Isn't this scary?
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Isn't this scary?
| Tue, 01-30-2007 - 12:20am |
http://www.cbc.ca/national/news/normal/
I know this is not the typical but it is a possibility. I know the docs wanted to go this route with Mike continously adding more and scarier medications and even recomending hospitalization once. I am glad I am stubborn.
Lainie's post and then seeing this really hit me.
Shows us again the importance of us as parents to be advocates for our kids and to really study and learn every thing about our kids, thier diagnosis and any medications without just taking information at face value.
Not that the professionals were wrong or trying to be wrong. He was one child in a midst of many others with many workers and things were missed.
Renee
Edited 1/30/2007 12:37 am ET by rbear4


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That story made me sick. I will not medicate Hayden unless it is the ABSOLUTE LAST resort. However, I don't see us ever medicating him.
Chrissy
Well, I do know it is neccessary for some kids. But once you start it can be a slippery slope and parents have to be very aware. I don't know what happened to the parents in this story. When they were mentioned in the beginning it didn't sound like they did anything different than lots of other concerned parents I know. They went to the doctor with concerns and it escalated from there. Something must have happened though for the children to both end up with the grandparents.
There was a time when we lay folks just listened to doctors recomendations but with all the new medical issues and medical interventions, we really need to be informed and active consumers.
My closest IRL friend has a son with severe BP. When we first met her he was in 1st grade and on 6 medications. He was nearly as over medicated as this boy but they were given this advice from numerous doctors. How some children just are medication resistent so they need to use more and more. He went to day treatment and nearly went to residential but the parents held out and kept him home dispite the level of danger he was. I used to go to her house to help her when he was melting down because he was that dangerous. He was only 7-8 at the time.
This is one of the most wonderful moms I know and she was just trying to follow doctor advice. About that time she got sick of it as well. She got into homeopathics and started to give her DS those and insisted on weaning him down on meds. He is still on medication as he truly does have a list of diagnosis but not even 1/3 of what he used to be on and he is much more like a normal boy.
On all those meds his IQ dropped into the MR range, he was incredibly aggressive when he wasn't completely sedated. He was in day treatment and 4-5 years behind academically. Now he is catching up academically (still 2-3 year behind but all that catching up in 1 year). His biggest behavior problem is his mouth and poor social skills. Heck he is doing way better than my Mike.
It is these situations that make me definitely say there is an epidemic of something out there.
Renee
I'm always wary of these stories.
((((((Evelyn))))))
Thanks for posting this.
Your perspective is why I posted what I did.
I don't think meds are evil in fact I admit they are sometimes very neccessary and helpful for families. However, it is also very easy to overuse them I believe. I know that was the case in our situation.
Evelyn, I know you are very invested and educated about this whole issue. I totally respect your choices as a mom and think they are good ones and what is right for your children.
However, in the grand scheme it has been my experience that obtaining medication is too darn easy and in many cases kids can easily be put on very scary coctails of medications. When Mike was having trouble the first and only intervention offered by most docs was meds. I even asked the neuro if there was anything else I could try and she said no then promptly wrote a scrip for mellaril which is a major nasty old school drug. And he was already on others at the time.
I wouldn't even say it is the parents or doctors fault for this. It is often the standard treatment for behavioral challenges. But I do think that we definitely need to be extremely invested, informed and involved (which I believe you are) in this. We can't take it lightly.
Renee
Again, I don't fault any moms who have to medicate thier children. It is a personal decision adn the moms here I believe have done alot of research. I am not anti-medication at all.
To me this is like any therapy, there are concerns we need to watch out for. We have to be aware of what is going on. Even in ABA and other behavioral or social approaches there are dangers that parents need to be aware of as informed consumers.
This particular case with this particular boy was very sad. I think in large part it was because he went to a state home where alot of symptoms where just missed.
Renee
I have to say, even when my dd was dx'd with borderline personality disorder, the play therapist she had said to "wait" on the meds, because she felt it was just behavioral, and the meds wouldn't help. So we waited a year, and then the Pysciatrist agreed to try her on Tofinal/Impramine.
It did nothing for her, except to make her sleepy the first few days. I took her off. BUT it doesn't mean meds won't help other kids. Right now I am considering the Abilify, as my dd never got violent with me, but my son (and younger son) does get violent with me, and Tony. Now I am at the point that my 10 yr old is still doing this and I can't hold him down anymore like I did when he was younger. I just want to make sure he doesn't hurt himself, hurt anyone else or go to jail by the time he's 17. That scares me.
But I might wait a little bit longer to just see how the outcome turns out.
<<<>>>>
I so agree. Its something that we just gotta do. I have been fighting the school system for 3 yrs with Dysgraphia, because I had a gut instinct. I won after 3 yrs with an outside eval. We should never let go of that gut instinct... because many times, were right.
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