Anti - anxiety medication for teens?

[AnnaFiveTowns]

Does anyone have any personal experience of this? My DD (14) is highly anxious and it's affects her life: school; friendships; everything. She's now starting to get depressed too. She went to camhs a few years ago but nothing really came.of it. I've tried all the self - help type books with her and now I'm wondering whether medication would actually help. Obviously it's not ideal but if it makes her life more bearable...

Would Rescue Remedy help? I dont know if it actually does anything or not, but the process of recognising the anxiety and taking the "magic" drops seemed to help DS.

Dd 13 has recently started sertraline for anxiety. We can see some difference in her but there's still a way to go.
We had to see a psychiatrist to get the initial prescription. That was the complicated bit as CAMHS wouldn't see her.

You’re a lovely mum. I’ve suffered from anxiety all my life and my parents just told me to get on with it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m glad I wasn’t on anxiety medication, though. Starting it at 14 sounds like a life sentence on pills, and the side effects can be hard (weight gain in particular is hard at any age but especially in the teens).

Have you taken her to a GP?

Also, a weird idea but you never know... When I went super healthy for a while, stopped eating dairy and wheat and started taking probiotics and “gut health” supplements, my anxiety almost vanished. Did your DD ever have any food intolerances when she was little? Mine was such a huge shift that I wondered if I’d had a food allergy thing all my life.

And Rescue Remedy works for me. I glug it straight out of the bottle, though. 😆

My DD has sever anxiety,self harming and suicidal thoughts.Chams were hopeless.
We luckily have a great GP who DD saw monthly and then alternate months.
We were referred by chams for and assessment for autism but that was 2years ago and whenever we and the GP chase it up we are told that she is still on their books just waiting.
She is 16 now and much better at dealing with most things but has a way to go(can't go into a shop on her own to buy something)
If you want to go down the medication route then you need a good psychiatrist who specialises in children.I read a lot about medication for anxiety and its effects on children and decided that it was not for us.
Hope you find something that helps your DD as the helplessness you feel as a parent is horrendous.

It absolutely isn't a 'life sentence'. If you use the time to explore other coping strategies then it can be a breathing space. It's perfectly possible to come off them.

Thanks for all your replies.

I suspect if we go to the GP they will just refer to CAMHS like last time and, as she's not self - harming or made any suicide attempts, I suspect that she won't be a priority for their limited resources.

She's never had any food intolerances and has recently become vegetarian.

I suppose I was hoping that she'd "grow out of it" but I'm not sure if that ever happens or if it just gets worse.

It's very difficult for me to get my head around as I'm not generally an anxious person at all. It's so hard to stand by and watch your child suffering and not being able to help. Up until the age of about 9 she was fine; confident and relaxed. It breaks my heart to watch videos of her then because she's like a different person. She's always so tense now and you can see it in her body language. There was nothing specific that seemed to happen at that time so I really don't know what's caused it; I can only guess that it's temperamental.

Alun - when you went to a private psychiatrist did they insist on some kind of therapy first before medication? I'm only asking because she's already said that she won't go.

I might try one of the non - prescription remedies just to see if they help at all.

My dd was cutting and od'ing and CAMHS did nothing helpful.

We had to see a private consultant psychiatrist. Therapy first with some propranolol to help. Then fluoxetine which did help. Then more therapy because therapy is more helpful once the anxiety and depression is removed.

DD thought there was something wrong and requested an ASD assessment. She had some traits but not enough for a diagnosis but she did have ADHD which neither of us had thought about but goodness as soon as the penny dropped everything made sense.

She went a long way down pre diagnosis but gosh turned the corner once medicated.

She will always be anxious op and always need some coping mechanisms, it's a part of her. Sadly there was no help at all on the NHS and all CAMHS efforts were about looking at social/family problems and she'd have got nowhere near anyone capable of seeing beyond the symptoms.

I fear you will have to pay and I hope you can. BUPA picked up about £3k but we had to pick up another £3k.

Thanks Roses. We don't have any private medical insurance at all. I suppose if we had to we could scrape together the money. I will look into private treatment. I'm pretty sure I'd be wasting my time with CAHMS.

when you went to a private psychiatrist did they insist on some kind of therapy first before medication? I'm only asking because she's already said that she won't go

No, they didn't insist on therapy first but have recommended it alongside the medication. Dd has autism so getting her to open up to anyone new is going to be tricky but we stand more chance on the medication than off. Tbh I went in with medication + therapy as my best suggestion as I have done both myself. CBT takes time and she needed something to help her in the meantime.

Lemon balm takes the edge of anxious thoughts. It really helps clear my brain fog. Also magnesium and vit D. Has she been tested for B12?

I agree with hasthissodding that it’s also well worth making sure she has probiotics as gut health is strongly linked to anxiety .
I haven’t listened to this video but try something like this m.youtube.com/watch?v=FcPtGTbDrwE
Our DS was considerably better after good probiotics and magnesium too.
Also coffee and alcohol can bring on or worsen anxiety for some people but probably not relevant here. I hope it gets easier