Right now, things are different. Partially because right now I have to deal with the politics part of science, which I am not a major fan of and which confuses me. But also, (and with what was probably not ending up as the best overall timing), we (doctor +me) discussed it and I got off my antidepressants. Oh, and also, as a heads up here, I am going to briefly mention various things that happened that lead to me being on antidepressants (mostly self-harm and suicidal thoughts).
***Oh, and also brains are weird and do strange things and I certainly don't understnad them, and this is definitely just personal-me-rambling thoughts. Do whatever makes your brain happy and work. If antidepressants make your brain work, then by all means, keep taking them. I am not trying to say that you should stop taking them or try to stop taking them or that being on them is bad or only a phase or whatever. It is just that for me the side effects are starting to outweigh the benefits again.***
And it has been long enough that I have started to sort out the differences between the weird side effects that happen whenever I get on or off of medications and actually being off of medication. So I am sorting through my life and seeing what I have been up to now that I am *actually* off of meds. I want to stay off of them, if I can. I know they are good and useful and they helped me a lot. I know I needed them. I don't think I still need them, but I am not positive. I'm sorting it out and working through it and discussing things with people and seeing the results and we are experimenting in how staying off of them is working, and then after a month, we will re-evaluate the decision.
Now that I am off them, everything seems realer. Things are less blunt and less dulled. Things were a lot flatter before. There's more colors and layers to things. This is generally good. But it also means things can be sharper and things can hurt more. Because when I was on my meds, they were mostly sort of dulled off to the edge. My thoughts and senses and connections faded and separated out more. The world was more blurred, but that also made it softer and safer, and that was what I needed then.
But I like the world with the colors and the layers and the connections. I like how the world is now, how beautiful everything is. I had missed it, and I am glad it is back.
I haven't noticed anything specifically or abnormally strange in things I am doing or thinking. I'm fine with the general things I know about related-to-depression things. I don't want to hurt myself or kill myself. I don't seem to be crying more than the normal amount or at unprompted things.
The only big thing I have noticed is that I think I was less stimmy before. And since I translate my emotions through what I am doing, it confuses me. I am not sure if I am happy or stressed or tired or frustrated. My movements are more and my movements are different. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. So I am a bit confused by this. I'm not sure why I am moving more or moving differently. So I can't tell how this translates out. It isn't always bad stimmy, but it certainly is more stimmy.
Stimmy stimmy stimmy stimmy stimmy.
I know I was more manageable on my meds.
But what does manageable mean? I'm not sure what I even mean by it, but I know the word I want is manageable. I don't know if I meant more manageable for me or more manageable for other people. I just know that word belongs in this description. More manageable for me is good. More manageable for other people... not so good, necessarily.
I know I seemed more normal when I was on them, but I try not to have that be my goal. I try to have my goal to be to be happy and to make the world a slightly better place (or at least not a worse place) and to not hurt other people. And there are some career goals related to science thrown in there as well. But seeming normal is something I try not to have as a goal, because I don't think it is something really attainable for a prolonged period of time, and I try not to have impossible or unattainable goals.
So that's where I am at for now. We shall see how things go from here.
Labels: autism, autism acceptance, being safe is ok, coping mechanism, depression, me, melt, my brain, ramblings, stimming, synesthesia, transitions