A possible last resort, if I am forced onto Workfare

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A possible last resort, if I am forced onto Workfare


Do not advise me on any alleged ‘help for disabled/autistic/mental health’ people into work or in the workplace...I have tried it all and it is irrelevant and useless to me in particular.
Does anyone who is autistic/asperger have any knowledge, preferably personal experience, of any legally available chemical/pill which will make a person more alert, process information and move/work faster, also most importantly, react quickly and aggressively (obviously nothing illegal or drastic such as the Evan Harris/Dylan Cleybold response). Assertiveness training I’ve done, but I have no idea if it will work in the work place among lots of people when I am also subject to noise, fluorescent lighting etc, lots of distractions which will push up my anxiety levels. From experience, I must not come over as weak or frightened and easily intimidated, I must react more quickly and strongly.
Please no replies from people worried about drug reactions, I am already on SSRIs and have researched thoroughly any possible effects, short or long-term and there is no way that any reaction I have can be worse than the breakdown I had years ago, but this time I would like to be outwardly hostile if need be and react quickly to a situation, especially involving working and trying to interact with people at the same time.

You know what? Maybe working isn't so bad. It doesn't take too much to change someone's perspective. It's all a matter of the mind. You wanna live where you live? You want to save for your future and possibly your family's future? Well then you better get a job. It can be fun. It's fun to share a collective pain. This is life.

Nabilone, Respiridone, Quetiapine*Seroquel* (There's a generic version), Medical Cannabis

EDIT: I just saw your thing about no replies from people worried about drug reactions. I will remove the part I said and just say that Risperidone will most likely destroy your body and make you lactate. (Lactating hurts!)

And what is Workfare?

Couple of questions before I make a suggestion. Which country do you live in and are you male or female (I never assume from an avatar).

Off the top of my head I would say "amphetamine," but it depends. If your natural fight-or-flight reaction is more toward "flight" (anxiety) then it could make things worse. And it might or might not allow you to process information faster (I've been on a lot of meds over the years and none of them helped with that, but I may have unique problems there). And there are also all the usual problems with stimulants (it seemed to make me more OCDish than I usually am).

Apologies for late reply but I just couldn't manage to get posts onto the forum so my friend is doing it for me now.

Amphetamines are illegal in Britain (and it hasn't changed as far as I know). Yes my tendency is towards flight, precisely why I wanted something to change that. Stimulants do create problems, I know, which is precisely why I have described this as a last resort i.e. I hope I never have to do this. Is there any kind of hypnotherapy or hypnosis or any other kind of treatment which will change a personality and can I get proof of their success (if any) from anywhere because there are so many rip off merchants using people who are desperate.

I would prefer not to take pills at all, but if it has to be, then I would rather it is something that acts quickly and can hopefully be flushed out of my system quite soon (insomnia problem).

Thank you for the info

Ephemerol9

I am not sure if Risperidone is available here or has it any other brand names?

I know the pills can destroy the body which is precisely why I described it as a 'last resort' i.e. I don't want to do it. However, having physical and mental breakdown which destroys your immune system is quite bad for you as well and the abscesses which you get everywhere, hurt too. Again, if you know of any hypnotherapy of anyway of changing your personality or projecting a different persona convincingly and being able to maintain it, also speeding reactions up, please tell.

Workfare is a term for the humorously named Work Programme....please see below. This is quote from the Benefits and Work newsletter ([email protected]):-

The continued failure of the Work Programme (Members only) to provide the kind of revenue that charities were expecting is also widening the rift between the DWP and its third sector partners. The Single Homeless Project (SHP) in London is withdrawing from the scheme because it is “not sustainable” to continue. Meanwhile, conservative party favourites Tomorrow’s People say that only 4 of 54 separate Work Programme sub-contracts were financially viable for them.

ATOS CLAIMANT DEATHS
The first details how many claimants have died whilst waiting for a work capability assessment (WCA) (External link) – 1,600 between January and August last year – or after having been placed in the work-related activity group (WRAG) – 1,100 in the same period. No figures exist for how many have died after being found fit for work.

The second is a follow up piece which looks at some individual stories (External link). These include a warehouse worker with a degenerative lung condition whose weight had dropped to just seven stone and who had had trouble breathing and walking. He was awarded zero points at his WCA and was told that he would be fit to return to work within three months.

He was dead before the three months were up.

^
Basically that is about the Work Programme and the assessment by ATOS, an IT company with no medical qualifications which has been assessing people for "fitness" for the Work Programme. For more details, type 'DPAC' (Disabled People Against Cuts) into Google.


Thank you

Ephemerol9

Apologies for not being able to post sooner.

I live in Britain and before I reply, is there a particular purpose for asking me if I am male or female, as I don't quite see the relevance to my question. If certain pills/chemicals affect the genders in different ways, please post all the details on them, in case other people need to know. You are right, you can never assume anything from an avatar.

Thanks for replying

Ephemerol9

I would be fascinated to know how you have saved for yours and your family's future at the age of 22. On a post I replied to above about ATOS and the Work Programme (Workfare), it mentions various disabled people's deaths before they even started Workfare, maybe you should tell them (Link to Benefits and Work) it is "all a matter of the mind and It's fun to share a collective pain because 'This is Life'". Also, on £64 per week ESA, which is what Workfare involves instead of giving you even the minimum wage, I think you'll find it really difficult to pay even an average rent before luxuries like 'food and transport'. Do the Maths yourself or get an adult to do it for you.

I have worked full-time or part-time for 24 out of 25 years until I had a full-scale breakdown. I am now entitled to a basic pension but I don't know if it was worth the illness I suffered. And all of us are now being told that we now have to put extra into the pension, because the basic pension isn't enough. The goal posts keep changing and the pensions that people have are getting raided in the latest budget and as they were in 2007/8 (Gordon Brown).

I have in fact supported another adult when I was working, when he was illegally denied sickness benefit for years. I had my first job when I was 14.

You obviously don't believe that people can have illness, breakdown or sensory problems related to autism and possibly the only way you can be jolted into the reality which most people are in is if you experience a breakdown yourself. Over 30 years I have seen a lot of people much more complacent than yourself crack very fast when reality sets in i.e. an illegal eviction or a redundancy with no warning, especially both at once.

Ephemerol9

It is really that bad? I have the same issues too, thanks God i don't have insomnia. Maybe you have had some traumas in the past?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_po ... s_disorder

Working in a harmful environment with pills doesn't sound 'right' to me. Sorry for my english

The only things I can think of are caffeine and Ephedrine, the problem with these are they both make your anxiety shoot up and make yourself jittery. I used to take Ephedrine, it's used for colds and it's also a diet pill. It worked well except it made me extremely anxious and jittery which I do not need. The pros about Ephedrine though are it makes you lose your appetite, boosts your energy very high and motivates you to get things done. I do not recommend it for people who are prone to becoming very anxious though.

You make it sound so easy. I've applied for jobs and have been informed that I'm 1 out of 100+ people applying for the one position.

Getting a job isn't easy - especially with a disability which makes doing simple things in everyday life difficult.

I believe the reason that I have not been invited to take part on a workfare scheme is that I do voluntary work. Could that be a better solution for you than medication?

I'm on it too and do voluntary work.

Amphetamines are legal in Britain - get a prescription for Ritalin...

Or work with the system. See if you can ensure you end up in a "job" you can cope with?

You could switch from your current antidepressant to bupropion (marketed as Wellbutrin). Unlike SSRIs, Wellbutrin inhibits dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake rather than serotonin reuptake. Higher dopaminergic activity results in increased energy, alertness and productivity and can even give you a bit of a high, in the same way that nicotine does. The effect of Wellbutrin is strong enough to treat nicotine and even cocaine addiction, and yet it has less side effects than SSRIs. Like amphetamines, it is also used to treat ADHD.

The downside is that Wellbutrin is less effective against anxiety, although it doesn't cause anxiety. If patients feel more anxious after switching to Wellbutrin, they're usually prescribed citalopram (Celexa) in addition. It can also be a bit addictive, but that goes for all antidepressants. I currently take hypericum / St. John's wort, an over-the-counter drug that has similar effects, but it is much weaker than Wellbutrin and would probably not be effective enough to cope with a stressful, noisy work environment. Besides, you'd likely have to pay for it yourself, which might not be an option.