Doctor woes.

[arathian]

I was discussing, okay maybe complaining is more the term, to a friend of mine online that my doctors trying to help me deal with some of negative aspects of my AS don't really seem to be helping much. For one the first one I got after my mom took me when she thought me smashing a hole in a wall that something was up(oh really you think?) Took me

Comments

[sin_agua]

Bad idea to just stop taking Prozac altogether. If you want off the stuff, fine, but do it gradually, or you're just asking for trouble. (Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, etc.) From the symptoms you've described, I'm not sure Prozac was the way to go with you in the first place. It's like a single raindrop in an ocean

[arathian]

Well some of them apparently know what they are doing. My best friend (same one I was talking about) is bipolar with I'd say a LARGE dose of issues, and she says her one helps. Somewhat. She still seems depressed most of the time maybe not greatly but kinda down if not fully depressed.

But seeing as life has bitten her in the ass even more than it has me, I guess she has reason.

But she says her tells her to DO things. Which seems much more helpful than just lik e"huh huh uhuh huh" and such.

That and she said that that particular doctor had a daughter with some of the issues she had. And that might make a good difference. A personal sympathy that isn't enduced but naturally there. That might really be helpful if not necessarily.

Course it's not like I can go 100 miles south to see a doc no matter how good they are.

[sin_agua]

I didn't mean to say therapists in general aren't helpful at all. I just mean there's better ones, and worse ones, like with anything. I have one therapist right now who tells me to do things, encourages me, challenges me, etc. I love her to death. The other one (who prescribes my meds) is the one who nods, asks vague questions, and is just not a lot of help (besides the meds).

I wouldn't keep going if it wasn't SOME help. Sometimes anything is better than nothing at all. And once in awhile, you stumble across someone really GOOD. :)

Good luck to you.

[bibliofool]

Out of curiosity, have you seen more than one therapist? I myself went to a couple before I found one who seemed to suit me. Believe me, I know how annoying, frustrating and downright scary searching for a therapist can be. But I found that sessions got a great deal easier after I found someone I was comfortable with.

Therapists have such varied styles that you can have a different experience with each one. If you need someone more proactive who will give you advice on what to do about your situation rather than passively listening, they do exist. It might take some time but it's worth it.

Just my two cents.

[arathian]

Yeah I just wish I knew how to find any.

[aspiemama]

Haven't read all the comments yet but I definitely have an opinion here. When I was 16 I had a bit of a breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric hospital. By the time I was released I was on 1200 mg of Lithium, 20 mg of Prozac, and 10 mg of Ritalin. I took that coctail of crap until I was 21. My mother and I finally came to the conclusion that you have, that it was doing absolutely NOTHING and made the decision to discontinue. My psychiatrist promptly refused to see me anymore. We discovered, however, that not only was the medicine not doing any good, it was actually making me appear dull and drugged out. More than one person told me that I came alive when I discontinued the drugs. I do agree, however, that you should gradually go off the medicine. Start taking it every other day (if your dose is once a day) and then after a couple of weeks reduce it to every three days. If you go slowly enough then it should be a lot easier on you.

[laurenpburka]

Just so you know, it is very hard to find doctors that can help you with Asperger's at all. It's pretty new. When the current crop of doctors was in school, it probably was on the curriculum.

Some tips:

Antidepressants don't help with Asperger's. They help with depression. Granted, most of us are depressed anyway, but their helpfulness for the underlying condition is limited. I'll repeat what other people have said. Suddenly discontinuing an antidepressant is just asking for a trip to the psych ward.

Asperger's, and autism, are fundamentally learning disabilities. Therefore you will get more help from programs designed to help people with learning disabilities. This doesn't mean that all programs and providers are any good, but you'll have better luck there. Start googling your local school systems and hospitals for something that looks sort of ok. Phone someone there and ask for help. They might have to forward you around a bit, but you'll probably end up somewhere useful.

[kisekileia]

I agree with all those who've said that therapists vary widely and that you shouldn't go off antidepressants cold turkey. I have also found that therapists who just listened didn't really help me solve my problems. The therapist who I've had for a couple of years is really good with my school issues and really insightful in general, and has helped me change how I see things and helped me get on track in a concrete way with school and the like. I've more recently started seeing someone who's going to put me through a structured cognitive-behavioural therapy program for my ADHD and says he can also likely help me with my abnormal taste sensitivity, which I'd previously been told was untreatable.

I think you really need someone who knows something about Asperger's and can give you concrete suggestions on improving things. If it seems like the way you think about things is screwed up or makes things worse, you might want to look for a cognitive-behavioural approach.