Anyone extra sensitive to medicines?

[I am that which I am]

Wow, that's really good info! I didn't know there was a difference between being lactose and dairy intolerant. I had basically the same experience with Remeron. And good point about how doctors are not going to remember that same piece of info. If I ever decrease an anxiety med even slightly, I have a reaction almost as bad as your friend did.

To me there is a difference, but not everyone agrees on that. If you are lactose intolerant you cannot digest lactose which is found in milk. Dairy products are modified and some will have less or more lactose because of the processing. So those that are lactose intolerant can still eat yogurt, cheese, and butter to a certain depending how intolerant they are since these have less lactose. I can still have ice cream for some reason even though that is higher in lactose than milk itself. Dairy intolerant, you cannot digest any milk product.

It is possible to get off an anxiety medication, but for some people they really have to take it slow. Like taking a little less (varies by medication) once per week and slowly increasing that to get it to every day might work better. Although you usually have to take meds every day there is usually a good amount left in your system. So decreasing a little one day out of the week will barely affect how much is there, but still has a small effect. It is one reason why it can take a few weeks before a medication starts doing something, it needs to build up a consistent amount that remains constant from day to day even with a single high dose at a particular time. Of course now to help reduce the shock the high dose can have on the body they have made medications that will be released more slowly over the day. And sometimes it is best to just stay on it since you are taking it for a reason and over the years the body develops a kind dependence on it and is used to relying on it.

 

[islandria]

I'm a bit of an oddball and eccentric. I haven't taken pharmaceuticals for over 3 years (and even before that it was the odd aspirin like every few months).

I rely on herbs that I harvest myself. (Either wild or from our Common gardens that we have around town).

I use peppermint, skullcap, white oak bark, valerian root for mild headaches & jamaican dogwood for painful headaches.

I use food for vitamins and nutrition.

I eat only plant food as it has all the nutrtion I need.

I feel that as an aspie I'm more sensitive to my body than the typical person and so I'm more aware of what's going on with it and it's more important for me to keep myself healthy.

Medical doctors don't keep us healthy. They prescribe pharmaceuticals. As an Aspie I've researched herbs and they are what my body and being like. They have the right amount of influence and subtlety that jives with me.

I'm not saying this is how others should be. I'm saying this is how I am, so yes, I'm super sensitive to medication and super adverse to it.

 

[radasp]

I'm both bipolar and Asperger. I was started on Lithium nearly 30 years ago. It worked GREAT. I was able to live (almost) normally for the first time in my life. Then I moved temporarily to go back to school and went to a new psych., who decided I WASN'T bipolar (I'd been taking Li for TEN YEARS at that point) and took me off Lithium cold turkey! The results were devastating. I found another 'shrink' who put me back on Lithium pronto + an antidepressant because I was seriously depressed. He said I should only take the anti-D until I was stable. I recovered enough to move (permanently this time.) Unfortunately to an area with only one mental health clinic so I was stuck with whatever care I got. The psych there decided I should be on the anti-depressant "forever" - that was 20 years ago, and I've had to fight to convince whatever doc come and went from the clinic (which no longer has even one psychiatrist on staff) that I'm super sensitive to medicines. I got the "you're just being a crazy resistant mental patient" bit SO OFTEN! One even laughed, saying, "Did you have a nice trip?" after one anti-depressant he switched me to sent me immediately into a serious manic episode. It was only AFTER I was diagnosed Asperger that my current prescriber "got it" since apparently Asperger people are highly sensitive to medication and can't tolerate "normal doses." From my experiences I can say that the mental health profession are in SERIOUS VIOLATION of patient health and safety, using vulnerable and suffering people in a mass human trial of psychiatric drugs - as a "favor" to pharmaceutical companies.

 

[Tani_Rivers]

I always have to be super careful of what I take (even otc meds like painkillers and antihistamines) and have to tell doctor's that I'm allergic to anything that's given me a bad reaction in the past. I've had to change doctors several times in the past few years, and every time it seems they want to start all over again and prescribe things that don't work, make me feel dizzy/jittery/etc., or make my original symptoms worse. I think in my case it may be at least partly genetic because my dad once took a double dose of cough syrup and everyone thought he was having a stroke because of his reaction. As much as possible, I try to live with my symptoms or I try to find a natural treatment before going to a doctor for a prescription. I find the natural solutions tend to be gentler on my body and often actually help with my symptoms. I also get frustrated with insurance companies only covering one variation of certain types of meds because its usually one I react badly to. For example: my insurance just changed and now I have the choice of either using an inhaler for my asthma that makes the asthma worse or I can use one that makes me vomit every time I use it. It's so frustrating because if they'd cover the slightly more expensive one as well I would be just fine.

 

[Tani_Rivers]

And, I don't know how common this is, but simple over-the-counter Melatonin pills are terrible...whenever I take them, I literally FREAK OUT...I mean, thrashing around in my bed uncontrollably, screaming...I've never heard of anything like that happening to anyone else.

I've heard that melatonin can be very rough on the body and even somewhat addictive even for people who usually react well or normally to meds. I know my sister, who usually reacts well to meds, had a rough time taking melatonin. Instead of helping her sleep, she would be hyper and have worse insomnia than she did before. One of the better doctors we've gone to warned us about the risks of melatonin and recommended valerian. It's more gentle, more effective, and non-habit-forming. It's even gentle enough that I can take it the few times I've needed something to help me sleep.

 

[Nitro]

I'm both bipolar and Asperger. I was started on Lithium nearly 30 years ago. It worked GREAT. I was able to live (almost) normally for the first time in my life. Then I moved temporarily to go back to school and went to a new psych., who decided I WASN'T bipolar (I'd been taking Li for TEN YEARS at that point) and took me off Lithium cold turkey! The results were devastating. I found another 'shrink' who put me back on Lithium pronto + an antidepressant because I was seriously depressed. He said I should only take the anti-D until I was stable. I recovered enough to move (permanently this time.) Unfortunately to an area with only one mental health clinic so I was stuck with whatever care I got. The psych there decided I should be on the anti-depressant "forever" - that was 20 years ago, and I've had to fight to convince whatever doc come and went from the clinic (which no longer has even one psychiatrist on staff) that I'm super sensitive to medicines. I got the "you're just being a crazy resistant mental patient" bit SO OFTEN! One even laughed, saying, "Did you have a nice trip?" after one anti-depressant he switched me to sent me immediately into a serious manic episode. It was only AFTER I was diagnosed Asperger that my current prescriber "got it" since apparently Asperger people are highly sensitive to medication and can't tolerate "normal doses." From my experiences I can say that the mental health profession are in SERIOUS VIOLATION of patient health and safety, using vulnerable and suffering people in a mass human trial of psychiatric drugs - as a "favor" to pharmaceutical companies.

nicely worded

 

[wyverary]

While I don't completely buy into the idea of a completely profit-driven conspiracy of medicine (much of it has merit, though), I do think there are some professionals who are REALLY bad at their job. I've come to realize that I have been extremely lucky when it comes to the psychiatric care I have received, and it saddens me to see that there are so many others out there who have had such awful experiences, and how common it seems to be.

 

[Nitro]

I always have to be super careful of what I take (even otc meds like painkillers and antihistamines) and have to tell doctor's that I'm allergic to anything that's given me a bad reaction in the past. I've had to change doctors several times in the past few years, and every time it seems they want to start all over again and prescribe things that don't work, make me feel dizzy/jittery/etc., or make my original symptoms worse. I think in my case it may be at least partly genetic because my dad once took a double dose of cough syrup and everyone thought he was having a stroke because of his reaction. As much as possible, I try to live with my symptoms or I try to find a natural treatment before going to a doctor for a prescription. I find the natural solutions tend to be gentler on my body and often actually help with my symptoms. I also get frustrated with insurance companies only covering one variation of certain types of meds because its usually one I react badly to. For example: my insurance just changed and now I have the choice of either using an inhaler for my asthma that makes the asthma worse or I can use one that makes me vomit every time I use it. It's so frustrating because if they'd cover the slightly more expensive one as well I would be just fine.

As I study autism more and more,I hear plenty of cases of NT medicine giving AS bodies fits and ill results...the insurance deal and big pharma are not interested in your woes (money wins each time) I want to vomit each time I see someone given advice for "professional" help...

 

[Nitro]

While I don't completely buy into the idea of a completely profit-driven conspiracy of medicine (much of it has merit, though), I do think there are some professionals who are REALLY bad at their job. I've come to realize that I have been extremely lucky when it comes to the psychiatric care I have received, and it saddens me to see that there are so many others out there who have had such awful experiences, and how common it seems to be.

the perplexing job is how to sort the health driven professionals from the money driven or lazy ones...luck of the draw has not worked in my world a bit

 

[mommygirl]

It's not that it makes me sleepy; it just makes me feel so sick, that I'd rather not have to remain awake, and put up with it. The last time I took them, I had to stay on them for two weeks. My body felt drained, and sluggish, and my head was swimming. I couldn't concentrate at all, and everything was making me feel irritable.

I'm the same way with antibiotics. It's good to hear that others have similar reactions

 

[Loomis]

the perplexing job is how to sort the health driven professionals from the money driven or lazy ones...luck of the draw has not worked in my world a bit

One of the best ways to find the "good" doctors is to ask an RN.

 

[I am that which I am]

As I study autism more and more,I hear plenty of cases of NT medicine giving AS bodies fits and ill results...the insurance deal and big pharma are not interested in your woes (money wins each time) I want to vomit each time I see someone given advice for "professional" help...

It would be quite useful if there were more psychiatrists that specialized in autism in adults. Since they should be aware that aspies react differently to medications compared to NTs. Is there much research pointing to the fact that aspies react differently than NTs? It would be a good place to start. I hope that it would expand the research on metabolic difference between aspies and NTs and their underlying basis. So that at least there is awareness in the research and medical field. Yes it is unfortunate that there are more NTs than aspies and so more money to be made tailoring drugs to NTs. But before we go burning some pharmaceutical companies building down . Consider that doing research in the first place is very expensive. Independent researchers will often spend tens of thousands of dollars to do a study and write just one research paper. It is a long way from that one research paper to a new drug that has been tested. One thing that does bother me however is that lab material and equipment which often comes from pharmaceutical companies (for independent researchers anyways) is extremely expensive.

 

[I am that which I am]

One of the best ways to find the "good" doctors is to ask an RN.

Yes that is true. My mother is an RN and against too many meds and she does know the best doctors in her department. Unfortunately for me she does not deal with psychiatry and is mostly in obstetrics and neonates. But everyone goes to her for something related to neonates. I also have an aunt that was an RN but retired several years ago. I will refrain from complaining about the terrible psychiatrist I got, after waiting for 8 months to see one and who just decided to close all his files and go do something else referring his patients back to where they came from and essentially re-wait-listing them -yes that refrain is not working too well- as to not deviate the thread.

 

[Nitro]

As a general rule,in business if you want to know what is going on in a work setting,ask the guys at the bottom of the hiring pool,not the top...if the AS medicine was tested,would an autistic person do the study,or a NT...I want a spectrum person doing the study to ensure the study was done properly...looks like a duck,quacks like a duck,so it must be a duck is just another label to someone who is not a duck...I see so much in print about the fast tracked,hurry up and get it to market drugs being shoved down patient's throats only to be recalled for the gazillion other side effects that it baffles logic...that is not medicine,it is a chemistry experiment that often goes wrong...drugs are made to unbalance chemical compositions in a human body,a poison so to speak that sometimes has bad after effects or addiction problems...a crutch will always be just that,a crutch...if you want to be a part of any chemistry experiment,you must assume the risks involved and make a decision as to weather the risks are worth taking to solve another problem...I am sure that there are plenty of people who are treated to their satisfaction,but again,question if they are giving proper feedback on the drug to begin with,or only because the guy at the top of the payscale said to do so...I agree with asking a nurse who fights the battles from the frontline and not the general hiding behind his brass in a bunker miles away...I had very negative effects from the chemistry experiments every step of the way including an allergic reaction to tetanus shots...a living hell in the hands on mechanical world I live in as we get cut daily on the dirtiest and rustiest metal...I will be a tough sell on any purchase of possible poison...just my $.02

 

[Mira]

I don't have a sensitivity, I appear to be immune to most sleeping medications. I have always suffered from insomnia and my doctor ran out of prescriptions to try. None of them worked, even at high doses.