Re: medication

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I was wondering if any parents have children who are taking or have taken

Effexor? If so, could you please post.

Thank you so much,

Heidi

[Guest guest]

Wendi,

That is why went to the counsilor to begin with. The anxiety was getting so bad it was hard to function. The dosage I take is a rather low dose. The typical dose is about 40 MG per day and I take 20, or sometimes 10. Very often I will take 20 one day and skip the next. It usually takes about that long to start feeling the meds wearing off. I don't particularly like taking medicine, but it beats the anxiety.

[Guest guest]

I think there are a number of ways you can go on this. Certainly

getting a DX will help because it will better enable you to get the

treatment that you need and the treatment that will actually work

for you.

My question is, what treatment would work for you the best?

Meds may work, but they are more or less a quick fix. A more long-

term approach might be to develop some coping strategies that will

help you deal with AS and life's issues.

I suspect some of this may have to do with three kids running in

three separate directions 24/7 and you having difficulty coping?

Each new day will bring new challenges. So the question becomes,

how ill you deal with them? More meds, or a different perspective

and reliable behavioral approach?

I think getting a DX would be a good point of departure, but I'd

caution you not to jump to the meds too quickly without first

examining if there is anything else you could be doing behaior wise

to help yourself deal with the accumulating pressures.

But then, since I don;t live your life, maybe I don't have enough of

a grasp of the situation to provide an informed opinion about what

ought to be done.

Tom

> The reason I'm going for a dx (if I can get up the nerve to

actually mail back these forms now) is because of the anxiety and

possible medication. I have found through research that people with

any type of autism need to take very, very low doses of these meds.

Sometimes an anti-anxiety med might be *causing* more anxiety simply

because the dosage is too high. I know adults who do well on a

child's dosage.

>

> Even knowing this, I feel frightened about going on to meds. I'm

glad to be going to a psychologist first. I am very sensitive to

most drugs and react badly to many, even antibiotics. But my

anxiety is getting out of control - (getting? more like 'has been')

and I'm having more and more meltdowns lately... and this has just

got to be affecting my family!

>

> Wendi

>

[Guest guest]

There was an article published recently that said there may be a physiological reason for depression. It has been found that many people who suffer from chronic depression have more nerves in a part of the brain than other people. I think this was the amygdilla (spelling) part of the brain. Oddly enough I can see the region anatomically but can't think of the name. Anyway, they have more nerves by as much as a third. This probably also applies to other conditions like anxiety. I think this is so because no matter what coping methods I try, the anxiety doesn't go away. The only thing that really works is the medication. Of course, its not bad all the time, just when a major stressor comes along.

[Guest guest]

Yes, I agree Tom. My GP wanted to put me on meds a while

ago (and I didn’t even tell her anything!), and I refused because of what

I said the other day. Doctors look

at me and see a woman with 4 yr old triplets with autism and think STRESS and

think that is the only cause, but I know differently. I’m not going to act like some

saint and say my kids are not a cause of stress, either! But they are not the only cause of my anxiety.

I had major problems before the

kids came along (which I thought were ‘normal’ but everyone else

did a better job of dealing with) and they just don’t see that. Why? I can’t tell them. Sometimes I want to, but the words won’t

come out.

So... that’s why

I feel a dx is important. If anyone

is going to help me, they need to know what they are treating! I said I’m glad I’m going to

a psychologist – and that is because psychologists cannot prescribe meds. I don’t believe meds are the first

solution. I don’t know what

is, but I want to try other things first.

Plus, my husband is very against me taking them since his friend’s

wife went on anti-anxiety meds and tried to kill herself – off them she

is not suicidal... he’s afraid I may get like that too.

I don’t have

time to experiment either! What if

I take something and feel all drugged up?

I react very strongly to meds, I was sedated a couple of times and the ‘normal’

dosage “just to relax you a bit” was way too much for me – I was

out cold and the doctors were terrified because they couldn’t wake me up! (Ever wake up in an operating room with

10 doctors and nurses rushing around like maniacs, most of who were NOT there

when you went to sleep, some of them screaming your name, with a look of

complete terror on the anesthesiologist’s face? It happened at the dentist once too,

with ‘sweet air’.)

If that happens, how

will I be able to function? What

happens to the kids? I have help

once in a while from relatives, but not all the time and I need to let them

know in advance if I have an appt and need them to watch the kids. They live too far away to come over here

without notice. I won’t even

take migraine medication because I’m afraid I may not be able to

function. There is nobody else to

take care of my kids! Granted I’m

not functioning very well with a migraine either, but at least I know I can

function minimally.

The coffee hasn’t

kicked in yet, I hope I am making sense!

Wendi

Re:

Medication

I think there are a number of ways you can go on this.

Certainly

getting a DX will help because it will better

enable you to get the

treatment that you need and the treatment that

will actually work

for you.

My question is, what treatment would work for you

the best?

Meds may work, but they are more or less a quick

fix. A more long-

term approach might be to develop some coping

strategies that will

help you deal with AS and life's issues.

I suspect some of this may have to do with three

kids running in

three separate directions 24/7 and you having

difficulty coping?

Each new day will bring new challenges. So

the question becomes,

how ill you deal with them? More meds, or a

different perspective

and reliable behavioral approach?

I think getting a DX would be a good point of

departure, but I'd

caution you not to jump to the meds too quickly

without first

examining if there is anything else you could be

doing behaior wise

to help yourself deal with the accumulating

pressures.

But then, since I don;t live your life, maybe I

don't have enough of

a grasp of the situation to provide an informed

opinion about what

ought to be done.

Tom

> The reason I'm going for a dx (if I can get

up the nerve to

actually mail back these forms now) is because of

the anxiety and

possible medication. I have found through

research that people with

any type of autism need to take very, very low doses

of these meds.

Sometimes an anti-anxiety med might be *causing*

more anxiety simply

because the dosage is too high. I know

adults who do well on a

child's dosage.

>

> Even knowing this, I feel frightened about

going on to meds. I'm

glad to be going to a psychologist first. I

am very sensitive to

most drugs and react badly to many, even

antibiotics. But my

anxiety is getting out of control - (getting? more

like 'has been')

and I'm having more and more meltdowns lately...

and this has just

got to be affecting my family!

>

> Wendi

>

FAM Secret

Society is a community based on respect, friendship, support and acceptance.

Everyone is valued. Always remember that.

[Guest guest]

,

I can't say I've read the article, but if it's legitimate, it would

certainly explain a lot about why it is AS people suffer anxiety.

How many of us have spoken on this and other boards about super-

sensitivity to light, touch, taste, smell, hearing, etc.? Obviously

our sensitivities could be due either to a different construction of

the nerve cells, or a proliferation of the cells themselves.

I have read that folks on the autism spectrum have bigger (not

necessarily better) brains than those not on the spectrum. Why our

brains would be bigger is something I won't speculate on. But size-

wise at least we are different.

I think depression would come easier for AS people anyway simply

because (aside from the annoyances many of us feel due to heightened

senses) every moment that we interact among the NT world we must

realize on some level that we do not entirely fit in, and we must

also realize that the world that they have created for themselves

and continue to control is not ideal for us.

I do believe that if we lived in ideal environments and societies

that had been created by Aspergians for Aspergians, the depression

many of us experience would be reduced if not eliminated entirely,

the idea being that though we have phisiological differences, the

lifestyles we'd live and the habitations we'd live in would be built

and suited to accomodate those differences, and so the stress

normally associated with the NT world would be non-existent, and

thus no longer and influential factor in our phisiological mindsets.

But until that time, or until those things take place, we PERHAPS

must unfortunately resign ourselves to the fact that medication

MIGHT have to play a role in our lives indefinitely.

Tom

> There was an article published recently that said there may be a

physiological reason for depression. It has been found that many

people who suffer from chronic depression have more nerves in a

part of the brain than other people.

>I think this was the amygdilla (spelling) part of the brain. Oddly

enough I can see the region anatomically but can't think of the

name. Anyway, they have more nerves by as much as a third. This

probably also applies to other conditions like anxiety. I think this

is so because no matter what coping methods I try, the anxiety

doesn't go away. The only thing that really works is the medication.

Of course, its not bad all the time, just when a major stressor

comes along.

>

>

[Guest guest]

“How many of us have spoken on this and other boards about super-

sensitivity to light, touch, taste, smell,

hearing, etc.? Obviously

our sensitivities could be due either to a

different construction of

the nerve cells, or a proliferation of the cells

themselves.

”I have read that folks on the autism

spectrum have bigger (not

necessarily better) brains than those not on the

spectrum. Why our

brains would be bigger is something I won't

speculate on. But size-

wise at least we are different.”

Tom and

I believe what Tom is saying above is related to the

theory (and I am paraphrasing badly) that the brain makes more connections than

it should...the brain is supposed to ‘learn’ which connections to

use and then the unused connections dye off, but in brains of people with

autism, all the connections are being used (=larger brain). If I can find the article I read recently,

I will post it.

They are also finding

this in people with sensory processing disorder (SPD - used to be called

sensory integration dysfunction) – which explains all the hyper- and

hypo-sensitivities people on the autism spectrum have. Consider a light touch activating many

nerve pathways in the brain instead of just one like people without SPD have

happen.

Motor planning issues

have been explained by this as well, stating the possibility that the brain is

using the ‘wrong’ pathways to retrieve motor plans so the person

can’t do things he has already learned.

SPD researchers have

been theorizing this long before they found it in MRI studies.

Some people with

autism hear words, but at times they have no meaning. Auditory input going through the wrong

pathways?

It doesn’t

surprise me one bit about them finding this so with anxiety and depression as

well. Same stimuli as a person

without the extra connections, different internal reaction due to more

connections firing!

Oh dear, I feel a

research obsession coming on... now it is later and I’m really hooked... if

you don’t see me for a couple of days, that’s where I’ll be

logging my internet time! I’ll

let you know what I find out!

Aside: Why do these things hit me just before I’m

needed elsewhere? It is so

frustrating! I have to go get my

daughter (who goes to preschool half-days) off the bus now. All I can hope for is my daughter wanting

to nap after lunch so I can indulge myself a little before the other 2 get home

(insert anxious giggle here).

Wendi

Re:

Medication

,

I can't say I've read the article, but if it's

legitimate, it would

certainly explain a lot about why it is AS people

suffer anxiety.

How many of us have spoken on this and other

boards about super-

sensitivity to light, touch, taste, smell,

hearing, etc.? Obviously

our sensitivities could be due either to a

different construction of

the nerve cells, or a proliferation of the cells

themselves.

I have read that folks on the autism spectrum have

bigger (not

necessarily better) brains than those not on the

spectrum. Why our

brains would be bigger is something I won't

speculate on. But size-

wise at least we are different.

I think depression would come easier for AS people

anyway simply

because (aside from the annoyances many of us feel

due to heightened

senses) every moment that we interact among the NT

world we must

realize on some level that we do not entirely fit

in, and we must

also realize that the world that they have created

for themselves

and continue to control is not ideal for us.

I do believe that if we lived in ideal

environments and societies

that had been created by Aspergians for

Aspergians, the depression

many of us experience would be reduced if not

eliminated entirely,

the idea being that though we have phisiological

differences, the

lifestyles we'd live and the habitations we'd live

in would be built

and suited to accomodate those differences, and so

the stress

normally associated with the NT world would be

non-existent, and

thus no longer and influential factor in our

phisiological mindsets.

But until that time, or until those things take

place, we PERHAPS

must unfortunately resign ourselves to the fact

that medication

MIGHT have to play a role in our lives indefinitely.

Tom

> There was an article published recently that

said there may be a

physiological reason for depression. It has been

found that many

people who suffer from chronic depression

have more nerves in a

part of the brain than other people.

>I think this was the amygdilla (spelling) part

of the brain. Oddly

enough I can see the region anatomically but can't

think of the

name. Anyway, they have more nerves by as

much as a third. This

probably also applies to other conditions like

anxiety. I think this

is so because no matter what coping methods

I try, the anxiety

doesn't go away. The only thing that really works

is the medication.

Of course, its not bad all the time, just when a

major stressor

comes along.

>

>

FAM Secret

Society is a community based on respect, friendship, support and acceptance.

Everyone is valued. Always remember that.

[Guest guest]

Sorry, I meant “die

off” opps

-----Original Message-----

From: Wendi

unused

connections dye off