To not give my teen DD medication

I just read the article and the "about us" section on the publication: "Mad in America’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care in the United States (and abroad). We believe that the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society, and that scientific research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change." Fair enough if you agree with what it says, but it is clearly coming from a particular angle.

I was pretty uncomfortable when my daughter tried to hang herself, tbh, and when she didn't leave her room for days on end, and when she battered her head full force against the wall, and when she didn't manage to go to school for over a year, and when her bathroom full was covered in her blood.

Her brain chemistry needed to be altered, or she'd be dead.

I don’t think you read the article.

Many ADs have suicidal thoughts as side effect.

No. I bought them in New York. I asked at the dispensary about the legality of bringing them home (it was a spontaneous idea) - I live in Ireland - and they said there would be no issue as they were bought legally … 😗 I hadn’t done any research on that side of things… nor did I believe them 😂 but I decided to chance it anyway. Luck would have it, we were greeted by a sniffer dog on our arrival back into Ireland and we were asked to line up with our bags in front of us while the little spaniel walked about having a sniff…we weren’t chosen for a search. They are sold in really heavy weight double sealed packs that are incredibly difficult to open which may explain it …
If we were in the UK I think I would consider applying for a CanCard https://cancard.co.uk/about
I’m not opposed to my DD taking medication for her condition but at her age l, I felt I wanted to try something short term and as and when it was needed.

wow reading this it seems like a lot of minors are on medication that alters their brain chemistry. I would be incredibly wary, ever since I watched Louis Theroux’ medicated kids documentary I developed an aversion to the idea of giving minors drugs to alter their brain. I’d be asking a lot, a lot of questions — lots of doctors are not great, and lots of pharmaceutical companies benefit from their drugs being used.

An adult, yes, but someone whose brain hasn’t even finished developing? Really uncomfortable with that idea

Recent research just come out that antidepressants increase suicide…

www.madinamerica.com/2025/02/observational-studies-confirm-trial-results-that-antidepressants-double-suicides/

@SpiritOfEcstasy
Where they ordered online? What about customs?

@SpiritOfEcstasy
Thankyou. That's so interesting

I bought several different strength THC gummies from the USA to experiment with and cut each of them into eight initially. When she felt overwhelmed and unable to function and the techniques that her therapist had taught her were not working, she took an eighth of a gummy. We allowed it time to work and monitored the effect. Over a period of months we were able to ascertain the correct dosage to address the debilitating anxiety, stress and panic attacks without it causing her to feel high. Thankfully she no longer needs it. The ongoing therapy and learned coping mechanisms are working well … but it was an amazing short term support.

i had intrusive thoughts all through my twenties .. I did yoga and Excercise and coped but nothing silenced the negativity in my head like lexapro or my antidepressant medication that I finally got in my forties. Don’t leave your daughter suffer unnecessarily.

I imagine this is tied up in a lot of weird feelings about it being mental health related.
If it was medication for asthma, diabetes, or in fact any other sort of health problem, I doubt you'd have batted an eyelid.

The fact that she currently seems to be coping quite well in the structured and well-controlled environment of school and home is just luck. Perhaps she and her team are "rightly" thinking that getting on some medication now will set her up better for when she enters the much less predictable world of "out of school" and young adulthood.

I think she deserves the chance to at least try the medication. If it doesn't work for her, she can stop. She's not condemned to be on it for life.

Mediation can help and there is no shame. Would you feel this way if the medication was an inhaler for asthma? Why is that more acceptable to you?

Sertraline if it works can be lifechanging. A close family member was attaining well but really struggling. It massively helped with the OCD that had been consuming virtually all her waking thoughts. It made her less nervous around people. She went from being overwhelmed and exhausted at school to thriving. So much less time and mental capacity was taken up by the OCD and sensory seeking behaviours. Girls in particular can mask how hard a time they're having. You don't realise how much until you see them when they don't have to mask.

Just to say my DD had intrusive thoughts also which the sertraline stopped. She will also be having DBT soon so it won't be entirely the medication.

We had similar, some seem keen to medicate without real need and other strategies work better. You know her better than the team, but it definitely requires her input on how she is managing. Good luck.

@SpiritOfEcstasy

Please can you provide more info on that I'd be interested to hear. Thanks

My DD is 16 and was diagnosed with ASD two years ago. I decided against medication for her. She has weekly psychotherapy with a teen specialist to help her deal with anxiety, stress management and to learn different coping mechanisms. She has speech and la language therapy to address a slight stammer. We also Home Educate as sadly her school was not on board to meet her education needs - like your daughter she’s very bright. We have tried THC micro dosing in the past and it was really successful with no side effects. That would absolutely be my fall back for her if her anxiety became unmanageable.

Would you not put a plaster cast on a child if they broke their leg? Or avoid paracetamol when you have a headache? Medication for a mental health condition isn’t a failure, it can often be the key to living a functional life. Plus at 15, it is her choice and not yours.

With side effects the chance of being affected varies massively. Depending on the drug it can be 1 person in every 100 people, other times 1 in every 1000, 1 in 10 or 1 in 10000. While sometimes side effects are serious, many are mild and passing.

Nope I don't.

I think everyone has their own opinion and they are entitled to it. I think I am also entitled to respond to people who insinuate things and who name call me. I think debating should be encouraged and people should be entitled to share their side of the coin.

By all means explain how you think informing people of the side effects of medication is the wrong thing and why I should be name called for it if you think I was wrong to say that the child should have all the information before making a decision.

It's funny how you think your arguments are slam dunks..

My DS was put on fluoxetine four months ago. The lowest dose only. No side effects at all. Back to his old self, totally life changing for not just him but the whole family.

I can understand your reticence and agree with PP that its her choice. If you're worried I would encourage her/you to write a diary. It's a great way to look back and see how things have changed - improved hopefully - over time. It can be hard at any given moment to see if something helps, but if you have a diary and look back after a few weeks/months, you can often see patterns over time.

It's also great to look back on and understand - you can see how far you've come, or see that, yes that WAS a really difficult time, no wonder it was so hard...

And don't forget its fine to try these things, you can always stop them if they don't work

You mean you tried to insinuate something which really wasn't ok and I showed it to be sensible to research all side effects and questioned why you wouldn't and why you would hide such things which could impact them from now and into the future.

Why is it shite to research side effects and inform kids of all of them? All other posters on here have talked about informed decision making and yet when I say it you made insinuations and threw out insults.

I wouldn’t say Sertraline long term is a good idea, only going by my own experience.

The first few months it worked well to numb emotions but then I started getting terrible night sweats and became suicidal so I came off it.