Latest / The Autistic Mile / Straitjacket or Safety Net? The Medication Dilemma
Transcript
- Jim Gaffney: Welcome to the Autistic Mile. I'm your host, Jim Gaffney. Once again, I'm joined by my son and co-host Shane Gaffney. How are you doing today, Shane? Shane: I'm doing pretty good. You? Jim Gaffney: I'm doing okay. Having having a better day today. It's nice fall weather having, everything's everything's looking up today. So how's how's everything on your end? Shane: It's going pretty well. The cooler weathers are setting in and that's good because I'm not really a fan of the heat and we're also getting closer to my eventual Halloween special, which obviously I'll be posting on Halloween, so that's nice. Jim Gaffney: Okay, good. today we're gonna t touch on a couple of subjects. we're gonna start off we're gonna talk a little bit about you know, although although the podcast technically started in June, the concept of the autistic mile dates back to January of this year. so we've been at this a little while now from the planning stage and through to to the launch of the podcast and we're we're doing some other things. and it in my and from what I've seen over the the past months, you know, for for people that have been following us, you're the first employee of Autistic Mile Productions. it's been apparent to me a lot of the growth that you've made and some of the the the self esteem and some of the positive side effects that that come along with that. why don't you tell me a little bit about what you're currently working on and you know, your own experience at Autistic Mile Productions doing the podcast and doing your idealist shows as well. Shane: Well, right now I'm actually working on p an episode that is two episodes ahead of the one that I'll be posting tomorrow because I like to get ahead of the game. I like to make sure I have wiggle room in case things go wrong. And the episode Jim Gaffney: Gotcha. Shane: I'm working on now is actually one about a character who has social anxiety, so ironically that fits in pretty well with what we'll be talking about today to some degree. And regarding how the series as a whole has affected me, I would say that it's been very nice to have an outlet to express my thoughts and perspectives on different things. Because oftentimes you find yourself in situations where you have all these thoughts swirling around in your head and they just have nowhere to go because sometimes it can be difficult to bring it up in person to person conversation when you feel the other person may not be starting off necessarily from the inside knowledge that you possess, so it can be a bit awkward to really work around that. But through this series it allows me to really let people see into my headspace in a way that they can inherently understand and in a way that feels Mm expressive for me. Jim Gaffney: Yeah, well it probably feels more natural to you. I think you and I are similar in the fact that and I've noticed this over time, you and I sometimes prefer written communication over over oral communication. you know, there's times where I prefer to send an email or a text because there's there's more detail that I can put in there. I may be able to word it such a way. where as w in an oral conversation where you're talking about it, things may not come out the way the way we want. We may not by by putting in writing, we can give more thought to it and we can prepare that and and make sure it comes out the way we want. where when you're speaking to somebody, you can keep talking and you can change things around. But I think the written form of communication for you and I is something that we prefer sometimes 'cause we can take our time and get it right and not feel like we have to get it perfect the first time out. Shane: Definitely. I would say that I prefer text over talking because there are a lot of different advantages to it. You can usually fig like look at what you're saying as you're typing it out and if something doesn't feel right you could just adjust it. Or sometimes even after you send a message you can adjust it afterwards to make sure everything comes across the way you intend it to. And Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: in terms of being on the one the one on the receiving end, you can often look through it again if you didn't get certain details the first time, so that's often very Jim Gaffney: Right, right. Shane: useful for when you need to recall specific details. Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: And generally it feels less accusatory for lack of a better word, than face to face conversation because, well, there isn't a person there watching what you're doing and saying with a fine tooth comb. That's that's how it can often feel like, even when there's that's not really the mood of the situation. Jim Gaffney: Right. Well I think one thing is one thing I continue to work on, I think it's something you can work on is you know, don't worry about getting it perfect. When you're having an oral conversation with somebody, you know, we can't always have written communication with people. Sometimes I do it more for the again to allow me to collect my thoughts if I'm trying to put a lot of information together. it's not always the necessarily th the pre the way I'm gonna present it. so oral communication is still a skill that we need to work on. So don't just don't get caught in the in the trap that, you know, replace all communication with written communication. you know, still need to practice that and and understand that you're always gonna get better at it. and that nobody's expecting you to be perfect. so I think being more comfortable in your own skin, i is a good place to start, you know, just having the confidence, you know, you're not you're not gonna get it perfect. It's not it's gonna come out. It's you're you are who you are. And that's it shouldn't come out any different than that. So, those would that would be my my my words of wisdom on on that, on that subject s specifically. so so you know, you've been you've been working we've been we haven't been doing as many of our our joint podcasts recently. We've had some scheduling issues, work's been busy, so you've been you've been tearing it up with the idealists. You're yeah, I mean you've been cranking out one week, although you're recording more than that. so so you're putting me to shame. So I'm here to get things back on track today and hopefully we can I can start keeping pace with you. but I can tell that you're enjoying it and it's good for me. I as a parent, a and a as a as your employer ultimately, I do like to see that. I like to see the enthusiasm and I I can see that. You're you're preparing, you know, you're always thinking ahead and that's that those are all good things. so tell me a little bit about your how you go about preparing for an episode or or you know what your from from the idea in your head to putting it to paper or or writing it down so in some form to to actually producing your podcast. Tell me a little bit about your process. Shane: Alright, well, it starts with me simply finding a character that I'm particularly passionate about or that I find relatable in some way. Sometimes it's not a character, sometimes it's a series as a whole, like the Backwards House. But Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: usually I start with that point of relatability, and from there I I just build the entire episode around that. I make a thumbnail that s taps into like Some important scenery or set pieces that relate to that character or that otherwise Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: fit their aesthetic. And I also try to use music that seems to fit the game or media or whatever they're from, or otherwise fit them as a person. And with the images that I make for that, usually I try to make images that are funny because that hel it helps keep people's attention and it helps break up the monotony otherwise of what I'm saying. So it really helps keep engagement and helps to add a bit of colour to the stuff I'm talking about. Jim Gaffney: Yeah. No, that's good 'cause it's it's meant to be entertaining. So you want it to be engaging. you may be talking about something serious, but you can add other elements to it. you know, whether it's humor, you know, or or s or some other element. so, you know, you can kind of shape it. and I really I know you really enjoy doing the images. I know that's is that your favorite part? what's what's if you out of the p out of the parts, you know, from beginning to end. what is what is your favorite and what's something that you might have that you might struggle with a little bit? Shane: My favorite is definitely making the thumbnails because you can really flex your creative muscles in how you make it. There's always the eye symbol that I add in the center of it, but I can always change everything else so that it looks more appropriate to the person I'm talking about and gives a general idea of what they're like or what their environment may appear to be. And in terms of what's I have most to struggle with, it would probably be I would say probably just the middle portion of production where I add in images t just you to break up everything and Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: add a bit of flavor to the otherwise tedious appearance of just watching me talk at the camera for several minutes. Like Jim Gaffney: Right, right. Shane: sometimes it can be a bit exhausting after a bit to keep trying to think of all these different images, sending them over and making sure they take up just the right amount of screen space. It's nothing that's unbearable. It's Jim Gaffney: Mm-hmm. Shane: just something that I just have to go through every time I make an episode and that's something that I accept. Jim Gaffney: Okay. I can give you some pointers too to help you out in that direction. So, you know, you've been running on your own, you've been doing a very good job. but if you're open to some input, you know, I'd I'd be glad to share some ideas with you on on how to make that an easier process. So So I think I think most people don't realize you think podcasts, okay, you're gonna sit down and talk for thirty minutes and that's that. there's a lot more that goes into it. You know, there's a lot of thought, there's a lot of research, depending on what we're talking about. you got the recording, the editing, the you know, the post production work and again, you wanna you wanna you wanna to put the a good product out. So you know, you're you're changing things, you're massaging it, and you're trying to get the best version that you can. So it's it's more time consuming than most people realize, to from beginning to end. It's not just sit down, record thirty minutes, throw it on YouTube and you're done. it's there's more to it than that. So and that's I think if maybe people don't realize the amount of work that goes into it. so let's switch gears for a minute. So you know on on on a solo episode I recorded we started talking about we started about talking about medication. and medication for for people on the spectrum, the mo the two most common types of medication fall into the categories of stimulants and an antidepressants. and I have some experience with with medication. You know, I w growing up I didn't take any any medication f I didn't know to t I didn't I wasn't diagnosed until later in life. So you know, there was there for me there was nothing to take. so but, you know, several years ago I started I've always had sleep issues, so I started taking medication for to help me sleep. and then you know most autistic adults deal with some kind of if not n not always depression but anxiety is more more what I would categorize is probably the the prevalent characteristic that people are gonna feel more and that you know with anxiety anxiety can lead to depression but those are really probably the two most common categories. and for treatment of those, you have stimulants, and you have antidepressants. so and they're really designed to function differently. you know, the stimulant is is exactly what it implies. it's it's meant to to act as a stimulant. And a lot of times even if you have even if you're taking a stimulant and you feel if you if you have depression, even though a stimulant is is not necessarily used to treat depression, it can actually it can actually make you feel better about yourself. It can I don't want to use you use the word euphoria, but it can it can make you feel more positive and if you're depressed, that could actually help as well. for for stimulants, some of the more commonly used stimulants are Adderall, Ritalin, and then for antidepressants, Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, and Wellbutrin. attention, impulse, and control. so that's really what the what the stimulants are designed to to help functions. for antidepressants it's more depression and anxiety d disorders. but again if you have depression and you're taking a stimulant, that stimulant could make you feel better to the point where you're maybe not as depressed. So it's not necessarily there there's not a straight line that's drawn there that that a stimulant is necessary used as an antidepressant, because they fall into different categories. but they're meant to par target different different chemicals, different brain chemicals. So your your stimulants are are meant to to address primarily dopamine, and then your for antidepressants, although depends on the medication, you know s serotonin, and dopamine. so they're they're used differently the as far as the chemical balance goes. and sometimes for for stimulants they can work somewhere anywhere between thirty and sixty minutes. and then where antidepressants you really usually have to usually have to take them over a course of weeks for those to start for you start feeling the actual two true effects to those. so but again a stimulant is just what it implies. It stimulates you. It's and again it can make you I don't want to again, maybe the word euphoric is the right word. you know, it can it can make you feel better, you know, give a more positive outlook. You may be more productive. and maybe depending on what you're depressed about, that maybe that can help you with your depression. so when we when we do our research, when we talk about things like this, and again, you know, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on T V. So we're not giving any we're not dispensing medical advice here. We're just talking about some of our personal history, and also how that these medications are used to to treat certain certain disorders. So For psychiatric medication, there the statistics that I came across are saying that for autistic adults about roughly almost fifty-five percent of autistic adults use some kind of psychiatric medication. and that's that's in in contrast to eighteen percent for neurotypical people. So that's that's thirty six that's over thirty six percent difference between autistic people and neurot neurotypical individuals for the use of psychiatric medication. So that is a that is a real eye opener. I s I expect it to to to be high. I didn't I didn't know it was I didn't expect it to be that high. and again these are these are just numbers based on studies, but That's a a pretty pretty eye opening statistic. what are your thoughts? 'Cause let me you know, tell me a little bit about you know, about your perspective on on medication. Shane: It definitely helps a lot for a lot of people. And sometimes for some people there can be this stigma that they feel towards themselves that if they take medication it must mean that they're lesser or that they're weaker than other people. And it's it's not really like that. It's more If you were to receive a physical injury, say a broken leg, no one would tell you to just walk it off because that's just not how it works. And Troubles of the mind are similar to that. It's just that it's not as easy to see. It's not something you can just point to and everyone immediately understands the situation. It's something that you more have to get professional feedback on, and from there you could take steps to actually address it. Jim Gaffney: Right. Well nobody I think people associate medication with weakness. you know, if you if you have the flu or or if you have, you know, go to get a flu shot, you know, you're you're you're getting medication to to keep yourself from getting ill or to address an illness, a physical illness. So mental illness, you know, psychiatric some kind of psychiatric illness, is things there's a stigma. people are less less likely to want to admit that they need that medication. and I think for a long time I maybe I felt like that or or initially I did. And maybe some days I still do. Nobody wants to admit that they may need medication to get through a day or deal with certain situations. so it's the it's kind of the tough guy mentality that you don't take it because again, because of the stigma, because you think you it's something you should be able to overcome on your own. but that's that doesn't always work out so well. I think you know, if if if you have a condition and you and you there's a valid need for that medication to address certain symptoms, I think it's that's something that you should speak about with your doctor. at least explore it, even if you decide not to take it, at least understand what avenues are open to you. what's your what's your thought on that? Shane: I would definitely agree. It's always wise to at least speak up about it and that way at least you're in a position where you have the necessary information to make an educated call one way or the other. Jim Gaffney: Yeah. talking with medical professional, it's not always as difficult as people think. You know, it's you know, some sometimes you may be pla sit ha sit down and have a conversation with your primary doctor and they may be willing and able to prescribe you medication. some some primary care physicians they may want you to see a psychiatrist or a a mental health professional. So depending on who your doctor is, they may they may request that you they may refer you to somebody else. So for myself, my primary physician prescribes my medication. It's a much easier process. She's familiar with me. I've known her for twenty years and it it just makes it a lot easier process. you know if I were to have to go to see a psychiatrist to do that it would be a more cumbersome process. Especially because just because because of the aut because of autism, it's not you're not working through something. You know, it's not you're you know, if if you go see a psychiatrist, it may imply that you're gonna go see them for a certain amount of time and you're gonna work through issues and then, you know, when you discharge everything will be fine. w with autistic people, autistic adults, that'll never be the case. We're always gonna be autistic. So Whatever that underlying condition is, whatever is causing that, it's not likely that a psychiatrist is gonna be able to to to treat you to the point where you don't need medication. you know, they may help better understand it. but the reason you went to see them in the first place i is you know, if you go to see them for six weeks or six months or six years, it's probably gonna be the same no matter what. so it's not something you need to work through. It's not something you can work through. You have autism. y you get better at it, but it's not gonna go away. When and looking at stimulant medication as well, and this was just looking at stimulants just by themselves, the statistics showing that autistic adults use that at a rate about twelve percent, where non autistic adults it's about five percent. So it's more than double for autistic adults for stimulant medication. so and that also shows that it's a little lopsided 'cause it shows that more out of that larger percentage that I quoted earlier, more people are taking antidepressants than they are stimulants, which means they're they're probably be they're most likely being treated for some type of depression, anxiety and depression so again, those numbers you know even when you see them in separate in separate studies, they they support one another. so it's an important it's an important topic, you know, because especially with adults because adults are more are less likely to seek out medication. Sometimes we like I said, we get the tough person, you know, we don't we don't want to take medication if we don't have to. It's you know, and I can testify to the fact that medication under the right circumstances, given given symptoms that you're having, you know, they definitely it's definitely beneficial. and I think once you get past the point where you say, okay, that's, you know, I don't I don't have to feel embarrassed about this. I don't have to feel shame about this. This it's nothing that that should warrant either of those. this is something that I need to help me function, help me deal with a certain reality in my life. and that's that's all there really is to it. Tell me your thoughts on that. Thoughts. Shane: Yeah, it's definitely a good thing to have options like this to help mediate these issues that otherwise might hold us back from reaching our full potential or getting by day to day. I will say it's not necessarily a perfect solution. Like it with everything, there is always some Pros and cons. With medication, even if it's recommended by a doctor, it's not necessarily bound to be perfect on the first try because it's always sort of trial and error to find the right fit. And even then, there are sometimes complications, like some people might feel amazing after using a certain medication for a long enough time and they decide, well, I'm feeling good enough now, maybe I'm fine to stop using this, and that's not something you should try to do unless you consult with your doctor first before doing it, because if you think that you're ready to stop using it, and you do, but you're actually not, then it can result in a sort of withdrawal where you end up feeling even worse than when you started. So there's that to consider. Jim Gaffney: Yeah. Well I can testify to that because I had no I had a a little drought of my own where my medication ran out and it was my own fault that I didn't get get my doctor my the vitals that she requested and then we ran into a stocking issue for the medication I take. So long story short, I went the better part of a week without taking my my daily medication that I helped. help me helps regulate me and helps me helps helps me get through the day. and I can tell you that that week and I I really I may go a day here, a day there. I haven't gone that long without my medication in a long time and I I really paid for it. I really felt the I really felt the the the difference without that medication this time around It was it was noticeable and it was I was able to get through, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. It was everything was more more stressful. and it just I it was noticeable difference. usually after a day or you may not notice it, but it was for me it was very noticeable this time. although it was my fault. It was again just highlighting the importance, you know, I've I've been taking this medication for several years. And you think, yeah, I can skip a day here or there. It's it's that's that's something you should really try to avoid if you're on if you're on prescribed medication, try to stick to the r try to stick to your to your prescription plan because you know, one day one day isn't too bad, but one, you know, when you start multiplying them out, you know, and things can snowball pretty quickly and I didn't have any major issues this time, but I can tell you I struggled. It was a week of it was a week I'd rather not repeat. So that's that's that's my perspective on that and it shows the importance of it. so How about I don't think you've had a instance where you've run out of yours, recently, right? Have you hadn't have you had that happen? Shane: no, not to my knowledge. Jim Gaffney: Okay. yeah, I wouldn't suggest having you know, try to keep that from happening at all costs if you can. so it's once you get that once you find that balance, and you get thrown off when you get thrown off balance without having it, it's it's problematic. so That's it. I think we we again, we're not doctors. We don't play one we don't play doctors on TV, but we do have ex some experience as autistic adults with our own medication and we understand the importance of it. and also the importance of understanding that it's okay to need it. you know, it's you don't feel that way when you're at the pharmacy and there's, you know, two hundred people in line in front of you, feel like, my god, it's Everybody's taking something these days. you kind of feel that's where I think a little of the guilt comes in, for me. But for me and I need it and that's it's something that helps helps me function. and that's better than the alternative. Nobody really wants to struggle going through it. and but getting switching gears back to where we were originally. I'm glad to see that that you're enjoying what you're doing with the podcast and autistic mild productions. Again, you're you're the first employee of what we hope will be many one day. and you know you I've said it before you're kind of patient zero. You're the you're the model for Autistic Mile Productions to providing a meaningful and meaningful employment for autistic adults not just settling for whatever you can find or whatever work somebody doesn't want to do. the work you're doing here is important. You're doing a great job. And it's good to see good to see you blossoming in in that role. I I can tell that you're you're enjoying it and it's good to see and it shows in other aspects of your life. I can see self like I said, boost of self confidence and you know it's just what you're doing and and the effects it's having on you are are are ex exponential. you have any final thoughts on that before we sign off? Shane: not that I can think of. Jim Gaffney: Okay. All right. Well it was good it was a good not not as long as some of our other shows, but it was a good good conversation today. I'm glad hopefully we'll get back on track. We're we're working to line up some other guests. it's like I said, it we had some scheduling issues with a few guests and we went through a little drought there, so but we should be back on a more more reliable schedule from this point forward. And we'll keep keep working on some some different content for our listeners and hopefully for the for those in our audience who aren't aware, if you go to our website, autisticmile dot com, we do offer professional services as well. we do we do some coding, some professional services for for Google for And we also do ABA consulting for ABA therapy as far as billing goes. not from not from a clinical perspective, from a billing perspective. also if you visit the Mile Marketplace, we have that's that's where we have all our goodies. So you can find our music there. the s the songs from the autistic mile, you can find the books, Some of them are are of our own and we also have books from from prior Guests and those that we recommend. and we also have we also have our apparel there. We have Autistic Mile apparel store. so we've got some good designs there. some things you won't find somewhere else. and again, the any any revenue we make from from sales of merchandise or from licensing of music or professional services, all goes back into Autistic Mile Productions, so that we can work toward our our goal of employing and training more autistic adults, not just Shane. We want Shane to have some company in what he's doing so we can so we can get those meaningful employment for autistic adults doing something that they're really they were born to do. so I I really feel that way, 'cause because of the types of minds that they have and the attention to details. So if you want to support us, those are good ways to do it. We also, even though we're a for profit company, we are for profit. we do have a donation page. So if you like what we do here and you want to give us a little assistance in our in our mission to employ and train autistic adults, you can you can make a donation on our webpage as well. so we have a little bit of everything there. So you know as we said before as we talked about it takes takes a little bit of energy and and time to to do our podcast and do some of the other work we do. So but it's it's not without meeting. So we want to continue that and and we look forward to expanding in the future hopefully as we as we're as we're working toward ending our first year in two thousand twenty six. So Shane, it's been a pleasure so far. I'm glad to be by back on track and be back in the studio recording another dual session with you. So you wanna say anything to our listeners before we head out? Shane: I would definitely say that sometimes with medication it takes say a few days or weeks before its effects fully kick in. And so you can often have doubts when trying it out if it'll actually work or make any meaningful difference. But it's always a good idea to stick with it and just try and give it a chance. And if things don't pan out the way you b hoped they would. Then at least you can talk to your doctor and try something different. Jim Gaffney: Agreed. Yep. Yep. Always always talk with your physician or your referring your referring doctor. they'll be able to give you the proper guidance and not every medication is for every person. So it may take you a couple of tries to find that right fit for you, but just 'cause one doesn't work, if one works and that's fine, good. If if first one doesn't work out, you know, speak with your doctor and and see if there are other alternatives, 'cause there's help out there. If you need it, make sure you get it. All right, that's gonna wrap it up for us on the Autistic Mile today. Appreciate you guys hanging with us. and we'll see you next time on the Autistic Mile. Take care everyone.