After my diagnosis, I was recommended to try a consultation with a medicinal cannabis company as they recommended it for trying to combat my anxiety levels. It's these levels that really hinder me the most in learning what makes me tick.
Does anyone have any experience with it? Anti depressants have never really done much for me, I've tried methylphenedrate for my ADHD and although, yes it's great for concentrating on a task, doing anything else is like doing a handbrake turn in a train...
I found when I was a yong man that smoking cannabis "kept me out of trouble".
I now believe it dampens down the ADD impuslse to do things on the spur of the moment.
It has other less desirable effects, but my NT O/H and several other peeple over the years tell me I am a "nicer person" when I have it available.
It can help, or at least it has helped me, I didn't like all the hoops companies want you to jump through and it can be very expensive.
I've had CBT and all it did was give me symptom substitution, my anxiety about driving morphed into social phobia, something I'd never had before.. I don't like the idea of treating the human brain as something that can be reprogramed, it makes no sense to me.
Talking therapies can help, you know what I really don't like the term talking therapies, it makes it sound to chatty and superficial and when it's done properly it's anything but superficial and chatty. A good therapist will help you sort out the wood from the trees, but they will always be your wood and your tree's.
Cheese, I thought? Or weeding......or hoovering......or something?
Yes it would make sense, as long as its the noise only and not the balloon. And it's the sound of one being pinched at the end. Which would make it deflate more slowly of course. This is all what I assumed. Although the sound of a rapidly deflating balloon would add more enjoyment.
Might be cos I don't start at A, but rather, C.
Wait, what's this thread about!?
No ?! That would be odd, oos......although a slowly deflating balloon noise would make sense, between the salt and tardigrade, I suppose.
And F#
But I too often go from A to E via D, C, A, F and G too!
I like to mix in the smell of lavender, the colour orange, finely ground salt flakes, a tartigrade and the numbers 8, 15 and -32......when I transition from A to E. You've seen my writing !
I believe it is very difficult to get prescribed medical cannabis.
On the NHS, that's absolutely true - prescribing is still very limited. The NHS says it's currently only likely to be prescribed for: rare, severe forms of epilepsy; vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy; or people with multiple sclerosis-related issues.
But when pursued privately, it's a pretty straightforward matter to obtain it to help with a much wider range of conditions - subject, of course, to your medical history.
An example of a clinic's initial screening questions:
- Are you an adult?
- Have you already tried at least two treatments? (Eg medication, therapy, physiotherapy)
- Have you ever been diagnosed with psychosis or schizophrenia?
- Are you pregnant?
They'll also need to review your NHS medical record (eg a copy of your summary care record from your GP surgery) and have an initial video consultation before they can prescribe anything. Once you've been approved, clinics typically then also require ongoing quarterly reviews.
I'm hard on myself too, I was told not to discount my achievements no matter how small, which is really tough as all the day to day crap just goes by unnoticed.
Mindfulness and meditation are incredibly difficult, I've tried multiple times but I can't focus on tune out.
I often find myself mirroring and "reacting" the way they expect or want as I see it.
I had a similar experience with therapy.
It was good to get a different perspective too, I'm extremely hard in myself, so having some see it from my perspective (the me that I'm hard on) and them tell me I'm being a bit too harsh, really helped.
Like many I tend to try and please people , agree and fit in, which can leave us anxious and uncomfortable. Realising that we can make choices of our own was a revelation, knowing that it's usually RSD holding me back from doing that has been massively useful, means I know it's not the peoples acceptance that I'm bothered about, it's their rejection I fear. once we understand these mechanisms they somehow lose some of their power over us.
Mindfulness has been a godsend.
CBT can work to a point, where as you say, it's a normal pattern. But I too often go from A to E via D, C, A, F and G too!
I was told by a psychologist that standard CBT isn't as successful with autistic people as our thought patterns aren't always linear (a-b-c etc), we may start at the same point but end up at e before revisiting b then back to a again. It can be modified apparently but not all practitioners do it.
When I did therapy I made the decision to just let go which was very difficult to start with, it became easier over time. It was quite freeing and I discovered things about myself that I'd previously buried or forgot.
It will take time. I know how you feel, so did I last year. My confidence is shot at the moment but not because of my autism but due to discrimination and bias of my manager at work. It is nearly 2 years since I disclosed and now find myself in limbo doing meaningless temporary placements and being pushed to redeployment.
Be kind and give yourself the time and space to process the enormity of it all. It may take a few weeks or months, maybe even years. Everyone is different
Thank you. Much the same experiences on tablets. I think my new autism diagnosis gets me thinking again about it all but it's right scarey.
CBT's a funny one. I think looking back I people pleased. I didn't want to think the CB Therapist wasn't helping me so I think I ended up kind of towing the line and telling him what he wanted to hear.
I never worked out how to analyse one thought whilst simultaneously being bombarding with 300 more whilst you're doing it.
I will do. I really want the anxiety dumbed down a bit so I can start to get more confidence to go out and explore new things. I've run my own business for 15 years and had kids for the last 9 so I've kind of lost my way in all that.
Now it feels like I've been given a new lease of life with a diagnosis but I've lost al my confidence to be adventurous. I was only diagnosed last week so I'm sure it will take time.
Over the last 30+ years I've tried various SSRI and a SNRI, an antipsychotic. I've also had several courses of CBT and a couple of sessions of talking therapy.
None of the meds or the CBT were effective in any way, the talking therapy gave me a chance to vent and explore my feelings and history, I found this most helpful but it was no more than a brief respite.
You can get Esketamine (the left hand version of ketamine) and cannabis privately in the UK but it's can be expensive.
I'm at an impasse , I'm considering asking for tDCS or TMS that might break the cycle. Some people say micro dosing psilocybin/Ketamine or MDMA but these are all illicit in the UK. There are medical trials but unless the drugs are declassified or reclassified we'll never get them.
I'm happy to share my experience in case it's helpful.
I have long-standing issues with anxiety and depression ("recurrent severe major depressive disorder co-occurrent with anxiety").
The short version of my experience with antidepressants is that I've tried many, but with no significant benefits and/or with intolerable side effects. I also tried Pregabalin (for anxiety), but had to stop it almost immediately due to side effects.
I began using medical cannabis (oil with THC and CBD) just over a year ago and find it sufficiently helpful that I've taken it daily ever since. I wouldn't say it's been hugely transformative (ie so perhaps don't expect too much), but I do find that it helps to take the edge off things and to keep my brain less "noisy".
I am yeah, I got recommended Curaleaf - I have a consultation with them and I'll go from there. I don't really know much about it and I'm pretty tired of looking for the next pill that will sort my anxiety tbh. I'd rather hear of experiences from people that have tried, more than their spiel.
