Medication for children??.

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Reading posts from American families dealing with spectrum 'disorders', it strikes me how many children seem to be on medication(s) .
My son has Aspergers, and I know another two boys with Aspergers, and a couple of children with Autism, and none are on any medication except for one of them taking Melatonin at night.
Is it commonplace to be offered meds for spectrum disorders in the USA??.
Personally I am very much against most medication for various reasons, especially for children.
What are the benefits to medicating children? .

I think they are big on meds in the US, but not only for children - for adults also. When my son got his original diagnosis the neuro-psychiatrist offered to prescribe Zolft, Ritalin and Risperdal. My son was just about 4 yrs old and we had not asked for nor wanted medication. When I asked why she thought he needed it the answer was that it was for the family to make things easier. So she was medicating according to the label. We didn't put him on any of the medications and went someplace else for a second diagnosis of HFA.

I didn't start taking medication until I was 16. I take Adderoll, originally perscribed for ADD. The Adderoll helps (but the diagnosis wasn't right) and I have no intention of stopping the medication. I've been taking it for 10 years. I know that the medication assists me in driving a car and holding a job by allowing me to pay attention to the important things rather than all the details. I would get so caught up in the details that I would miss things like other cars, stop signs, and red lights. I was mostly interested in how many garbage bags were in that pile over there or what color shoes the pedestrian on the left was wearing. Not good. In the few instances that I have been at work without taking the meds, I was in a daze and couldn't focus on the work that wasn't fun but had to be done. My supervisors have been sensitive to that as long as I let them know. They know that it's usually only one day that I have to work while feeling, as one of my supervisors put it, "kinda loopy."

I don't know about putting kids that aren't teenagers on meds. I can't see a real reason why unless they are having some serious issues that can't be controlled behaviorally or environmentally. Kids bodies change so much when they're young that the dosage may be hard to adjust or even figure out. They also may not be able to provide proper feedback as to whether the meds are too much, too little, or not right. Parents usually see the end result only. When my doctor started putting me on medication, we tried several different meds and dosages. If I had been younger, I don't know if I would have had enough life experience to be able to tell my parents/doctor which medication seemed to be grooving with me the best. For example, one of the meds worked too well, but if I hadn't said anything and been able to describe how much too much was, my parents/doctor would have considered the medication was a success. But since I was older and I had an idea of what I was supposed to feel like, I was able to correct the problem. At 16, my parents/doctor were more willing to listen to what I had to say about it since I was more "grown up." Kids can't always do this because they don't have enough life experience to know why they're taking it, what it's supposed to do, and how to describe the effect. They also don't know that the medications can be altered to fit their needs. Kids expect the adults to know what they need, but no one knows what they're experiencing but themselves. Also, they don't know what the end result is really supposed to feel like. So parents end up with kids that are too drugged up or sometimes too drugged up on the wrong drug. So wait until they can tell you if it's working or not. That's how it worked with me.

Meds won't treat asperger's. Meds can treat ADD, ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, etc. Most of the meds would do better if added to some kind of ongoing therapy, and often, ongoing therapy would do better than meds.
Aspies can have mood disorders separate from aspie related issues, and these can be treated.

FWIW, Americans love their pills, and I think that parents feel that they are doing something if they can give a pill to their kid. Besides, its a lot easier than weekly sessions for 3-4 years.

son didn't start on meds until the age of 13 when he became depressed and suicidal. hubby started taking meds to reduce his anxiety levels and to help him sleep. doesn't really treat aspergers per se, but treats co-morbid symptoms.

Yeah, I hear what you say about the co-morbid conditions. My son does get depressed, and Depression runs in both sides of our family. I suppose if I ever thought he really need medication to prevent this getting too bad then I would go down that route.

I'm just very anti chemicals, including drugs, and especially anything tested on animals and made by the giant pharmacuetical companies. I much prefer to get pro-active with problems, by finding ways to treat the whole picture through self-improvement/life improvement, etc. However, I can also see that people need to do what ever it takes sometimes to get through this life so I'm not judging others!! .

It does worry me sometimes when I read about children my son's kind of age taking one, two, maybe three different drugs. Drugs don't change anything, they just mask issues . They may also be very harmful to developing brains and bodies .

I HATED my meds.... when i was on them i didn't feel any emotions. it was like being a robot. it stopped my anxiety and now that i am of anxiety has returned.. but i don't think it is a very equal trade (at least for me)... I can see how if someone is depressed it would be a good thing...... just not for me.

drugs can change things for the better. before meds, son was so anxious that he was VERY agressive and uncontrollable. meds have helped him TREMENDOUSLY ! i was not ever a med person~i am still not. but meds are there to help people cope. i'm not saying that anyone should replace common sense, relaxation techniques, and social skills with medication.....i also am unfortunately aware that many meds don't work, and some drs like to play around with the "medication cocktail".....the bottom line is: does it make your quality of life better ? ( the patient).
i teach plenty of students who could be successful ( i mean socially appropriate), if they were on meds~ their parents don't believe in meds...theybelieve that there is no viable answer to their child's problem and will not even seek alternate solutions. not everything can be solved by a Behavior Support Plan. anti-meds is not always the solution.

I did not mean to say all meds are bad.. just the ones that take away somthing better than what they are treating... my brother has been helped greatly by meds and i would take certain meds as long as they don't take away too many good things....

There is no proof what-so-ever that any student who would take meds would be better functioning. That is wishful thinking. The meds may change things for some kids, but it certainly could make them worse off than they were too. Meds just do not have only an "up" side with a better medicated than not position. I have encountered this with both my OCD and chronic depression. The attitude is that both of these condition are easily managed by medication and I must be stubborn for preferring not to use the SSRIs. The TRUTH is that these druge only make some improvement for a certain number of patients and for a great many no improvement at all. And there are side effects to contend with that may even offset any "improvements" the meds make. And it can be very depressing to set up unrealistic expectations for these meds because then if they don't work out as advertised in the brochure (as I like to say) than a carrot was dangled in front of you and turned out to be fake.

i understand what you both are saying.....reading through my post again, i did say that the bottom line is: does it make the patient's quality of life better ? sometimes the answer will be *no*....sometimes it will be *yes*....it is up to each one of us to look at all the facts and decide for ourselves what path we will choose to follow.

My son was also started on meds when he was 10. He's always been a perfectionist, anxious, on the obsessive side, and always felt "different" from his same age peers. It wasn't until he went into a major depression and wanted to kill himself that he was started on therapy and medication. It's completely turned him around for the better. There are no medications for AS, only the anxiety and depression that sometimes is the result of AS.

My husband and I both have histories of depression and anxiety. Medications allow me to work in a highly stressful job and to support my family.

It's difficult to make a blanket statement about medications. As individuals, what works for one won't work for another. If you can function and have a productive or decent life without them...then be happy that you don't need to rely on them.

My son's school assumed he went on meds after his dx, and at the last IEP meeting when they found out he's never taken a single pill for it, they were shocked. He is 11, btw.

I know there is a time and a place where meds are important. I take 6 pills a day, 5 of which are just to keep me alive.

For our son however, I wanted to explore other possibilities, such as therapy and maybe learning about him and how he thinks to make things better for him. So far so good. I would absolutely get a 2nd (even 3rd) opinion if a doctor wanted to medicate a child.

I am not totally anti-med either - as long as they serve a purpose which should be like you said - is it making a positive difference. I also feel the same way towards alternative therapies too - so I don't just pick on the meds (lol).

I think the thing to remember is there are no medications for being on the spectrum, the medications are often used for co-morbid issues like ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, etc. not for Aspergers or Autism itself.

I think us Yankees are taking a hit here. lol.. my son is on meds for Add/Adhd. I was against putting him on meds until I knew how he would perform in school. I waited until 1st grade and when I saw that he was so far behind I made a choice that no mother would want to make. put my son on Meds.. its a tough choice. But I know he is in a much better place with them.. he moved up in learning and was easy to control once we found one that works.. we did stratera which made him violent and so did concerta. we finally ended with Adderal XR and it made all the difference to him. he feels himself at 9 years old how much it helps him. he tells me and the dr that without the meds he is fuzzy and can not focus in school. I know so many times I hear from folks that AS kids can't have Add/Adhd. I say Bull, because I have one.. FYI for the person who takes mellotonin you better read the long term side effects.. you better read most recent findings on this.. because its not a good thing to take it long term.. we used to give my son that nightly and then my sister in law who is a PHD in pharmucetical meds told us that long term findings show that it effect childrens hormone, growth, and thryoid glands.. you see having a DR in the family who is my sister in law helps me a great deal on meds and the side effects that you don't hear about. she is a professor at a wschool here in Albany. and one of her research studies was the side effects of vitamins. since the US has no FDA regulations on vitamins is a crap shoot. and she was the one who advised us of this study. back to the meds.. for some kids they can tell you what a difference it makes and others can not. I know I am lucky enough to know the difference it makes for my son from his school reports and his words himself. Ster I agree with you about some parents not budging on the meds when you know the child could benefit.. my X is that person. he is a horrible mess who has 2 childen who are a horrible mess because he was against the drs and the school about his children. i don't say we have to DRug everyone.. but it sure does help some kids... also think that the parent needs to do their job and make sure the child has a proper balance. our balance.. Ryan takes his meds 1st thing in the morning and it last until just about when school is let out. he does not take any more for the day. my husband quit his job to make sure that he is home with Ryan so he did not have to take another pill just to get thru after school care and then homework.. its what works for us.. and personally I am insulted that so many of you think the parents who medicate because we are Americans and need to just dole out the pills.. you simply do what works for you child! and it helps to have good doctors who help you along the way.