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Plain talk about medications and our children
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<blockquote data-quote="Hound dog" data-source="post: 485457" data-attributes="member: 84"><p>Do I think docs hand out medications too quickly? Yes, I do. And I don't lay the blame completely at the docs feet either. Parents, as a whole, in today's society want quick fixes......they want to go to a doctor and get a pill that will make it all better. It's not just for behavior either, they do it for every little bug that comes along too. So then you have reg docs scripting antibiotics for viruses even though they do squat for a virus simply because they don't have the guts to tell parents that there is little more to do but take the child home and treat the symptoms. Why don't they have the guts? Because most parents will have a holy fit and demand they <strong>do</strong> something for their child.</p><p></p><p>Realize that what I said above was meant in the generalized sense. It does not mean every parent is that way. </p><p></p><p>I'm not anti-medication by a long shot. But I do feel there are far too many kids taking some serious medications even when the long term effects on children is not really known, some at what would be considered high doses for adults. That alarms me. Ok fine, if the reason behind it is sound and everything else has been tried (including thinking outside the box), and the benefit outweighs the risk, then fine. Problem is, most of the time it's lets toss medications at the problem and see if they help is the first step, even if the diagnosis is unclear or they're not even sure there IS a diagnosis. Yup. That's what worries me.</p><p></p><p>I was talked into giving medications to Travis against my better judgement. It was a disaster. A dangerous disaster. There was not one benefit to the medication for him at all. In fact, he had a horrid reaction to it. I made them drop the medication and refused any others except his seizure medications. We worked on behavior ect without the aide of medications. It was harder probably, but in my opinion it was worth it and he did just fine.</p><p></p><p>When medications came up with Nichole I was of course leery. I made them use a more cautious approach, MUCH more cautious approach. Her first medication she reacted to horrifically, it was dropped. Due to her symptoms we tried again because the possible benefit outweighed the risk of another bad reaction. Still, I made it clear to her psychiatrists I wanted her on the lowest possible doses. We didn't increase doses simply because behavior changed.....we waited and tried other methods first. Honestly, I don't think she had but one medication increase the entire time on medications and when she weaned off them she was still below the recommended dosage for every one of them. I dropped her first psychiatrist because all he wanted to do was keep increasing her medications and would get ticked when I'd tell him no.</p><p></p><p>So I had one kid we did without medications and the other where it was necessary to help her become and maintain stability. Nichole has been off medications since she was about 18 yrs old. </p><p></p><p>I worry because I've seen docs hand out the diagnosis of the week without ever really evaluating a child to be certain they even had the diagnosis, then scripting medications left and right. Parents don't hold a medical degree and trust the people treating their kids, so go along with it.......often these kids get worse because they either don't need medications at all or they're on the wrong medications because their diagnosis is wrong. psychiatrists poo poo it because 90 percent of them spend an average of less than 10 mins with each child. (now tell me they have a clue) So you have the parents dragging their kids from one doctor to the next hoping for the right answers and the right treatment.......and the kid becoming more and more resistant to treatment. (sometimes I can't blame them)</p><p></p><p>I'm not going to say a parent should or shouldn't medicate their child. Each child is different and each situation is different.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hound dog, post: 485457, member: 84"] Do I think docs hand out medications too quickly? Yes, I do. And I don't lay the blame completely at the docs feet either. Parents, as a whole, in today's society want quick fixes......they want to go to a doctor and get a pill that will make it all better. It's not just for behavior either, they do it for every little bug that comes along too. So then you have reg docs scripting antibiotics for viruses even though they do squat for a virus simply because they don't have the guts to tell parents that there is little more to do but take the child home and treat the symptoms. Why don't they have the guts? Because most parents will have a holy fit and demand they [B]do[/B] something for their child. Realize that what I said above was meant in the generalized sense. It does not mean every parent is that way. I'm not anti-medication by a long shot. But I do feel there are far too many kids taking some serious medications even when the long term effects on children is not really known, some at what would be considered high doses for adults. That alarms me. Ok fine, if the reason behind it is sound and everything else has been tried (including thinking outside the box), and the benefit outweighs the risk, then fine. Problem is, most of the time it's lets toss medications at the problem and see if they help is the first step, even if the diagnosis is unclear or they're not even sure there IS a diagnosis. Yup. That's what worries me. I was talked into giving medications to Travis against my better judgement. It was a disaster. A dangerous disaster. There was not one benefit to the medication for him at all. In fact, he had a horrid reaction to it. I made them drop the medication and refused any others except his seizure medications. We worked on behavior ect without the aide of medications. It was harder probably, but in my opinion it was worth it and he did just fine. When medications came up with Nichole I was of course leery. I made them use a more cautious approach, MUCH more cautious approach. Her first medication she reacted to horrifically, it was dropped. Due to her symptoms we tried again because the possible benefit outweighed the risk of another bad reaction. Still, I made it clear to her psychiatrists I wanted her on the lowest possible doses. We didn't increase doses simply because behavior changed.....we waited and tried other methods first. Honestly, I don't think she had but one medication increase the entire time on medications and when she weaned off them she was still below the recommended dosage for every one of them. I dropped her first psychiatrist because all he wanted to do was keep increasing her medications and would get ticked when I'd tell him no. So I had one kid we did without medications and the other where it was necessary to help her become and maintain stability. Nichole has been off medications since she was about 18 yrs old. I worry because I've seen docs hand out the diagnosis of the week without ever really evaluating a child to be certain they even had the diagnosis, then scripting medications left and right. Parents don't hold a medical degree and trust the people treating their kids, so go along with it.......often these kids get worse because they either don't need medications at all or they're on the wrong medications because their diagnosis is wrong. psychiatrists poo poo it because 90 percent of them spend an average of less than 10 mins with each child. (now tell me they have a clue) So you have the parents dragging their kids from one doctor to the next hoping for the right answers and the right treatment.......and the kid becoming more and more resistant to treatment. (sometimes I can't blame them) I'm not going to say a parent should or shouldn't medicate their child. Each child is different and each situation is different. [/QUOTE]
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