Good day! A recurring topic I read or I talk about with other autist and/or ADHD folks is the differential effect of medication (or drugs, mentioning just for precision and completeness), both in quantities (dosage) and quality (concrete effect).
for instance a lot of people take very small doses of Quetiapin (Seroquel) for sleeping in ammounts psychiatrists say "It can't even make a difference" (25mg per day, or even 1/4 of it). Off label of course, as Seroquel is usually an anti-psychotic medication, normal dosage starts at 400mg, or again off label as anti-depressive, at 150mg. Or some people take medikinet (ritalin) in sub-dosing - 1/4 or lower - quantities (usual min. dose 5mg). Effect seeked is the same, so not offlabel, but still interesting why this happens.
Do you have experiences to share (or gladly PM) or links I could learn more about this?
I would be also interested in effects on life-expectancy on taking these medications (or others you may mention) for decades.
I have no personal experience but I remember Temple Grandin talking about a very, very small dose of an antidepressant that was a huge help regarding her anxiety. She had been taking it for decades and said she couldn’t have coped without it.
@veroalgoz@actuallyautustic@actuallyautistic@actuallyadhd I was diagnosed as AuDHD a few years after my Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) diagnosis so I'm a little complicated, but generally I react strongly to very small doses of most medicines but there are a couple that I've needed much higher doses than average to get the same effect.
Up until I read this post I presumed it was due to ME, but you're absolutely right in that it could be ADHD or Autism (or a combination of everything) having the effect.
I can only tolerate 1.25mg Methylphenidate at a time, but I can occasionally take 5mg a day (4 x 1.5mg 2 hours apart) but due to ME I get significant PEM payback when I do.
I tried numerous antidepressants for ME and they all gave me horrid side-effects, and did very little to nothing at all for my symptoms regardless of the dose I took. I tried St John's Wort as a tea after this and it worked brilliantly for anxiety with zero side-effects.
I struggle with analgesia and purposefully take small doses irregularly so they keep working, but honestly really need large doses.
I take medicinal cannabis and my doctor is amazed at how little I take, but I don't like the "high" and take just enough to not get "high". I had used cannabis a handful of times prior to getting ME and actually required large doses to get high despite not being a regular consumer.
@veroalgoz@actuallyautustic@actuallyautistic@actuallyadhd
For me the sensitivity to meds is acquired, due to ME/CFS(which seems to be more common among autistic people and people with ADHD).
When I tried "speed" as a teenager, I needed a relatively large amount, but nowadays I only take 5mg of either MPH or Elvanse(currently Elvanse).
My easiest comparison is caffein, which still has the same effect and I just need way less now.