I am 55 and have had therapy and help and meds for asd since I was 15. Basically nothing helped and I’m at a point I feel burned out. I have tried most (if not all) anti depressants. They do not remove depressed feeling but only make it so I don’t care. They also come with horrible side effects like weight gain and erectile dysfunction. Antipsychotica just made me suicidal. Diazapams (opioïdes?) at least make me feel less anxious but that is about it.
What else is there to try? I have an appnt with my doctor next week. I am seriously considering things like xtc, speed, cocaine etc at this point. But with all the problems that comes with I just don’t know anymore.
What do u use that helps deal with life?
Like you, I’ve been through lots of psych meds. In general, the SSRIs sucked! Sertraline made me stupid. Paroxetine made me dead inside. Escitalopram made me disconnected from my surroundings. Citalopram did a great job at making me more relaxed and social, but it came with severe ED, and I became completely asexual.
The anti-psychotics were terrible. They either made me dead inside or sleepy and slow allll the time. One even made me feel like I was withdrawing from opiates. I also gained like 40 lbs/18 kg.
Mood stabilizers didn’t really seem to do anything for me at all.
What has worked is bupropion for general mood. It doesn’t make it so I’m not depressed, but it makes it so that I can still function and decide to live life even though I might be depressed. I’ve noticed that the depression also happens in waves rather than all the time now. Bonus: bupropion doesn’t cause the same side effects as the SSRIs and makes it so that nicotine isn’t rewarding anymore.
One med that seriously surprised me though was methylphenidate for ADHD. Prior to recently, my medical provider system was strictly not wanting to treat ADHD nor even assess for it. I went to a new provider that had me complete an executive functioning scale and found that I was a bit extreme with how poor my executive functioning was (99th percentile 😬). I was put on methylphanidate shortly after. At this point, I thought ADHD really only affected productivity…nope! Once I started treating the ADHD, I was not overwhelmed as much. I wasn’t upset that I lost my keys, worried that I would forget something important, or zone out and upset others during conversations. I have also been able to engage in tasks that make me happy even if they’re not my current special interest, so this has made my life more balanced and diverse. To me, this has been the most influential medical treatment for my mental health.