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Suicidal ideation in a 'tween -- anyone seen something like this?
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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 375671" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>Wiz has been suicidal since he was about 7. Second grade was when it started. He went from being a confident, fun but quite challenging child who did fairly well at school to being angry and in a mood that I can only describe as dark most of the time. Later we found out that his teachers were telling him that he couldn't really be smart because he didn't get 100% of every paper correct. The work sheets were on about a kdg - first grade level and he was working on a 4th grade level in math and a 12th grade level in reading and grammar. His teacher couldn't spell at all so it was Wiz' job to proofread everything she sent to parents or passed out to kids. If he missed a mistake or didn't correct it properly he lost the after lunch recess.</p><p> </p><p>He tried to kill himself on two different occasions. We took him to Children's (in the city we lived in then, very well respected but useless for this at that time) and the ER doctor that came to see us (three hours after we got there) told us he was fine and no danger to himself and to stop being so hard on him. At the time we put very few expectations on him at home other than that he couldn't hurt anyone because he seemed so fragile emotionally. He had a LOT of wild plans to kill himself, like strapping a bomb on his back or a rocket on his back and setting it off. His attempts were taking a 10-15 foot run, full tilt, into a concrete pillar and into a wooden support at the corner of a wall in our living room. He hit HARD, both times. Major lump came up about 2 1/2 inches and he had headaches for several weeks after each attempt. He gave us no warning he was going to do it, just out of the blue started running with his head down like he was charging something.</p><p> </p><p>He has MAJOR issues with depression and has spent quite a few years cutting himself. We found very few ways to stop this, until his Gma said she would stop if he would stop. </p><p> </p><p>He was on the right medications at the time. He takes luvox, strattera and trazodone. Luvox is a much stronger version of prozac, trialed because both my mom and I have responded better to prozac than to any other SSRI and several SSRIs had not helped Wiz much. Strattera is an antidepressant that is an SSRI but works on adhd issues. Trazodone is crucial if he needs sleep - he inherited the insomnia that I got from my father. It is also an older antidepressant. ALL of these have antidepressant properties even if they are primarily rx's for other things. It takes all 3 of them to keep him out of major depression.</p><p> </p><p>He has written probably hundreds of journal entries and thoughts on scraps of paper about wanting to be dead. One of them somehow wound up being turned in with an English assignment the year he had my 9th grade English teacher. She was beside herself with worry, even called both my parents AND me from her home that night. Wiz was already living with my parents. We managed to reassure her that he was okay and writing it down was a way for him to get it out of his head. If he doesn't write things down they go round and round in his head endlessly. If he jots them down then he can move on to other htings. He went so far as to apologize to her and explained that it was his way to get it out of his head, just like we did. </p><p> </p><p>I will not be surprised if we have a couple of attempts in the future. Thankfully he likes the way he feels on medications FAR more than he likes it off medications, so there is rarely any fuss over taking his medications. He is also quite sure that if he combines his medications with illegal medications (meaning medications a doctor or Gma or I give him) they will interact and kill him. I started pushing that thought when he was quite a young child, that illegal drugs would kill you, esp if you mix it with any medicines the doctor or Mom gives you. I find it shocking that he believes this, but he really does. Of all things to make an impact and prove that some of our parenting wasn't horrible, I like that one more than many others he could have chosen to keep!</p><p> </p><p>Kids can be depressed at almost any age. Your child NEEDS to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and to also work with a therapist he can really connect with. Both of these are crucial for dealing with depression.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 375671, member: 1233"] Wiz has been suicidal since he was about 7. Second grade was when it started. He went from being a confident, fun but quite challenging child who did fairly well at school to being angry and in a mood that I can only describe as dark most of the time. Later we found out that his teachers were telling him that he couldn't really be smart because he didn't get 100% of every paper correct. The work sheets were on about a kdg - first grade level and he was working on a 4th grade level in math and a 12th grade level in reading and grammar. His teacher couldn't spell at all so it was Wiz' job to proofread everything she sent to parents or passed out to kids. If he missed a mistake or didn't correct it properly he lost the after lunch recess. He tried to kill himself on two different occasions. We took him to Children's (in the city we lived in then, very well respected but useless for this at that time) and the ER doctor that came to see us (three hours after we got there) told us he was fine and no danger to himself and to stop being so hard on him. At the time we put very few expectations on him at home other than that he couldn't hurt anyone because he seemed so fragile emotionally. He had a LOT of wild plans to kill himself, like strapping a bomb on his back or a rocket on his back and setting it off. His attempts were taking a 10-15 foot run, full tilt, into a concrete pillar and into a wooden support at the corner of a wall in our living room. He hit HARD, both times. Major lump came up about 2 1/2 inches and he had headaches for several weeks after each attempt. He gave us no warning he was going to do it, just out of the blue started running with his head down like he was charging something. He has MAJOR issues with depression and has spent quite a few years cutting himself. We found very few ways to stop this, until his Gma said she would stop if he would stop. He was on the right medications at the time. He takes luvox, strattera and trazodone. Luvox is a much stronger version of prozac, trialed because both my mom and I have responded better to prozac than to any other SSRI and several SSRIs had not helped Wiz much. Strattera is an antidepressant that is an SSRI but works on adhd issues. Trazodone is crucial if he needs sleep - he inherited the insomnia that I got from my father. It is also an older antidepressant. ALL of these have antidepressant properties even if they are primarily rx's for other things. It takes all 3 of them to keep him out of major depression. He has written probably hundreds of journal entries and thoughts on scraps of paper about wanting to be dead. One of them somehow wound up being turned in with an English assignment the year he had my 9th grade English teacher. She was beside herself with worry, even called both my parents AND me from her home that night. Wiz was already living with my parents. We managed to reassure her that he was okay and writing it down was a way for him to get it out of his head. If he doesn't write things down they go round and round in his head endlessly. If he jots them down then he can move on to other htings. He went so far as to apologize to her and explained that it was his way to get it out of his head, just like we did. I will not be surprised if we have a couple of attempts in the future. Thankfully he likes the way he feels on medications FAR more than he likes it off medications, so there is rarely any fuss over taking his medications. He is also quite sure that if he combines his medications with illegal medications (meaning medications a doctor or Gma or I give him) they will interact and kill him. I started pushing that thought when he was quite a young child, that illegal drugs would kill you, esp if you mix it with any medicines the doctor or Mom gives you. I find it shocking that he believes this, but he really does. Of all things to make an impact and prove that some of our parenting wasn't horrible, I like that one more than many others he could have chosen to keep! Kids can be depressed at almost any age. Your child NEEDS to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and to also work with a therapist he can really connect with. Both of these are crucial for dealing with depression. [/QUOTE]
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