Please fucking help. I've been on Citalopram 10mg and that made me really sick and even more suicidal. I've been prescribed Fluoxetine recently which has scary side effects still, but is it more likely to make me worse because of its sensitivity? The sexual side effects are scariest, then nausea and vomiting is second.
None of those services help. Stop suggesting them please, it's harming mental health.
Hi Jakey,
Sorry to hear you're going through a tough time and experiencing these horrible side effects.
If you are unable to cope with the distress or despair, it’s very important to tell someone about your feelings or thoughts of suicide. Call your GP and make an urgent appointment. Your GP can make sure you get appropriate help and support.
If it’s outside your GP hours call 111 to reach the NHS 111 service:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/urgent-and-emergency-care-services/when-to-use-111/
The Samaritans also provide confidential non-judgemental emotional support, 24 hours a day on 116 123, or by email on jo@samaritans.org.
MIND have information pages on coping with self harm or suicidal feelings based on the experiences of people who’ve been through it that you may find helpful.
If you are very close to doing something to hurt yourself - call 999 now or go to your nearest A&E department. There should be someone there to support you and make sure you get ongoing support.
You can find more information here:
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/suicide
Best wishes,
Kevin Mod
I'm really starting to warm to you Jakey. You actually seem to be looking for a solution, not platitudes. D consider reading the book I recommend in my bio, it will provide you with very useable information, that you can use to end your unwanted viginity. At least it worked for me, my relationship management skills improved dramatically after I read it. If you are traumaticaly poor as some of us are, pm me a send to address and I'll buy you a copy off ebay, and get it sent.
It's about £3 out of my pocket, but helping people is way more satisfying to me than 3/5ths of a packet of under the counter cigarettes...
Other things that have worked well for me, are:
Living with a cat,
Learning about the life of Jesus Christ, and trying to emulate as much of it as I can,
Learning about the real virtues and practicing them as discreetly as I can manage.
Learning what I am good at and what I am not.
"Happiness" which we all seek, is an untrustworthy and fleeting emotion, I've found that pursuing "contentment" to be more useful.
Forget "romance" that's neuro-typical stuff, and largely a case of appearance trumping substance, and when the initial rush of a relationship (which is as intoxicating and debilitating as pretty much any drug I've tried) ends, then you want your partner to find you too useful and supportive to discard...
Those are skills I picked up from external sources, and used to replace the very poor skills that my early life training & autism had inflicted on me...
Don't get me wrong, I still have my bad days, (most of last week to be honest!) but I have some tools to manage that the most effective being that I realise that I am at the end responsible for my own problems, and I have enough honesty and self actualisation now to decide whether my issues are caused by my own attitude, or weakness of character, (in which case I do as little as possible, because when I am "off balance" and focussed on my own misery I know I have a tendancy to make poor decisions) or whether the problem is external, in which case I can choose to either run away or confront it.
I wish you the best Jakey, and I do hope there's a useful takeaway for you somewhere here in this post.
I hate to be blunt like this but it's the hard truth and I mean it in the nicest way possible. Those helplines are not helpful, they're never autism friendly, and they never actually help. Really the best help comes from the heart. Not a trivialization of mental health issues which is what those helplines are.
There are some good mental health helplines - like the charity ‘Mind’. You could try talking to them maybe? I think there’s one called ‘Shout’. Could be worth a try?
Hi Jakey, I don’t think they’re trying kill us. However I think they often prescribe anti-depressants because they know that the waiting lists for talking therapies etc are ridiculously long whereas SSRI drugs can be prescribed on the day and are much MUCH cheaper for the nhs than therapy. I do agree though that they are pretty damn reckless in that they know that many already vulnerable people are going to get very distressed by the side effects and some poor souls to the extent that they take their own lives.
I think these drugs do help some people though - I’ve heard a lot of people say they’ve been helped by them. I think I agree with you and others here who have said that people with autism seem to be more sensitive to drugs and their side effects. That’s been the case with me with various things. Maybe it’s hypersensitive interoception - that we feel bodily sensations more acutely than neurotypical people. I don’t know. Ultimately what matters is that we get good and effective help when we need it - and it’s often not the case.
I’m sorry you’re going through this, it’s horrible and traumatic. Please don’t lose hope though. And take care and remember that all the advice says to come off anti-depressant medication very gradually - especially if you’ve been taking it for some time. If you suddenly stop you might get withdrawal effects. So please be careful and do it gradually, because you’ve already suffered enough and the last thing you need is for stopping them to be harder than it has to be.
I know it’s tough but you’ll get through this. I hope you’ve got a supportive family member or friend to support you at the moment? Good luck.
It doesn’t sound like you’re having fun, bud, but we’re still here and we’re listening.. I don’t know much about withdrawal, but try to stay hydrated, we literally do care..:)
They might advise you to stick with it, but if you make it clear that you've made your decision, they'll tell you how to taper it down because while they might believe continuing to take it and waiting for the side effects to get more bearable would be best, if your plan is to just stop cold that's worse.
Withdrawal sucks really bad. I have never experienced side effects as bad as the effects of withdrawal.
And he knew that he was sending you home to a minor, having proscribed you a drug that could make you harmful to yourself and others, knowing the risk and not knowing how you would react.. that doctor is a devil..
Unfortunately not. No.
Side effects for a lot of medication like that are vile. That's the go to routine now horrible medication or hospital, or, if you are really unlucky both. I'm on Sertraline and Olanzapine and the side effects are Hell. Nausea, stomach pain, shaking hands and severe tiredness and dizziness. Talking to a therapist is way better for me and most people but they don't seem to offer that. Just prescription and then boot you out the door.
I was lucky I had a doctor to talk to but she's gone now so I've just got my meds.
Stay strong don't give up. X
Its pissible that you are experiencing withdrawal effects from stopping Citralopam. This can exasperate how you are feeling and is sometimes worse than the original reason why you started taking them in the first place. It is also sometimes suggested that you are experiencing a reoccurrence of your original symptoms, when in fact it is withdrawal. If you feel worse than you did originally, it is likely withdrawal. These symptoms will ease, it doesnt feel like they will, but they do. I learned to accept it was how i was feeling today and didnt look much further than that.
I hope you are feeling better today.
Autumn Trees posted about their experience of finding what worked for them and side effects wearing off right near the start of the thread. I've also had SSRIs that didn't give me much in the way of side effects.
It sounds like you've only recently started a low dose, but even so you need to talk to a doctor. Withdrawal feels really really bad, believe me.
I haven't seen a single anecdote of someone sticking with the meds and being fine at the end of it or not having side effects.
Bur there are plenty of people saying coming off them fast made things worse - please check with your GP on how to do this in a way that isn't going to make things feel worse than they are.
Go what you think is best for yourself
Nope, I'm getting off this *** as fast as I can. We have hyper sensitivity to side effects that would outweigh the positives. I haven't seen a single anecdote of someone sticking with the meds and being fine at the end of it or not having side effects.
I know the feeling of going onto antidepressants that make things feel worse or have unpleasant side effects. I've been on fluoxetine for around 2-3 weeks and the side effects (hopefully short term) have been quite unpleasant (diarrhea, depression, tiredness, vivid dreams/nightmares and a weird numbing sensation around my body). I haven't experienced any of the sexual side effects but they've been described as unpleasant.
From what I keep being told and keep reading about that things (at least for the first few weeks) will get worse before they get better when you start taking fluoxetine. The only thing I can recommend is try sticking with the medication and contact mental health support/doctor/mental health professional immediately if it makes you more suicidal.
Autistic people are hyper sensitive to many things and I think side effects from medication is one of the worst. I feel side effects so badly that generally I try natural stuff rather than medication as it has such an adverse effect on me.
Citalopram is one of the worst and yet seems to be the one they put you on first. They did the same to me and my husband and we both felt terrible.
I hope you get over the effects soon and are also feeling better soon. I know times are hard now but it doesn't rain forever. Hang in there and the better times will come.
Sending virtual hugs.
