Hanging on, I think articles like that one, stories like that one do hit the media and become sensationalized so hopefully people WILL think things over. This does not necessarily mean the lessons that are there to be learned need to be learned by everyone, but..the silver lining to this tragedy is maybe a few people will realize or learn something that maybe did apply in their situation. The very very sad thing that so pains me is that a child died for people to review practices.
Another sad truth is there are deaths similar to this that happen more often than many realize, cases that do not hit the media.
It is kinda like something else going on locally here right now, too---currently the police in the city near me have now been accused of assault.....2 huge cases all over the news. In my county farther out of the city, this is also happening-we had one on duty county cop get into a drunk driving car accident with the squad car......the same week, another drunk driving accident- the county PROSECUTOR.........(during business hours) and 3-4 cases of cops beating people, starting the fights, no, I do not mean while trying to arrest someone.
We have a prominant lawyer who was just arrested for massive child porn......several teachers in our Special Education district who are currently going thru court - one for duct taping k-gartners in Special Education- duct taped their mouths and the kids to their chairs.another Special Education HS level, having an intimate relationship with a 14 yr old student, another middle school Special Education caught selling marijuana to students.
Not long ago, maybe around the holidays? a child died at the dentist office, in the dentist chair.....
SO many things going on...so many professionals who seem to be acting difficult child ish.......many highly respected in their careers.....in positions of trust, authority, people who are supposed role models.......
SInce nursing school and working in hospitals and nursing homes and rehab facilities, I lost my trust for medical professionals.......
From my own illnesses which were originally diagnosis'ed in 1980- my Lupus- at that time the docs told me flat out they knew little about Lupus.
Then came my RA and it started big in 1998, but it took until last spring for a doctor to figure out how to give me a life back..and in between.there was a lot of BS.a lot of suffering, a lot of crummy medications, and that was WITH obvious bad xrays, labs, etc. With the kinds of diagnosis'es our kids here have.....we do not have solid tangible objective tests to point the way. We depend and rely on subjective tests. ANd yes even neuropschs - while they have tests- their tests are also subjective.....ANd yes I have been there done that handed the smae neuropsychologist evaluation to diff docs and gotten diff answers, diff diagnosis'es- and not just in young children who continue to grow and develop, but also in myself and my husband.
People do need to understand that the treatment of mentally ill or ADD, ADHD, childhood bipolar, etc is new. Medicating them is relatively new. Many of the medications have NOT been tested in children. SOmething else to understand is that when you read side effect profiles and you see the stats for adverse reactions....even if an adverse reaction is only happening in 1% of cases.....as many people as there are on these medications now- yes, SOMEONE is going to experience that adverse effect. We usually dismiss the chance that it will be us in the 1% who has that bad effect.but....someone somewhere is going to be that 1%.
Many here seem to think I am anti medication.....I am far from anti medication. I am 100% pro informed use. I also understand each person has to make their own balance chart of the pros and cons, and unless you are aware of all the risks, how can you make an informed choice? Sadly, too many docs and too many pharmacists skip informing a patient of each and every possible adverse possibility. SOme docs do not have the time. In many areas there is a tremndous shortage of psychiatrists for children..and literally people wait many months to get an appointment and go many months in between appts. ANd when they DO get appts, they often are 10-15 mins long. I have sat in county mental healthboard meetings and WRAP and SASS sessions and sessions at the nursing home and hospital here.....where other professionals complain and say that if they told a patient of every single possible negative side effect possible, people would not use the medications, they would be too afraid. That attitude takes away the right of informed consent.
One person may decide a risk is worth taking, someone else might not.
My children are no longer on medications, not becuz I wanted them off medications, but becuz my oldest dtr had so many negative medication reactions, ones that made her far more ill than her diagnosis ever made her. Life threateningly ill. I suppose that is why I prickle under my skin when I read here bipolars NEED medications. Maybe many or most do, and I sure was scared- my dtr was suicidal, a cutter, quite volatile..........BUT the medications caused her to become violent, psychotic, altered her blood pressure to above stroke levels, changed her blood sugar dramatically, added 100 pounds on her even tho she paced 22 hours a day, and interferred with her breathing. Maybe the bipolar part of her needed the medications, but the rest of her body had it's own opinion.
For us, at her docs encouragement we stopped her medications.
My son did have a far better attention span on stims, but, his weight also plummeted so he fell to the bottom 1 percentile for height and weight for his age. He suffered headaches that could not be relieved that literally brought my normally bright happy son to his knees. TUrned out the stims also caused his seizures to be more often and more intense. BUT he DID have a better focus on stims (so long as he was not having a seizure at the moment) SO, I am not anti medication........I am for cautious use of medications, informed consent, knowledgeable use.
As for my dtrs unmedicated bipolar? well, yeah it stinks to an unmedicated bipolar kid around BUT I prefer that to one who has suffered a massive stroke ........so- I have had to slowly work on what I can handle and tolerate her in my home.
This was something I had already had some experience with anyway. My husband is severely profoundly mentally ill, quite erratic..........and his liver could no longer metabolize the medications and neither could his kidneys. It really hit home for me when my Lupus and RA hit me so hard and while mentally I function, suddenly physically I could not function. SUddenly I could no longer fulfill the role that was mine in our home, our daily life. SUddenly I was no longer a contributing member of our family home or society. Aw darn, suddenly I could not even tend to my own needs, not even my most basic. I was stuck observing. HA! what else COULD I do? Sadly I feared my family would .well I do not know what I feared they would do- I myself tried to get into a nursing home, but...I had little luck...unless I gave up our house.
we came to some sort of .........conclusion? ....home is where you go, home is where you are, home is a sanctuary? My oldest difficult child sure cannot yet (I still hold hope for someday) function on her own..........my husband has been physically and mentally non functional for so many years.......
somehow we had to find a way to come to terms with all of it. BUT you know? I watch out in the "real world" and I see more and more that there are so many people "out there" who really are not as functional as you might think.
My OB GYne was a GREAT ob gyne........alas, someone else cooked took care of her home, her kids and kept track of her social obligations. My sons high profile outstanding eye surgeon? He cannot write so anyone can read it, and he has no concept of anything other than eye surgery. He knows nothing of current events, nothing of any other sciences, has NO social life, no family....his world is so tiny. People skills? Zero. can they balance their checkbook? I doubt it.
SOmething to keep in mind is that in any field, there are "goood" and "poor" professionals. There are also smart ones and not so smart ones........there are professionals who care, and ones who could use a big dose of compassion and caring. ANd even in ones who have all kinds of positive traits, they are still after all, simply human beings and they are not so perfect as to never make any mistake at all. ANd while they do have education, they also still do have their own beliefs, opinions, thoughts and ideas.
SOmething else to keep in mind? weigh out the pros and co ns of the treatment, whatever the treatment is. WHat is your specific measurable goal? What do you expect for a positive benefit from a medication. Lay that next to the possible risks of using that medication. Look the medication up- if you do not understand the language, use a medical dictionary. Ask questions, speak up. SOme of us are willing to accept more risks than others, thats obvious by how people act in a casino. SOme will bet the bank and some are far more conservative. Is the expected outcome from this medication worth the possible risks? Only you know. If something goes wrong or badly.....it is not the doctor or the nurse or the pharmacist who will have a hole in their family. It is not the doctor nurse or pharmacist who will end up with a damaged child........Research the medications. Read about them from a variety of sources. Learn what you are dealing with.
