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Any experience or advice on medication for negative rumination?

NAS90609

I would like to hear people's experiences of using prescription medications to deal with negative rumination either directly or as a symptom of depression and/or anxiety so that I can start thinking about whether medication is an option for me.

I know these things are not autism - but it seems like they're often travelling partners and I'm not yet at a point in my own post-diagnosis journey where I can tell where one set of symptoms starts and others end.

I was diagnosed as autistic just over a year ago after a few years of noticeable decline in my mental health - particularly in my ability to deal with people - and as part of trying to unpick all that - it turns out I rate pretty highly on the depression scale.

I don't necessarily feel depressed in a literal sense - I feel like I have a reasonable grasp of what is and isn't working in my life - but I'm definitely showing many of the standard symptoms and constant negative rumination is by far the worst of them.

The things that trigger my rumination are basic everyday life things that I can't get away from or stop - so removing the source or removing myself from the source are not options.

I'm working hard to do all the right things - I've done some CBT counselling, I'm practicing cognitive diffusion, I'm meditating, I'm getting out of the house for walks, I'm drinking less and I'm trying to be easier on myself and more proactive about autistic things that feed into the problem like my sensitivity to noise and my general distrust and dislike of people.

Despite all this I'm now at a point where it's having a more severe impact on my daily life and I'm feeling like it's getting worse and maybe I'm at a point where I need to consider medication - which I assume will be some sort of SSRI or SNRI.

I'd appreciate any insights from your own experience.

Thanks.

Parents

  • Each must make their own decision as to what they think of meds, but personally....I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

    I have come under heavy pressure from GPs to do so in the past.  They treat you like a naughty school girl if you won't.  But I knew too many people, who once taking them, could not get off them again and some who had had horrible side effects.  As a medical phobe, any side effect would logically make me worse not better and in general they would only be creating more not fewer reasons to have to deal with GPs.

    Now that I have been diagnosed I am so glad I stuck to my guns and refused for a few reasons.  In the first place it turns out that what they oft said was depression (even though I was telling them I was exhausted beyond belief, not depressed), wasn't.  I'm now recognising it as autistic burnout, which you can't medicate.  Two, it transpires that these things sometimes react to neurodivergent neurologies differently than for other people.  Many report lots of side effects and no benefit or worsening symptoms, so who knows what they would or wouldn't have done to me.  Certainly, I don't think the medical profession actually knows. Finally, no one has ever figured why they were supposed to work for anybody in the first place.  If you google for some recent research done by UCL, ...well, they are casting serious doubt on their efficacy for anybody anyway.

    But, others swear by them.... maybe it does work for them.  Who am I to say?

    My only big beef is that the medical profession sometimes tries to bully people into that option and doing that only makes me very distrustful of them.  

  • in reply to Dawn

    I can understand why you’re considering them. I tried SSRIs some years ago and had a really terrible experience - the most dreadful side effects that made me feel much, much worse - to the extent that I felt suicidal (which I didn’t feel just before I took them. Like Dawn I have a lot of anxiety around medical things and medication and this experience confirmed all my wise fears. 
    My Doctor told me to stop taking them straightaway, not be alone, and take diazepam for about 5 days and propranolol to get me feeling calmer again. It really was horrendous and I’d never ever take them again.

    Having said that I know people who have taken them and they’ve helped. It seems to vary so much from person to person. Because of this I would suggest that (if you do take them) that on your first few days of taking them it’s best not to be alone or unsupported. I think the first 2 weeks are the worse for side effects. Bear in mind too that when you come off them you might also experience unpleasant effects from withdrawal. The best thing is to be informed and be prepared if you’re going to take them. Ultimately though I think they’re flawed because they don’t deal with the underlying issues/ root causes behind mental health issues - they can only do so much, and they can be risky. So pleas3 take care if you decide to take them. 

  • in reply to Kate Kestrel

    Yep, that also troubles me...the fact that they do not deal with the underlying issue. It does make me suspicious that they are only dished out to keep the population functioning without actually having to deal with their needs.

    I also wonder whether any those who do say it achieves that objective are NT. Some drugs are known to have paradoxical reactions in some neurodivergent people. For instance caffine. I know a couple of Autistic people who will just go to sleep on too much coffee. For me, I like my morning caffine fix, but it will NOT keep me awake at night if I drink it later - zero effect!

    I just surmise our neurologies are different and very individual.

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  • in reply to Kate Kestrel

    Yep, that also troubles me...the fact that they do not deal with the underlying issue. It does make me suspicious that they are only dished out to keep the population functioning without actually having to deal with their needs.

    I also wonder whether any those who do say it achieves that objective are NT. Some drugs are known to have paradoxical reactions in some neurodivergent people. For instance caffine. I know a couple of Autistic people who will just go to sleep on too much coffee. For me, I like my morning caffine fix, but it will NOT keep me awake at night if I drink it later - zero effect!

    I just surmise our neurologies are different and very individual.

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