Prozac and Asperger's?

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I saw a psychiatrist today and I mentioned to him that I thought I might have Asperger's Syndrome. I had seen this person once before when he diagnosed me with OCD. His first suggestion for dealing with this was to put me on Prozac. At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to be on a psychoactive medication. When I mentioned Asperger's today, he immediately decided that Prozac would be the best answer. He suggested that a more thorough look into the possibility of Asperger's could wait. My question is whether Prozac is effective for dealing with symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome and whether it makes sense to prescribe Prozac with so little prior knowledge.

With so little prior knowledge, I don't think it's a good idea to prescribe much of anything that messes with my brain.

Prozac is used as an anxiety medication, so its probably being looked at for social anxiety and other anxiety like things, including OCD. Do you feel like you have anxiety problems? Do you feel like you need to do things or like you want to do things?

I'd want more information unless you're talking about major depression.

I don't have a very good time communicating with others especially when it comes to expressing my thoughts and opinions about my health. Because of this, I brought in a list of the things I felt needed mention. In this list I mentioned that I had difficulty approaching people, difficulty initiating and maintaining a conversation, difficulty initiating and maintaining a friendship, and one or two other things I don't remember. He then asked me if I desired social contact. After much stammering and rephrasing on my part, I would begin to say something and he would break in saying that all that mattered was whether or not I desired social contact, I told him that I really didn't care if I had social contact. He said that Prozac would help me with "social anxiety" and "general anxiety", not his exact words but very close, and he had previously stated that Prozac would help me deal with another possibly unrelated obsessive behavior. He then wrote a prescription and we finished.

The things you find difficult, are you scared when doing them, or do you just not know what to do at all? Is their fear and anxiety?

Asperger's can look like social anxiety even when its not, but social anxiety is a common co-morbid.

No, I don't feel frightened or anxious about these activities at all. I just have a very hard time doing them. I really can't figure out a better way to explain myself than not understanding the "social paradigms" like Leonard and Sheldon talk about in the Big Bang Theory. I don't find the idea of social interaction frightening, I just don't understand how to go about doing it and I really don't care if I make or keep friends.

I'm onp rozac and it hasn't helped me at all, it's usually used in low doses for depression and high doses for OCD, I don't know that it helps AS.

I would be hesitant to continue treatment with a doctor who cuts his patients off unless you were stammering to an extent that the appointment went extremely overtime.

Prozac is an SSRI and some people benefit from it in various ways, others don't. It's good at helping certain compulsions caused by OCD, if you actually had social anxiety, it might help, it might not.

AS and social anxiety are not one and the same though.

drugs can cause horrible side effects so i would stay away from them at all costs. there are usually other way to deal with things. and stop dealing with psychiatrists. they will not take the time to get to know you and your problem. psychologists tend to be more helpful.

If you don't feel scared or anxious, then the "social anxiety" reasoning for Prozac really doesn't make sense. AS can show symptoms similarly to social anxiety though, so if he didn't know AS at all he might have just been assuming you had social anxiety.

From what you've said, I'd not guess that Prozac would help you.

He might think you're really just depressed, and is sort of tricking you into trying the prozac. He probably thinks once the prozac kicks in you'll forget about Asperger's.

As to whether taking it is a good idea, IDK. If you're depressed it might, but it has no specific ASD 'reliving' properties.

It's very odd, yeah. Prozac isn't even one of the more common medications they give you for AS.

It's useful for both depression and anxiety disorders, and it's entirely possible that the doc thinks you may have one or both of those; but if I were you I'd be asking more questions-- like why'd he prescribe Prozac for Asperger's, when it's been shown effective for depression and anxiety disorders?

Asperger's shouldn't really be medicated unless there are comorbids that respond to meds. There really aren't any meds for having a different sort of brain wiring. I guess you could make a case for stimulants; but if you benefit from those, you usually have enough traits for an ADHD diagnosis anyway.

Yeah, go to that doctor and ask about why he prescribed Prozac. Either he prescribed it because he figured you had anxiety/depression in addition to AS, or he just prescribed it because "hey, it can't hurt," in which case, why bother taking it?

Did he refer to a therapist? That's the usual treatment for AS--basically, education, teaching you how to do stuff that AS makes harder to do.

I'd dump that "doctor" and find a good psychiatrist. Introducing chemicals into your body is merely triage medicine. Prozac is one of the most commonly, and inappropriately over prescribed, medications in America.

Learning Transcendental Meditation may actually help you more. It's a great way to calm the body and focus the mind.

Uhm, well, meditation is useful; but it's not really indicated as an AS treatment. Just like Prozac, it's useful for anxiety disorders. I guess maybe it would help somewhat with dyspraxia, since some kinds of meditation include being more aware of your own body. That's a rather limited use, though.

Not that it can hurt to learn. It's quite relaxing. You might find it to be helpful with overload, since overload creates a high stress level. But probably only once you learn where your sources of overload are and how to get away from them.

The only thing that's really useful for AS, once you have the comorbids under control, is learning skills that are going to be useful for coping with the non-autistic world. Some doctors think you want a quick fix and will prescribe medication just on principle. You have to make it clear that you are willing to work on making your life better and don't mind making the effort.

I hate prozac, talk about a chemical lobotomy...at least that is what it felt like it would be if I continued taking them. When I started relating to the lyrics 'there is someone in my head but its not me' I figured it was time to throw the rest of the pills away. Its an individual choice.......so I can't tell anyone wether or not it would help them but it sure did not help me with anything.

Prozac seems to get prescribed as a 'cure-all' by some doctors. It seems to be the best tolerated of the SSRI's and, it's main function was and still is in treating depression. There has been more than one story here of people asking their doctor about Asperger's and being told they were just depressed... then prescribed antidepressants. Depression is a common comorbid but AS and depression are clearly too totally different conditions that may have a few outward symptoms that overlap.

Bottom line - call him and ask him WHY he prescribed it. WHAT is he trying to treat and what changes is he looking for during his evaluations? He is being paid in your name - he works for you. You have every right to ask questions and fully participate in your treatment.