Antidepressants

I agree. I have chronic clinical depression and in addition to talking therapy and other coping treatments I have been taking Citalopram for many years. Before that I was taking Imipramine since my 20s, over 30 years ago. I have had no problems with side effects or dependency with either antidepressant and can recommend them for their stabilising effect. Depression is dreadful and can be crippling.

They had no impact upon me when I was studying criminology at night school/evening classes and not being depressed helped enormously.

Thanks for all your responses. Have an appointment booked for the 8th of Feb.

Thanks :)

Hi, I started taking anti-deppresants nearly two years ago, and they do help me. I don't experience any affect on my performance. I too was reluctant to take them, and for a long time refused, but it didn't help my mood or the thoughts I was having. I finally decided to try them, and since starting to take them, have tried about 4/5 different types, over the two years. I had some that had side effects I couldn't ignore, so changed, I also felt like some didn't work well so tried upping the dosage or changing tablets again. The last tablets I tried, the ones i'm on now, didn't work at the start, but the doctors upped the dosage and now they do help to stabalise my feelings. Tablets will work differently for different people so it is more of trial and error. In regards to things getting worse before they get better, I don't think it is quite that, in my experience it was just that I initially felt bad more often, not worse, until they kicked in and decided to help. But it was definitely worth it. I'd recommend looking into them and exploring your options with a doctor. Good luck

I am a parent of a nearly 18 child on Fluoxetene. I m seriously against medication but this has returned the child I remembered before the pressures of GCSEs and having to deal with so many unthinking NTs got overwhelming. 

The quote I remember was: on a good day, I can make allowances for all the stupid stuff.  

The medication can help with that extra energy to deal with irritation/ anxiety or whatever but it cannot make the NTs less crass.  

Dose is low.  Dependence seems not to be there.  No side effects noticed.  

Unfair to have to deal wth crassness, but pragmatically, it may be the answer.

Months. The first one made me feel more emotional, after 2 weeks I went back. The second one gave me very vivid dreams, such that I thought I had had a conversation with someone in real life. But other than that I was very well. So I went back and was prescribed something to counteract the dreams. So I take a combination of things that works for me.  Lots of drugs give you a dry mouth. I just take it with a glass of water at night. Some drugs make you sleepy, again, take them just before bed and then you have 8 hours to get the sleepiness out of the system.

My experience has been more that you're already travelling in a direction and it takes a while to turn the ship around.  But I think it varies between people.  I rarely get very suicidal though, I just tend to feel more like I'd like to go sleep forever because I've run out of "go-juice" and don't have the spoons to keep going.

That's great. Sometimes I've found it can be hard to get doctors to take you seriously.

Yes they did. always get doctors advice.

Hi Windscale, thanks for this response, it's really useful :) It's especially encouraging to hear about your lack of dependence. 

Did you experience your feelings getting worse before they got better? If so, how much worse is worse? That's a difficult question to answer I know, haha. Sometimes just now I become suicidal, so if it got worse things might end badly before they have the chance to get better.

Hi, thanks for your response. You mentioned you tried 3 drugs before you found one that worked. How long did this process take (weeks, months, years)? Also how severe were the side effects that forced you to change to the next drug - e.g. did they prevent you from going to work or focusing? 

Also thank you for the recommendation, the Mind website is indeed very useful :)

Hi James. Are you in the UK, if so, did your NHS doctor help to take you of them? 

Depression is a very common co-occurring disorder with AS/ASD.  I was very against taking anti-depressants for various reasons, but I've been on Citalopram several times (and currently) and I've found it useful.  I find it difficult to determine when I'm feeling depressed because it kind-of creeps up on me, but I usually spot it when I realise I'm feeling down for no obvious reason.  Unfortunately, repeated experience has helped me get better tuned into what is going on.  I know I don't get physically addicted to Citalopram because I can be quite bad at remembering to take it, and a few times I've gone a week or so with not realising I'd forgot to take it and then generally though, oh well, I might as well come off it then.

I'd suggest talking it through with your GP and seeing if you can find one that suits you.  Your GP should keep a close eye on you for the first month or so because they can take a while to work, plus sometimes things can feel worse before they feel better.  Also not all the drugs suit everybody, so it may take a bit of experimentation before they find one that works for you where the side effects are OK.  I don't feel any particular side effects that I'm aware of from the Citalopram.

If you're feeling down and it's impacting your life I'd definitely suggest at least having a chat with your GP.

Hi, everyone reacts to different drugs differently. All have side effects. But if you find something that works for you then that can be great. I have taken antidepressants, more on than off since I was 21 - 20 years now. Just like a diabetic takes insulin and doesn't feel guilty about being dependent on a drug that fixes an in balance in their pancreas, I take ssris to fix an I balance in my brain. Antidepressants don't work for everyone and I had to try 3 before I found a good combination that suited me. But I have never been aware of cognative impairment from taking them and I can do a lot more when I am not depressed. Have a look at the mind website. Loads of good advice there.

Hi 

I was put on antidepressants because i was mis diagnosed as having depression and ocd.

Iam actually Autistic.

The tendencies i get are autism not depression. it is complicated.

They will not affect your performance but you may feel tired easier due to the way the medication works

If and when you do not need them anymore you will be slowly weaned off.

James