Positive Response to SSRi medications. Please list.

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I have had to go back on medication. A minuscule dose that is a quarter of the starter dose for most "normal" people.
I have a very positive response....

1. reduced stimming and co-morbid anxiety
2. reduced depression
3. cessation of suicidal ideation
4. increased eye contact (connected to point 1. listed above.)
5. minor increase in flexibility.
6. Increased talking. (I was unaware, but my ex said I stopped talking completely off meds, except for my monologues.)
7. Reduction in scream and hand over ears reaction reaction to noise and sound.
8. less extreme fight/flight reactions.

I have been reading a lot of temple Grandin's writing on meds and SSRI's. I have the same reaction to her.
She mentions abnormalities in serotonin in some people with ASD's.

If you are on SSRI medication, can you cite the benefits here, and explain the improvements to your life?

The past 7 months was the first time since age 13-14 I was on zilch medication (inclusing self-medicating with alcohol and drugs to cope with my ASD.) By the 6th month, as the brain chemistry returned to its 'normal" state for me (my pure state - that state with no medication) things were dire with chronic stimming, no eye contact whatsoever, people coming over to our house to tell me how they feared I wold suicide, completely locked into "self" except for some very scripted communications which required so much effort it was ridiculous. I could not understand and comprehend the words of people talking to me. This happens now, but not as intensely or severely. there was also a return to the tendency to self-harm as I used to, but i never acted out on it. (this seems to have something to do with my nervous system and hyposensitivity/hypersensitivity confusions.) There was also the inability to depart from set routines whatsoever. People would stare at me when i was out and about because the stimming and pacing gets so bad.

it is difficult as there are things I prefer about being OFF meds. I like the intensity and the my world place i live in. It is me. BUt the co-morbid suicidal stuff will kill me.

Anyone else report similar experiences to myself and Grandin?

I have the positive effect of less anxiety and depression, which enables me to do better socially than I would otherwise. My AS BF states SSRI's have done "miracles" for him, bringing him from completely mute to socially interactive.

^ Yes. That is great Whitetiger.
I am glad for you and your boyfriend. looking forward to you posting your next vid.

I don't know if my medications are SSRIs, but two of them are antidepressants, so the upsides are:

1)Less anxious
2)Less depressed
3)More controllable mood swings
4)Less self-harm
5)Less likely to sit and stare at a wall for ages
6)Sleep better
7)Easier to engage with others
More likely to have periods where I am not overstimulated

All these upsides don't occur if I am in a harmful environment, so medication and surroundings work in tandem for me.

1) increased self-confidence
2) happiness/non-negative thinking
3) no more wanting to end my life! :]
4) a big decrease in anxiety
5) easier time falling asleep
6) more I can't think of...

Zoloft took the edge off my anxiety. It also gave me certain benefits that fell short of complete anorgasmia. It, however, made me depressed.

I have been on both Zoloft and Prozac for depression but noticed changes I didn't expect. I was known for never speaking and avoiding eye contact. I am less hypersensitive even though I still have to talk myself through offended feelings. I have better sustainable energy-a trip to the grocery store used to exhaust me so much I'd have to take a nap afterwards. I don't self edit as much. I am more likely to speak out loud what I'm thinking but I try not to be stupid. I was first on meds through a university/pharmaceutical co. study and went off when the study was over. I didn't know how to take care of myself and put myself in an extremely stressful situation. I attempted to move across the country by myself. I crashed and I crashed hard. I am told the general rule of thumb is to be on meds twice as long as you've been depressed. I don't know if that still is considered valid but they figure I had suffered from anhedonia since early childhood. I didn't know what feeling good felt like and was just waiting to die. It's unlikely I will risk going off meds.

Possibly because I am on very high doses of SSRis, I don't notice any improvement in autism-related difficulties. HOWEVER, a combination of Zoloft and Abilify has virtually put a stop to my psychosis and suicidal ideation, and has made my anxiety much more manageable.

Been on Paxil since middle school. I had depression and some major social anxiety that's it has helped with A LOT. It also helped with some mild ocd-like compulsions i used to get sometimes. Now that i know about AS, i think a lot of that stemmed from that instead of just being problems in themselves.
For example, i used to think social anxiety was the reason i wasn't able to get along normally with my peers and never had a group of friends to hang out with like everyone else.. But, that's OBVIOUSLY not the reason, since i'm now very outspoken in social situations(in some classes in college i probably voice my opinion too much, actually), and i LIKE being around people... I go out around people a lot, and i'm even a salesperson! BUT.... something still just doesn't work out quite right. Before, i was quiet and lonely. Now, i'm talkative and lonely(still get SOME social-related anxiety.. and after i get enough of it i start avoiding people, but still talkative compared to before). It's better, because at least some conversation gets going when you're more talkative... But it still doesn't make making friends or actually knowing what to say easier. Before, if i didn't know what to say then i'd be quiet. Now i'll still not know what to say, but at least give it a shot with something, whether people think it's strange or not. lol. Anyone have any similar experiences to this?

^ yes.
I first was put on SSRI meds 11 year ago in a rehab. no dx for an ASD then, in spite of the fact i rocked when stressed and moaned, had stimming issues, and had great difficulty with people, being blunt and other things.

the first time i ever felt 'Joy" - synthetic or otherwise - was on SSRI meds. Prior to that I did not know what good feelings were at all. I never experienced them.

I have returned to a lower dose recently, than the dose I was on before.
What you describe is similar to some experience i had on the old dose years ago. I would be talkative and social, but almost compulsively, and still with the awareness that I was TOO blunt, and too loud and inappropriate. My voice - which i have heard on vid - sounded forced and staged.

The problem is I would cringe in shame when i came home because I would have said things that i wish i had not.

A lower dose of the SSRI meds does not create this in me. i am experiencing relief from anxiety and depression and the kinds of things i listed in the OP.
I am a little bit more social but quieter and more circumspect.

Well, I noticed Effexor, which I took for a few years for severe depression, helped with my social anxiety as well. Since going off of it in 2005, I haven't really noticed any other benefits it had. What I didn't like was that it seemed to make me too confident and negatively affect my empathy. I said and did lots of things I now regret but didn't care about then.

I'm currently on half the normal daily dose of Lovan and I too found it has helped drastically:

Before SSRI:

* Unable to feel anything.
* Depressed all the time.
* Unable to find joy in anything, even my interests.
* Feeling like everything was pointless.
* Constantly trying to fight off illogical negative feelings.
* Feeling NUMB.
* High anxiety
* Constant meltdowns (where I'd just burst into tears on and off every day)
* Unable to cope with social interaction without complete exhaustion collapse.
* Constant thoughts about self harm.

After SSRI (and social isolation - to be fair)

* Starting to feel things again.
* Positive thinking.
* Still not getting much joy out of things, but the possibility of getting joy out of special interests in future crops up more and more.
* Low anxiety
* Reduced meltdowns
* No thoughts about self harm.

I'm hoping that once I'm back to normal I'll be able to go off the SSRI's again, because I have coped without them my whole life up until the last year or so - and I think what set me off was putting too much of my energy and self into maintaining a perfect social mask, and I drained myself of all life and feeling to do so.
*

^ Gee Sunshower, it sounds as if you are really having to learn how to accept your limitations. Maybe a bit of socialising, but also an awareness of your fragility due to your ASD.
If I push myself in the way you described, I fall in a heap. I've read it over and over again here on WP...the exhaustion from "trying" to partake in what others take for granted as normal life.

I am glad you are getting some benefits from the medications. take care.

I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. I was on Strattera, then Ritalin was added; now stopped Strattera and continuing with Ritalin and started SSRI today. I am not depressed, but very tense. Some days good, some days very edgy and prone to meltdowns. The SSRi was prescribed to deal with this.