Support thread - adults on the Autistic Spectrum :)

[fuzzpig]

Hello!

I've seen a lot of MNers mention being on the Spectrum, whether diagnosed or not. I thought we could use a long-running place to chat, share coping strategies and basically to know there are other people like ourselves, who won't judge us for being different.

I'm new to all this myself - only realised there was a possible name for How I Am a couple of weeks ago (thanks to MN)! Now I have a referral to an adult ASD specialist, to see if I have Aspergers. It's all happened very quickly.

Enough waffle from me (for now anyway...) but I hope other people will come along and find this thread useful. :)

St John's Wort I've found really good. My CBT was limited to six sessions, however I knew by the second it wasn't really doing me any good.

I had some form of counselling at my old doctors surgery once. I don't know what it was called but I was expected to just talk, which is what I always have problems with anyway. So after 2 sessions she said it was pointless me coming back again. this followed on from being forced to attend 'couples counselling' with my ex, where the 2 counselors and my ex basically spent the whole time insulting me and everything I did.

i am currently seeing a counselor at the university, which is actually better than I expected as she does ask me questions which I can usually answer instead of expecting me to just talk. She does say a lot of things that confuse me though, and if she mentions magic wands again I am going to tell her to shut up.

I don't really know what would be good for me. I have a lot to talk about; AS is only a part of it (although a big part right now, as it's all come to the fore) - I have massive issues with my parents that I think I want help with.

I am unsure if I want to go into all right now though, because there is so much else going on and I'm worried if I struggle with difficult therapy I will not cope with everything else. My boss has told me that if I do end up with regular therapy sessions I can have time off though so that's one worry dealt with!

Anyway, glad to be back at work today, as we spent the Easter break doing precisely Nothing. Also I suggested a game night instead of our usual movie night and everyone was really into the idea. I like socialising in that sort of context.

Therapy may help you to process unpleasant things that have happened to you, whether as a result of AS or not.

For changing your own AS behaviour, you have to watch, note, try, mess up, try, mess up a different way, analyse, try again and start to see an improvement. IMHE

What you can't change, you just have to fit in with the rest of your life somehow, such as schedule downtime.

I really like the 'downtime' idea, thank you.

I have always felt guilty about the vast amount of time I need just for me. I felt like it was just laziness. For example I kept putting off things as simple as reading novels because of the other stuff I need to do, even though reading actually recharges me. And no matter how energised I feel after a good occasion I can't sustain it, especially if it's involved lots of people and talking, I am just too tired mentally.

I always felt really bad because of that. It's nice to know it isn't unusual :)

Me too, I always thought I was lazy because of the little time I spent on things. I think "I burn brightly for a short time". I can do some things which take me a fraction of the time that it takes others, but I do need to schedule rest and "me time" in, on a very frequent basis. I try not to schedule more than 1 stressful thing in a day, for instance, because of the amount of energy it takes out of me.

There is a wonderful description of something that applies to people with ME, which fits in very well with how it is for people on the spectrum too. Worth a read:

www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory-written-by-christine-miserandino/

Yes! I have read the Spoon Theory before. I related to it then, thinking why the hell do I feel like that when I don't have anything physically wrong with me? Now I know :)

Yes, for me full mode for a short while, completion, rest and, when I've recovered a bit, more active relaxation.

Then the problem is getting going again!

On holiday, I try to alternate Doing Things Days with Pottering Days :)

I can certainly relate to much of what is being said on here, particularly the 'burning bright' stuff or flashes of genius as I call it (when I can problem solve at the speed of light), alongside the needing plenty of space and downtime.

Also, the fact that I find socialising so stressful, Not so much with my close family as I feel safe with them, but if I have anything organised with friends, (the few that I have!) I spend the entire time hoping it will be cancelled. I don't know if it's the socialising that I find diffucult or the change in routine. I suspect it may be the latter.

And, here goes, this is going to make me sound really bad, but if there's a social occasion that includes alcohol, I find that far less stressful. A couple of drinks to relax me and I feel more able to function in a normal social manner

I can understand that about alcohol TBH, after all lots of NT people find it easier to relax with alcohol!

I do relax after a drink, but I tend not to drink that much generally. I worry about being out of control and not knowing what's going on.

snap fuzzpig. when I was younger and struggling in a "proper" professional type job, I realised I could only cope with socialising with colleagues by being drunk, so stopped socialising with most of them, except the odd lunch out.

Evening all. I was just wondering if anyone knows any links about antidepressant use for people with ASDs? Nothing in depth or scientific, just something which maybe confirms that ADs are now understood to often make no difference to Aspies, or can make it worse.

I have been talking to my dad who is going to see the GP about a possible referral. He's also found ADs to be no use, and he functions far less than I do. I have warned him that it might be next to impossible to get referred because he is 62. But I also said to persist about discussing ADs.

I'd like to know that too. Both my mum and sister (also suspected aspies) claim that anti-depressants have never worked for them.

I think i have read somewhere that the older type anti depressants, trycyclics, are more effective than SSRIs. I have definitely read a paper that showed anti depressants did nothing to improve the obbsessive or repetitive traits of autism, but not for any actual depression. They are sometimes used to treat similar symptoms in OCD effectively. The same thing with anxiety, but if the anxiety is caused by alternative thinking rather than chemical imbalance then it is easy to see why anti depressants wouldn't work.

Thanks. I was saying to my dad that I always felt like a failure because even strong medication couldn't help me!

The only medication I have ever taken that helped with my obsessiveness and stopped me worrying about things all the time was Risperidone. It isn't an anti depressant though.

Also I think that Mirtazapine ( tetracyclic anti depressant) might have also hadsome effect on me but I can't be sure as I was obsessed at that time with some quite dangerous things and wasn't really thinking very clearly. Thinking about it afterwards the risky behaviour could have been aside effect although I can't rule out other influences entirely.

I'm not aware of any official research, but I think Temple Grandin has written a bit about this issue re:meds, but more from the POV of different doses being needed (often v small doses) rather than ADs being ineffective per se. Personally I have literally found SSRI medication a lifesaver, usually at the minimum standard dose (which is unusual for OCD, normally a bigger dose would be needed).

I was put on Ativan in my teens, and it made me more, not less anxious. At uni, I was put on a low-dose antidepressant (tamazepam), but it left me feeling like a zombie, almost completely unable to think, I was wondering around like a zombie :(. Since then I have avoided prescribed medication for anxiety/depression.

at Temazepam and Ativan - they aren't even anti-depressants, but both tranquillisers, that should only be used used short-term to avoid building up resistance/dependance. Anti-depressants such as Prozac don't help everyone, but should leave anyone feeling as groggy as meds like you were prescribed, Mary.

I was 14 when I was on Ativan. I refused to take them after a week...

Yes they are both benzodiazepines. they did used to sometimes be used for depression/anxiety but treat the symptoms rather than the cause compared to other anti depressant medication. The can make you feel better, but only in the same kind of way certain illegal drugs can also make you feel better in the short term. Also they are addictive due to the body building a tolerance to them quite quickly and the withdrawl can be worse than the original symptoms.

My AD history:

Age 14, which was when I was first dx as depressed after revealing abuse - on sertraline, SSRI (which is also used for OCD in children)

Soon after - switched long term to venlafaxine (SSNRI). Ended up on highest adult dose and still took OD which nearly killed me.

18ish - something beginning with M I think?!

20 - PND (though probably caused by AS, things like feeling a failure because I couldn't handle mum and baby groups! If only I'd known that I had good reason) - Lofepramine

23 - PND after 2nd baby - back to Sertraline due to BFing.

All of them have made sod all difference really. But I stuck with them because I thought that's what I was supposed to do.

These are the ones I have taken:
-Citalopram
-Fluoxetine
-Paroxetine
-Duloxetine
-Escitalopram
-Mirtazapine
-Venlaflaxine
-Imipramine
-Amytriptaline
-Sertraline

Mainly without much effect. Also I have been prescribed antipsychotics:
-Chlorpromazin
-Olanzapine
-Risperidone
And for anxiety:
-Lorazepam
-Temazepam
-Diazepam
-Propanalol
And sleeping tablets
-Promethazine
-Zopiclone
-Zolpidem
-Nitrazepam

the sleeping tablets worked very well but were addictive and when I stopped them, I had worse sleep than I did before I started.

I've taken sleeping tablets before though I can't remember which ones. I didn't like them though as they made me so groggy. I sleep quite deeply now unless I wake up in the small hours when I sometimes I can't get back to sleep for hours.

I get worried about sleeping even more deeply - DH is wonderful and normally sees to the DCs at night now because I work, but I am scared I wouldn't wake up if I needed to.