To refused medication for DD

[Imustbemad00]

I’m just looking for advice of people with experience of similar situations and how things turned out. Without being rude, it’s a difficult time so please keep unwanted opinions to yourself.

My DD is suffering with mental health issues. She was referred to CAMHS over a year ago but due to the school cocking up the referral, she wasn’t actually on a waiting list. Finally got seen by CAMHS in a hospital in the summer, and it’s taken until now to actually start treatment.

She is severely depressed, anxious and has self harmed.
She was on a waitin list for cbt as they felt this was best. I called recently to see how long it would be and was told there was still a wait but there was another treatment option that was available ASAP.
I told them they needed to make the decision, as professionals, as to what treatment best meets her needs.

So she started the new treatment, which is more based around relationships and depression and I’m not 100% convinced it’s the best treatment.

On the first session, the (very senior) psychologist mentioned the possibility of medication.

Third session and the lady has said they want a doctor present next session to maybe start medication. This has been discussed with my daughter with no mention to me. I’m awaiting a phone call.

My issue is, shouldn’t they try all possible treatment for a period long enough for it to have an effect, before offering medication to a young girl.

Of course, I just want her to feel better, any which way, but I’m very apprehensive about medication. I admit I don’t know a lot about it but it scares me.

Why have we waited this long, to feel like we are just being fobbed off with medication on the third session.

[Imustbemad00]

@ohfourfoxache
I have none really. Apart from my parents. I’m scared to tell anyone I’m struggling (my youngest daughter also has behavioural issues) in case they think I’m the cause of it all or I’m not a good parent. I’m generally quite a strong person but I do get down and in an ideal world could probably use some therapy myself!

[Imustbemad00]

@24balloons that is super scary. I’ll defonetly heavily research any meds they suggest. I’m sorry you and your son had to go through that.

@icannotremember she has said she doesn’t want them. Not totally against it though. She has friends on them. Unfortunate depression and self harming is rife amongst her peer group at school. It’s shocking.

[ohfourfoxache]

Oh shit

Darling if you weren’t a good parent you wouldn’t be fighting for her to get help - please believe me

Have you checked out the mental health board here?

[24balloons]

I didn’t want to scare you but this happened to my son and I wish now I had not agreed to increase the dose. I did refuse several times but the psychiatrists kept insisting. I even made a doctors appointment after the dose increased from100-150mg and the doctor agreed to keep the dose at 100mg after hearing my concerns (prescriptions were transferred to the doctor). He only took 150mg for 4-5 weeks and the side effects were unbearable.
I would also say the effects are not the same in adults as they are in teenagers as Sertraline is approved for adult depression but is not approved for use in teenagers with depression, surely there is a reason for this? So posters using anti ds as adults will not necessarily get the same problems as teenagers with raging hormones.
They may offer you a different drug, as far as I am aware the only anti-d approved for use in under 18s is prozac.
Unless you try them you won’t know, if you do go ahead I would use the lowest dose possible. My son actually did start off ok on 50mg, it’s only now looking back that I can say for certain things started to go wrong when the dose was increased.

[Imustbemad00]

No thank you it’s definitely something to be aware of.
The first psychologist we saw at CAMHS for her first assessment referred her to the eating disorder clinic when I was adamant she didn’t have an eating disorder. She has some issues around body image and eating but definitely not an eating disorder. They were treating that as the issue rather than the self harming that got us there.

I was worried giving all the focus to the eating aspect and labelling her with an eating disorder was going to make t so much worse, and it did for a bit, she ate less andnstarted tellin people she had been diagnosed with an eating disorder. Thankfully the eating disorder team assessed her and referred her back to the original team as she didn’t meet their threshold. But it was a lot of time wasted for nothing. It also made me realise they are not always right. That lady made that assessment after one meeting with us. We’ve never seen her since.

[OneInEight]

You are right to exercise caution. Deciding to medicate has to be a balance of possible benefit versus possible risk. Studies have shown that risk may well be higher in teenagers than adults for unknown reason and so the threshold for deciding to medicate should be higher

We unfortunately had a similar story to 24 ballons. ds2 (aged 11 at the time) was medicated to try and reduce anxiety. At the time he was totally unable to access talking therapies at CAMHS so we felt we had little choice.

Initially it seemed to have a beneficial effect but within weeks it increased his aggression, it caused him to become paranoid and to become suicidal. We got an emergency appointment at CAMHS and they simply changed the medication to one that acted by a similar pathway. He got worse and he was referred for inpatient care. We went cold turkey and stopped the medication and he improved (well at least the suicidal thoughts and paranoia went for the most part even if the original anxiety is still present at high levels). Hard as it is to believe he was discharged from CAMHS only weeks after this experience.

I do not know whether his reaction to the drugs was ever reported. I suspect not as it was me and dh who recognized that they were the problem and not the psychiatrists. With the benefit of hindsight warning signs that something was going wrong were sleeplessness and frequent urge to go to the loo. We still find it shocking that nobody ever checked if there was a biochemical cause either for his initial problems or why the medication had that effect on him.

Yes, medication can be beneficial and life-saving for some teenagers but anyone taking this route needs to be aware that there can be very serious side effects and need to know what danger signs to look out for.

[Aridane]

One - please self report via the yellow card scheme if you think the medication had these side effects

[Nothinglefttochoose]

Sorry but the answer is No. Numerous studies have shown medication and counselling is the most effective treatment for depression, regardless of age. Is there a particular reason you are anti medication? Would you be anti medication for any other illness? Say diabetes or the flu? Please be aware some individuals are prone to depression and will need medication their entire life. Depression often first manifests around your daughters age. Medication also needs to be taken for two years minimum to guard against relapse.

[FiveRedBricks]

If an adult was severely despressed their only option would be medication to readdress the balance. Then therapies can work a lot better and provide a much more long term fix. You wouldn't expect a grown adult feeling that way to stick it out without meds. Sometimes the brain needs them to correct it's self.

[anniehm]

Dd went on fluroxotine about that age, she had cbt first though, and tried beta blockers, karms and exercise before meds. She took meds for 3 years but has been off them for a year now (she's older and I guess her hormones have settled down)

[Idonotlikeyoudonaldtrump]

Antidepressants are not addictive, OP. They’re not mood altering drugs either. Hopefully your dd’s treatment team will be able to give you the information to alleviate those fears.

As others have said, therapy requires motivation and clarity of thought, which depressed people don’t have. Dd might not be able to do the hard work in therapy without medication to get her to a place where she is able to think clearly and engage.

Not meeting the referral threshold for the ED team doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an ED. Criteria can be so strict and unfortunately require people to become very ill indeed before they get access to treatment. Early intervention has the best possible outcomes here.

Self harm and depression are common in ED’s. I wonder what makes you feel that her eating issues are not an ED?

Self harm is complicated. 12 sessions of cbt is usually the first step in lower level mental health problems. It can be enough. But it shouldn’t be the case that you’re cut adrift if dd doesn’t benefit. If she needs a higher intensity therapy, it should be available. Seeing a psychiatrist might be helpful there too.

[sashh]

Please let her have the meds.

My mum didn't give them to me, it was decades before I started treatment and it changed my life.

Looking back a lot of bad things that happened to me could have been prevented or dealt with differently. When miserable becomes the norm you don't know what normal feels like.

[Imustbemad00]

@Idonotlikeyoudonaldtrump
They told me she does not have an eating disorder. I knew she didn’t have an eating disorder. It was such a small issue compared to the other stuff. She now eats near enough normally again although does skip the odd meal mainly at school because the food is crap.

[dreaming174]

I had CBT aged 13 for a year. It was bloody useless. Eventually put on anti-depressants and they did a world of good. Initially felt worse then suddenly better. I had severe depression.

[Romanticrights]

Hi, I would echo what some PP have said; have a research into how SSRI medications work. There are good websites such as "headmeds" which are made for teenagers which explain each medication without medical jargon. I'm a CAMHS specialist nurse, mainly from an impatient settling and have seen how effective medication can be with significant depression. It actually sounds like your DD CAMHS team are really good and following NICE guidelines to offer talking therapies before medication. Good luck!

[Imustbemad00]

UPDTE
Psychiatrist and psychologist apparently discussed and psychiatrist did not recommend medication for my daughter. Apparently said maybe at 15/16 but at her age they really don’t give it unless EVERYTHING else is failing. He instead recommended she takes up some exercise as that will basically do the same as what the medication could potentially do.

[Nothinglefttochoose]

That is terrible advice from a psychiatrist

[WooWooCocktail]

They do not give medication to kids if they don’t feel they can handle things another way. I was refused anti depressants at 17. Please allow your daughter to try. Depressed people will try anything to make it stop

[ineedtostopbeingsolazy]

@24balloons my dd was given sertraline first (at 15) and when they upped the dose she got worse it was awful I called camhs and demanded an appointment, they changed to fluoxetine (Prozac) and it's helped so much.

@Imustbemad00 that advice really isn't great. Your dd needs help a bit of exercise isn't going to help her.

I do know that they don't like giving meds to children and I pushed for 2 years from when she was 13 to get her meds. They wanted to discharge her as they felt they couldn't help her as she wasn't engaging, I went mad and they finally gave her meds. Then she changed.

I could cry at the wasted years where she suffered but we've come a long way and although by no means is she 'better' if it wasn't for the meds she'd be dead.

[AmICrazyorWhat2]

Anti-depressants are not addictive and most modern ones work by boosting the bodies serotonin levels which are depleted in clinical depression.

There are a variety of opinions on here, but my experience of ADs (for anxiety) has been really positive - I definitely don't feel emotionally numb, just normal and no longer anxious/having panic attacks. I also had some CBT which was helpful, but the medication has been the most help.

Re. The bad reactions to ADs experienced by another teen. I was shocked at the dosage tbh. I'm only on 10mg as an adult female and that poor boy was started on 50, then it increased massively. I'm not surprised he had a bad reaction.

[malificent7]

Medication can work...it saves lots of people from an unhappy life.

[babyno5]

@Imustbemad00 I know it's tough and you feel very anxious but honestly the decision to treat a young person with medication won't be taken likely by health professionals.
Also the medication may help her to get the best from any talking therapies she has. It's not a cop out honestly.
Sending hugs xxx

[HowManyFlatCaps]

I'd be very, very wary of antidepressants for a 13yo. Antidepressants at 15 fucked up my life. For good.

[Waveysnail]

I wish I'd been giving the option of sertraline as a teen. It's made a huge difference to me as an adult

[SequinsDress]

YANBU - I had mental health issues in late teens and was quickly bunged on a load of meds, none of which helped. This was under the guidance of a psychiatrist who diagnosed me after a couple of brief sessions. In later life it is quite obvious that his diagnosis was wrong, the medication didn't help (actually made things worse) and in hindsight a talking therapy would have been infinitely more sensible as a first port of call.
Obviously this may not be the case for your daughter, but IMO you are not unreasonable to be wary of just sticking her on meds, especially at such a young age! There could be reasons for her behaviour and feelings that she could explore with a counsellor or therapist and, if it was my DD I would be pushing to go that route first. Do you have the funds to seek private therapy if the NHS cannot provide within a sensible time frame?