Anyone else feels more stereotypically autistic while on stimulants?
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I’ve been struggling with whether to get an autism diagnosis or an adhd one (or to blow the money on therapy instead). I feel like I’m functioning less and less the older I get and sometimes wish a test trial of stimulants could tell me if I had ADHD.
Like if I functioned better on meds then I’d know I’m ADHD. I know it’s not a logical wish but I hate all the loopholes and money. I struggle to make medical appointments for anything that is immediately obvious like a wound or rash. Need to get a script ready in my head and hate advocating for myself or the kids to indifferent professionals.
I haven’t been formally diagnosed with autism but I definitely relate with this. My psychiatrist said it was quite likely that I was on the autistic spectrum but they don’t bother to diagnose people because there’s no real value in it, according to her
Edit: I disagree with the psychiatrist - I think an autism diagnosis definitely has value. From her perspective, there aren’t any additional treatment options available where I live (e.g. no medications, any therapy would be just as accessible without a diagnosis, etc.) and the diagnosis itself is a long, expensive process, so I can understand the reluctance, but obviously I feel like diagnosis would still be worthwhile.
there’s no real value in it
A formal thorough autism evaluation and diagnosis has been considerably helpful for me as now I can make sense of all of the difficulties I’ve had my entire life, and adjust so that I can make my life what I want it to be.
You might find the assessments at the following site helpful: https://embrace-autism.com/
Yeah, totally - I don’t agree that an autism diagnosis is useless at all, I was merely quoting what the psychiatrist said to me, though the way I wrote it was confusing. Thanks for the link, I’ll take a look
If you may suffer from discrimination, having an autism diagnosis is definitely useful for many contexts.
Agreed, definitely. Personally I’ve got a number of other diagnoses and neurological disorders so it’s not hugely important for me but for someone who is dealing with autism a diagnosis can be hugely helpful. I apologise for my lack of clarity in the original comment, I was quoting a psychiatrist, not sharing my own beliefs.
No problem, I just thought the nitpick was valuable. Have a good day.
I’m not formally diagnosed with autism either, but I strongly suspect it after copious amounts of research.
I love being lazy but in a fast way.
I definitely get much more in my head and overthinking everything that I say when I take meds. Which makes socializing much less fun. On the other hand when I don’t take them I am more likely to blurt out the first thing I think which can also be bad.
It’s fun that I meet certain people almost only in certain environments (like uni), so they normally see me on meds—and it’s disorienting when “I’m acting weird”.
This meme better take that right back! I’m waiting on my both diagnosis and … nah, it’s fine.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that. It’s cool, life is cool, yup. 8-)
I experience less anxiety pressuring me to create conversations. The result is that I more confidently refrain from participation.
I don’t consider this making me more autistic, but rather helping me to mask less / accept what I really want more.
Yes!!!
Me when ADHD meds make me hyperfocus more intensely and efficiently
Treating my ADHD definitely helped me so much but not in the ways I was expecting and it definitely allowed for my suppressed autism traits to become more apparent.
They definitely make my social anxiety and depression worse.
They honestly took away depression and anxiety for me, and I also lost any lingering desire to interact with humans IRL
