Drugs That Help Aspergers

Post Reply New Topic

thank you Auntblabby , but what is BC/ BS stand for.? please? top teir plans would be something maybe i could consider , if i had extra dollars ? It would be nice to have a more normal life .

i wonder how i'd be doing if i still was on strattera?

A little over 2 weeks in and the Adderall is still going strong, not a perfect fix, but better than any anti-depressant I've ever been on. Considering how many Aspies seem to struggle with executive function and getting things done, I'm starting to wonder if an ADHD screening ought to be the immediate follow up to an ASD diagnosis, I didn't realize that it was so much more than just not being able to sit still and pay attention.

I’m currently on modest dosages of atomoxitine (Strattera) and guanfacine ER (Intuniv), with the occasional low dosage of methylphenidate ER. This is all for ADHD / executive function & emotional data regulation issues.

The Guanfacine ER seems to help with self awareness, calmness (less anxiety), and maybe a little with sleep. (But don’t eat grapefruit or any other strong CYP3A4 inhibitor with it!)

The Atomoxitine seems to help me with overall situational awareness, but I have to watch not to miss a dose or be too late in the day with it (I felt like the bucket of awareness in my brain was … being metaphorically sloshed a bit too much when that happened… and occasional headaches and a bit of sleep issues coincided—although I was absent minded because of travel and hyper routine disruptions at the time.)

Awesome 5min summary of Guanfacine https://youtu.be/AulOWZ9USSg
Dr Byrne talks about a non stimulant medication for ADHD: Guanfacine
(Touches on lots of the small points that I’ve heard piecemeal.)

I think we're in a more tragic and difficult situation than saying there's a chemical imbalance that a drug can remedy.

We're out of sync with Darwinian evolution in that we go ultra-rational at a certain age because we have to, our instincts don't match the world around us. As I've gotten older I've noticed that people then use impulsiveness and instinctiveness as a hallmark of good / healthy genes and high self-control and analytical nature as a sign of poor genes (ie. if you can be three sheets to the wind sober and stay alive you've gotta be really healthy not to get smashed for it).

That puts us in a place where we get thrown down the social hierarchy precisely for our strengths.

Will any drug help that? No.

Can psychedelics help plenty of people tap into more internal resource? Sure.

Can ecstasy help people who've had crippling social anxiety see what it might be like to live without it? At least as long as the real reasons for that anxiety are obscured by it.

Also none of these things actually remove the fundamental game theory problem - that we aren't precisely like other people in every meaningless way. No amount of making sense or insight can fix that, as far as I can tell making more sense and having more insight will make you even more alienated from other people because you'll be living from first principles rather than just copying what other people do (and anything you do other than just copying what other people do will stand out as something that's 'wrong with' you).

A few more things looking through this thread:

Kratom - it's safer than standard opioids but can still be physically addictive, be careful. That said I have a drawer full of it and I will occasionally (like once every few weeks) tap into to it - mainly because I hate drinking and almost anything is better (IMHO) than alcohol. Also with kratom, like other opioids, be careful of constipation.

Ketamine / 'Special K' - If it has 'one time use' benefits that match chemical balance issues you think you might be having, worth a try. When I was younger I found it recreationally entertaining as did my friends, just not particularly transformative (or at least nowhere close to as transformative as psychedelics).

Neurontin / Gabapentin - I did try this, it was just what I needed at a given time in my life, and Mr. Floppy thankfully did not pay me a visit. I'll describe where I was and how I benefited, see if this sounds like you: I couldn't take an SSRI for any given amount of time without side-effects like personality loss and increased anxiety (from realizing that I was fading out and NT's were seeing it). I was also at particular times of the year, like spring, so jittery and anxious at certain times that it felt like my nerves were just about popping out of my skin and like I had engine suit or burnt motor oil in my veins. Gabapentin was like quashing that with a mild valium plus - best part - mood neutral, no effects on how I felt or thought (especially no loss of personality or social acuity), just relief from feeling like my nerves were jumping out of my skin.

^^^you were fortunate indeed that you didn't get mr. floppy from the neurontin.

I just started down the road to taking meds for anxiety/stress about 6 months ago. My psychologist suggested it. It has not been pretty. After different SSRIs and increasing alarming side affects my pharmacists came to the conclusion I should never take anything in this class of drugs ever again. The psychiatrist office seemed unconcerned and just kept trying to switch to a different ssri. So I stopped seeing them.

The whole experience was terrifying and each time the dr would say give it a few more weeks. Really. I now know what it must feel like to have Parkinsons and similar conditions. The dystonia was horrific, I couldn't even walk without hanging on the wall or leaning against my giant fluffy furbaby. Thankfully he's so huge to be able to sustain my weight leaning against him. That was from the last one I tried. I got off of it on my own with the pharmacist recommendation bc said doc told me to hold out longer. After getting off it the symptoms continued for a few weeks till I was back to normal.

Now I'm kind of terrified to try anything taken daily. That said the clonazepam does help when having a panic attack and it doesn't make me sleepy or hazy which is really nice. But that's prn not daily use.

On neurontin: I was prescribed it years ago by my neurologist for hemiplegic migraines along with Lamictal. I did notice I was more stable emotionally on those. Maybe I should speak to my new neurologist about taking those again instead of the normal anxiety meds, that route may be safer.

Have had many P docs put me on varieties of SSRIs ,, the only med am willing to take is the lorazepam .
At night and fear getting a tolerance to that , have focused on amino acids that help sleep. With good results that even carry over slightly into the next day. To keep my nerves from getting over active.

I've been taking L-Tyrosine, and I've been very happy with the results. It's one of the ingredients your brain uses to make dopamine, but I don't get "happy" or "pumped." I just feel mentally sharper and more stable.

I'm curious to know more about medications. I'd read that Risperidone (anti-psychotic) is sometimes prescribed for certain ASD symptoms. I'm fairly certain that I don't suffer from psychosis, but I kind of get it. Ever since I was a kid, I've always vaguely felt like there was someone else next to me. I talk to myself a lot, and I usually use the pronoun "you."

I'm still a novice at understanding this, but I do have a theory (because of course I do ):

Because the more logical prefrontal cortex and the more emotional amygdala don't talk to each other very well, one's sense of self can get fragmented. It seems to make sense that one could then perceive a fragmented sense of self as being external.

^^^. I like your theory ! …^^^……..the reasoning sound good .