• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Anyone else's anxiety worsen on antidepressants?

Fluttershy

Well-Known Member
I went on Pristiq a few months ago and it's working pretty well for my depression. However, my anxiety and irritation has been really bad, particularly at work when I feel trapped around people. I get annoyed when I walk in even though I don't mind my job.

This happened when I was on Zoloft too, except substitute work with school. Both times my doctor suggested upping my dose, but every time I went up on Zoloft I seemed to get more angry and have anxiety attacks. My doctor didn't mind keeping me at my dose, but I don't know what to do to manage this. I really don't want to go off antidepressants again because it's nice to not feel like dying. Anyone have this problem?
 
A heartfelt disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Issues of medication and professional treatment are between you and the professional you are seeing.

From my mid-teens until my mid-forties, I generally was on one antidepressant or another. I really have no idea if they actually did anything positive, but I am stone-cold certain that they were messing me up. It came to an end when I asked myself "why am I being medicated for me being me?" and wondered if maybe I might be better off figuring out why I am feeling the way I am and figuring out a way to confront my life without drugs.

I reiterate: I was in the position to do that, not everyone is!

It's difficult to answer your question. First, because I have such a hard time being aware of and understanding my feelings and their origins. Second, if I'm acting up on meds, I can't definitively know if it's the meds unless I can experience the exact same situation while off them.

I am not anti-psychiatry, although I "get", and have sympathy for that stance, but I have a healthy scepticism regarding the present purely biological model of psychiatry. In essence, thus far, there is no substantive proof for the efficacy of antidepressants, but a lot of proof for their negative side effects; a little worrying, that is.

An issue that can arise in a patient/doctor relationship is that the balance of power (in its various forms: knowledge, experience, prestige, et al.) can greatly favour the doctor. When I most need to, I can least be able to be a knowledgeable, forceful advocate for myself. That can change, but a lot of work and chitzpah are required to make it happen.

A couple of years ago, I did see, for a year, an example of that rara avis, a shrink who was fully conversant with autism and how it effects adults as well as children. Her opinion, coming from her perceived experience (I have no idea if there are any studies to support this), is that psychotropic drugs, prescribed or illicit, often affect the autistic quite differently from the NT. I will leave it there...
 
Sounds like you haven't found the correct medication. Ask for something different. An alternative to ask for might be a mood stabiliser. I'm on lamotrigine and I get no side effects from that; it's meant to be a very "clean" drug.
 
I don't know about making it worse, but I'm on an antidepressant for anxiety and this is the fourth one I've been given aaaand it's still not helping. I have to go back to the GP in January.
 
I went on Pristiq a few months ago and it's working pretty well for my depression. However, my anxiety and irritation has been really bad, particularly at work when I feel trapped around people. I get annoyed when I walk in even though I don't mind my job.

This happened when I was on Zoloft too, except substitute work with school. Both times my doctor suggested upping my dose, but every time I went up on Zoloft I seemed to get more angry and have anxiety attacks. My doctor didn't mind keeping me at my dose, but I don't know what to do to manage this. I really don't want to go off antidepressants again because it's nice to not feel like dying. Anyone have this problem?

Meds are a total nightmare for me. I get a lot of paradoxical reactions because of my sensory issues. I have a genetic duplication over a gene which codes for neurons and they think that might have something to do with my horrific sensory problems.

I hate meds and just ccannot take them!!

I do try snake oil now and again. SAM-e helped till my accident. Now it is just hell.
 
I was on high dose of Zoloft for a few years and I didn't do well on it. If I got anxious and irritated it felt like I would go over a waterfall into full blown anger. I don't like Zoloft at all. Currently I don't take antidepressants because they are ineffective on me.
 
I had to take a higher dose of anti-anxiety meds when I was on Zoloft too. Now that I take Lexapro, I don't hardly need my anxiety meds at all. I echo what some of the others have said. You should maybe talk to your doctor about a different med that might work better for you. It can be frustrating as heck to keep going back again and again to change meds, but if it helps you it's worth it! Here's hoping you figure it out sooner rather than later!
 
You should talk with your psychiatrist, your medication probably isn't working well in you and I recommendo you to talk with your doctor.

Some years ago I went trough some bad weeks because my psych gave me an antidepressive (i don't remember which) and I used to wake every day around 4am with anxiety and fast heart bit, I could felt my heart through my chest and I couldn't get back on sleep, after I talked with my psych he retired that medication and changed it for another. Every pill works different on every person and you should talk about any secondary effects you could have.
 
It certainly did for me with taking the wrong medications many years ago. Unfortunately this can be the cost of searching for the perceived "right medication", in having to try others that can have an opposite in a desired effect.

I always recall one in particular- Tofranil. It had me almost crawling the walls. Made me horribly uncomfortable.
 
yes!
all anti depressents ive tried bar one [cymbalta,but i had to come off it as it stopped working for my severe depression] has made me extremely anxious and sometime pyschotic;when i got mirtazapine increased i ended up suffering from worsening severe challenging behavior with pyschosis which required police assistance in my bedroom though affected no one else,despite that i lost my place in the care home because the spoilt aspie who also lived there told his mum it scared his precious senses and she got me kicked out into awful unsuitable respite care while i was pinned down on the floor by staff and police,she talked about me like i was s*** and her son was so innocent [he was tazered in front of me for attacking the police but the managers wouldnt dare put him into respite care for affecting my mental health and risk the wrath of his awful mother].
i was put onto sertraline after that,but it makes me feel extremely anxious and my pyschosis is bad i dont know if its related,and im also very manic often and get very bad severe depressive episodes im wondering if im bipolar as people with bipolar react badly to SSRIs dont they?
the sertraline reaction is why i started smoking CBD,my pyschiatrist thinks im talking crap about all the bad reactions i have had as shes fed up of altering or increasing/decreasing my meds.
 
That's what happens with pharmaceutical medications; even low doses can react poorly with your bodily composition...man-made medicines are compounds not found in nature, and are therefore prone to instability.
 
...therefore compounds found in nature are much more stable. I personally use CBD; no psychoactive effects, doesn't make me feel sick or have an adjustment period.
 
A heartfelt disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Issues of medication and professional treatment are between you and the professional you are seeing.

From my mid-teens until my mid-forties, I generally was on one antidepressant or another. I really have no idea if they actually did anything positive, but I am stone-cold certain that they were messing me up. It came to an end when I asked myself "why am I being medicated for me being me?" and wondered if maybe I might be better off figuring out why I am feeling the way I am and figuring out a way to confront my life without drugs.

I reiterate: I was in the position to do that, not everyone is!

It's difficult to answer your question. First, because I have such a hard time being aware of and understanding my feelings and their origins. Second, if I'm acting up on meds, I can't definitively know if it's the meds unless I can experience the exact same situation while off them.

I am not anti-psychiatry, although I "get", and have sympathy for that stance, but I have a healthy scepticism regarding the present purely biological model of psychiatry. In essence, thus far, there is no substantive proof for the efficacy of antidepressants, but a lot of proof for their negative side effects; a little worrying, that is.

An issue that can arise in a patient/doctor relationship is that the balance of power (in its various forms: knowledge, experience, prestige, et al.) can greatly favour the doctor. When I most need to, I can least be able to be a knowledgeable, forceful advocate for myself. That can change, but a lot of work and chitzpah are required to make it happen.

A couple of years ago, I did see, for a year, an example of that rara avis, a shrink who was fully conversant with autism and how it effects adults as well as children. Her opinion, coming from her perceived experience (I have no idea if there are any studies to support this), is that psychotropic drugs, prescribed or illicit, often affect the autistic quite differently from the NT. I will leave it there...
During my studies of the spectrum and medications,I found several references that indicated that NT dosages of meds were either too extreme or ineffective on autistic body chemistry.I was scripted most of the psychotropics during my brain injury recovery phase and often tell of the day I quit all of my chemical cocktail scripts against the advice of medical professionals and went the natural route instead.

At this stage of my game,the only thing I take that comes out of a bottle is an necessary anti-biotic.
It took about 30 days for the junk to leave my body and my recovery made it's greatest leaps and bounds.
 
...therefore compounds found in nature are much more stable. I personally use CBD; no psychoactive effects, doesn't make me feel sick or have an adjustment period.
You won't get any argument from me on the positive effects of using what nature has and can provide ;)
 
I discovered that after going cold turkey with prosac from taking them for nearly 16 years, that they caused the severe depression I suffered from and the blinding headaches!

I stick to natural anti anxiety tablets now.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom