Autistic teenage vegetarian daughter refusing prescription meds.

[taratill]

Posting on AIBU for traffic.

Does anyone have any experience of this and how to work around it?

DD is 16 (so she has to consent to treatment), she is autistic and has very fixed views.

She takes vegetarianism to the extreme generally and this has been an increasing issue over the years with her refusing cross contamination and not wanting to be near where meat is prepared or sweet wrappers even because of gelatine.

She's normally fit and healthy but the last few months she hasn't felt well and has been experiencing headaches and dizziness and palpatations so she's just had bloods done and it turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly that she's anaemic and has low B12 and vit D. The doctor has phoned and has left the prescription at the surgery pharmacy wanting bloods redone in 3 months.

I've called her and she has said she will not take the prescription if it is not specifically vegetarian, the doctor does know she is vegetarian and autistic but I'm not sure if the meds prescribed will be!

She is an intelligent child but her views on this are horrible. She would rather be ill than break her own rules around products being vegetarian.

I just don't know how to sensibly approach this. I guess if the prescription isn't suitable i can make an appointment for her to explain to dr why she is refusing treatment.

Does the Mumsnet hive mind have any other ideas/ experience? She's at 80% attendance at college due to frequently feeling too washed out to attend and she is county level sport and this is impacted her in that too.

There is just no reasoning with her so it's exhausting.

I don't think you have read the full thread.

I do respect her vegetarian beliefs.

I also want her to be well.

thanks, I have now sourced appropriate medication. Ferro-Dose-G actually has suitable for vegetarians and vegan on the packaging and is the correct dose.

Phew! It has arrived this morning.

Did you get the other supplements or was it just iron you needed?

That’s good news @taratill. I really hope your DD feels better soon.

In the end it was the iron that seemed impossible to resolve.

The Vit D and B12 were available easily with vegan / vegetarian options which could easily be converted to the prescription strength (without having to take 29 tablets!)

The iron was tricky because 2 different brands that google/ ai told you were vegetarian friendly weren't actually vegetarian friendly when you look at the ingredients list. Most people, imo, would accept that something is vegetarian friendly if they were on such a list and the pharmacist/ doctor said they were.

I thought I wasn't going to actually find a brand which is acceptable which is why I posted this thread.

Thank goodness I have found one.

So many useful posts on here about EDs too, which I can try to look at once she (hopefully) feels better.

Just got fingers crossed that she won't now struggle with side effects.

thank you x

Talk to your pharmacist. They will be best placed to help with dietary restrictions for a whole host of reasons, whilst understanding what she needs for health.

they prescribed 'vegetarian friendly' drugs that were not actually vegetarian friendly when DD looked into the ingredients.

I've now managed to sort so know which brand to ask the Dr to prescribe next time.

Crush it up and put it in the food? That was my idea.

Just doing a bit of digging OP around iron supplements as I said I have to take high levels of supplements and they cost a fortune because I need the gentle ones, so I was really interested in your tablets above which are coming up as £1.90!!!

AI tells me (and I dont know if this is true) that my 50mg Bisglycinate (which cost a flipping fortune) contains 50mg elemental iron but the gluconate of 300mg contains 35g of elemental iron.

Dont know if anyone else on the thread knows about the differences between the elemental iron levels in various different types of iron names?

Just in case you find she gets an upset stomach from those

No idea. I suppose I can go back to GP and ask if she does get side effects. Thanks.

You’re welcome @DeQuin I hope you can find someone helpful.

I’ve sent you a pm @taratill.

GP recommended liquid Spatone for my anaemia after my CS. Mixed with freshly squeezed orange juice you can barely taste it. The vit C helps with absorption apparently and a juicer is £15

https://spatone.store/faq/

Look, I get you want prescription strength, the point of that strength is to get the vitamin levels up fast as possible to prevent further damage or injury eg from dizziness and fainting.

buy some specifically vegetarian or vegan variants, speak with the doctor and discuss how many she can take of those safely and for how long. The GP can advise you there.

please note some of the vegan variants aren’t always tolerated well or take a lot longer to get levels back up that animal derived variants. I struggle with anaemia and have to supplement iron and B12 and the only way I can get iron levels up is with iron and b12 gummies and chewing them properly because the tablets cause me digestive issues. But you can worry about this later, more of a potential issue.

id also be very very careful as your DDs thinking right now is very precarious precursor to a potential Eating disorder though her regimented and strict rules would probably have her in that space right now and this also might be something you should discuss with the GP as a concern without her if possible

thanks but I've now found the vegan alternative of the correct strength medicine.

Fingers crossed she will be able to tolerate it.

thanks very much, I'll take a look at it later x

Don't. ChatGPT is worse than useless for factual information

I know you've managed to find vitamin d now, but in case anyone else is in a similar situation this is a good resource to check if it is suitable

https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/choosing-vitamin-d-products-for-vegetarians-or-vegans/