As a special needs family that relies on medications to help improve ours kids quality of life, we have had mostly a positive experience. We have also had some negative experiences as well.
I know that placing your child on medications is never an easy decision and can be downright scary. I thought we could discuss our experience and maybe ask or answer some questions about medicating our children with #Autism. How have you weighed the risks vs the benefits?
This was posted via WordPress for Android, courtesy of Samsungs Galaxy S III. Please forgive any typos. I do know how to spell but auto-correct hate me.
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Initially we took our son to a neurologist, and he assigned an incredible battery of tests, which in the end revealed nothing…no diagnosis. This was at age two. We took Rudy to a psychiatrist (the first of many) who started him on Mellaril. Seriously. That resulted in a 15 pound weight gain in 13 days. I can't even count the number of meds we tried and the suffering our child went through, as we held him down and forced the meds down his throat. There are many drugs which are so nasty-tasting you can't disguise them in applesauce, etc.
By the time he was nine and still undiagnosed (with autism — they diagnosed him with about twenty other disorders) a psychiatrist told us that if he was autistic those medications would probably not work. That very day I took him off all meds and haven't looked back. He did take Melatonin for sleep for a while, but he eventually discarded that, too, due to the drowsy feeling he woke with.
The weight that he gained from the drugs has never come off and has resulted in morbid obesity, adding this to the list of his other very serious medical problems, unrelated to autism. I can only say that everything we've ever done has been on the recommendation of some doctor or other professional. In the end, my own instincts have served us best. I try not to be angry about the past mistakes, because it just drains me of needed energy in the present.
Oh, I wanted to add, among the drugs we used, Seroquel seemed to be the best. We went to a compounding pharmacist and had it made in liquid form, where they were able to create a more palatable taste.
We used meds until we gave diet a 1 year trial. It's 14 years now and we never looked back.
We have one of ours medicated…started at age 11 w/ Seroquel and has had various other mental health issues besides anxiety crop up over the years. (at age 13 she had a psychotic break and was hospitalized for 10 days and basically struggled to reach now what is a new and somewhat diminished "normal" as the years have gone by. Yes, meds when needed. Yes, it's epxensive. If it were not for insurance, it would be like owning a second home. Even the copays/percentages that way pay after insurance are debilitatiing to our budget. What astonishes me is the cavalier attitude of so many pyschiatrists.