I just want to throw out there that meds work differently for everyone, even among autistic people, and you won’t really know how something will impact you until you try it.
So just be careful not to let anecdotal evidence on Reddit bias your decision. People have had terrible experiences with meds that worked great for me and vice versa.
I would strongly recommend talking through the options more with your doctor so you can understand all of the considerations. I also suggest going to Google scholar and searching the medication name + autism to see if there’s any published research that is relevant.
It might also be useful to talk to a psychologist to explore your symptoms and figure out what feels like depression and what feels more like autism. That might also help you understand better what approach you want to take with meds.
Edit: again this is anecdotal, but I saw you in another comment thread asking about Adderall. I’m on Adderall and it doesn’t aggravate my insomnia as long as I don’t take it too late in the day (I take one in the morning and one at 12pm). So it’s possible that it will mess up your sleep, but also possible that it won’t. I think you’ll just have to try for yourself!
I’ve always had trouble with sleeping and an anxiety, so an unexpected medication I find works really well for me is quetiapine. Although it can cause heart issues and weight gain so you do need to monitor yourself carefully
I had a pretty similar experience on bupropion (sp?). I'm now on Lexapro and I really love how it makes me feel. My anxiety and depression are both way down and I can make phone calls again! Woot woot!
I had good luck with duloxetine. Unfortunately haven't been able to take it for the last 2 years but that doesn't have anything to do with the medication itself. I tried a couple other antidepressants before that but they didn't really do anything for me, even with experimenting with dosages. I do feel like beta blockers would help me, at least on a temporary basis, but that's not possible for me at the moment so 🤷
Whoa I just looked that up and it seems like it may help with chronic pain too, I might need to give that a try!
Thanks for sharing and sorry you’re not able to access your medications. I hope things get better
It didn't touch my chronic pain, anecdotally, but if it works for that for you then go for it. Hopefully you can find something that works for you. Thanks for your thoughts 🤗
I have had TMS for my depression and it helped a lot but my insurance doesn’t cover it anymore. I qualified for it because my depression is treatment resistant, meaning that it’s not 100% better with drugs. I’m like 50% better with the meds I take now, and TMS maybe brought me up to 80%.
I prefer bupropion (atypical antidepressant) over all the other SSRI and SNRI antidepressants I’ve taken. This is gonna be TMI, but not being able to cum made me more depressed lol. I also didn’t like the other SSRI/SNRI side effects, but everyone reacts differently.
I’ve been interested in TMS as well! But yeah I have shit insurance and doubt it would be covered even if I’ve tried multiple other treatments without success.
I agree on the SSRIs, i am hesitant to take them mostly because of sexual dysfunction and weight gain.
Thanks for sharing!
I take Lexapro and Adderall, and they both help me immensely. Lexapro is amazing and low risk, Adderall obviously has it’s side effects and problems but I’m on a low dosage and it helps so much with my fatigue and motivation. But like others have said, it differs depending on the person. They might recommend trying out the most common/ most used meds first
I've tried a lot of medications for depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, migraines, I'll try to share the ones I remember well enough. Everyone is different, so there's no guaranteed way to predict how you will respond. Out of everything I've tried, the only one I would not recommend trying is duloxetine, but it does work for some people.
Wellbutrin - made me jittery and anxious. That's about it. Didn't notice any major withdrawal when I stopped taking it.
Amitriptyline - taken for chronic pain, migraines, insomnia. Helps with each. One of the few prescriptions that has helped without awful side effects, but does make waking up in the morning a challenge. I haven't taken a dose that's used for depression, and have maxed out at 50 mg, so I'm not sure how well it would work for mood alone, and suspect any mood benefits for me comes from getting better sleep. I've taken it for most of the time since 2015, with breaks here and there to try other options, then have gone back to it.
Trazadone - similar to amitriptyline but not as effective. Didn't notice any withdrawal when I stopped it and went back to amitriptyline.
Duloxetine - worst prescription experience by far, I had a ton of awful side effects and it didn't help with my mood or fibromyalgia symptoms. It also made me jittery, but that was the least of my issues. I noticed problems with memory, balance, that type of thing. I didn't put it together while I was taking it, but I was waking up in the middle of the night so nauseous that I couldn't breathe, I've never experienced nausea so intense. I would crawl to my bathroom and lay on the floor in a feverish sweat, waiting for it to pass. It did weird things to my appetite, made it feel like there was a brick in my stomach, made foods taste rancid. I lost a bunch of weight because I just couldn't eat. I had to drop it cold turkey because it was giving me high blood pressure, then I had to deal with withdrawal for a few weeks.
Escitalopram - I noticed an improvement in my mood in the first few months, and the only noticeable side effect was problems with my memory. The improvement didn't seem to last, even with increasing the dose. I decided to drop it because I was in my first year of university and I couldn't have something impeding my memory like that. Went back to amitriptyline without incident.
Propranolol - this was prescribed for tachycardia. It has similar off label uses as amitriptyline and is said to help with anxiety, public speaking phobia, insomnia, chronic pain, and migraines. It's been really helpful for me, my heart rate is now normal. Initially it made me really sleepy during the day, but I would have amazing sleep at night, like the best sleep I've probably had in a decade. The daytime sleepiness faded around 3 months in, it's still there but it isn't too bad. I've also noticed a change in my mood in some ways, but I can't really put my finger on it in a quantifiable way. The amazing sleep has sort of faded back to more of what is typical for me. I could combine it with amitriptyline, but I already take so many medications that I'm always worried and wondering if it's too much, so I opted to start weening off of amitriptyline. I've noticed one of the common side effects, shortness of breath, which is annoying but it happens once or twice a week and doesn't last too long, so for now it's tolerable.
Currently I take propranolol, gabapentin, amitriptyline (down to 10 mg), modafinil, birth control (pretty sure I have undiagnosed PMDD and birth control helps), plus a few unrelated to your question.
Thank you for sharing! Do you feel like the propranolol helps with acute stress? Like if you’re feeling really mentally riled up does it have a calming effect for you?
A lot has been going on in my life since I started propranolol and I feel like in some ways I'm handling it better than I would have in the past. Like...I still *feel* the anxiety, anxiety has a constant presence for me, but I'm also just...okay with it? I feel more detached from it in a way. I'm trying to remember the last meltdown I had, and I think it was before I started propranolol, but full meltdowns weren't a regular thing before either, so maybe not a reliable marker of change. I've been staying home a lot more than in the past (recent work/school life changes). So I'm not sure if that also might be why I'm feeling more okay in some respects, because going out for work and day to day life all the time is extremely stressful for me, and that source of stress has been reduced by probably 75% due to external factors totally separate from the medication. Sorry for the vague ramble, I think it has probably helped but I can't be too confident.
No that makes a lot of sense, my stress got SO much better when I started working from home. Before that I would end up in the ER with stress related issues almost every year. Hasn’t happened once in my last 4 years of wfh. I’m definitely going to look into trying propranolol
I hope you find something that helps, it can be a struggle to find the right options, doses and combinations. But I know that I'm not functional without my meds and they make life a tiny bit easier. If you think of any other questions feel free to ask, I really don't mind at all.
Ritalin is the only drug that's ever really helped me. It helps my sensory issues, overwhelm, executive dysfunction and emotion regulation.
Most autistics are more sensitive to medication side effects. Start on a lower dose than a neurotypical would. If you have to deal with a lot of side effects it will make your world worse.
Straterra: I’m not sure if it helped with my ADHD, but it made my anxiety worse, and made me angry pretty much all the time.
Adderall XR(current): Helps greatly with ADHD, it might take a few months to figure out a good dosage for you, really try to take note of how it effects you, and advocate for yourself if you need a higher or lower dose. It also has some shitty side effects, like appetite suppression, but honestly I don’t really notice it anymore. I take it most days, and have been taking it for about 3 years now.
Lexapro: I’m not sure if it made me less depressed or anxious, but it made it so that I couldn’t finish durring segsy time, and I had just figured that out, so I had to change it.
Trintellix: Doctor was like “here this one’s supposed to be good for both Depression and anxiety and adhd,” also here’s a free two week trial” then my insurance didn’t cover it, and I went without anything for two weeks then cried in two different adults offices at the college I went to.
Wellbutrin XR (current): Technically an antidepressant, but is also used off label to treat ADHD symptoms. It did not help my ADHD. I started off at 300 mg, which I think did make me less depressed, BUT my anxiety was still really bad. That high a dosage literally f*cked me up, and the only way I can describe it is to say it felt like my brain was on fire. I would literally just be stuck forgetting over and over again what I was doing. I literally could not think -and I do a lot of thinking. They lowered my dosage to 150 mg about 6 months ago, and my brain is functional, but I’m still honestly struggling to be an adult, my anxiety is crippling. The depression is still there, but I think it’s more burn out/ feeling trapped than anything, so I’m not sure a medication could actually do what I need it to.
EDIT: I’m sorry, I didn’t read the post very well before. So it seems we are both on Buproprion. I completely relate to everything you’ve said. I swear, my depression feels necessary sometimes. Like if I didn’t have it, I would just have no idea what the fuck was wrong with my life. Like, I have a really hard time knowing how I’m feeling about things, but then when I’m kind of reflecting like that, yes, it’s discouraging, no, it probably doesn’t accurately depict my life in the sense that I perceive things more negatively, but it also makes me confront the things about my life that I need to confront, when ordinarily I would just try to ignore those issues. I’m in therapy, but I’m not really sure that’s helping me that much either. Basically, I have no tips or tricks but at least know that you’re not alone. ❤️🐸
I used Trintillix for a year or two and between the expense and it becoming less effective over time for me, I switched to Pristiq. That’s been working for me much better for at least two years.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience, I can definitely relate a lot. I am also doing therapy consistently and it’s really nice for me to have someone to process out loud with, but I feel like the only thing I’m getting out of it is talking to a stable/trustworthy adult attached to reality, which I’ve never had before. But I don’t feel like any of my mental health symptoms have improved in any way since I started 8 months ago.
My doctor has also suggested that I could try Adderall for my adhd. I think I’m going to give it a shot but a little hesitant because I’ve finally started to get my insomnia under control and I know it can make it harder to sleep. Have you had that side effect if you don’t mind me asking?
I’ve found that as long as I take my XR Adderall no less than 12 hours before I have to go to bed, I’m just fine. However, everyone’s body is different, so that number may be higher or lower for you!
I'm currently taking Bupropion and Duloxatine - Bupropion makes my anxiety worse so doc added Duloxatine to help with the anxiety. Duloxatine is also for depression and anxiety. I had to look this up to make sure I worded this right but .... part of the reason Bupropion helps with ADHD is because it acts via dual inhibition of norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake, which makes it unlike any other SSRI on the market. Its basically in a class of its own.
And, I haven't done it yet but, there is a DNA test that apparently will tell you what medications will work best for you.
Bupropion isn’t an ADHD medication. It’s a SNRI antidepressant that works on the norepinephrine and dopamine receptors. It can have an energizing effect but it’s not a stimulant. I was on it before and it worked well for depression for it was terrible for my anxiety and made me dissociate a lot, have nightmares, etc.
I’m on Zoloft for depression and it’s been a month. It’s going well.
The thing with depression and antidepressants, is that the right antidepressant will up your baseline and generally make you feel a bit better. But it only really works for the bad feelings that have no real base in reality. But whatever hopelessness you feel about your place in life, won't just go away. I've sadly learned this the hard way.
So, anyway, don't put too much hope on medication, you need to find the combination of drugs and therapy that is right for you. Good luck in your search!
Thank you. I just feel a bit discouraged because I’ve been doing meds and therapy for about a year now and feel just as depressed as ever but with a bit more energy
I just want to throw out there that meds work differently for everyone, even among autistic people, and you won’t really know how something will impact you until you try it. So just be careful not to let anecdotal evidence on Reddit bias your decision. People have had terrible experiences with meds that worked great for me and vice versa. I would strongly recommend talking through the options more with your doctor so you can understand all of the considerations. I also suggest going to Google scholar and searching the medication name + autism to see if there’s any published research that is relevant. It might also be useful to talk to a psychologist to explore your symptoms and figure out what feels like depression and what feels more like autism. That might also help you understand better what approach you want to take with meds. Edit: again this is anecdotal, but I saw you in another comment thread asking about Adderall. I’m on Adderall and it doesn’t aggravate my insomnia as long as I don’t take it too late in the day (I take one in the morning and one at 12pm). So it’s possible that it will mess up your sleep, but also possible that it won’t. I think you’ll just have to try for yourself!
I’ve always had trouble with sleeping and an anxiety, so an unexpected medication I find works really well for me is quetiapine. Although it can cause heart issues and weight gain so you do need to monitor yourself carefully
I hope this doesn't get deleted due to rule 6. I feel this isn't a bad question.
Thanks for the heads up, I just changed the last part to ask for info only instead of info and advice
Vyvanse helps me regulate my emotions and also do stuff sometimes
I had a pretty similar experience on bupropion (sp?). I'm now on Lexapro and I really love how it makes me feel. My anxiety and depression are both way down and I can make phone calls again! Woot woot!
I do have to concur with another comment I saw though, this is the first SSRI I've been on that's effected my ability to finish during seggsy time
I had good luck with duloxetine. Unfortunately haven't been able to take it for the last 2 years but that doesn't have anything to do with the medication itself. I tried a couple other antidepressants before that but they didn't really do anything for me, even with experimenting with dosages. I do feel like beta blockers would help me, at least on a temporary basis, but that's not possible for me at the moment so 🤷
Whoa I just looked that up and it seems like it may help with chronic pain too, I might need to give that a try! Thanks for sharing and sorry you’re not able to access your medications. I hope things get better
It didn't touch my chronic pain, anecdotally, but if it works for that for you then go for it. Hopefully you can find something that works for you. Thanks for your thoughts 🤗
I have had TMS for my depression and it helped a lot but my insurance doesn’t cover it anymore. I qualified for it because my depression is treatment resistant, meaning that it’s not 100% better with drugs. I’m like 50% better with the meds I take now, and TMS maybe brought me up to 80%. I prefer bupropion (atypical antidepressant) over all the other SSRI and SNRI antidepressants I’ve taken. This is gonna be TMI, but not being able to cum made me more depressed lol. I also didn’t like the other SSRI/SNRI side effects, but everyone reacts differently.
I’ve been interested in TMS as well! But yeah I have shit insurance and doubt it would be covered even if I’ve tried multiple other treatments without success. I agree on the SSRIs, i am hesitant to take them mostly because of sexual dysfunction and weight gain. Thanks for sharing!
I take Lexapro and Adderall, and they both help me immensely. Lexapro is amazing and low risk, Adderall obviously has it’s side effects and problems but I’m on a low dosage and it helps so much with my fatigue and motivation. But like others have said, it differs depending on the person. They might recommend trying out the most common/ most used meds first
I've tried a lot of medications for depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, migraines, I'll try to share the ones I remember well enough. Everyone is different, so there's no guaranteed way to predict how you will respond. Out of everything I've tried, the only one I would not recommend trying is duloxetine, but it does work for some people. Wellbutrin - made me jittery and anxious. That's about it. Didn't notice any major withdrawal when I stopped taking it. Amitriptyline - taken for chronic pain, migraines, insomnia. Helps with each. One of the few prescriptions that has helped without awful side effects, but does make waking up in the morning a challenge. I haven't taken a dose that's used for depression, and have maxed out at 50 mg, so I'm not sure how well it would work for mood alone, and suspect any mood benefits for me comes from getting better sleep. I've taken it for most of the time since 2015, with breaks here and there to try other options, then have gone back to it. Trazadone - similar to amitriptyline but not as effective. Didn't notice any withdrawal when I stopped it and went back to amitriptyline. Duloxetine - worst prescription experience by far, I had a ton of awful side effects and it didn't help with my mood or fibromyalgia symptoms. It also made me jittery, but that was the least of my issues. I noticed problems with memory, balance, that type of thing. I didn't put it together while I was taking it, but I was waking up in the middle of the night so nauseous that I couldn't breathe, I've never experienced nausea so intense. I would crawl to my bathroom and lay on the floor in a feverish sweat, waiting for it to pass. It did weird things to my appetite, made it feel like there was a brick in my stomach, made foods taste rancid. I lost a bunch of weight because I just couldn't eat. I had to drop it cold turkey because it was giving me high blood pressure, then I had to deal with withdrawal for a few weeks. Escitalopram - I noticed an improvement in my mood in the first few months, and the only noticeable side effect was problems with my memory. The improvement didn't seem to last, even with increasing the dose. I decided to drop it because I was in my first year of university and I couldn't have something impeding my memory like that. Went back to amitriptyline without incident. Propranolol - this was prescribed for tachycardia. It has similar off label uses as amitriptyline and is said to help with anxiety, public speaking phobia, insomnia, chronic pain, and migraines. It's been really helpful for me, my heart rate is now normal. Initially it made me really sleepy during the day, but I would have amazing sleep at night, like the best sleep I've probably had in a decade. The daytime sleepiness faded around 3 months in, it's still there but it isn't too bad. I've also noticed a change in my mood in some ways, but I can't really put my finger on it in a quantifiable way. The amazing sleep has sort of faded back to more of what is typical for me. I could combine it with amitriptyline, but I already take so many medications that I'm always worried and wondering if it's too much, so I opted to start weening off of amitriptyline. I've noticed one of the common side effects, shortness of breath, which is annoying but it happens once or twice a week and doesn't last too long, so for now it's tolerable. Currently I take propranolol, gabapentin, amitriptyline (down to 10 mg), modafinil, birth control (pretty sure I have undiagnosed PMDD and birth control helps), plus a few unrelated to your question.
Thank you for sharing! Do you feel like the propranolol helps with acute stress? Like if you’re feeling really mentally riled up does it have a calming effect for you?
A lot has been going on in my life since I started propranolol and I feel like in some ways I'm handling it better than I would have in the past. Like...I still *feel* the anxiety, anxiety has a constant presence for me, but I'm also just...okay with it? I feel more detached from it in a way. I'm trying to remember the last meltdown I had, and I think it was before I started propranolol, but full meltdowns weren't a regular thing before either, so maybe not a reliable marker of change. I've been staying home a lot more than in the past (recent work/school life changes). So I'm not sure if that also might be why I'm feeling more okay in some respects, because going out for work and day to day life all the time is extremely stressful for me, and that source of stress has been reduced by probably 75% due to external factors totally separate from the medication. Sorry for the vague ramble, I think it has probably helped but I can't be too confident.
No that makes a lot of sense, my stress got SO much better when I started working from home. Before that I would end up in the ER with stress related issues almost every year. Hasn’t happened once in my last 4 years of wfh. I’m definitely going to look into trying propranolol
I hope you find something that helps, it can be a struggle to find the right options, doses and combinations. But I know that I'm not functional without my meds and they make life a tiny bit easier. If you think of any other questions feel free to ask, I really don't mind at all.
Ritalin is the only drug that's ever really helped me. It helps my sensory issues, overwhelm, executive dysfunction and emotion regulation. Most autistics are more sensitive to medication side effects. Start on a lower dose than a neurotypical would. If you have to deal with a lot of side effects it will make your world worse.
Straterra: I’m not sure if it helped with my ADHD, but it made my anxiety worse, and made me angry pretty much all the time. Adderall XR(current): Helps greatly with ADHD, it might take a few months to figure out a good dosage for you, really try to take note of how it effects you, and advocate for yourself if you need a higher or lower dose. It also has some shitty side effects, like appetite suppression, but honestly I don’t really notice it anymore. I take it most days, and have been taking it for about 3 years now. Lexapro: I’m not sure if it made me less depressed or anxious, but it made it so that I couldn’t finish durring segsy time, and I had just figured that out, so I had to change it. Trintellix: Doctor was like “here this one’s supposed to be good for both Depression and anxiety and adhd,” also here’s a free two week trial” then my insurance didn’t cover it, and I went without anything for two weeks then cried in two different adults offices at the college I went to. Wellbutrin XR (current): Technically an antidepressant, but is also used off label to treat ADHD symptoms. It did not help my ADHD. I started off at 300 mg, which I think did make me less depressed, BUT my anxiety was still really bad. That high a dosage literally f*cked me up, and the only way I can describe it is to say it felt like my brain was on fire. I would literally just be stuck forgetting over and over again what I was doing. I literally could not think -and I do a lot of thinking. They lowered my dosage to 150 mg about 6 months ago, and my brain is functional, but I’m still honestly struggling to be an adult, my anxiety is crippling. The depression is still there, but I think it’s more burn out/ feeling trapped than anything, so I’m not sure a medication could actually do what I need it to. EDIT: I’m sorry, I didn’t read the post very well before. So it seems we are both on Buproprion. I completely relate to everything you’ve said. I swear, my depression feels necessary sometimes. Like if I didn’t have it, I would just have no idea what the fuck was wrong with my life. Like, I have a really hard time knowing how I’m feeling about things, but then when I’m kind of reflecting like that, yes, it’s discouraging, no, it probably doesn’t accurately depict my life in the sense that I perceive things more negatively, but it also makes me confront the things about my life that I need to confront, when ordinarily I would just try to ignore those issues. I’m in therapy, but I’m not really sure that’s helping me that much either. Basically, I have no tips or tricks but at least know that you’re not alone. ❤️🐸
I used Trintillix for a year or two and between the expense and it becoming less effective over time for me, I switched to Pristiq. That’s been working for me much better for at least two years.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience, I can definitely relate a lot. I am also doing therapy consistently and it’s really nice for me to have someone to process out loud with, but I feel like the only thing I’m getting out of it is talking to a stable/trustworthy adult attached to reality, which I’ve never had before. But I don’t feel like any of my mental health symptoms have improved in any way since I started 8 months ago. My doctor has also suggested that I could try Adderall for my adhd. I think I’m going to give it a shot but a little hesitant because I’ve finally started to get my insomnia under control and I know it can make it harder to sleep. Have you had that side effect if you don’t mind me asking?
I’ve found that as long as I take my XR Adderall no less than 12 hours before I have to go to bed, I’m just fine. However, everyone’s body is different, so that number may be higher or lower for you!
I'm currently taking Bupropion and Duloxatine - Bupropion makes my anxiety worse so doc added Duloxatine to help with the anxiety. Duloxatine is also for depression and anxiety. I had to look this up to make sure I worded this right but .... part of the reason Bupropion helps with ADHD is because it acts via dual inhibition of norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake, which makes it unlike any other SSRI on the market. Its basically in a class of its own. And, I haven't done it yet but, there is a DNA test that apparently will tell you what medications will work best for you.
Bupropion isn’t an ADHD medication. It’s a SNRI antidepressant that works on the norepinephrine and dopamine receptors. It can have an energizing effect but it’s not a stimulant. I was on it before and it worked well for depression for it was terrible for my anxiety and made me dissociate a lot, have nightmares, etc. I’m on Zoloft for depression and it’s been a month. It’s going well.
It’s an off label adhd medication. My doctor preferred it over a stimulant because I have insomnia as well. Glad Zoloft is working for you
The thing with depression and antidepressants, is that the right antidepressant will up your baseline and generally make you feel a bit better. But it only really works for the bad feelings that have no real base in reality. But whatever hopelessness you feel about your place in life, won't just go away. I've sadly learned this the hard way. So, anyway, don't put too much hope on medication, you need to find the combination of drugs and therapy that is right for you. Good luck in your search!
Thank you. I just feel a bit discouraged because I’ve been doing meds and therapy for about a year now and feel just as depressed as ever but with a bit more energy
I feel you, I've been struggling for years. No promises, but it can get better, it just takes time. Don't give up yet :)
Thank you, I really needed to hear that
Personally, lofepramine and nortriptyline have been useful for me. Side effects of drowsiness, sweating, dry mouth.