To not give my teen DD medication

And yes my kids are doing great on their medication and having being able to access therapy whilst on it they’re now starting to rebuild their lives.They are not doped.

I understand why you'd feel hesitant, but I just wanted to share that my sister suffered horrendously with OCD throughout her teens before starting sertraline at around 20. It has worked amazingly well for her and changed her life. She didn't suffer from any side effects, luckily. Best of luck to you and your daughter x

I am going to respond to this and then disengage with you because I think you are incredibly ignorant on this topic.

I take two antidepressants and have taken various ones over the year. They do not dope me. I can drive, I can do a professional job. They do ease my anxiety and intrusive thoughts so that I am able to function. Without them I cannot and end up burnt out, continually in a state of panic, and unable to leave my house or work.

I take the antidepressants because they make me feel better. Me. No-one else. I replied to this thread because I wanted to help the OP and her daughter and share my experience. I advocate for the medication because I know how much it has helped me (and others) and know it can be scary when making that decision to whether to try medicines or not.

OP I wish you and your daughter the very best whatever route you and her decide to go down re the meds.

I struggled into my mid 30s due to this kind of attitude. The medication is amazing, I wish I had started it sooner, OCD is the flipping worst. My anxiety has lifted, the intrusive thoughts disappeared, the endless loops of checking. Let your daughter decide OP. The side effects are short lived compared to the positive change to her entire life.

I was also about to ask what kind of medication, I was also on sertraline though as an adult, once they started to increase the dose past the placebo level it made me attempt suicide several times including OD'ing on it and my doctor's suggestion, unbelievably, was to increase my dose further. I came off it after that because something inside me told me that it wasn't right and the difference within a week was unbelievable, I felt almost normal. Just goes to show how medications can be really different for different people.

Why let her struggle on when a small low dose of something could make her life so much more enjoyable?

No it isn’t. I have 2 children who both have autism, adhd and CPTSD on medication and over time they’ve had medication for depression, suicidal idealisation,anxiety,stabilising mood, adhd and anorexia NOT for the trauma which was caused by separate incidents. For both medication was crucial for accessing therapy.

I don’t know what the answer is to this as I understand your concerns - I am a woman now with both ADHD and OCD. I have suffered my whole life but no one ever noticed as a child - I was high functioning and my mum just thought I was sometimes difficult, black and white or lazy.

The reality is looking back I struggled massively. I don’t know how my life would have looked now had I been diagnosed as a child. Saying this, as an adult I do not want to be medicated. I have found ways to cope and manage life, and I have married a wonderful and supportive man, but it’s not always easy.

I think your support and awareness alone must really help. Also the CBT. Have you looked into saffron and other natural alternatives? NAC for example can be good. They don’t cure but they definitely lessen the symptoms.

If she’s managing I don’t think you need to start medication yet; but don’t rule it out if the need arises. Just keep being there for her as you have been ❤️

I think it is very sensible to ask all the questions you have, to take a bit of time to consider, to discuss with others and do some research. To blindly follow the advice of one doctor regarding medication that changes your daughters brain chemistry would be worrying and I can't believe posters are suggesting that doctors never prescribe unnecessary medication or that meds for MH problems are 100% perfect.

I am not anti medication at all but it's OK to question things.

I would be worried about how intrusive her thoughts are and what levels - are we talking suicidal thoughts?

...Anyway.

@Foxjonessssss I started taking medication for anxiety and intrusive thoughts 3 years ago and it honestly changed my life. I had no idea how much I was suffering until it stopped.

I'm not ND, but have a very long history of anxiety and OCD,from age 21, now 56. I was on and off anti D's for decades. Taking for 6 months, coming off, needing them again 2 - 3 years down the line,often at crisis point. 4 years ago I decided to stay on citalopram for good if need be. The long course has transformed my life. My OCD symptoms are gone. I've reduced down to a minimal dose, but stayed on it. Looking back, my life could of been so different, if I had done this sooner. I have a young teen who is almost certainly ND, and has social anxiety, and mild OCD symptoms. I'm watching him closely and will have no reservations in encouraging medication if I think he needs it. I want his quality of life to be better than mine was, in my earlier years.

This is how I feel about sertraline too. Ita just makes me a functioning person

I would be reluctant too. My younger DC has MH issues and probable ASD. There was a period of a few months when she was really struggling and we wondered if medication would be a wise choice.
In the end she stopped going to school and things settled down. She's finding new ways to self care and cope moving forward.

What do you think mental health is? A response to trauma!

Yes they do. That is the whole point of them!

So what you mean is that YOU feel uncomfortable with seeing someone's trauma responses so want them to change so you feel better even though it does nothing for the person.

I will have done and none of them needed it. So if someone had paracetamol was it because they had low paracetamol levels and someone told them to up them?

When you say 'manages brilliantly' do you mean masks well? I did the same and was adamant I didn't need medication. I 'chose' not to work because even though I was clever, it turned out that in the real world I was quite lazy. I just couldn't turn up on time. It was 'easier' not to work. Fifteen years later I'm counting the cost of my neurodivergence and wondering... if only someone had stepped in to help. If only I'd had medication.

They've probably seen thousands of cases like your daughter and like me at the other end. Listen to them, and her.

What are you talking about? She hasn’t got trauma.

This is exactly what happened to my DD in the last year of primary. Too many years of masking and all of a sudden...BOOM...she imploded, became a shadow of herself for a few months which took a few months to recover from

Medicines like modern AD's do not dope the patient (unless its one that is known to cause drowsiness such as mirtazipine which is deliberately prescribed at night). They do not turn you into a zombie or change your personality. What they do, do is take the edge of your symptoms so you can function well. You will have interacted with lots of people on mental health medicine and not been aware of it, the same as if I wouldn't be able to tell if a neighbour or a colleague had taken paracetamol that morning.

My DD coped brilliantly, too. So brilliantly that I had no idea how hard her brain was having to work to keep her coping. She was 30 by the time her brain just couldn't take it any more.

Sertraline has been transformational. The first couple of weeks were tough, but now her anxiety is well under control and it's doing the coping work for her, so that she can enjoy life..

.

Doped for what reason?

How does it help someone with a trauma response?

I would have another chat with the clinician and hopefully they can put your mind at rest. My son was prescribed medication for ASD at 13 and I admit to being unsure about it at first, but it really helped him to be a bit calmer and helped him to think rationally before reacting negatively to stressful situations. He was on it for about 5 years altogether, he’s 27 now and doesn’t have any medication at all.

I wish you and your daughter all the very best.

If your child is suffering unnecessarily why wouldn’t you give her meds?

DS has been on meds since he was 8. It’s saved his life.

I’m on meds for adhd and ocd. I have medical problem and I take meds for it.

I don’t see the point in struggling needlessly.