meds for meltdowns?

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Hello everybody. Recently my stress levels are off the roof.and meltdowns happen. Im extremely irritable and cant deal with stress well if almost at all at this point. Im sick of melting down and they happen so fast. Almost no signs just ne letting go all control even if I wake up wrong. Throwing objects seem to be my favorite thing to do when this happens and like I said it happens quick and I do not have time to think of what im doing till its done. So if anybody has a clue and has taken anything that has worked with minimal side effects let me know. At least I can try to steer my VA psychologist in the right direction.

Anxiety pills might work.

There are all kinds of meds perscribed for that. Benzos, SSRI, lithium etc. So your doc should be able to work with you on getting something set up.

Ok but arnt benzos addictive? I just dont understand why the federal government just legalize cannabis, because benzos I hear act a lot like it in a mild way. Seems like a safer alternative but that is a totally different subject and getting off track. Ill set up a appointment in the morning to try and find something. Lithium is a old school anti psychotic that is potent. I knew a staff sgt that wad bi polor taking those. I talked to my doc about benzos and such but it seems the va does not like to subcribe them due to the addictive nature of the drug. Most stuff they did prescribe me is the stuff that takes weeks for it to work and I ended up losing something from it. Sleep or gain weight or not wake up at all in time. I have so far taken 12 different kind of psych meds in my life as I can remember. Frusterating.

Those which are approved by the FDA for treating autism-related irritability are Risperdal and Abilify.

Lithium is a mood stabilizer, not an anti-psychotic. It's also often taken in case of anti-depressant resistant depression. Also, I don't think Lithium is effective for autistic meltdowns.

Thank you so much guys. I have a appointment soon. I will mention Risperdal and Abilify.

I agree on the cannabis thing, one main reason I smoke is because it helps me keep a more calm state of mind...if the damn federal government would recognize it. As for benzos though I has some bad results with klonopin, but then I tried valium which was less intensive and didn't seem as habit forming. Uhh sounds like a frustrating situation either way, it would be easier if the feds just legalized cannabis nationally.

Mention the benzos too. Possibly first. Yes, they can be addictive-- I was terrified of them for decades for that reason. I finally gave in and took .25 mg of Xanax. They say it's the worst one for addiction-- lemme tell ya, I could never get addicted to that one. There was no high, no euphoria, no warm fuzzy feeling-- just calm and the return of common sense, within about 20 minutes.

Klonopin is supposed to be much less prone to cause addiction. So that's what my psych gave me when I asked for Xanax. Uh, yeah, BB is put together backwards. I cut them in half and in 30 minutes I'm somewhere past Cloud 9, listening to angels play light classical on well-tuned harps. Took half of one about 90 minutes ago because my cat died during the night-- I'm feeling all Zen and singing "Turn, Turn, Turn" while I hunt up the rubber gloves and the mattock. High as a f*****g kite. Pleasant, but a little scary. I have to use self-control to not end up developing a PROBLEM with this stuff (but I can do that-- and I have a family history of substance abuse a mile long, so if I can do it you probably can too).

I would be leery of atypical antipsychotics (Risperdal, Abilify, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Geodon, and company). I've personally seen Risperdal, Seroquel, and Zyprexa seriously f**k people up. Like, "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." Chemical lobotomy, with major cognitive impairment, incapacitating sedation, and debilitating extrapyramidal symptoms (muscle pain, tics, Parkinsonism).

Abilify is supposed to be the sweet, gentle baby sister of the bunch. Maybe so, but I've seen it f**k people up pretty good too. Gave my cousin medication-induced psychosis. Why do I have all these horror stories?? Mental health care in West Virginia is pretty medieval. Heard the VA ain't much better.

Plus, they're dopamine/serotonin antagonists, so they can and do make depression worse. Risperdal pushed me from seriously depressed to suicidal (the only time in a 40 years of battling depression and anxiety I've ever actually acted on suicidal ideation). Eight months on that s**t was like a long, slow, groggy, mostly silent meltdown.

Might not affect you that way-- it doesn't everyone; I had a really severe reaction compounded by the fact that the people who put me on it were wrapped up in a disability fraud scam and therefore wouldn't take me off it when I started getting incredibly sick (upped my dose instead-- woulda been justified in suing).

But-- yeah, I'd look at SSRI's if you want constant control or benzos if you want a rescue medication before I'd look at atypicals.

Right now I'm having pretty good luck with Zoloft at 25 mg for general control of anxiety (not meltdowns-- I'm more prone to shutdowns and only melt down if someone's stupid enough to push me past shutdown) and 25 mg of Klonopin for a rescue med.

The flattening of affect really sucks, but I'm getting better at plowing through it and making myself do stuff I know I care about even though I'm totally apathetic-- and if I can plow through it, eventually it will go away. The sexual side effects really suck-- I'm now completely dead down there, can't even tell if it's "in" or not, can rub it till it bleeds and all I get is a cramp in my wrist-- but maybe that will go away too. I wasn't the world's biggest fan of orgasms anyway-- sensory overstimulation hell-- and I've only been on it about 2 weeks.


Probably would have been all right with it this morning...

...but first I had to verify that the cat was dead, then I had to tell my husband that the cat was dead, then I had to tell my kids the cat was dead, and now I have to put the cat in it's cardboard casket and go dig a hole. And I have a THING about handling dead animals. I HATE it. So I thought, 25 mg of prevention (Klonopin with my morning cuppa) is better than 25 ounces of cure (beer, after I f*****g lose it on someone).

I never really thought about it much until now, but now that I think back, the meditation and chi-gung breathing practices that I did back in the day, seemed to be the start of the turning point from my more "psychotic" feelings towards being able to approach situations more calmly, although it was through martial arts, and certainly was not necessarily an over-night process. I cannot attribute this to just any martial art since I had done combat-practice in other styles even before I got into one that did such internal-exercises that involved the control of one's speed of breathing.

I had nothing but serious problems when drugs were prescribed (the problem was not within me but more due to the existence of an extortionist police-state who subjected me to so much damn extortion that I know for a fact that one day they are going to do this to the point of inciting civil-unrest towards such a manner as to having absolutely every single building in the entire country being reduced to nothing but rubble... I have felt the rage and anger that the "injustice" system incites). Yeah, like someone mentioned, Zyprexa can really f**k one up really bad (was the first thing I was prescribed), then there was Invega (also extremely poisonous), turned out to cause me other severe problems, like hypo-thyroidism.

Beware of what you are getting yourself into if you take the drug-route instead of trying safer alternatives (such as hypno-therapy). Like others have mentioned, sexual-dysfunction can often result, even I had erectile-dysfunction for years until I figured out how to restore its proper function (I basically eventually figured out how to sort of cure it in a way). Try catching yourself the moment you notice negative thoughts coming into your mind, practice this at least three times a day, take very deep, slow breaths as you close your eyes, and "mentally command" your emotions to become calm and peaceful (basically treat it like a separate entity that is trying to make you lose control of your cool, but YOU are ITS boss, and IT actually needs to listen to YOU into behaving itself, and you will continue directing your "thoughts" towards this thing in such a manner each session until you have it completely under control).

I agree with what other people have already said.

Keep in mind that sometimes autistic people are a little sensitive to medications, so you could try cutting a medication in half and trying that, especially with a benzo.

The most common things I have heard people using are benzos and cannibis as needed before or during a stressful event. Of course the latter might not be legal where you are. MORE commonly than either, I have heard of people managing stress and avoiding meltdowns by going to a quiet place (even a bathroom stall) and using a stimming behavior and taking a walk. If you're at work or otherwise busy, just a 5 minute walk around the building is what most people do.

If you are not in the habit of stimming, you could think of a soothing behavior you had as a child, even if it seems silly now, and try doing that again. Many people fold their fingers, or shake their arms and/or legs. These kinds of things can just help you center yourself.

Klonopin or Ativan to help calm you down when you know you are stressed. If you put either one of those under your tongue, allow them to melt, salivate a bit, and don't swallow what they melt into right away, this will end up making them kick in WAY faster. It can make Klonopin kick in within 15-20 minutes, and Ativan probably in 10 minutes or less. you could do the same for Xanax, it is just that Xanax is awfully bitter tasting, while Klonopin tastes like candy, and Ativan just has no taste at all. While you aren't likely to be addicted to benzos if you have no prior history of drug abuse, you will become physically and mentally dependent on it if you use it often enough(like most psych drugs), and you will build tolerance over time.

Risperdal might very well calm you down, but it also can cause massive weight gain(2nd only to Zyprexa). Abilify has its own issues, though it doesn't cause anywhere near the weight gain of Risperdal.

Benzos might make things worse if we're talking about an agitated and irritable meltdown here - they may cause more disinhibition and worsen the symptoms. This is why the only FDA approved meds for autistic meltdowns are Risperdal and Abilify. They're approved for a wide range of conditions, and work excellently against autism-induced irritability.

I'm on apolazorpam and quentipine.

I take propranolol in addition to my main med cause when I have to go outside when my brain isn't particularly tranquil (which is at least half the week) I am liable to get overloaded pretty quickly, that stuff mainly works on the physical responses to anxiety so it calms me a bit externally, my main med helps regulate the intensity of my mood and sedates me a bit but there's not really much more I want to take, I'm not taking benzos cause they're not the best idea to have too often and lose effectiveness anyhow. I also take the propranolol at night as it helps calm my corpse down, I don't always get to sleep but it's better than having a panic attack when I'm ruminating, I still do have them but modern medicine helps a lot.