A little about me:
When I was young, around four, I began to experience severe tics and OCD. The tics involved anything from making high pitched vocalizations to flexing different muscles and doing different movements. They were highly inconvenient. I was prescribed Prozac while in elementary school to help with these tics and apparent ADD, but discontinued for a reason I don't remember. Fast forward to college, I still have motor tics but they are very discrete these days, and I thankfully can control vocal tics most of the time. To an outsider I would appear as simply a fidgety person. I am not currently prescribed any medication.
Furthermore, autism spectrum runs in the family to a degree, and a few family members (including myself) exhibit symptoms. Unfortunately, it seems like my problems run the gamut from OCD, (mild?) autism, and ADD.
Prozac and Wellbutrin benefits:
I was prescribed Prozac and Wellbutrin for OCD/depression a few years ago, and Wellbutrin permanently and dramatically improved my reflexes. I notice this as an almost uncanny ability to catch objects that I have inadvertently dropped or knocked over. It is an automatic reaction that takes no thought, and one that often is able to rely solely on peripheral vision. I ascribe this change in reflexes to Wellbutrin because the effects appeared soon after beginning Wellbutrin, which was added to my medications after being on Prozac for close to eight months. Furthermore, this effect happened twice, i.e., I discontinued all medication for about a year and then repeated the pattern. Soon after beginning Wellbutrin the second time, I noticed an improvement again. It has been over two years since I last took Wellbutrin, but the effect has lingered. Wellbutrin and some other stimulating medicines have also temporarily improved my balance and coordination, but the effects lasted only while taking the medicine. Finally, an importantly, Wellbutrin allowed me to understand music. For most of my life lyrics have been largely indecipherable, but Wellbutrin allowed me to better discriminate words and sound. This improvement translated well into other areas of life including day to day communication.
Prozac helped tremendously with tics and also gave me what felt like fluidity of motion. I am usually very intentional with my movements. Oftentimes people comment about how direct and precisely I move. It also calmed some of my compulsions and anxiety. Prozacs benefits, although short lived, were great. I was more motivated to learn, and was better able to learn, especially motor tasks that involved that fluidity I mentioned, playing piano for example. My thought processes were also improved in that I experienced fewer intrusive thoughts.
Prozac and Wellbutrin cons:
Prozac has sexual side effects and occasionally caused racing thoughts that were draining. The benefits also seemed to fade, even with increasing the dosage.
Wellbutrin caused personality changes that are hard to describe. Not all of the changes were bad, but they made me feel not myself. It also caused chest pain.
About two years ago I decided I was doing well enough to discontinue medication.
What to do:
I could provide a list of some of my SNPs from 23andMe if anyone cares. I'm willing and eager to experiment with a few things to figure out how to alleviate some of my symptoms. Any help from this community would be appreciated.
