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Medication for 13 year old - your experiences please

Dizzy

Hi, my 13 year old daughter has a psychiatric appointment on Friday to discuss possible medication. She is highly anxious, specifically in school, to the point that she hallucinates because of the anxiety and is currently at the point where she hasn't been able to attend school for the last few weeks and when she does go in, she comes home after an hour or so. She is not depressed, other than when she thinks about having to attend school, and has a recent ASC diagnosis. 

A friend suggested Propranolol as a good way of managing anxiety but apparently when our GP (who was happy to prescribe this with the permission of CYPMHS) spoke to the psychiatrist about it, he said it wouldn't be suitable. He wants to discuss Sertraline or Fluoxetine, along with possibly Melatonin or Promethazine for sleep. I am nervous about things like Sertraline, so wondered if anyone could tell me about their experiences of any meds that have helped with anxiety (or any that have caused problems)? 

Parents

  • Thanks all. The hallucinations have been looked into and they are definitely due to high anxiety rather than anything else thank goodness. As Martin says, anxiety can cause all sorts of symptoms unfortunately. I do agree that meds need to be approached with caution, so I want to go into the appointment on Friday as clued up as possible. My daughter wants to find a way of being able to handle the school environment but that is currently impossible due to her high anxiety. I would like her to be calm enough to be able to try another school, which I believe would handle her needs better, but she is currently too scared to try anything new.

Reply

  • Thanks all. The hallucinations have been looked into and they are definitely due to high anxiety rather than anything else thank goodness. As Martin says, anxiety can cause all sorts of symptoms unfortunately. I do agree that meds need to be approached with caution, so I want to go into the appointment on Friday as clued up as possible. My daughter wants to find a way of being able to handle the school environment but that is currently impossible due to her high anxiety. I would like her to be calm enough to be able to try another school, which I believe would handle her needs better, but she is currently too scared to try anything new.

Children
  • in reply to Dizzy

    Does her present school have useful accommodations for your daughter's ASC? Very simple things can help a lot, being able to sit wherever she wants in classrooms, being able to sit or stand if necessary. Always having the option of leaving a class if overwhelmed, is also useful and the provision of a quiet place, like a library, as a refuge for whenever she needs it can help greatly. The ability to 'time-out' can stop anxiety from escalating to the point where she is in a meltdown or shut-down situation and has to leave school entirely. Also teachers giving her a sort of weekly lesson plan before hand can help with levels of uncertainty, which exacerbate anxiety.