Anxiety medication

[claw3]

has anyone's child been prescribed anxiety medication?

OT from feeding clinic did a home visit today and she would like to recommend anxiety medication for ds.

My first reaction was this is not something i would like to consider. However OT wasnt able to tell me anything other than she feels for ds to make progress, he needs his anxiety reduced as much as possible.

So has anyone tried medication, your experiences please?

hmm, interesting (long time no see, btw -how's the summer going?)

my initial reaction would be the same as yours.

what medication? - how and why does it work?

I would agree that, on the whole, for progression you need reduction of anxiety, but imo there are ways and means.

will watch with interest, as a lot of dd1's issues stem form anxiety, although she is much more relaxed this year than I have ever seen her (we went to a music festival with her last weekend, and she loved it! camping, lots of noise, odd meal times, etc - she had a ball)

Hi ya Silver, summer holidays have been quite good. Ds went to stay with my mum for 2 days! (his first ever overnight stay anywhere) and while there he went walking into the sea, fully clothed! hows that for progress on the water phobia Gave me time to go to the cinema and out for a meal with my older boys.

Wow festivals and camping, sounds like you are having a good holiday!

She wasnt able to tell me what medication, as she cannot prescribe, she just wants to recommend.

Why - as you know ds engages in repetitive behaviours which result in self injury, he currently has a swollen eye which is almost swollen shut caused by him constantly rubbing and pulling out his eyelashes. He also picks at his skin, so the slightest blemish gets picked and scratched, he also has 4 insect bites which he has scratched and looked terrible. So he wasnt looking his best today and is refusing to leave the house because of the way he looks, vicious circle.

He also had a melt down in the school playground, just before they broke up. He curled up in a ball, in the playground because he had 'things' on his face and hands and scratched the skin off his chest.

During the 'messy play' session today, he sat constantly rubbing and picking at his skin.

Ds has made no progress either with regards to eating. We have been following her 'food i will touch etc'

So im guessing some kind of anti-depressant to subdue negative thoughts, which is worrying, as im guessing these are addictive?

yes, our summer going reasonably well (still has it's moments!). dd1 is really relaxed, and quite happy.

it was her birthday yesterday, and she took full part in it - really excited at ehr cake, blew the candles out, etc - was lovely to see.

she also played with her presents - she is getting really good at wanting to play with new toys, rather than waiting for her sister ot dive in.

have you still got Sean booked in for this month? if so, I'd talk to him about anxiety.

I agree with you re: reasoning for meds, but also agree with your concerrns (sorry to hear your ds is suffering re: self injury again - do you think it is to do with the loss of routine that holiday brings? he had a big change just before the holidays, of course, and that will have contributed too)

great progress on ds staying with your mum - how fantastic! and the (over)enthusiastic paddling too - brilliant! dd1 did the same on holiday last year - insisted on going paddling with us every day - she really loved it, and we had to roll trousers up to top of thigh, practically, as she hated ehr clothes getting wet

I'm guessing you would need to talk to another team member (if she's a CAMHS OT} - did she ask if you wanted her to refer, or was she suggesting you go to your GP? (I'd be happier about discussing possibilities with the former)

hi claw3 long time since i have been on hope you are well?

i would say ask what medication it is first and look into it before dismissing completely

not the same i know but my ds is on melatonin to help with his sleep issues but since his been sleeping all his anxieties sensory issues etc has faded to near on non existant he plays with friends now etc if it has some benefits and may help him cope day to day it may be worth trying

my friends little boy is medicated and she had alot of guilt issues with this but the change in him makes her see now he was suffering more without it and seems so much happier and is handling the world better so now she knows for him it was the right choice xx

Paed offered Prozac for ds when younger because of anxiety issues. At the time we said no because paed never saw him at his best because he hates CDC and all the children milling around.
Now it is expected he will need more than Prozac

Glad to hear your dd had a good birthday and belated birthday wishes to your little Leo Both myself and ds2 had birthdays last week too!

I had to put Sean on hold, as had a DLA payment which i was going to use, which appears to have been messed up and i didnt want to touch it until they have sorted it out. But will definitely been giving Sean a go before i even consider any kind of medication. Just feel like everyone has given up on ds by wanting to resort to medication

He usually doesnt mind changes in routine at home, he can be quite flexible. His anxieties seem to be all school related and he is definitely confused by the change of schools and holidays.

I did say to OT that i felt that new school were really working with me and putting appropriate help and support in place and it was still early days. Ds also has his Statement coming. I feel once we are all singing from the same sheet, so to speak, things will improve.

Snowmash, she is OT from Evelina Hospital (specialist feeding clinic) and part of a team, made up of Neurologist, Dietitian, SALT.

Ds also has weekly CAMHS therapy. CAMHS is who she was going to recommend medication to, as they can prescribe.

Meds seems like the lazy arse approach on their part, i fear. I asked OT for a comprehensive needs assessment and she says its not her 'remit', she only deals with eating.

I asked CAMHS for a referral to a sensory trained OT, ds's therapist thought it would be a good idea. Person who i see once a month to discuss ds's progress (different person) thought it wasnt a good idea.

Sorry, its taking me so long to respond, im having to watch ds play on the wii and pay attention and type at the same time

Bubbla, hi there, havent seen you around for ages. We are all good, well as good as it gets i suppose! hope you are all well?

Ds takes melatonin too. It worked quite well to start off with, although not working at the moment. Ds appears to get the tired feeling about 20 - 30 minutes after taking it, fights it, then gets over it.

Yes exactly i suppose using medication would make me feel like ive failed in some way and i dont want my own feelings to get in the way of something which could potentially help ds a great deal. Although i will be approaching this with severe caution.

ASDx2, how old is your ds?

Its a difficult decision to make isnt it and to know what to do for the best.

ds is 15 now but have been offered medication since he was 9.

Asdx2, what were your feelings about it?

Why didnt you take up the offer?

Do you wish you did now?

Did your ds get any other help/support?

(sorry so many questions, i wont be offended if you dont want to answer)

Claw - Imagine if the anxiety medicine actually does bring his anxiety down. Imagine how much his life would improve....

You can take a prescription, get it filled and still not give it to your DS if you research the exact drug and dosage and aren't happy with what you've found.

claw3 glad to hear all well otherwise i havent been around for ages but do still have same e mail addy if you want to catch up not usr eif is till have yours as i lost alot of contacts on my list thanks to ds

my friends feelings were she didnt want her son to suffer from being on meds as she thought they may knock him out make his more not sure how to say it but like a zomby she put it cant find nicer way of saying it

but in all honesty first few weeks he was more subdued but after that she noticed he was handling things better then he was interacting better making friends and generally seeming so much happier and now you couldnt spot him really in acrowd just the little over excited child running around he even said to his mum his head felt clearer so she then knew she made the right choice and there wasnt anything else she could have done to get him here or it would ahve happened by now

she is also glad he didnt go another few years struggling and getting angry as panicked about him becoming an angry teen and how would she deal with him then he is at the age now he can now enjoy the next few years with friends and generally feeling much happier

its not someting that agrees to all children or parent s but she is happy with that choice and no longer feels guilt about it as the change in him shows what she did was right xx

sorry for typos lol dont know what happened there should say not sure if i still have

Indigo, i suspect anxiety medication would bring his anxiety down. What concerns me is that this will just treat the symptom, rather than the cause. Although i do appreciate that sometimes the cause of anxiety is extremely difficult to find and often a combination of all sorts. There is also the question of how addictive the medication is and im guessing any medication would be very long term.

Im not quite sure how to feel about it at the moment to be honest, other than the fact that he is just 6 years old and it doesnt seem 'right' iyswim (which is a silly reason i know)

Bubbla, my fears are that on medication ds will never learn to deal with negative thoughts or anxieties.

At the moment ds is having CAMHS sessions every week (since Jan) to try and learn how to deal with these things and the fact that he is still self injuring would suggest he isnt learning.

My feeling is once he has settled into his new school and has a statement in place his anxiety will reduce.

OT explained it to me as hyper sensitive sensory issues produce anxiety, anxiety produces higher levels of hyper sensitive sensory issues and so on and on. She wants to try and break the cycle with meds. But my fear is once we start, we wont be able to stop.

I didn't take up the medication because we just managed. I have always tackled everything behaviourally and thought that medicating him was a last resort.
For ds we had good months and bad months so even when his anxiety was sky high we were fairly certain that it would be reasonably short lived.
Added to that ds has huge problems with food and has never taken medication willingly so have had to use suppositories and iv drips because he will not swallow. Envisaged daily battles with no progress because ds can vomit to order.
No no support whatsoever, paed gave an open discharge at 11 as he entered a very good asd resource.
Now I wish we had tackled the medication earlier because I suspect he is very depressed, he rarely speaks even though he has normal speech, doesn't sleep before 4am, his eating is a battle to get enough calories in him so concerns about restricted diet take a back seat atm. I encourage him to eat matchmakers nowadays because they have the highest calorie content out of the few foods he eats.
Paed is at present searching for services to tackle his many issues but suspect it will be out of area and possibly a residential placement which I don't really want and I think ds will hate (he is very attached to the family).

i know why your panicking thats understandable but you have to do what you think is best just learn more about the meds maybe see if any stories from other parents using it

i know my friend is pleased with her choice as the meds allowed his thoughts to be clearer to understand he still has his sessions to help and now he takes it in much more and can understand what is being said and asked of him as he can think clearer

but again there choice and situation is different so its got to be what you think may help

maybe leave it and give school etc a go an dif things are the smae then maybe tiral it for a while

Claw. I absolutely understand. The medicine will treat the symptom and not the cause.

But... Maybe with him less anxious you can then treat the cause. Or maybe the cause is just that he's got ASD and there is no real way to treat the cause.

Sorry. I have also been thinking about this a lot for my son as I thought they were going to recommend meds for him. But they never did.

Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable will be along shortly...

Asdx, thanks for sharing that. We are in a similar situation, we had good months and bad months when it comes to self injury. But since December we seem to be having more bad months than good and diet has become more restricted, sleep and extremely low self esteem.

Ds was in a really crappy school, who didnt understand ds and were really neglectful of him. Im hoping that now he has changed schools and has started to receive appropriate help and support and understanding, that the good months will start to outweigh the bad again without the need for meds.

Sounds like you and your ds have had a tough time too.

Must dash, having a meltdown at not winning on the wii.

Thanks everyone for listening and for your advice

MY dd1 (13) has been on Sertraline for anxiety for 2.5 months. She was offered it because she couldn't attend CAMHS appointments without it and they had concerns about her very high levels of anxiety. She was developing tics which she'd never had before and her AS symptoms were beginning to dominate her life.

The medication has made an enormous difference both to her ability to engage with CAMHS and discuss her fears and to her general quality of life. Like you Claw3 I worry about what will happen when she has to come of the meds but she was in a bit of a vicious cycle so it with other strategies now in place it may not be a problem.

I would agree with justaboutblowingbubbles re: wanting things more settled before you made your decision (and I know it can be really annoying that OTs in different places are limited in scope - generally down to funding :( ).

It may be that the anxiety is building and building then exploding (as Al1son describes), or it may be that situtional change will cause changes - good luck to you either way!