Aspies For Freedom

Ok, now before anyone begins flaming me hear me out. Usually I would not consider this, but I've thought about it in a different light today when someone brought it up..
    
     Someone I spoke to from wrong planet said he was drugged against his will to the point of being made NT (he could read social cues and what not). However, it was dangerous, because it stopped development and caused minor brain injury, his brain stem swelled up, and he said it made him high at first. He did not recommend it.
      Now, usually I'm against a cure ideology anyhow, BUT, if I can sacrifice my aspiesness for the movement, NT world is more likely to listen with an open mind to a NT than an aspie, as we're pretty much on the same level of acceptance as homosexuals (I'm not a homophoebe, just stating fact). Maybe I could become this bridge. The drugs used he said, were zyprexa and seroquel.
       On one hand I don't wanna give up half my identity, which means everything to me, but not as much as the cause.... but on the other hand it might could seriously help our cause. Or it could seriously hurt my ability to be taken seriously, seeing as I'm advocating against pro-cure and I would have "cured" myself. Plus the drugs could have dangerous side effects, though I doubt they could be too too dangerous because that dude seemed to be doing ok.... I might hate myself for taking those drugs though........ I'm confused about it.

Perhaps if you made this a poll, people could vote for or against the idea of taking such drugs. Just a suggestion.

I would vote no. Judging from what you have said, these drugs seem dangerous. I would not consider it worth it.

I once attended a IRL support group for parents of Autistics - since I am a parent of Autistics myself.

Well all they did is moan and groan about their lot in life and how difficult raising an Autistic child was. They had a totally negative view.

I felt because I was a parent, therefore with one foot in their camp, as well as being Autistic myself... one foot in the Autistic camp (so to speak)... that perhaps they would listen to me and start to look more positively regarding Autism.

It wouldn't work because I was merely one pro voice among many opposing voices. It was very frustrating and didn't accomplish anything however hard I tried.

Most Neuro-Typicals follow the crowd and not the individual (unless the individual is very charismatic and already has a following) - therefore to be a sole individual among many simply does not work.

It would be a tremendous risk to use dangerous drugs just to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness. You can be just as much the voice staying Autistic (not that there is a cure for Autism - one is never going to regain those lost developmental markers without a time machine). Indeed, as an Autistic, there are other Autistic voices with you.

So, I would vote no... regarding taking drugs to become more NT for such a purpose. It could kill you. Brain inflammation is bad news.

Useful links perhaps...

Zyprexa
http://www.drugs.com/zyprexa.html

Seroquel
http://www.drugs.com/seroquel.html

Neither of these drugs is listed as having uses combatting Developmental Disorders such as Autism - though this does not rule out the possibility that some Doctors might prescribe.

All seems to hark back to the bad old days when Autism was wrongly thought to be a Psychosis.

You wouldn't be heard any better because you seemed NT.

I'm NT, a parent, and my views basically only get an audience when I'm speaking to the choir.  I do post occassionally at a curebie site, to get other views out there, but when it comes to saying something they don't want to hear ... well, they don't hear it.

I think it would only do more bad than good... I mean there are no definate positives to it other than being able to get some nooky, but at what cost? I'm not sacrificing my identity and risking possible death.

I don't think they'll actually "cure" you. If they did "cure" people, then parents would be giving this drug combo to their autistic kids left and right.

Drugs may enable you to be more at ease in social situations, but I would be skeptical of anything being an actual cure. Has this guy been independently tested?

I had this quack psychiatrist give my Zyprexa because I made the big mistake of telling him about the family history of bipolar disorder. The ONLY symptom of that I had was depression! That psychiatrist was more of a drug dealer than anything, his appointments lasted just long enough for him to write up a new prescription. I couldn't deal with the zombie-like effect of that drug, so I told him I would not take that anymore. I'd actually missed some of my classes because I slept the entire day, not good if you're trying to finish college. I eventually went off the antidepressant and haven't had any for 4 years now. Because of that drug dealer, I'm extremely wary of any psychiatric drug now and will refuse to take them. Now, I prefer to use excercize and meditation to handle anxiety and minor depression, those work better than those drugs.

Yes, I too am wary of psychiatric drugs... when I was a child they had me on barbituates.

No, it won't listen to you.  It will point at you and tell itself "Look at how much those drugs IMPROVE him.  Let's make sure that all of those kind take those drugs, lots of them!"  If they won't accept and listen to us as we are, they won't listen to us drugged up to be able to slide in by their standards.  They'll just take it as "proof" that those drugs should be made mandatory.

Unfortunately, I would agree with this. If the drugs "cured" any of us, they would think that all of us should be drugged up. The only bright spot in all this is there is more and more awareness of autism in society and it will be a long process to be heard and our concerns acted upon.

Seroquel isn't prescribed anymore as strictly a anti-psychotic. It can also be prescribed in combinations with SSRIs, as a sleeping pill. So, assuming Zyprexa or Seroquel is prescribed with the anti-psychotic diagnoses in mind, could be a wrong assumption.

The pills I take don't really work too well but the doctor was just telling me to keep taking them so there mustn't be much else out there to help with panic attacks and depression.

Psychiatry is the only medial profession wherein lack of success is deemed sufficient grounds to maintain a treatment.

It also happens to be the case that psychiatric meds take time to work. 2 weeks is the shortest period of time for the brain to adjust to a new medication properly while the longest is 6 months.