I am hoping there is somebody reading this who can help me to help my son. He is 23 years old and is awaiting assessment for Aspergers. He was different from birth, being extremely clingy and distressed all the time. Problems persisted throughout childhood and teenage years, but as a very protective mother, I always worked around these difficulties and made things easier on him believing he was just a sensitive, shy, under-confident boy. Since the age of 16 yrs things have steadily deteriorated and he has been on anti-depressants and anti anxiety medication since then. It has taken me years to get him to engage with services to get to the bottom of things which didn't go well, but in the past year he has become desperate and suicidal. For the first time he has been able to express his feelings, thoughts and emotions which now make sense to me, but as a mother I have been very slow to get on to the complication of his life and what a daily struggle he has. One of the worst problems is that he has social phobia as well and finds it difficult to deal with people on many levels. As a result, he is restricted in life, unable to work, educate himself, socialise, do sports etc. He rarely goes out and even at home, contact with others is restricted. He has frequent 'melt downs' for the slightest thing. He is extremely anxious, depressed and suicidal. He is begging me to let him go - he doesn't want to live any more and does not feel he can continue with his life in a world he does not want to be part of. Through persistence, I got him referrred to a psychiatrist and he is currently undergoing assessment for psychology as well as waiting for the Aspergers Assessment. It is a slow process. His medication, Carbamezapine, Martazapine and intermittent tranquillisers are not helping any more. The only thing that helps is smoking pot (which she stopped a while ago) because it calms his rushing brain and gives him some respite, but it is unaffordable, not least illegal. Having read up on Aspergers, it is clear to me that he has many of the traits.
I would like to know if anyone else has experience with a suicidal child, what treatments there are for Aspergers, what other things may help - anything I can do to help alleviate my son's condition - is there light at the end of this bleak tunnel? His suicide is not an option for me, though I know I cannot control and watch over him. He wants me and the family to accept this as an inevetability and allow him to go without guilt of what this will do to us. I am desperate with worry - can anybody help? Many thanks for reading my long email. x
