Antidepressant for a child with autism.

[alfiemama]

I really need some advice as my heart tells me one thing but professionals telling me something else.

Ds is 9 and fully dx ASD he also has sensory processing disorder and severe anxiety which affects his eating. He is severely underweight and on cal shakes.

Camhs have come to the conclusion that he would now benefit for anti depressants and I have to go tomorrow to see the specialist.

I'm just so torn. I feel like I'm being rollercoastered a little as we want to look at special school for him. I don't want them to say 'they didn't accept the help we offered' type thing.

I just feel that he is far too young and it's not right but they keep saying it could be life changing for him. Camhs have said that they will monitor him for side affects such as appetite loss (as he can't afford this) but I don't trust professionals as we have a complaint with another camhs (different area) as they neglected him and failed to monitor him on shakes, hence we were moved to this new camhs in different area.

Sorry for waffling just so torn and need to offload.

Anyone any experience with Ad's and a child?

Crikey nobody?

I have no advice or experience of AD's in a child but I just didn't want your post to go unanswered.
I get exactly where you are coming from as I too have a DS with ASD, SPD and I think ADHD. He also gets extremely anxious and this has recently manifested itself by him not eating.

I am desperately worried about how to go about helping him and I know that if medication were suggested I really and truly do not want to go down that route at this point without giving every other option a chance to work.

I would say, trust your instincts as much as you can. You really do know your son best although I know how hard it is and how torn you must feel because I feel it too (After all I am not a professional and I don't see these things day in and day out)

My ds is now 17. He has AS and severe OCD (which is an anxiety disorder). He has been on antidepressants since he just turned 10.
They haven't made a huge difference to his OCD but they have helped to keep him more stable and in particular helped his eating and weight.

I understand your hesitation. We were very hesitant too and didn't feel that every route had been tried. However his OCD was taking over his (and our) life and we felt we had to give it a go.

He actually has never had any side effects and I think on the whole it has been beneficial. Of course our situations are not identical but I would be happy to answer any questions if I can.

However don't feel pressurised. You need time to think about it and to get as much information as you can.

I've held off for as long as poss with ds2 (ASD MLD and I now suspect probably some OCD in there somewhere too). he has been having regular muisic therapy from the age of 4 and I really am sure it has helped him vent his frustrations and anxieties. He lived off vit and mineral shakes for several years when he was around 5-8 and his growth is stunted as a result. He has seen a counsellor at school for the last 2 years

Now he has left school and is in college they are telling me the college counsellor is not appropriate for his specific needs, the paed consultant has mentioned seratonin uptake inhibitors (??) but I am trying to exhaust all other avenues before resorting to drugs, he has just been referred to the mhld team but if that doesn't pan out then mediation is the only thing left but I'm worried they might zonk him out

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Antidepressants in a child was always going to he a tough question to ask.

My ultimate aim is to avoid high school for him. All the professionals have agreed he will not cope with, and because he repeated reception we are lucky to have another year to play with. I worry that he will be so zonked out that they will think he is coping.

The specialist said they keep them on for it a year. Then I worry about withdrawal symptoms and will he be anxious about not taking them.

We also spoke about the logistics of taking them. He is orally sensory so could get more anxious over having to take them. As his senses are heightened I don't see how we could disguise them.

I have his statement review tomorrow and we are going to discuss school with them and will then make a uniformed decision.

Nothaudin, have they ever tried to take him off them? I was told only a year but think they are flowering it up a little.

The specialist also kept going on about ds suffering

We have tried two different anti-depressants with ds2 (after much agonizing).

The first was fluoxetine but he only took it a few days because he hated the taste (mint flavour). He also said it stopped him sleeping.

He is now taking risperidone which he is tolerating better. It probably increases his appetite if anything. It is no miracle cure (he is on a very low dose) but has taken the edge of his anxiety although he still finds school very, very difficult. Since taking it he does show more interest in the world so has helped with the depression too I think.

He does resent taking it because he says "We want to change him" so I don't know how long he will tolerate it for. We made the decision to try medication because he just would not be able to access talking therapies at all because he is so stressed.

We did try reducing the dose with a view to stopping them but his OCD escalated alarmingly.

He had a short period without medication in a change over from sertaline to fluoxetine and his anxiety, depression and aggression was so bad that it was clear to me as never before that the medication was really necessary.

For OCD the best clinical advice is that the medication should not even be reduced until 12 months after all symptoms have gone. As it is now pretty clear that Ds will always have some degree of OCD that probably means he will be on medication for life. However if it means he has a life I think it is a good exchange. I know I might feel differently if he had severe side-effects but he has never had any on anti depressants.

The oral sensitivity thing is difficult. I wasn't sure I would be able to get Ds to take them at first as I had never been able to get medicines into him. However he could recognise how bad his OCD was and tried because he really wanted to get better. The first few times were tricky but he got used to swallowing them relatively quickly.

His psychiatrist suggested trying to get him to swallow tic-tac type sweets first. It wasn't a magic solution but I think it did help him to get used to the idea.

I was very anti medication for DS - AS, OCS, severe anxiety.

He started on the anti-physcotic Risperdal / risperidone. It turned him into a zombie so I took him off it.

He was then prescribded the SSRI (selerive serotonin reuptake inhibitor) Fluvoxamine for his anxiety.

There were beneficial effects within days and he's still taking it almost 10 years later. Without it his OCD and anxiety would have prevented him from doing things he enjoys, would have made reading impossibe and would have made University impossible.

So SSRIs have been a life saver for DS. No side-effects and he varies the dose when he feels less/more anxious.

Thank you everyone.
Ds is more anxiety than OCD. I can see the benefits of using this as treatment with OCD related anxieties though.

Yes they mentioned keeping him on it for a year if not longer.

We've had the statement review and now even more confused as they have said academically they might reject him from going to sn school. Even though the bigger picture and all health professionals have said he won't cope. So if we put him on tablets will they then send him as he in their eyes he will be better?