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depression meds

act1066

Hi  My partner is a high function asd person. she has a job

over the last 2 years the down side of her asd has  got worse and worse i would say 5x worse

she is often trapped in bed for most of the day.This used to be  a occasional things and now is regularly 2 to 3 days of the week

She often feels to down to do anything and I have exhausted all my ideas of how to help [ and exhausted my physical and mental energy as well]

In these periods of down time it sounds a lot like depression

So my question is if she was on depression meds would that help her with these down spells ?

To be clear i know they do not fix asd [ i am not trying to fix asd] but will they help her to battle though the down spells.

 

Anyone with experience of this please let me know your thoughts

  • Hi and welcome. 

    Some autistic adults are on depression medication, but only a doctor can make the decision about whether this could be right for your partner so I suggest you encourage her to make an appointment with her GP to discuss how she is feeling.

    Iain has posted a link to the autistic fatigue article, but there is also advice on this website about depression, which may be useful.

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/depression

    I hope things improve soon. You might also suggest that she joins this forum for support

  • act1066 said:
    So my question is if she was on depression meds would that help her with these down spells ?

    There is a good article from this organisation talking about what I think is going on here:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/autistic-fatigue

    From my understanding I believe she just needs time and space to get herself going again and would benefit from looking for the cause of the burnout and then working towards doing something about it.

    Depression meds for autism are not that successful from what I understand, but it is quite possible to have other conditions co-existing that complicate things so a specialist is the most effective way forward.

    GPs are not always that informed about autism so I would suggest she asks for a psychiatirist consult to evaluate if medication is a sensible path for her to follow. Therapists cannot prescribe the sort of medication needed but psychiatrists can, plus they should know enought about her autism to know how to proceed.

    For now I would recommned giving her space, making sure her needs are met and be as little a burdon as you can be. If you want to do something then ask her first - she may prefer the alone time.

    Thanks for being a supportive parner.

  • Hello. It sounds more like autistic burnout. You may want to read up on that.

    I think there is a link on the NAS site which I expect someone will post. You can also Google it. There is an ebook available (not free) on the embrace-autism.com website. There are a few others with workbooks and similar. The nay be some YouTube videos.

    If it is burnout, then it will take time to recover.