AS/Schizophrenia and Help!

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Hi All - I'm new here - so this is kind of an intro (and please be nice!)

I am married, 32 years old and have a 3.5 year old son with HFA who I adore. I have a pretty successful career as a software developer. I've always thought I have AS but never pursued a diagnosis because I figured it wasn't really necessary since I've done pretty good with my situation (but it sure would have helped in school!) My husband and I haven't had a fantastic marriage, I think he's always been unhappy with me, and me with him as a result (or vice versa, not sure). Sometimes we talk about that he's the woman in the relationship and I'm the man - he's the needy one and I'm the more "emotionally unavailable" one.

Well anyways, a few months ago he started encouraging me to get a diagnosis because he wanted to know if the way I act is more permanent or something that could possibly change. I live in a smallish town in Indiana, and the I ended up finding a retired university psychology professor as a therapist who claimed to have knowledge of autism. He ended up unearthing that my husband has been verbally abusive, has narcissistic personality disorder and also I'd been verbally abused by my mom as a child (in addition to the bullying in school) As a result I became obsessed with these things and my depression grew worse. All I did at work for a good couple of months was read about NPD, codependency and verbally abusive relationships. I even started imagining that he was a psychopath. I sank into a deep depression and started on zoloft 100mg.

Meanwhile, my husband signed up to see a psychiatrist, who he just saw this week. This psychiatrist said all of the stuff about NPD, codependency, etc. was incorrect and that I have autism and he's mourning his chance at a better life. He said that for my husband to ever be happy he should leave me and move back to all of his friends in Illinois. This psychiatrist also said that I shouldn't be on Zoloft and instead a drug for schizophrenia called something like risperadon, and he said that there really is no such thing as schizophrenia and that it's now autism. My husband encouraged me to make an appointment with this psychiatrist which is scheduled for the end of October. He wants me to start taking that other risperadon.

I have two cousins with schizophrenia and their onset was later, about my age. They're both on medication which makes them near comotose and they're in group homes. I am so scared that the same thing's going to happen to me I'm driving myself crazy. My husband won't have anything to do with me - he won't kiss me, he's sleeping in a different bed. He just left and took my son to his parents. I'm constantly nauseous, unable to do anything. From all of the stress thinking my husband was an abuser I was already generally unable to eat, sleep, do work, clean house, etc. Things that I had no problems doing before I started seeing this therapist. When I've told the therapist my issues he makes me feel that I'm overreacting. And I'm sure I am - but I can't help it. It feels like it's spiraling and I think that I'm going to cause a schizophrenia onset, or at least cause my husband to leave.

Anyway, I need some sense knocked into me I don't have hallucinations and I don't think I have delusions unless driving myself crazy would be considered a delusion (I don't have any of the other positive symptoms of schizophrenia). I hope this is just an obsession that's ended up causing more distress.

OK, well... thanks for hearing me out at any rate!

You need to cancel the appointment. The psychiatrist is a quack.

What he's referring to is something called "Cassandra affective disorder", which is a fake disorder made up by a woman with not even a PhD (she has a counseling certificate) who is bitter about her messy divorce with her Asperger's husband. I've never met her, but I'm pretty sure she's a sociopath who is taking out her anger at her husband by trying to slander autistic people in general.

You should not take a word of advice that this doctor gives you. Whether you have autism or not is yet to be seen, but it sure shouldn't be diagnosed by someone who actually buys into the Cassandra smear campaign.

That the psychiatrist prescribed risperdal, sight unseen, is another huge red flag. Risperdal is the only drug approved for autistic people, but it's approved not for autism itself--it's approved to use as basically a major tranquilizer for autistic people who have violent meltdowns. Risperdal should NOT just be automatically prescribed for autistic people. It would be like automatically doing a quadruple bypass on anyone with any kind of heart disease.

The doctor isn't saying you have schizophrenia. Neuroleptics are not just used for schizoprenia; they're also used for other purposes that often take advantage mostly of the way they produce a strong sedative effect. In low doses, they can be used to combat anxiety and depression when the usual medications don't work; but for many people who don't experience psychosis, they are pretty close to useless, resulting in only the sedation.

If you want to talk to a doctor about this, find a different doctor who is not associated with this doctor.

Veronica, Callista is absolutely right. TRUST YOUR GUTS ALWAYS. THEY WILL NEVER BETRAY YOU. I am retired from the "biz" and it sounds like BS to me (ooops sorry about that). Get a second opinion, and get some community resources. Shame on the bastard who did this to you. Don't give up hope. You will get out of this. peace, Zig[b]

That doctor Is whack. Seems a little too convenient for your husband. Maybe he's paying him to say this stuff. My mom paid a doctor to give my pops a diagnosis, and he never met him! Don't trust such doctors. They sure have ulterior motives. Why wasn't there ANY effort or desire to try and work these things out, I'm wondering. These sort of things ruined my family for good, with such accomplices. Hope things will turn out with peace. You're not crazy. Going through a lot it's natural to be depressed an all

_________________
Turn away from all the things of men- Turn away from the old deeds of sin- Turn away (,follow me,) ta never feed what's been- Turn away -- Jesus
the five senses are overrated
So, what is this relating thing you speak of?

Whew... thanks a lot for your responses That CADD stuff is pretty crazy. He didn't specifically say that but I'm pretty sure that's what he'd say he's going through...
I'll probably can my therapist, too. Now, just to convince my husband....

This is why I mistrust psychiatrists. You seemed one hundred percent fine before you visited one. I think they are causing the depression symptoms by the power of suggestion.

Did this psychiatrist say you were possibly supressing your memories of abuse? Did he ask you exact questions on the nature of the abuse and then you suddenly remembered even though you never had such a memory before?

If he "unearthed" anything you really need to know this: repressed memories are controversial and are not completely accepted in mainstream psychology nor unequiovocally proven to exist.

One research report states that a distinction should be made between spontaneously recovered memories and memories recovered during suggestions in therapy.

Get away from that crazy, f'd up psychiatrist (the one you have an appointment with). If you do not have hallucinations, there is no way you can have schizo. That is the defining feature.

(DISCLAIMER: I AM NEITHER A PSYCHIATRIST NOR A SCHIZOPHRENIC. This is my special interest, though.)

Risperidone is indeed an antipsychotic used in the treatment of schizophrenia and (at lower doses) anxiety. Antipsychotics are sometimes prescribed along with antidepressants because for some reason they increase the potency of said antidepressants. They do not, by themselves, alleviate depression, and can even cause it.

They are prescribed for children with autism (and other annoying people who don't have very much power) far too often because one of their side-effects is sedation. It does make a caregiver's life easier to drug their child into a stupor; that doesn't mean it actually helps the child.

Antipsychotics are NOT drugs to recommend for someone you don't know and haven't seen. They come with awful side-effects. Off the top of my head, these (for the class as a whole, not specifically risperidone), these include:
Excessive drooling (especially for the older ones and Clozaril)
Tardive dyskinesia (a Tourette's-like disorder that can become permanent; in theory, you can avoid this on Clozaril)
Impotence (known as anorgasmia in women, which lets them halve the numbers on the PI sheet)
Dry mouth
Blurred vision
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (a life-threatening illness)
Insomnia
Lethargy/apathy/sleeping all the time
Agranulocytosis (a life-threatening condition, but I think only Clozaril causes it)
Seizures
Weight gain (famously high on Zyprexa, but IIRC they all cause it)

As for schizophrenia not existing and really being autism... um. Your husband MAY POSSIBLY have misunderstood something that is true and sounds kind of like that and is totally irrelevant, which is that something called "autism" was originally a symptom of schizophrenia and some LFAs were (mis)diagnosed with "childhood schizophrenia."

There is some symptom overlap. You know the symptoms of autism, I assume. Schizophrenia includes two kinds of symptoms (roughly), positive and negative.

The positive symptoms are the presence of something that shouldn't be there. Hallucinations, delusions. Psychosis, basically. This is what antipsychotics treat. This is ALL they treat.

The negative symptoms are where the overlap is. These are the absence of something that should be there. Poor hygiene, slowed thoughts, flat affect. Lack of desire to socialize; lack of ability. Antipsychotics DO NOT TREAT THESE (except inasmuch as treating the psychosis lets the patient think more clearly and alleviates these indirectly by freeing up resources), for a neat reason involving dopamine that sounds so simple in theory but in practice is a sticky conundrum.

Have you actually got an autism diagnosis on record yet? I hope for your sake the answer is no. If you haven't, DON'T. Make sure anything on record says you're totally NT. It looks like it may come down to a divorce, and if you've got this on record, you're practically guaranteed to lose your children.

Schizophrenia runs in families, but the likelihood that you have it is still small.

From your description, I wonder if your worries about your husband are really as unfounded as you say. I wouldn't stay in a relationship with someone who wanted me to take risperidone. (That is, assuming he knew about it, rather than just having been told misinformation.)

It may indeed be better for both of you if he does go back to his friends, though I fear for your children. However, I don't actually know enough to say for certain. This is all guesswork. You should at least try to work it out (from what you've said; if I were on-site I might think something different).