Fluffy

I used to be violent too. I attacked what I did not fear. My advice is to have an older male adult threaten/scare him into not causing trouble. It's important that your son doesn't realise that you've instigated this threat and he still trusts you. When he comes to you to explain what happened you side with him then after a day tell him that the adult male won't hurt him. He will be on edge and won't mess about. I realise this isn't plitically correct advice and no psychiatrist would recommended an agressive approach like this but I can tell you from experience that it should work in reducing the violent behaviour.

From what you've written you probably have Autism.

I'm genuinely surprised at the lack of responses.

I have ipad and it's great but I dislike the way Apple does business. It locks everything down and milks money out of everything. There are a lot of good free apps on android than ios. The implementation of the software for the tablet is best for an Ipad no doubt about it. So those apps you mentioned I think are better on the ipad, however there is no support for flash games on ipad and the work around isn't as good as android. Hardware wise the ipad mini retina easily trumps the nexus.

Some of the names being thrown around I struggle to believe had ASD. Winston Chruchill did not have ASD

Anyone try Propranolol? How easy was it to get from the NHS? Did it reduce anxiety long term and did it improve working memory?

How do strategies to overcome traumatic life experiences differ for aspies over NT's? Any aspies like to share what worked for them? I have not gone down the route of traditional medication yet and am trying alternative methods first, such as the following: Meditation (Mantra and mindfullness) Exercise (Long walks mostly) Food (Raw healthy food in a vitamix - difficult to maintain I must admit) Has anyone tried psychodelics (e.g. psilocybin mushrooms; DMT (Ayahuasca)) to treat the symptoms? What was your experience and how did it affect you afterwards? Right now I'm considering trying Ayahuasca (going to Peru) and Oxytocin but would like to see if anyone has tried them and what their experience was?

Just an update. I quit my job.

Thanks to all who responded – the posts are great. You made some good points Lancslad, especially the following quotes "make sure you find a replacement strategy in supporting your self esteem" & "I think you need to understand yourself well and what makes you tick and ensure you can cope in any new environment". My self esteem is very low. I feel like I’m just existing and not living – by that I mean I’m not doing anything fulfilling in life that gives me a sense of purpose and joy. My life is waking up in the morning to go to an emotionally unrewarding and depressing job, sitting in front of a computer screen for >4 hours and going to meetings, then coming home, eating a microwave meal then staring in front of a computer screen doing random things until I go to sleep. The cycle is repeated every weekday. I don’t know what my future strategy will be but the first step is to get away from all the vampires in my life that are sucking all my energy and keeping my self esteem so low. This means quitting my job. I think I have enough in the bank to give me time to find that strategy. I might do something physical and similar to Lancslad, especially as it would improve my health. I am also interested in meditation and taking it up seriously. I also have an interest in finance and trading. Some of you have said that I should consider staying at my job but believe me it’s not worth it. My depression has been so bad while working here that I’ve often thought about suicide. There are also no adjustments they could make to my job that would work for them – it’s just the nature of the work I do. I do want to make friends but I always seem to eventually rub people the wrong way. This includes people outside work. I am great at making enemies. There are so many people in my life who truly dislike me, including close family. It’s difficult to be hopeful and positive when you are so conscious of your innate flaws but I must try. I would like to confirm that I don’t have an official diagnosis for anything but psoriasis. I’m reconsidering getting a diagnosis for depression and ADHD, but the reason I haven’t already is because I’m not keen on the psychiatric drugs because of the negative impact they have had on members of my family. I’ve debated the issue of getting a diagnosis for Autism on this forum before and my conclusion is I don’t see the benefits of getting it in my case.

Procrastination got the better of me. I will try again.

I have high functioning autism and presently work in a well-paid engineering/construction job where I am really struggling with office politics. My whole team disrespects me because of my poor social skills and I’m feeling incredibly depressed because of this and feel I have no choice but to resign. I am also seriously considering giving up my career because I know I could take up a similar job but will sure enough experience the same abuse and again be forced to resign. I wonder if there are others on the spectrum here who decided to give up their career and how they feel about things now? I know whatever I do it’s not going to pay as much as my current job, where I earn about £60k/yr. I’m thinking about jobs that don’t rely so much on social skills, such as a cab/train/lorry driver or even home based online work, which would be ideal. I'm even considering online trading. I realise it might seem like a big step backwards but the money doesn’t compensate for the depression. I have been suffering depression for a long time and it has progressively gotten worse the last 4 years I’ve been with the company. My depression was bad even before at my previous jobs and when at University and school where I was bullied. I was also treated horribly by my family who I now live apart from. I have no friends. I am feeling depressed about what the future holds, but it must be better than how I feel right now. If things don’t work out job wise, plan B is to move to another country where living costs aren’t so high and spend my savings of which I have close to £80k. I could probably survive on that for 7 years and live OK. I don’t spend much and I have no plans to get married and have children. The other thing I’m factoring into my decision making process is that I’m not sure I’m going to live long. My family has a history of heart problems and I’m experiencing problems now and I’m not even 30. On top of that I also have ADHD-PI and severe psoriasis (on my face and all my body).

There is a computer based memory task called "dual n-back" that has been found to improve working memory. Several studies have been published showning that test subjects improved their working memory after doing the task for 25min a day for a few weeks. For more info see here and download the free program http://brainworkshop.sourceforge.net/ This is actually old news but I was surprised to find no reference to this on this forum, especially when this game could have potentially big benefits for people with short term memory problems, like many on the autism spectrum. I will be doing this task for the next few weeks and report back on my improvements, if any. Right now I'm struggling with "3-back" and in particular the auditory aspect.

To those who want to investigate this further check out the science paper here. Mumble, I also wondered about the testing method, however the linked report does justify the method very well. The science is sound and very promising imo.

You are right about the detox bit, but my plan is to slowly take up the diet, gradually substituting raw foods for the ###### that I'm currently eating. I don't intend to eat raw meat, I just mentioned it as some people do and the diet isn't exclusively for vegans. I also have severe psoriasis and know that this diet and similar ones have helped reduce psoriasis in others.

Check out this link. I wonder if the same technique can be applied to improve social skills, especially given this recent research? Hopefully some uni's will get sufficient funding to research if there are any benefits to people on the spectrum.

I'm probably lacking vitamins on my "normal diet" heh. I'm not a vegan and you don't have to be one if on a raw diet. People who are on raw diets have ways to compensate for any deficiencies in the diet. I feel that you can't go wrong with a diet involving just pure fruit and veg....and some meat - if anything it's the "normal" diet which humans devolved from.

KezT, Actually, there are many cases where immuno-suppressants (the ones mentioned above) have been shown to have an adverse neurological effect. See here and here. These treatments are continually being researched - who knows maybe 10yrs from now they'll discover another serious side-effect. I've noticed that there are more than a few people on the alternative forum with severe psoriasis who have seen improvements. There are a few before and after pics which I've seen and give me hope. My alternative approach will be to go on a raw food diet and committing to it for several months; if there is no improvement to my psoriasis I may reconsider the traditional treatments. I don't have an ASD doctor....and, besides, what could an "ASD specialist" object to given that science knows very little about autism and what aggravates core symptoms?

I'm giving serious thought to starting a "raw food" diet. Anyone here, particularly with autism like myself, doing this diet? If so I would love to know your thoughts on the diet. I'm also after some advice on what the best resources are for a newbie? Recommend a book? Thanks

KezT, I've been on that Psoriasis forum in the past and it is helpful. My biggest fear is using one of these immuno-suppresant drugs and then my autism symptoms get worse. I've been researching these drugs like mad and so far I think the risks outweigh the reward, despite my severe psoriasis. I'm inclined towards alternative treatments, like those suggested in the psoriasis-help alternative forum. I had a brief attempt at BJ's vit d treatment without much luck. I'm thinking seriously about doing a "raw food" diet.

After a recent check up with my dermatologist I was advised to choose one of the following recommended treatments: 1. cyclosporine 2. methotrexate 3. Acitretin (trade name Neotigason) Anyone here try any one of these treatments? What were your experiences? Particularly interested to know if you have autism and experienced any serious side effects. Right now I'm not sure if I want to go ahead... Thanks

Hi Daniels-mum, I know of Ciclosporin and other immunosuppressants. I'm eligible for these costly treatments from the NHS but unwilling to taken them up because of the side effects, which unlike other treatments are more likely to occur and more severe. Given that I have autism it makes me even more worried that I'm taking a drug that is essentially weakening my immune system. DM - have you experienced any bad side effects? has it had any affect on your social skills/personality?

Hello Caroline, I'm aware that for some people that diet and restricting certain foods can reduce symptoms, unfortunately I don't think I'm one of them. I tried the popular 'Pagano' diet. This diet is very food restrictive, promoting alkaline foods and blaming acidic foods such as those you've mentioned. It didn't work but I'm willing to try a diet approach again, but not Pagano. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for others when it comes to psoriasis, as we all know. But I suspect there's a common cause and cure/treatment for those of us on the spectrum.

I have autism and severe plaque psoriasis and don't dismiss a possible connection between the two conditions, especially given that both have been widely linked to abnormalities in the immune system by scientists. So it would be interesting to know if you or anyone you know have psoriasis and autism and have found medication that has significantly lessened the psoriasis long-term? I'm also keen to hear from adults & adolescents on the autism spectrum about how you cope with the psoriasis. I've had psoriasis as long as I can remember and tried numerous treatments, including UV light and various steroid creams, with little or just temporal positive results. The medication side effects, lack of long-term improvement and lack of progress in medication has just made me unhopeful anything will ever work and so haven't tried anything prescribed by a GP for a long time. My psoriasis has worsened with time and it now covers all my body, including my face, clearly visible to anyone. It can be a very emotionally debilitating condition, but I think my autism actually helps in this respect because I'm able to ignore it and don't expose myself to the same social pressures an NT probably experiences. Though I am suffering from depression and insomnia and have been for a long time, typically because of my poor social skills - I wonder if this is aggravating the psoriasis? Are you in a similar situation?

Until very recently I was still using IE6 at work.

I agree with you 100%. My employer is a multi-national company and to be fair does look after it's employees. It's not really about the company though, because a person with autism can hop to one company and another and will experience the same isolation, anxiety and depression. Yes it's hard for everyone, but much harder for people on spectrum.