clairebear2k6

last night son's behaviour brought us to breaking point. i feel i am just going round in circles saying don't do this, don't do that, go to your room. i honestly think sometimes he is incapable of learning. can't believe i just said that. of course he isn't - that's autism right? i don't know. some days i wonder if i know the first thing about autism. i don't seem to know the first thing about what goes on in son's brain. sounds horrible to say - but maybe not much goes on in his brain. oh dear. sorry. very very bad day today, sniff x

i'm kinds tired after a long harrowing day with my own son who i am trying to get a diagnosis so i will be brief lol. it sounds like your concerns are valid. very very valid. go get some assessments and stand your ground too, cos nobody knows him better than you do, and much of his behaviour does sounds aspergersish. good luck x

hey fourth to answer your question, i think depression can be as individual as something like ASD. how a lack of serotonin might express itself in me might be completely different to how it expresses in you or another. my experience was that i had mood swings, sometimes rapidly changing (as in cyclothymia) sometimes longer periods between, typically with the depressive episode being much much longer than the manic ones ever were. sometimes i think about chemistry and all the millions of substances that float around our brains and bodies, and how the levels of one influence the levels of others - how some cannot be made without others being present and so on. the fact is that explaining depression as solely the result of too little serotonin is likely to only simplify and unexplain what must be a very complex disease/condition. i'm sure that me taking my meds has changed more than just my serotonin levels. so many other things like reaction to food sensitivity (couldn't tolerate wheat or dairy well before, but can now) hormonal changes like cycle regularity ? PMT symptoms, how I used to get the shakes for no reason but never do now. this is all tied together. even psychosis isn't directly linked to serotonin, but not once have i bee psychotic since on the meds. it's really interesting. i'm convinced actually that SSRIs may have a beneficial effect on many problems of the human mind and body that it is not currently prescribed for. but hey that is just a theory. the best thing you can do is track your mood changes in a mood diary for a few weeks or months if you can. then review it and show it to your gp or relevant med person. x

hey fourth. thanks yeah i'm absolutely fine now and have been for the last five years. i agree that having things right in your life can be very helpful and even therapeutic, as you say, but, if the reason you are feeling like you are is caused chemically then you can only solve that with meds (in my experience - i think those who have gotten out of it without meds did not have true true depression, just my opinion). the whole point of being depressed is that your brain doesn't make enough serotonin. but it is a complex 'disease' like all these 'problems', and it is not straightforward defining true depression or the best treatment. i do hope you find you path through this bad time the best way for you x

hey thanks for that link it was really interesting watching that x

hi i am new here and do not suffer with asd, but my brother does and possibly also my little boy. i just wanted to say that as someone who used to suffer from depression (actually it was so serious that i did try to take my life and self harmed a lot too) that if you are feeling so low you are actually thinking about being dead and the relief this would bring, then you must take this seriously enough to go talk to someone. if you just sit on these feelings then what will happen? ok it may just be a passing phase but to be honest it sounds like maybe it is more than that from the tone of your post. you could go see your gp? ask for counselling or even dare i say it anti-depressants? i know a lot of people are anti-drugs but they do save people's lives and they certainly saved mine. hope you find a good solution to your predicament and find a way to be self-accepting, as this is basically at the route of many depressions x

yes this seems to be quite typical with any kind of autism that you would also likely have gastrointestinal 'issues' and also asthma. i think there is a theory floating around that autism is in part caused or at least 'aided' by food intolerances which poison the brain and stop you learning. that's quite an amazing thought! anyway thaks for taking the time to welcome me here and to share x

hi all this is my first post here. i'm hoping to find some other parents with PDD-NOS diagnoses in young kids as i don't know anyone else in the same boat as us. my son is 4 we have not yet received formal diagnosis but believe this is what we will end up with (having ruled out classic autism). he is a lovely boy, great fun, and wants to socialise so much, but his unpredictable behaviour and sometimes strange behaviour can make the other kids a bit wary and hesitant. plus he has major language and speech delay so conversing with other kids is a major challenge for him. other kids talk to him and often he just acts like nobody said anything at all. then all of a sudden sometimes, like the other day, he will say 'hi. i'm matty. what's your name?' and i faint from shock that he has actually said something like that lol. so he is progressing but very slowly. he is on a wheat and dairy free diet as we find this reduces his eccentric side - eg hitting self in head and making random loud noises lol. he remains very endearing despite being 'different'. he is making friends, kinda, at pre-school, where we have kept him another year to hopefully develop a bit more before the pressures of school begin. he really loves pre-school and i'm so lucky to have such wonderful staff there who are so good with him and help us a lot. he also has asthma and chronic problem of constipation. would be great to talk to anyone else with similar diagnosis. x claire x