Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Medication For Autism AuDHD You Need To Hear This

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Medication For Autism AuDHD You Need To Hear This · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  I want to talk about like my autism and ADHD medication
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  journey and what it's like for me because I feel like a lot of
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  people there's there's like a divide, right?
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  You're either dedicated medication or you're really for
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  it. And then maybe some people in
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  the middle like, I have no idea. So hopefully this video gives
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  you some insight. I love your input.
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  Drop in a comment. Let's get on with it.
• 0:20
  Hey guys, what's going on? My name is Dan.
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  I have autism and ADHD and make weekly videos all about this
• 0:24
  stuff. So if you're on here and you
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  want to learn more about those things, make sure to hit
• 0:27
  subscribe button by clicking the notification bell.
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  You're awesome. OK, so I am an autistic ADHD or
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  audio HD person, which means I have autism needs and I have
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  ADHD needs. And both of those needs have
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  very specific things where like autism wants to make me hyper
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  focused, where I want to just, you know, sit down and do one
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  thing continuously, get really obsessed and just do that thing
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  until it's completion. And then the ADHD makes me want
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  to do that with 100 different things all at the same time.
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  And so it's really difficult to navigate all those things.
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  Now one of the things I will say is that there are mega struggles
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  and I'm going to list up the struggles of autism 1st and all
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  the sorts some of the struggles of ADHD.
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  Now with autism, some of my main struggles are things like
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  emotional regulation, understanding others, anxiety,
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  depression, stress from RSD, rejection sensitive dysphoria,
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  where I believe that somebody may be annoyed at me or angry,
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  or I've upset somebody or I've done something wrong just from
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  the get go. Now there's some of the things
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  in a nutshell that happen on a daily basis, daily life.
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  Now on the ADHD side, one of the main things is focus.
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  Sitting still to focus on one task, to complete that one task,
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  remembering to do something, not getting too overwhelmed when
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  there are many things to do because of Audi HD.
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  What will happen is like my kids will ask me something, then I've
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  got work thing and then I've got to phone someone.
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  And then I've also got to go to a meeting and I've was supposed
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  to go to an appointment and then I have to phone my doctor.
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  And all those things become chaos.
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  And ADHD people will like me, have many, many to do lists.
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  So many to do this. I don't have them in my desk
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  here, but like I have so many To Do List pads like just in my in
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  my drawer here. And, and this one's quite
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  fitting actually. It says my brain has too many
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  tabs open. But all of these just sit there
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  and I write lists on this and I never get them done.
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  Well, I didn't until, I don't know, explain why and how.
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  And that was like, holy crap. So I was always like this
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  massive battle of all these things going on.
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  And what this does is create a chaotic environment and chaos is
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  produced when we are not in control of the things that are
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  upon us. And I and I teach this in my
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  program. So I've got a program called the
• 2:45
  Bulletproof Brain, which is the Building a Bulletproof Brain in
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  Seven Days program. And a lot of people have taken
• 2:51
  this right now. It's an amazing program
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  actually. And you can buy it right now.
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  It's available right now. You can go to
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  www.bulletproofbrain.org/get and you can buy the full program
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  right now. It's available and it's on a
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  really low price at the moment because we're on the first stage
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  of it. But if you want to test the
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  waters and you want to know what it's like, you can actually
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  download the free confidence training, which is the first
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  module completely free. All you have to do is go to
• 3:15
  www.bulletproofbrain.org right now.
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  But if you are watching on Instagram, comment Brain and I
• 3:25
  will send you Adm with the link for the free first module.
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  Now in this training, I talk about how if you have no control
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  over a situation, what happens is something else or somebody
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  else has to have control over that situation.
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  But if you're part of the situation, that means somebody
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  else is in control of you or a situation is in control of you.
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  And when a situation is in control of you, you are out of
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  control. And out of control equals chaos.
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  And that's what it feels like. That's what autism and it's
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  integrity feels like. And it's like autism and ADHD
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  together is 2 times chaos. So how do we gain control of
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  those situations? What is it that?
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  What did we have to do to create an environment where it's less
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  chaotic and we're more in control?
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  Well, this is exactly what I was teaching in Bulletproof Brain.
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  If you are in medicated, there are ways and steps to do it, but
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  one of the ways in which I found in my life that helps is my
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  medication journey. I'm going to be completely
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  transparent with you. So I started off with your
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  typical antidepressants and they weren't helping because it was
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  helping with my not feeling like depressed, but it wasn't helping
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  with like emotional regulation, focusing, trying to remember to
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  do things by executive dysfunctioning, which is
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  basically where, you know, I have things to do like do the
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  laundry, do the dishes, make food, tidy the bed, sort the
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  house out, clean stuff, make sure my kids have got all the
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  things ready for school. All of those executive functions
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  becoming directive dysfunctions where everything's half done,
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  you know, And it's so interesting.
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  My girlfriend a bless her, she she's like this, Yeah.
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  I've trained myself to go around and close things afterwards, you
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  know, and put things away. But she kind of like the fridge
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  will be open, the salads out, the, the dishwasher's open, a
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  tap is on, you know, she doesn't know where her phone is.
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  And so this is typical because my girlfriend also is an ADHD
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  autistic person. So what do we do to gain
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  control? Well, first thing is we have to
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  assume the responsibility for the things that are good and
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  bad, right? So if we just assume
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  responsibility, OK, look, I dropped the ball, you know, I
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  didn't have a dentist appointment.
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  Now we're going to fine, but it's my fault.
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  I did it. Whatever.
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  Let's just let's get on there. I'll take responsibility.
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  When you take responsibility for something, when you assume the
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  responsibility for a situation, even if it's only partial
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  responsibility, you then also take on the control of it.
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  And so I was like, hey, I don't take any medication.
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  And I'm like, you know, my autism is out of control with my
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  ADHD and it's causing all this. And then I was putting all the
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  blame on the condition and then the condition was making me out
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  of control. Then I said, well, if I just
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  take on board that control, that position of saying, OK, well,
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  I'm in control of it, it's part of who I am, What do I do?
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  Why don't I test out meds? So I tested out, like I said,
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  test out antidepressants that didn't work.
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  Then I was changed to a different antidepressant which
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  was tested for, they use it for people with who used to have
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  the, the the term Asperger syndrome diagnosis, which is
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  what I had a diagnosis of which is autism spectrum disorder
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  level 1 or level 2. And it worked really well with
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  emotional regulation for autistic individuals, level 1
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  and level 2. And so I've been on that
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  medication since 2020 and it was fantastic.
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  It did help emotional regulation, but I still had
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  issues with my focusing and you know, my hyperactivity because
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  of the ADHD and then also the executive dysfunctioning that
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  comes along with this organization from the ADHD.
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  So then I trialled A stimulant medication and there are very
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  many different stimulants for ADHD and stimulants are really
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  interesting. You'd be like, why would you
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  give a stimulant medication to somebody who's already
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  hyperactive? Would not just be pouring petrol
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  on a fire. And in a, in a short answer, no,
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  absolutely the exact opposite. And here's a really simple
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  version of how it works. If your cup is constantly full,
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  you're constantly in action because you're highly
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  stimulated, highly motivated because you are an ADHD person
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  and you're hyperactive, right? And you're, so you're
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  hyperactivity levels are super, super high.
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  The only way we calm down as humans is our bodies release
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  serotonin, and serotonin is a happy hormone that also gets
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  released at night time when we know it's dark outside.
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  Our skin knows it's dark because there's no melatonin from the
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  sun. They're not getting any vitamin
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  D. So we know it's dark outside and
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  it starts to chill us out, which is what helps us relax and go to
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  sleep. But with ADHD people, the
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  stimulation in our body is so high that the serotonin doesn't
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  really suppress it at all. So when you take a stimulant,
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  what happens is it overfills the cup.
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  A stimulant comes in, yeah, we'll add more stimulant and you
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  have too much stimulant. And when you have too much
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  stimulant, then serotonin goes, whoa, we need to balance this
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  out completely. So rushes in and balances out
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  the serotonin and then it bounces out.
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  The the chemical is going to make you more chilled and
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  focused, but during wakeful hours, which is really
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  interesting. So wakefulness with added
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  serotonin equals focus and focus equals a lot of calm and that
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  gives you control and it gives you a bigger picture of staying
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  more in control and being in that moment.
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  Now, I've been using, I tested different ones.
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  I was those two or three different ones I tested where
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  I've stayed on one now, and I'm not going to give you the names
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  and specifically because I don't want to give out any false
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  information. So you are not false
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  information, but information that could lead you to saying,
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  Hey, my friend takes this, I'm going to, you know, asking for
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  one of the pills. No, no, don't ever do that.
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  You have to consult your doctor. This is not medical advice.
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  This is just personal lived experience advice.
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  And with this comes like there are so many issues that come
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  from having the wrong ADHD stimulant medication.
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  Like I know you know my partner that tried different ones, only
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  one works for her. I tried three of them all and
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  work for me. But the one that works the best
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  is the one-on-one now and then. You know, her eldest child, he
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  has ADHD also and he tried different ones and some of them
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  made him angry and aggressive or paranoid or depressed, but other
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  ones actually helped. So you have to find the right
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  one. You have to test it.
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  So my conclusion from all this was very simple, that the
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  medication can really help improve your condition, improve
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  your life if you have autism and ADHD, but you have to find the
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  right one. So I'm on an SNRI and I'm also
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  on a stimulant. So I take a stimulant more than
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  SNRI in the evening and both of those together actually give me
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  a focused kind of existence where I can do my work and stuff
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  and I can operate with my children and do all those
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  things. And that to me has been life
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  changing. Now before that you can do these
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  things, but for me personally, I needed, I needed something to
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  help because I had extra pressure added on in my life.
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  But the main thing that hits autistic individuals is
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  confidence. Without confidence, we have
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  nothing. We don't even have the
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  confidence to go to the doctors and say, hey, maybe I think I
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  would like to try this medication.
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  I don't have the confidence to be willing to even listen to
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  myself and my thoughts, to think, hey, maybe medication
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  would help. Now, I'm not advocating for
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  medic medication. I'm just saying that like, this
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  has helped me. It may not help you and it may
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  be something that you've done against, but you know, it's all
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  down to confidence and the confidence to say, no, I don't
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  want to try medication ever is also a good thing.
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  But a confidence is 8. So what I would say was this, if
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  you want to start and get in control of your life and if you
• 11:01
  want to lower the ADHD, just test out the bulletproof brain
• 11:05
  method that I've got. OK, I've used this 26 years.
• 11:08
  It was how I managed to grow, you know, to win awards, like I
• 11:11
  won award, like behind the shelf, behind me.
• 11:12
  It's just all awards, right? I won awards that went to MIT,
• 11:15
  graduated from MIT on a scholarship.
• 11:18
  I also have a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
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  All of these, you know, our international best selling book,
• 11:24
  you know, this wouldn't have been possible without me really
• 11:27
  building confidence from the ground up within for me.
• 11:30
  And so I want you to take the free one.
• 11:32
  Just take the free first module. And if you like it, then you can
• 11:35
  progress onto the the full program.
• 11:37
  It's not expensive. It's very, very affordable.
• 11:39
  But the free one is completely free.
• 11:41
  So just go to www.bulletproofbrain.org and
• 11:44
  download the free module. Try it.
• 11:46
  Let me know what you think I will leave all the links in the
• 11:49
  description down below and on here on a card.
• 11:51
  But in terms of medication, ADHD versus autism, where are you are
• 11:56
  you you take medication? Do you have anything you would
• 11:58
  like to share pop it in the comments because I read every
• 12:00
  single one, but also the community will benefit from us
• 12:03
  sharing everything so that's awesome and lastly, you are not
• 12:07
  leastly is there a word I don't know if you guys are interested?
• 12:11
  I do have a WhatsApp group for all followers and I'm in there,
• 12:13
  so you can just show the link down below, click in the
• 12:16
  WhatsApp group, join the WhatsApp group and it's a free
• 12:19
  organized chat with everybody who follows me.
• 12:23
  And there's loads of us in there from all over the world.
• 12:25
  And there's different like subsections.
• 12:27
  So you can go to like the UK or US or Asia or whatever or Canada
• 12:31
  and talk to people in your kind of more localized country area.
• 12:34
  So if you're interested in that, go check it out anyway, make
• 12:36
  sure to hit the subscribe button gives you don't like if you
• 12:38
  liked it, see you next time. Peace.