Page 8 | To not give my teen DD medication

Foxjonessssss · 2025-02-17T18:41:41+00:00

My 15 yr old DD has ASD and OCD, both diagnosed by CAMHS who she is under. She is brilliant in every way and manages so well. She is in grammar school doing really well academically but struggles in other ways. The school are great and really help her. She has had therapy via CAMHS and through school but still struggles with intrusive thoughts. CAMHS consultant has said it’s now time to start medication. I have really wanted to avoid this for her. I don’t want her on medication that has side effects and she may be reliant on. DD doesn’t mind either way. I just think she has done so well with everything without medication I wish she didn’t need it ☹️ AIBU if I don’t accept the medication for her?

StMarie4me · 17/02/2025 20:24

Jesus Christ. Would you deny her insulin if she was diabetic?!

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:24

biscuitsandbooks · 17/02/2025 20:18

And in this situation, a professional has decided there is a need for medication.

Your posts display a staggering amount of ignorance.

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A professional what?

Given the people who created the conditions admit there are no biological markers - I tend to listen to those who created the label through their tried and tested rock, paper scissors method!

TicklishReader · 17/02/2025 20:23

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:20

Nope there isn't at all as the field of mental health is not based on science.

Questionnaires - so no tests then! They dope they do nothing else. Ignoring the root cause is shocking. Like treating someone with chlamydia with antibiotics and they continue to have sex with someone who has it! Pointless!

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Is that you Tom Cruise?

BigSilly · 17/02/2025 20:23

If you are standing in the way of your DD receiving the medication she has been prescribed by her doctors, I think this would technically constitute neglect.

BodyKeepingScore · 17/02/2025 20:23

At your DDs age I'd let her make an informed decision without you trying to sway her one way or another. I have struggled with intrusive thoughts throughout my life, at times more severely than others. Had I been offered medication in my teens my life could well have been very different.

There is no shame in taking medication for mental health. Presumably you wouldn't object to her using an inhaler or insulin if she needed it?

Blu3F1re · 17/02/2025 20:21

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:20

Nope there isn't at all as the field of mental health is not based on science.

Questionnaires - so no tests then! They dope they do nothing else. Ignoring the root cause is shocking. Like treating someone with chlamydia with antibiotics and they continue to have sex with someone who has it! Pointless!

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Often they prefer patients to be medicated before starting therapy. There is non point doing therapy if they’re not well enough to access it.

DazzyRascale · 17/02/2025 20:21

Oh and it's SO closely monitored for under 18s. It must be prescribed by a psychiatrist (not 'just' a psychologist or GP).

My DD has had very very very few side effects. Maybe a little more tired. That's it.

biscuitsandbooks · 17/02/2025 20:20

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:20

Nope there isn't at all as the field of mental health is not based on science.

Questionnaires - so no tests then! They dope they do nothing else. Ignoring the root cause is shocking. Like treating someone with chlamydia with antibiotics and they continue to have sex with someone who has it! Pointless!

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Wind 'em up, watch 'em go...

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:20

noctilucentcloud · 17/02/2025 20:16

Not really. She's been diagnosed with a couple of conditions, OCD and AD. There is clinical evidence that certain medications help ease some of the symptoms of these eg intrusive thoughts. This can be assessed by the clinician on how the patient presents, how they report feeling, and using various clinical mental health questionnaires that rate symptoms. So they can see qualitatively and quantitatively how symptoms are changing through time. I think it's akin to something like pain medication and how they monitor and assess how that's needed and at what level.

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Nope there isn't at all as the field of mental health is not based on science.

Questionnaires - so no tests then! They dope they do nothing else. Ignoring the root cause is shocking. Like treating someone with chlamydia with antibiotics and they continue to have sex with someone who has it! Pointless!

Brownie258 · 17/02/2025 20:18

My life could have been so different if I’d been medicated as a teen. I would do it.

DazzyRascale · 17/02/2025 20:18

My DD is 13 but other than that, I could have written exactly the same description of her.

She's been on sertraline for a few months and it has honestly been life changing. She's happier, calmer, less ragey, she's able to do things she would only have dreamed of being able to do before the medication.

I know it's difficult to think about young people taking medication...but honestly, it's been the best decision.

My DD was happily telling her grandparents today how much happier and calmer she is on the meds

biscuitsandbooks · 17/02/2025 20:18

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:12

I would do as there would be a biological need.

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And in this situation, a professional has decided there is a need for medication.

Your posts display a staggering amount of ignorance.

ICanTellYouMissMe · 17/02/2025 20:17

I can't be bothered any more @whippy1981 you're talking some amount of gibberish

Jaehee · 17/02/2025 20:17

rileyy · 17/02/2025 18:50

Yes. It is very unreasonable to deny your daughter the medication that will help her.
I was late diagnosed with ADHD and medication changed my life. I wish more than anything I would have had access to that in my teen years. A lot would have turned out differently for me. The only side effects that I am reliant on are the ones where I can live my life to the fullest. Don’t be that mum.

I started taking lisdexamfetamine in October, at 34. It's changed my life and I too wonder where I would be had I been diagnosed earlier. I've got more done in the last three months than I have in the last three years.

OP, if the consultant thinks the medication is necessary then I think she should be encouraged to try it. If she has unpleasant side effects she can stop. I'm not sure what you mean by being reliant on it, what's wrong with that?

Tiswa · 17/02/2025 20:17

Coping and managing aren’t enough OP and she still has intrusive thoughts.

I know you say you have accepted this as all you have known but she really does need to give it a go

LadyBracknellsHandbagg · 17/02/2025 20:17

EleanorReally · 17/02/2025 19:02

asd doesnt get treated with medication as far as i know
adhd does

Edited

That’s incorrect, my son had medication for ASD as a teenager and it helped him enormously.

Kafka999 · 17/02/2025 20:17

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:01

How disgusting a comment.

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Oh really? Would you say the same if a parent were refusing medication for cancer because they wanted to see if fasting or Ayurvedic herbs would help? Or for diabetes? Or for hypertension? OCD is a psychiatric illness that can have devastating consequences - psychiatrists don’t prescribe medication to minors willy nilly. So yes, not accepting it is withholding treatment which I would classify as neglect/abuse. Projecting this attitude of “medication is bad” to a vulnerable ASD adolescent is even worse.

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:17

arcticpandas · 17/02/2025 20:15

@Foxjonessssss The one question you really need to ask your dd: Are you suffering? If it's yes then not giving her medication is cruel.

Doping and ignore the suffering is cruel.

noctilucentcloud · 17/02/2025 20:16

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:10

But she would be tested for something and be shown the results of those tests and have routine (daily) testing to show when it was needed.

What such tests exist for this medication? How often are they conducted? Do the meds raise of lower something? What is being measured? What units are they being measured in?

Comparing two different things.

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Not really. She's been diagnosed with a couple of conditions, OCD and AD. There is clinical evidence that certain medications help ease some of the symptoms of these eg intrusive thoughts. This can be assessed by the clinician on how the patient presents, how they report feeling, and using various clinical mental health questionnaires that rate symptoms. So they can see qualitatively and quantitatively how symptoms are changing through time. I think it's akin to something like pain medication and how they monitor and assess how that's needed and at what level.

WellsAndThistles · 17/02/2025 20:16

Why bother wasting NHS resources to get a diagnosis only to refuse the treatment?

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:16

ICanTellYouMissMe · 17/02/2025 20:12

What are you talking about 'biological need' @whippy1981

So there is no biological need?

arcticpandas · 17/02/2025 20:15

@Foxjonessssss The one question you really need to ask your dd: Are you suffering? If it's yes then not giving her medication is cruel.

whippy1981 · 17/02/2025 20:15

ICanTellYouMissMe · 17/02/2025 20:11

Why is it disgusting @whippy1981

I would consider a parent who withheld, say, painkillers or antibiotics, at a time of need, to be cruel and abusive.

Medication for an invisible illness shouldn't be treated differently.

I wouldn't give paracetamol when there was no need or antibiotics for something that isn't biological. Say for instance if your child was bullied or lived in extreme poverty would you give them paracetamol to cope? If so, why?

ICanTellYouMissMe · 17/02/2025 20:12

What are you talking about 'biological need' @whippy1981

hotfirelog · 17/02/2025 20:12

Just let her try it