Positive Response to SSRi medications. Please list.

Post Reply New Topic

good luck alphabetania.

I have read a lot of temple grandin's stuff on anti depressants and autism.
for 11 years I realise now, i was put on a far too high dose in light of my ASD and chemical sensitivities. I am currently on a quarter - yes - a quarter of a minimal dose -- and I have the lowest anxiety I have ever had, no suicidal ideation, and increased eye contact. i still monologue and talk mainly about my special interests, I still spend most days alone as i love to, i still get exhausted by too much contact with people, but I am not semi-mute, AND I can ask my son and ex-partner questions and connect more with them, and that is great for my son.

When I was on the high does, I was like a motor mouth - frenetic, verbose and i could look people in the face in that see through way. THe antidepressants "pushed me out into the world' and gave me some social skills, but i was almost gauche and overbearing.

then I came off them...which i tried a few times over the years, I would always return to a state of crippling ASD pacing, stimming, no eye contact at all, terrible sensory overload problems, with people talking about how mad I was.
Off meds, I ring my mum - monologue for 15 minutes, and then say good bye and hang-up without asking her how she is> And i do care. It is just i cannot cope with talking about anything that isn't special interest related as I get too overwhelmed.


Now back on the tiny dose - they still say I am eccentric, and i still get all of the issues described above, but not so badly or noticeably. I can feign a bit of interest with people. I ask my mum how she is.

I am now fairly steady and seem to be doing ok.

The low dose approach works for me but not for everyone with an ASD. Some have no response to SSRI meds at all, while others report amazing improvements.

I seem to finally be on the right dose. It has taken 11 years to get it right.

i hope it works well for you.

Celexa made me:

1) giddy
2) less depressed
3) more talkative
4) more creative
5) faster in thinking and talking
6) more motivated
7) more stimulated
8 ) funnier (better sense of humor)
9) more sexually aroused (but maybe that was jsut because I was less depressed and anxious)
10) fearless (no more, or a lot less, generalized anxiety)
11) not embarrassed at all (no more social anxiety)
12) smarter/more clever/quicker (including in my sense of humor)


But that was only the first time I was on Celexa, for 7 months. The second time (4 months) I had no effect from it, no effect the third time (2 months) either, and now I`m on it ofr a fourth time (been on it for about 2 weeks) and no effect. Temple Grandin did say that sometimes when you take a SSRI and then go off it and then go back on the same one, it doesn`t work any more. That`s what happened with me. And then a nurse said that was true.

I actually understand. I tired to do similarly when i came out of rehab and entered the 12 step world of meetings. I learned to "act" and mimic various roles and I note a lot of women with AS talking about this as they get a bit older...how they watch, learn and emulate without alteration to the core self which is fundamentally autistic and "self"/special interest and internally based.

That is my take on it. The great discordance that arises between the core autistic self and the role playing leads to profound exhaustion. In my case, I look back and note all the crashes which were in essence, nervous breakdowns because I could never ever sustain or maintain anything like a "normal life load."

So, I hit NA and AA and was told in early recovery that my issues were all "traumatic" and the key to solutions for me was social connection with others! UGH. I tried and failed at this, learned some very good social strategies along the way - that do come in handy here and there - but could never sustain it. In the end, I retreated. that was years ago

When i returned to painting as a career, I would brace myself for days before I went out to something i had to go to for my art practice. I would grin, bear it and come home to isolation and hermit life again. I would do maybe one thing in a month, to others' normal pace which was to be around the scene and people with ease and frequency. In the end there too, i retreated.

I try. I retreat.

Now i do not even try as i do not have any more attempts left in me. I think of all the years of this - attempting to build, be a chameleon, and watch it disintegrate before me because of exhaustion, and social problems, whistle blowing, the inability to maintain the relating with people face to face, the stream of faus-paxes. (spelling?)

It is really weird to look back on nearly 50 years and to re-frame it finally and accurately, with a correct dx and with all the answers. It is very strange to have everything finally make sense.
So now, I can live within the limitations of my ASD and this is the key to successful living. I can manage it and do so in a manner that enables me to live a little strangely perhaps, but to my optimum.

I really hope others can manage this too.

I've been on 200mg of Zoloft for...a few years now (was on 400mg for a few months, just to see if it had greater anti-anxiety effect; noticed nothing). Prescribed for OCD, and it seems to help such (both the obsessive thoughts and compulsions).

Haven't really noticed any effect on the ASD, or my high level of standing anxiety*.

*Probably due to the ASD and not understanding/being able to control the unpredictable world around me.

I've never really been depressed, even if I've experienced symptoms of it; either I've been depressed my whole life, or I haven't been at all [as I always feel like this]. The suicidal ideation and further have been from being overwhelmed with life [and its associated anxiety].

jeesh danielsmyname - that is A LOT of ssri to be downing. (Not passing judgment here. Just amazed in relation to my own reactions to SSRI's.)
Maybe you are hyposensitive to medications where others such as myself are hypersensitive? Certainly that would explain it.

i do know the co-morbids of massive anxiety and the suicidal depression are alleviated by such a minuscule dose compared to some people. I am lucky, as i note quite a few have said they have no response to SSRi's.

I am still plain old run of the mill ASD, but it is a lot easier without all the co-morbid stuff taking hold as well.
At least today, I went out for a spur of the moment walk in the bush with family. Rainforest, amazing trees. Been a while since I could do that - too locked in to repetition and routine with no flexibility.
The ferns and white cedar trunks along the road, the creeks, the birds...all cool stuff for me. SPent three hours with some conversations with son and son's dad. Had to come home for a two hour sleep from the effort of engaging, but it meant a lot to them that i did it.

I was on 10 mg Lexapro (starter dose) with good effect. It helped somewhat with anxiety, but mostly it helped with reducing obsessive thinking and compulsions- both obsessive social anxiety-related thoughts and general OCD-like compulsions. The only bad thing was that it seemed to flatten out my positive emotions a bit, while predisposing me to some "lower lows"- minor things would trigger off deep depression and suicidal thinking that would be only temporary (like an hour), but nonetheless deeply unpleasant.

After a difficult summer, my dosage was upped to 20 mg, which is a more typical dose, but I started to have problems with foot cramping, and also I had nastier side effects like dizziness. I ended up going off the medication after that.

Eh, they say it needs a high dose to be effective with OCD/anxiety/panic attacks compared to depression, and since I wasn't depressed, the low doses did nothing. 150mg was when I started to experience a more comfortable life, with less panic attacks and intrusive thoughts; 200 is the best (I didn't note any greater effect with the higher off-label, but still within clinical parameters, dosage).

I'm also a largish man (95kg.), so that'd affect the dose needed too.

I only appear to be hyposensitive to benzodiazepines and other sedatives, like alcohol (not histamine based ones, however).

The SSRI treats the comorbid adequately, and I'm sure my panic attacks, and also the worsening of the comorbid, wasn't helped by the ASD.

The best treatment I've found for the ASD symptoms (resistance to change, anxiety over the unexpected, being overwhelmed by the world, and etcetera), are brain numbing agents; benzodiazepines being the best, with the histamine based antipsychotics coming in a close second. This would jive with the "intense world syndrome" caused by white matter deficits, as my mind is chaotic in its little compartments, and anything that dampens thoughts/the brain, will help such.

Of note, some people experience sedation from SSRIs, so that may help them with an ASD (I don't notice any sedative effects).

Before being prescribed an SSRI, I'd been very tense all the time, very anxious. I've been on Prozac for about 2 months, and it's helped loads with my anxiety, though I'm still pretty anxious, but not nearly as much. I feel very calm. It's nice.

Also, as a side effect I lost 10 pounds. Not that big of a deal but enough to help with my self-esteem.

good to hear of your experiences.

I am interested in your "white matter deficits" mentionings, of late. Can you explain in layman's terms for me? You know my forte is not science. How do these relate to the 'intense world syndrome" and the chaotic little compartments? some aspects of your brain sound eerily similar to mine. In simple terms for painter millie, please.

Main positive change: reduced the pain in my stomach caused by anxiety, anguish, fear.
Second main positive change: much more emotional strength to cope in extremely difficult, traumatic situations (wouldn't have made it in the horrible past year without the meds)
Other: more self-confidence, less fear, a little less depression.

I've been on Celexa for about two years for anxiety and depression. It was my choice entirely to go on it and it was th best decision of my life. I've seen nothing but positive effects come out of it: I'm rarely (if ever) anxious. For the first time in my life I've had confidence in myself, am at ease in social situations and can handle stressful situations much easier.

I also had obsessive thinking and very rigid obsessions before I was on it: these have been completely eliminated.

i thought they made my asd symptoms worse. Or maybe they were just more obvious because when you're really depressed and anxious you can't really do much and kind of just lay in bed all day...

positive: got rid of depression and that is all they did for me. everything else was bad but I'm glad I took them for awhile to fix that.

^ buryuntime, try a lower dose - way below the "normal starter dose" for people. Look up temple grandin on anti depressants. this has helped me enormously of late.

It's like hearing my own thoughts come out of someone else's mouth. I was talking to a friend last night and he said that I can be like two completely different people. The social persona and this childlike character - at very occasional times when I feel comfortable enough around someone it's like I let go of the social mask and just be my ASD self. I used to be the ASD self all the time, but I was badly bullied and misunderstood for it, and it was really hard making any friends.

You're right, you put it so perfectly; it's like two completely different people almost; the core autistic self and the role playing, and maintaining the role playing on the surface (but obviously underneath that still being your ASD self) is exhausting. And depressing, I was actually diagnosed with depression after a prolonged period of role playing. I think it's hard to truly enjoy anything when you're not being yourself.

And friends etc seem to think (like you said AA and NA thought) that socializing would fix my problem (which at the time pretty much consisted of constant meltdowns in public where I'd burst into tears at random times of the day for absolutely no reason, anxiety, etc brought on by complete exhaustion). Even if I explicitly said that socializing was the *root* of the problem, they couldn't comprehend it.

I think the key to solving the problem is to find a balance. I also think that isolated (or close to) living, then going out to socialize etc and being able to retreat to isolation on your home ground, is probably a good idea.

The first time I took it I felt:
1) My life seamed less darker and a lot brighter
2) Improved socialization/ I made A LOT of new friends and started talking to other people
3) Less anxiety
3) I strated doing things I didn't do like going to parties/ going out with friends
4) I wanted to go out with friends and being around people instead of being alone
5) I had more energy
6) I felt less embarassed when talking to people and I seemed less awkward (ok just a bit)
7) I felt more confident

Wow ana, looks like you found a miracle drug ! Im kinda new to the drug world, i have been taking riddlin which didnt work and switched to aderall which is pretty much the same thing. it is for my CFS, anyways not a good idea to give concentration medication to some one who tends to focus on topics too much,

But im curious about celexa, is it an anti depressant? i thought all antideressants kinda just numb you ? or is it pretty much a stimulant like riddalin?
just curious here. nice to see some one from montreal here