Published on 12, July, 2020
My daughter 14 has been under camhs for 2.5yrs. When first referred she had developed a phobia of eating,, due to a choking incident. We did lots of cbt/exposure therapy. She was diagnosed with arfid and after looking at her as a whole and how she responded to the sessions, which wasn't well ans progress was painfully slow, she was referred ans diagnosed with Autism.
Her eating is now manageable at her usual restrictive level and her weight is stable. She suffers so badly with anxiety, she wants to do social things,, but just can't. Our recent camhs sessions have been to face her fears slowly, that's not gone well at all, she now refuses to engage with camhs at all and just has a meltdown. So next appointment is a review and medication was going to be suggested at this appointment if she hadn't progressed.
I want her to be able to enjoy her childhood without anxiety crippling her, so I'm at the point I think we need to try, but my daughter refuses to take any medication because anything unknown /new triggers anxiety, but the meds might help the anxiety.. So how do you deal with this? Also have people seen benefits with medication in teens?
My daughter went on Sertraline when she was 18. It literally gave her her life back. She went from refusing to go to college, not wanting to leave her room & crying at the doctors surgery to going back to college, getting a part-time job, learning to drive & finding a boyfriend, who she flew over to spend a month with in his country. For her, the effects were dramatic & swift. I would definitely recommend trying them for severe anxiety. Sometimes nothing else works, & things like CBT often make things worse for those with ASD.
Sertraline has helped me too, pretty much the only antidepressant that has worked for me. Also Quetiapine. I see they have been mentioned here before.