Hypersensitivity

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Is anyone so hypersensitive to the point where they can't take certain medications because you tend to get even the most rare of side effects?

I noticed that this happens to me and I just now thought there might be a connection. I am hypersensitive to noise, touch etc becuase of AS, wouldn't make sense that my medication hypersensitivity is linked to AS too? or am I way off?

It's extremely bad hypersensitivities to almost every medication. I've had to stop so many meds because I was having the worst of the side effects or I couldn't even function.


If I go into status epilepticus (a very long, life threatening seizure) they EMTs are even sometimes hesitant to give me Vallium because I am so sensitive to that.

Is it AS or is it me?

Yes.

Certain foods I can't tolerate well, drinks and medication however I've grown tolerant towards side effects of drowsiness with over the counter medicine because I've taken them for a while to deal with migraines.

yes,same here.
am only able to take slow release versions of drugs,and some-have just had to give up,like gabapentin and normal tegretol-because am just about ticked off almost every side effect.
though for some reason,am able to cope with tramadol and that isnt slow release.

it has been said before that aspies and auties are often hypersensitive or hyposensitive to medications,and may need to take a lot less or more of a medication to get the same results as a regular sensitive person taking it.
so it may be because of the AS that are experiencing those problems.

About vallium,as are epi-am wondering,do take tegretol/tegtretol ret*d? if find vallium doesnt work,it isnt supposed to with tegretol,but doctors dont always look this up,the gp am go to doesnt and she still prescribes am piles of it for things like NYE even though a pile of them will not work and she says to staff 'it'll make her sleep all day'-the teg stops it working,stupid doctors.

No, I'm not on Tegretol anymore. I was on it for a while, but that was one of the meds that gave me some bad side effects.
I'm on Topamax, Lamictal, Zoloft, and Trazadone.

Now, I am only supposed to get a child's amount of Vallium so they can stop the seizure and get less side effects.

The problem is though, with a smaller dose, my seizures aren't under control. I need a high dose, which brings out big side effects.


Thank you for answering my question.

I tried Risperdal (smallest dosage, 0.25mg) and it ended up increasing my prolactin levels too much. I couldn't take Trazodone because I got migraines the next day. My doctor put me on antibiotics for acne, and I couldn't tolerate it either.

The only medication I need a lot of is sleeping medication. I had to take 3mg of Lunesta to fall asleep, but it has mild side effects. I've also been on moderate dosages of Valium and Klonopin to sleep. I tried Seroquel, but couldn't tolerate it either, even though it didn't sedate me enough.

I also have a problem with foods high in MSG. The taste is too overwhelming that it's impossible for me to eat foods with it.

Yes, my psychiatrist often comments on how sensitive I am to medications. I take Klonopin for my panic attacks, and the lowest dose (the 0.125 wafers) is enough to make me a tired zombie for the rest of the day.
-OddDuckNash99-

Last edited by OddDuckNash99 on 01 Jan 2009, 8:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, that's me exactly. I usually get side-effects that are not mentioned in the package leaflet.

But I'm not sensitive to all of them. Most pain killers and such do not kill my pain but thin my blood. There I go bleeding like hell... great.

I know one pain killer that helps now. Without any side effects too.

On the other hand, all other meds I had so far are really overdosed if I am instructed to use the common to low dosage.

Heck, even simple cough syrup makes me sneeze and gasp for air like crazy.

I'm also highly sensitive to supplements. To both vitamins or minerals. People find that hard to believe, they said.

I wonder that if I manage to get ADHD meds if I might need them how they'll work on me?

I get side effects from medication that's only mentioned in anecdotal evidence, not on the actual papers the doctor gives you.

Let's see... I have chorea (tics) from lamictal, which I stopped taking a year ago. The tics haven't gone away and probably never will. I told my neurologist the medicine was causing the tics but she told me that lamictal doesn't do that. I had to find and print out stuff from the internet before she'd "let" me stop taking it for epilepsy.

I also had a toe go numb at some point from one of the other medicines I was on. It was either lamictal or keppra. I'm off lamictal, still on keppra. That was over a year ago. The toe is still numb. I think it's permanent.

I had a HORRIFYING experience with a benzodiazapine I got for anxiety. It made me suicidal and gave me hallucinations and increased the sensory difficulties and gave me even worse panic attacks. Because my drug dealer..

Er. Er.... psychiatrist...

Had already had me on it for six weeks, I was physically dependent and getting off of it was a b***h. So... I continued to be suicidal and hallucinating while I weaned myself off of it. I then fired her.

The sensory defensiveness issues I have are increased sensitivity to sound (you can't even crack nuts near me because I'll freak out like I'm under attack), smell (certain smells will make me throw up and that's no exaggeration and I have a nose that would put a bloodhound to shame), and to a lesser extent light. The social aspects of my AS don't bother me but the sensory issues alone make me wish there was a cure. I have to live with my parents because any apartment would be too loud/smelly/bright.

Why should a person with senses like a predator feel like prey?

Before I address medicine, let me first address what I am extremely sensitive to due to my Asperger's.
First, I hate loud noises. Second, I hate bright light. Third, I hate hearing certain phrases/words/cliches repeated over and over again in a TV show, movie, etc. Fourth, I hate hearing the F#*% word used in movies. I also hate hearing the Lord's name used in vain in movies.

Now for medicine. I have always had allergies. As a child, they were quite bad and I had to take allergy shots once a week. Then, I got to go off of them when my allergies improved so that I only had seasonal attacks. Later, I started having bad allergies again and my doctor recommended I go back on allergy shots. A nurse, that was a friend of my family, stopped by each week to give me my allergy shot. She would stay about a half hour at the house to make sure I would not have a reaction to it. Several times I would get a little red spot at the injection site. The nurse said I was having a slight reaction to the medicine. We continued the injections. About a month later I had a scare. After a few minutes of my injection I felt my lips tingling. I went to the bathroom to see if something was wrong with them. Then, I felt my heart go into a rapid beat. I put my hand on my chest and my heart was going over 200 beats per minute. I knew something was wrong. Then, in the mirror I saw my face turning reddish. I looked down and saw my legs and feet were turning a little red too. I went out of the bathroom and told the nurse I wasn't feeling well. She acted quite alarmed at my red face. By this time I was feeling light headed, dizzy, and weird. My skin began feeling very irritated and hurtful to touch, so I took my shirt off---and my chest, stomach, and back were like blood red. The nurse said, "Get the Ephanadrim" (not sure of the spelling of it). She hurriedly injected the Ephanadrim into my upper leg and I lay down on the couch. I was in a sort of a panic. I kept my hand over my heart hoping to feel it slow down. After a few minutes, it did start to slow, and I began feeling better. The nurse stayed with me for about an hour until she knew I was alright. I never took another allergy shot. My doctor didn't understand why I should have had such a reaction to the allergy shots. Perhaps, it was due to Asperger's?

That happened to me too. After being on Klonopin for about 10 weeks I developed a continuous low-grade headache and annoying memory lapses and sleepy spells. It was also doing jack for my anxiety by then.

I tried to wean off at the doctors rate and at one point I stopped sleeping completely for 4 days straight and had panic attacks which I'd never had before in my life. I also had weird sensations in my head and body that I couldn’t even begin to describe to my psychiatrist. It took a couple months to feel back to normal even after I was completely off.

Cough syrup makes me vomit every single time I take it. There have been some exceptions, and I think it was buckleys that was one of them, but I don't want to try to find out it wasn't.

There are people who can be really sensitive to the guaifinesin (now I KNOW I spelled that wrong) in most cough syrups. It's the expectorant ingredient and it will induce vomiting in people. I've seen this happen in people who deliberately drink a lot (as in... they're drinking cough syrup to get high). The g-stuff is what does it. Try finding a brand that only has dextromethorphan, assuming you have the dry, hacking cough going.

For a productive cough, you're screwed.

I thought this topic was for sensitivity to any of the five senses, I have sensitive eyes and sense of smell.

I don't know, I haven't taken many medications (as I don't like the sound of the risks, nor can I see the benifit of most of them.)
I'm fine with asprin types, so far.
Fine with cold/flu/fever meds.
Was a bit weird with Seroquel. Didn't know if I was hyper to it, or hypo. All I know is that it stopped making me go to sleep (was prescribed it as a sleep med) at two pills, but I wouldn't take more than that because it was starting to fu** with my functioning/thinking. So I got off of it. As it is, I'm pretty sure it's permently messed with my mood- if I recall correctly, my bouts of apathy/not-feeling-anything-at-all started when I was on it...