophy is that we find other options such as absorption in special intense interests to deal with depression, etc.

One thing we should all strive for is happiness. When we watch the more severely autistic child---does he or she act happy? I have noticed the more severely autistic children around where I work tend to be happy-acting. However, there is one child who is quite mixed up at the moment about life in general. But I feel he needs guidance.

I do hear some parents talk about severe depression in their autistic children. And we can find plenty of this in The Haven. Many of these people have had a long history of med use. For severe depression and severe unhappiness, I don't know what is the best way to approach them.

Being AS, I have a lot of interests that I can absorb into. They are fun and bring me happiness. I am also introverted in personality and don't desire the friendships that many people do. I do have anxiety and stress issues from time to time. Though I do find acceptable ways of dealing with it today, I have used self-harm/ pain in my younger years. I do not recommend that. I believe deeper absorption in interests could have avoided that.

Ohhhh...that brings back memories.

I've been off medication since 9-11 2003.

dp

I was placed on 3 or 4 drugs as trials when I was young before being placed on Seroquel at age 9 for "schizo-affective disorder." I was so drugged up on 900 mg of it twice a day that I was a zombie. Being off of it now, it seems like it would be better to be a zombie like before, because that's all I knew. Now that all my senses are allowed to work freely I find it hard to get through each day. I don't think it is a good use of these type of medications. I hated being a zombie with horrible, horrible side-effects that mimicked sleep apnea, horrible sweats all of the time and weight issues among other things. There is a better way, there has to be.

Yeah, there are way better ways to manage sensory overload and stress than just swallowing a bunch of pills. I mean, it's not that they can't be helpful for some people in some situations, but they certainly aren't a panacea.

1800mgs a day is 50% more than the FDA guidelines for an adult!

Yes, since we're more vulnerable to parkinson-like/catatonia-like movement disorders in the first place (whether progressive or just always-existing), we're also more vulnerable to pseudoparkinsonian side-effects. And in the extreme form, those side-effects can be potentially lethal, and even when they're not that, they can do permanent damage to motor-planning skills. Also, if you already have certain movement disorders, it can be almost impossible to differentiate them from signs of neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a very dangerous and frequently lethal side-effect.

Also, they lower the seizure threshold, so autistic people who are also epileptic can have increased seizures on them, which can be dangerous. At one point, I was having very frequent myoclonic and atonic seizures (myoclonic ones caused my arms to fling out randomly and fling objects around if I was carrying them, atonic caused me to drop, extremely rapidly, to the ground, after losing all muscle tone, hitting the ground hard and injuring myself, at the worst point these were happening every few seconds and I could barely get up before I fell down again). Whereas normally I only have complex-partial seizures (and possible absence seizures).

I'm just an example though, these are common reactions to these drugs for people with these particular problems. This isn't just "all drugs have side-effects", this is "people who are more prone to these problems (i.e. autistic people) have an increased risk of very dangerous side-effects, and an increased risk of less dangerous but still quite problematic side-effects, especially the ones that don't go away after you stop taking the drug". This isn't to say that some people don't get good effects from these drugs, but rather that these drugs should be a personal choice of the user, with full information as to what they can do, rather than something forced on people.

Additionally, while the newer ones have a slightly different side-effect profile, they're not free of the same side-effects as the older ones. I couldn't tell the difference between new ones and old ones when I was on them. (And I've been on several of both, as well as being on high-potency, mid-potency, and low-potency versions of the old ones, at several dosage levels.)

Yes, atypical anti-psychotics can help certain individuals with autism function better. It helps some with meltdowns, some with stimming, and some with anxiety. As a neuroscientist, I'm a big proponent for psychiatric medications, and for autistics who need help, I'm all for trying out atypical anti-psychotics. Autism is a neurobiological disorder, so why not use medication that treats the neurotransmitter abnormalities? Medication is not the answer for everybody, but it is seen as "bad" by the general public, and this is a shame, as it can help many people. Finding Anafranil for my OCD was one of the best things that ever happened to me. What is more unjust? Trying medication to help a child or letting them suffer needlessly? I suffered for 21 years until I found a solution. Had I had medication as a child, I would have been able to have actually HAD a childhood...
-OddDuckNash99-