Long..sorry

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I have questions for you if you don’t

mind. I have a husband that is 44. Three Months ago he had a heart attack, here

in the states now for three years originally from Australia. I know he has

depression and it is genetic. His father committed suicide after the second

attempt, gruesome to say the least. I see moods that swing with him. IM not

sure if he is “bi polar” but I know it is severe depression. I have

never witnessed him be so low and it continues to be on a low for a long while.

I feel it is masked a lot of the time due to our stressful environment we live

in daily.

We have added stress, my son age 8 on

the spectrum, Language Disorder with High IQ. Recently added to this diagnosis

is a variation of Aspergers. (Due to the language disorder the doctor won’t

say Aspergers only, it typically doesn’t fall under the criteria of AS) We

have had my son treated for ADHD to begin with and later we sought out further

help and ended up with a diagnosis on the spectrum, the doctor has not

mentioned if my son continues to be ADHD along with the spectrum. I felt

something still want right but I couldn’t put my finger on it. This is

when we were sent to a specialist and where we found the Autsim. We have him on

no meds at the moment. We as well have tried a series of meds with my son, strattera,

concerta and the latest for his Autism, Tenex. Tenex is a high blood pressure

med somehow sneaks in the back door and works for hypertension. Although this

seem to make him to sleepy at school, one day he didn’t feel well and I

couldn’t decide if it was the tenex or a bug he caught in school, nevertheless

we didn’t give it to him from that day forward. The doctor wants to try

next Risperdall. I am very weary of this med.

We have an upcoming visit with this

doc and I know that is what he will prescribe next. I need to be prepared.

Thing is, I don’t know how to prepare myself. I don’t really feel

that he needs meds especially throughout the summer, giving him a break etc.

But I am not convinced that there is a med he needs with just social problems. My

son is high functioning with a high IQ, we do have school problems as you can

read in other posts I have submitted.

As far as my husband goes, due to the “over

stressed” that we believe caused my husbands attack, this rang a bell

with what you were writing about. My husband was firstly diagnoised as “anxiety

disorder” and I am sure depression fit in somewhere. But somehow I

believe the anxieties got worse due to the stresses with the school, home environment

with my son. My son isn’t to fully blame and I don’t feel he is at “fault”

I am saying he can’t help it either. Nor can my husband. My husband

believes my son has AS but doesn’t know how to “deal” with

him. Currently, because of his anger, that I think meds have triggered or has

made it worse. But there are a number of factors to consider with my husbands

health, the stress of having a heart attack is one thing, the stress that

brought him to that point is another, we still have those stressors. After

the attack he was put on a various amounts of meds for his heart condition. In

the process of recovering he no longer smoked. The doctor prescribed wellbutrin

and he believes this made him worse with his anger/anxious feeling. My husband

took himself off of wellbutrin without anyone’s knowledge, doctors he did

this to see what would happen. My husband quit wellbutrin cold turkey of about

maybe 3weeks worth of taking it. IT was unknown what caused the physical side

effects, shaking, and metallic taste in mouth, muscle pains, more of anxious feelings-butterflies

in stomach. My husband complained of like he was mourning a death but doesn’t

know what he mourning over, a rope tied to his neck and getting tighter. I don’t

know what to make of it all and in the midst was my son whom always had behavioral

issues I felt torn between the two and at times still do. As of now, my husband

is stand offish to my son because he feels he is going to become angry with

him. I believe he doesn’t see the autism where it lies, misunderstands a

lot. Although unwilling to read about it etc. My husband also complains he

understands my son to some degree, same as himself as a young kid doing the

same. Which leaves me to believe he has some adhd tendancies and or Aspergers. Loves

the computer-nearly or has been an obsession. Same with my son which I think

this is why it seems unfair to him (husband) to let my son spend hours on his

obsession. I don’t agree with my son spending hours on these devices but,

it’s like pulling teeth to get him interested in something of equal

value. I can’t find that one thing that will pull his intrest away from

the playstation, computer or gameboy. The way I look at it it’s like

taking numbers away from rain man. I know I can’t do that but what I can

do is keep trying to find that one thing. Is this why there is caous and havoc

always in my home? Could it be?

What are some things that have triggered

you to believe you are aspergers?

Thank you,

Deb’s in Bama

RE: Need some info

I just wanted to put in my two or three

cents ~winks~ I have been on several

antidepressants, as has my husband and my son. My

husband and I are self

diagnosed, as the doctor thought it was funny that

we thought we needed to

actually spend money on getting the diagnosis

after watching us with our AS

son as he was getting evaluated... Anyway, what

has worked for one of us

hasn't worked for the others, so we all have had

different experiences...

My son had an impossible time on the medications

we first tried, but

Straterra has been a godsend. It is used mostly by

AS patients to lessen the

more apparent AS traits (anxiety, inability to

focus unless obsessed, social

deficiencies due to anxiety and inability to

concentrate on the others etc)

but our doctor said that it was originally

prescribed as an antidepressant

with the other applications for AS and ADHD only

being discovered later as a

" side benefit " . Tyler has done

incredibly well having the antidepressant

portion be a " side benefit " and he

swears by the stuff... Oh yeah... we

hadn't seen much progress socially prior to the

Straterra, even though he

had over 3 years of social skills groups, etc...

but over the past year on

Straterra, those around him have notice the

remarkable growth... His youth

pastor said a couple weeks ago that you wouldn't

be able to pick him out of

a milling crowd of NT kids!!!

My husband tried Lexapro first. Though it lessened

the depression, it did

nothing for anxiety and created " sexual

dysfunction " which for him was much

worse than the depression itself... He has found

great relief with Welbutrin

I have been through a series of meds. Paxil for me

was a godsend for years,

as it worked on generalized anxiety, social

anxiety, as well as taking care

of the depression. Unfortunately, sometimes these

medications loose their

effectiveness, as Paxil did with me... Currently I

am on Welbutrin, which

has taken care of the depression, but the anxiety

and social anxieties have

gotten so severe I can hardly sleep and am a

nervous wreck most of the

day...

As I said, different things work for different

people... I am careful trying

new ones, and make sure that I have someone set to

observe changes (and I do

for my family members) because the wrong ones can

be mind altering in a very

detrimental way (the wrong ones can make you feel

suicidal or incredibly

violent, where they may help others with the same

symptoms)... Good luck!

~hugs~

Rabecca

--

No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.

Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.13/78 - Release Date: 8/19/2005

--

No virus found in this outgoing message.

Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.

Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.13/78 - Release Date: 8/19/2005