To not give my teen DD medication

[Foxjonessssss]

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?

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

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

Your posts display a staggering amount of ignorance.

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

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

Is that you Tom Cruise?

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!

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

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.

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.

Doped for what reason?

How does it help someone with a trauma response?

.

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..

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.