Any other autistics who have never been depressed or on meds?

I feel like I'm the only one!! Life is hard, I get stressed, I have severe anxiety and many phobias, as well as a degree of OCD. But I'm not depressed and my mood is mostly stable. I have had meltdowns (we just called them tantrums back in the day), but they blew over and I recovered quickly. I just follow my routine and interests and keep on an even keel. I don't work, which probably helps, and am single. I was diagnosed before my sense of difference really hit me, and I was late to develop awareness, or really care about being different.

I receive a lot of support, which helps. 

Parents
  • I suffered from depression for many years - up until I got my diagnosis.  That showed me what the root of it was.  I was depressed because I couldn't 'fit in' and had other problems, and didn't at the time understand why.  The diagnosis gave me that understanding.  Since then, my mental health has improved.  Pre-diagnosis, I took SSRIs on and off for years - but they just made me feel doped.  They're not really formulated for autistic neurology, though.  I take no meds at all now.  I have thought about investigating something for my ADD, though.

  • That's interesting what you say about the SSRIs not being formulated for autistic neurology.  Would that be the same for other meds such as painkillers?  I find that painkillers do nothing for me other than give me tummy ache.  I also had SSRIs in the past and they did nothing either.

Reply
  • That's interesting what you say about the SSRIs not being formulated for autistic neurology.  Would that be the same for other meds such as painkillers?  I find that painkillers do nothing for me other than give me tummy ache.  I also had SSRIs in the past and they did nothing either.

Children
  • There are actually lot of people they don't work for, both antidepressants and common NSAI painkillers. An occupational health doctor told me everybody he knows who took antidepressants (the SSRI kind) got better from it. Either is sample size was very small or rather unusual because if you read studies only about 50-60% of people tend to get better using them and about half of them also get better when eating sugar pills. So that leaves a quarter to a third of people who take them getting better because of taking them... He was very offended when I told him that, but guess he knew it. No idea what the issue with the painkillers is, maybe not the right sort of pain, perhaps if it's not caused by an inflammation and does not result in prostaglandins being produced then there is nothing for the painkiller to work on, or maybe it just doesn't do it's inhibiting thing in some people. Anyway, it's a lot more common for lots of meds not to work for a lot of people than we commonly think.

  • Ah yes I see what you mean now. Thanks

  • They work for some people - and if they work and make them feel better, then that's fine.  But a side-effect can, of course, be increased risk of suicide in the early stages of treatment.  My basic argument - for my circumstance, anyway - is that they don't deal with the causes, only the symptoms.  My proof was how much my mental health has improved since getting my diagnosis.

    But they're given out so widely because 'making someone feel better with a drug' is the easy solution.  Counselling helped me, too, and CBT.  I always think talking therapies are the best.

    That's why I come here Slight smile

  • No - it's more to do with the fact that they're formulated to deal with depression by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin in the neurotypical neurology.  We don't have that.  Painkillers are for dealing with physical symptoms.