Louis Theroux - America's Medicated Kids

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Anyone going to watch tonight?

As much as I find him annoying, I do always find his programmes eye-opening. I will be watching with interest as my DS2 has ASD and ADHD.

Fluffles BBC2 - it ought to be on iPlayer.

very interesting. i actually have an appointment with psych on wednesday to get some medication to help DS control his anxiety. I have not taken this decision lightly. Ds was DXed with asd and odd nearly 2 years ago and we have coped with his behaviour up till now. 6 months ago we decided to try melatonin to help him sleep and it was brilliant for a few months and had a knock on effect with his behaviour but we have now reached a point where we have a nearly 10 year old boy who i can no longer control in public. His anxiety levels are so high that he struggles to control his behaviour and quickly goes into meltdown mode.

they did seem t be for adults convenience

i have teenagers and one with some asd tendencies and none of them need medication...

it's hard sometimes parenting

It was difficult to really judge though, since we were seeing the children as they were on medication and only had the parents word for it how they are without meds.

A power cut has knackered our Sky+ box and we're 100% digital so TV useless without it... very annoying as the first 10 mins were really interesting and DH and I were having a lovely discussion about it.

leonie........melatonin did help with sleep and got DSs sleep pattern back on track after a year of not sleeping. The problem is the anxiety my son has can be triggered by anything. he is now sleeping 8pm till 7am thanks to the melatonin but can have upto 4 meltdowns in a day. The main issues with these meltdowns is that the adrenaline starts pumping and DSs muscles go into spasm which makes him like the incredible hulk. Im a large lady and struggle to restrain him which is necessary in public as he can hurt himself and any near him. He is at a specialist autistic school and some days he spends all day in calm room unable to calm down using strategies we have taught him. once he is in full asd mode he cannot access these skills he has been taught. By medicating his anxiety we are hoping he can remain in control enough to access the strategies he has been taught.

it scares the hell out of me to medicate. docs wanted me to do it 2 years ago when he was first DXed as he had been excluded from 2 ms schools BUT i knew i couldnt medicate him at age 7 when he was still controllable and managable. He is now so powerful he is a danger when he meltsdown. It may not work but i have tried everything else! this is the last resort for us.

Hugh's parents seemed lovely. I don't know how the MN jury can decide what's best for someone else's child based on a few minutes of an edited TV programme. We didn't get to see what Hugh was like without his meds but his parents did say they couldn't go anywhere with him and he was never invited on playdates. He clearly loved his parents and they loved him.

Yeah, his parents said he hadn't been on a play date for 2 years - key issue there is the fact that they no longer know how he would behave in this situation. Children change and 2 years is a hell of a long time.

His mum rated that exchanging of words about showering as a 5 or a 6 out of 10 on a scale of bad behaviour. That seemed like an overreaction, it made me wonder what a 10 is to her? Him slamming the door?

He didn't do anything that didn't say Asperger's behaviour to me. And he isn't going to grow out of that.They should be seriously concerned about having a 10 year old on anti-psychotic medication, though. I'd be more than at his diagnosis of bipolar and ODD (the existence of which is open to debate).

Any child with Asperger's may dig their heels in and refuse to do something point blank and no amount of ' parenting skills' will make it happen.

His father seemed to have written him off at the age of 10 which was sad.

It seems that in the USA they are all too quick to hand out the tablets, not once did anyone talk about a diet and exercise programmes to help these kids. I am not saying diet and exercise is the answer to everything, and there are some kids who do need these drugs, however I don't think that what these kids are eating at home or at school is healthy.

BTW - re Hugh showing and getting ready for school - if his mum though that was a 5-6 out of 10 then our house like most others on a school morning - is way over a 10.

Bonkerz - we're in a similar position with DS1. He's only 6, but is having such issues with his ADHD and with Anxiety and is so oppositional.

Anyone who doubts the existence of ODD has never met a child who will quite aggressively reject something he likes and wants because he suddenly realises that a parent or teacher approves of the fact that he wants it, which makes it no longer something in his power, causing a panic reaction.

They've never met a child who won't eat that they love because the fact that it is lunchtime at school or home at x time is an imposition on their will and sends them into a blind panic.

DS1 is currently playing quietly with sticklebrix (thank goodness). He didn't accept them when I offered them to him, because it wasn't his idea. I gave them to his brother, instead, which made them desirable.

I'm currently keeping a behaviour diary for DS1 and today is very long, already. This is the first time I've gone an hour without a negative entry. The boys are back at school tomorrow and DS1 is very hyperactive and rather volatile and has been doing some serious button pushing. It's like living with a drunk and, I suspect, not much fun for him, in reality, even though he's been doing a lot of manic giggling. We have to deal with this all too frequently and could really teach Supernanny a thing or two.

I did watch the program, last night, thinking that all the outbursts were so wonderfully calm and restrained and free of tears and red faces and people getting physically hurt. If the right drugs can make that difference for DS1 (who is currently part time at school because he's struggling so badly), then I'm all for it.

I wasn't sure what to make of the six year old (was it Jack?). Citalopram at his age? Whoa.

The most interesting scene was Jack and Louis playing with marbles - engineered, of course, so that Jack would "lose" and one of his major issues was to do with losing. Did anyone see any evidence of this? All I saw was his mother anxiously leering over him asking him "What's your temperature? What's your temperature?" I couldn't figure out whether his answers were heartfelt or whether this was a call-and-response game he was used to playing.

And then when he "lost" the game and dutifully ran behind the sofa to start yelling - I didn't see an angry/distressed child. To me, it was like he was giving them what they were expecting, but he seemed quite weary to me!

I was hoping that the therapy he'd had had helped him to get to that point, slowshow. DS1 thinks deliberately losing is hilarious, so that's not a trigger for him, but when something sets him off on a meltdown, his blinkers are on and any attempt to talk to him or physically intervene escalates the reaction. The had at his school has had a hard time trying to persuade staff to back off and not even try to soothe him when he's about to blow because it overwhelms him and makes it worse.

just watching this back on catch up
what can i say

my ds (11) went through a patch of being very anxious and never once did it enter my mind he would need to be medicated - he had a course of CBT and is much better now - why is their first port of call medication ??

cos of unfettered capitalism?
counselling is expensive to pay for but doesn't make money for big business, so....

I watched this on iplayer the other day and I still can't get it out of my head.
I must say I've never been a fan of Louis Theroux but since watching this my opinion of him has risen massively he was fantastic with the kids. Especially Hugh he seemed to really 'get' him, I loved how he let him be the director.

IMO Hugh's parents seemed to be trying to force a square peg into a round hole instead of accepting him and adapting they were trying to 'fix' him making everything so much more fraught.

His parents worried me, the way they were so open and accepting as normal that almost all the family is being medicated even the dog for anxiety WTF.

And all this Oppositional diagnoses crap massively pissed me off too, especially in children were they have conditions such as Autism.

And that bloody DR admitting that sometimes the parents often made the situation worse so it was best to medicate the children early!

I actually enjoyed the program, and did agree with the children being on meds. Especially Hugh. Yes he had aspergers, that was obvious, but he also had bipolar, which is pretty difficult treat without medication. (Friend with bipolar - yes she's tried without meds, no, it didn't work, ask the doctors who pumped her stomach)

I've never understood the huge reluctance to medicate. Yes, it is not ideal long term, but it can be a great way of controlling the mental health while other methods are used to treat it. It will never be an exact science, as you aren't dealing with something is measurable. Wrt to it being children rather than adults, how do you define the cut off point. "Sorry you are depressed/OCD/suicidal but you aren't old enough to get help" Mental illness is no less real in children, and is, I have been assured no more treatable with counselling alone. This assurance is from someone who has been on anti depressants and in counselling since the age of 7.