Dd, 15, admitted to hospital after self harmand suicide threats

[ChasingMars]

The history to this is long and complicated, dd has had problems with sporadic self harm for 2 years, then a boyfriend committed suicide last year, then she spilt up with her new boyfriend, plus friendship troubles etc. We are on the children's ward awaiting camhs. Six weeks ago we had to talk her down from a motorway bridge. We have been sering camhs but then Last night she just kept repeating she wanted to die, she couldn't take any more pain. She has cut herself. Now she is calmer she says she wouldn't do it. What should I be pushing for with camhs? Meds, resedential help, what?

[Florida41]

big hug to you both ,sounds like you have all had a really crap time .

I have daughter that self harms and has suicide thoughts ,
and has now moved on to making herself sick all the time,

but she has now been put on fluoxetine in January 20g upped to 30g 4/5 weeks ago and we are only just seeing some slight improvement now .

please bear in mind that medication can take upto 6 weeks to work and could make things worse . you would really have to watch her.
but in my opinion it was the right thing for my DD

but I did have to push camhs to put her on them .
can't really comment on residential care as have had no experience of it.
hope things start to look up for you both.

[ChasingMars]

Thanks Florida. I am thinking meds are needed. What did yoi say to camhs to convince them it was a gpod idea? Hugs yo you snd your dd x

[Florida41]

hi chasingmars ,
well her therapist kept saying week after week about medication and she would put it forward to the panel and Drs at the weekly meeting but nothing came of it .
so in the end after about 6/8 weeks I wrote a letter/ email of a official complaint to the manager to say that we were not getting anywhere with the talking and that medication has been mentioned week after week but with no appointment with psychiatrist yet .
it worked wonders , an appointment suddenly came free and dr spoke to her and agreed that he thought medication was the next move .

I can't make my mind up about camhs or if it's just the lady we are seeing but I seem to have to keep pushing things forward.

when my daughter started to make herself sick , my daughters therapist knew she had been for a couple of weeks ,when I emailed her and told her that I knew she was doing this and I was very concerned about bulimia, she emailed me back and said " I don't think it's as bad as you think it is and not to worry" and sort of brushed it off ,
BUT after the following weeks meeting she was all concerned and it did seem as if it was a problem. .
funny how she did not think it was a problem until I had emailed her the week before and she had had time to think about it.

I also keep mentioning that it seems to happen around her period and would the pill help but again she brushed it off , now she suggest we get her in the pill to see if that help . hello been saying this for months.
don't want to get her on pill yet as I feel we need to get antidepressants at the right level first or we will not know which has any affect.

my daughter always feels better after she has cut , it's a sort of release of stress my daughter also said she would not do it again after I found out but she did about 4 weeks later .

so you need to tell camhs what you think and keep pushing for it if they are abit slow in agreeing.
good luck .x

[corythatwas]

Big hugs to you

Dd (19) has been on fluoxetine for several years now and is coping so much better. It did take quite a time to get CAHMS to prescribe them, though, as they did want to explore all other avenues first, and it was only when it became clear that dd was not going to be able to access CBT etc without meds that they agreed to prescribe them. But that was partly because they wanted to wait until she turned 15- and your dd is 15. I think the argument that swayed them was "she is not in a state to access any other treatment at the moment, if we could try the meds that might make a different to the whole of her treatment".

With your dd, you could argue that there simply isn't time to hang about and wait.

As Florida says, meds are not an instant fix: in fact, one of dd's suicide attempts came after she had been on the meds for a while (but doctor reckoned not caused by them). But they have proved a longterm solution: dd is calmer and more stable overall and that gives her a chance to work on other parts of the solution.

[chocolateworshipper]

I have been through something very similar with my DD. If you can afford it, I suggest you get private help. After DD's first overdose, we filled out a load of forms at CAHMS, spent an hour talking to them, only to be told that it wasn't serious enough so they couldn't help. She took another overdose and was very close to death. We found a private psychiatrist and a therapist - both of whom specialised in dealing with children. She was put on fluoxetine and had weekly therapy, and a year later is a totally different child. Very best of luck to you.

[ChasingMars]

Hi all

Thanks for replies.

Update.

After hospital admission DD went downhill rapidly. Saw consultant last week who referred for inpatient care. Going to assesment meeting on Monday to see if this will definitely be offered. Would welcome input from anyone who has knowledge of the inpatient process!

[Clare1971]

Can't comment on inpatient but just want to say my DD took an OD at 15 and self harmed badly for a long time. She is now 18 and although there are still some MH problems things are tons better and I no longer wake up every day wondering if she's still alive. Things can get better though you have to be prepared for the long haul. Good luck.