Debate Over Children and Psychiatric Drugs

[m_levesque]

One of the symptoms associated with childhood BPD is separation anxiety. If a child is placed in public care from an early age and has separation anxiety, the situation will become much worse. The caregiver will treat the symptoms, but the problem is never resolved.
http://www.bpkids.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_about

It's strange, when we were growing up we didn't see these so-called disorders in kids. We behaved because we respected and possibly feared our parents and other adults. In short, we knew our place in the scheme of things. I would no more have demanded anything from my parents than I would have acted up in school or church.

Now, allot of kids are, to be frank, absoulte little monsters. Prima donnas who parade through the malls as if money was their God-given right and we adults must kow-tow to their moods and needs.

And when they misbehave because they lack attention, what's the modern answer? Psycho-babble and dope. Keep them medicated because that makes them easier to deal with.

 

[Ariadne]

It's strange, when we were growing up we didn't see these so-called disorders in kids. We behaved because we respected and possibly feared our parents and other adults. In short, we knew our place in the scheme of things. I would no more have demanded anything from my parents than I would have acted up in school or church.

Now, allot of kids are, to be frank, absoulte little monsters. Prima donnas who parade through the malls as if money was their God-given right and we adults must kow-tow to their moods and needs.

And when they misbehave because they lack attention, what's the modern answer? Psycho-babble and dope. Keep them medicated because that makes them easier to deal with.

I would be interested in knowing what percentage of children from single parent families are on drugs for ADHD. It seems to me that single moms often have difficulties managing their children so if they can medicate them to get them to slow down a little, they might.

When I was in grade school there was always one guy that was the class clown ... never focused on learning. That guy made the classroom experience bearable but today, that guy would be drugged into silence ... and is probably still learn nothing.

 

[selfactivated]

I've just been reading up on bi-polar disorder in children. Have you ever thought of writing a book about your experience of raising a child with BPD? It would be useful in educating the public about the experience. It seems that medications are not tested on children so doctors use trial and error to find what medications work on children ... seems like a rather dangerous experiment but perhaps necessary in some situations.

I have several books Id like to write. But that one is to raw still to deal with just yet. I tear up just talking of him still.

 

[gc]

The police said the girl had been taking a potent cocktail of psychiatric drugs since age 2, when she was given a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorder, which is characterized by mood swings.

:scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch:

How do you diagnose a 2 year old with ADD??

:scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch:

 

[Ariadne]

:scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch:

How do you diagnose a 2 year old with ADD??

:scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch::scratch:

That seems to be the big question. Seems to me that normal 2 year old behavior could easily mimic bipolar disorder. I'm disappointed that the doctor's colleagues are all standing behind the diagnosis.

 

[gc]

That seems to be the big question. Seems to me that normal 2 year old behavior could easily mimic bipolar disorder. I'm disappointed that the doctor's colleagues are all standing behind the diagnosis.

Exactly.

 

[tracy]

That seems to be the big question. Seems to me that normal 2 year old behavior could easily mimic bipolar disorder. I'm disappointed that the doctor's colleagues are all standing behind the diagnosis.

I have to say, I doubt the doctor would be incapable of differentiating normal 2 year old behavior from seriously different behavioral problems. I've seen kids as young as 7 with real symptoms of mental illness.

 

[selfactivated]

My nephew was diagnosed at 4 and the eeg's have proven it still at age 12. He's ADHD

 

[WilliamAshley]

my gawd,

psychotropics are terrible.. the fact they are prescribing this to a todler is insane.
how the hell do you diagnose a two year old as having a psychiatric issue?

half the issues themselves are caused by the prescriptions..

totally unneeded..

there were kids before these drugs came around...

 

[Ariadne]

I have to say, I doubt the doctor would be incapable of differentiating normal 2 year old behavior from seriously different behavioral problems. I've seen kids as young as 7 with real symptoms of mental illness.

Doctors make mistakes ... big ones and too often. Here's the drug that was prescribed to my then 10 year son last spring at 10 mg (I have the bottle in front of me): metoclopramide ... also known as maxeran.

Then check out the risks: "Children—Muscle spasms, especially of jaw, neck, and back, and tic-like (jerky) movements of head and face may be especially likely to occur in children, who are usually more sensitive than adults to the effects of metoclopramide." (http://www.healthtouch.com/bin/EContent_HT/drugShowLfts.asp?fname=usp0061.htm&title=Maxeran&cid=HT)

"Children: Daily dose should not exceed 0.5 mg/kg, since with higher doses extrapyramidal symptoms frequently occur." (http://www.rxmed.com/b.main/b2.phar...phs/CPS- (General Monographs- M)/MAXERAN.html)

"Children (5 to 14 years): 2.5 to 5 mL (2.5 to 5 mg) 3 times a day before meals, depending on response and body weight. (above link)

The neurology department pharmacist at the local Children's Hospital prescribed 10 mg three times per day to treat a migraine. This is a serious mistake and if my son has been a victim of sloppy doctors, than I think it can happen to anyone.

I have an arsenal of drugs like this one ... serious stuff ... some of which is reserved for cancer patients and all of it is prescribed to my son to treat migraine.

extrapyramidal symptoms = "EPS can cause a variety of symptoms, e.g. involuntary movements, tremors and rigidity, body estlessness, muscle contractions and changes in breathing and heart rate."

What are doctors thinking!

 

[sanctus]

my gawd,

psychotropics are terrible.. the fact they are prescribing this to a todler is insane.
how the hell do you diagnose a two year old as having a psychiatric issue?

half the issues themselves are caused by the prescriptions..

totally unneeded..

there were kids before these drugs came around...

I'm rather of the same opinion. I despair of people who are medicated in order to deal with their issues. It seems as if we as a society are preferring to keep people doped up than attempt to actually deal with their issues/problems.

 

[Curiosity]

I think the docs are probably medicating the parents' needs for compliance in their child....

If the doctor didn't prescribe medication the parents might go to another doctor if the behavior continued until they found one who would prescribe something.....

Behavior changes take a long time especially with young children, and often a pair of working parents don't have the money for professional behavior attention, or the time to invest themselves, so they medicate to get a quick fix, when in fact they make the child dependent on the meds and sicker than before.

It's a terrible situation to be in.

 

[csanopal]

I'm glad I grew up when I did. I wouldn't want to be
one of these zombie kids. My bro's and I were bat crap crazy
and they would of drugged us up if they could have.


Some times I think that parents just don't want to pay attention to their children anymore.

 

[csanopal]

I think the docs are probably medicating the parents' needs for compliance in their child....

If the doctor didn't prescribe medication the parents might go to another doctor if the behavior continued until they found one who would prescribe something.....

Behavior changes take a long time especially with young children, and often a pair of working parents don't have the money for professional behavior attention, or the time to invest themselves, so they medicate to get a quick fix, when in fact they make the child dependent on the meds and sicker than before.

It's a terrible situation to be in.

God forbid learning parenting skills and the patience it requires...let's just drug the little buggers and get on with watching American 'Idle' and munching cheese-puffs and moon-pies.

Hey....its expensive to bring new drugs to market what with the animal and human trials, the advertising in the trades, paying off the pesky FDA, patent lawyers, insurance companies and the like.

Let's simply diagnose EVERYONE with some vague malady or another so everyone gets to put money into the coffers of Merck, Lily, Pfizer, Squib, et al.

 

[Ariadne]

God forbid learning parenting skills and the patience it requires...let's just drug the little buggers and get on with watching American 'Idle' and munching cheese-puffs and moon-pies.

Hey....its expensive to bring new drugs to market what with the animal and human trials, the advertising in the trades, paying off the pesky FDA, patent lawyers, insurance companies and the like.

Let's simply diagnose EVERYONE with some vague malady or another so everyone gets to put money into the coffers of Merck, Lily, Pfizer, Squib, et al.

I think you're right about experimental drug use in children. There is very little information about the effects of drugs for treating adult problems in children. Reading about BPD yesterday, the treatment appears to be a hit and miss use of adult drugs on children and with migraine in children, it's the same. If parent's don't use their children as guinea pigs, the doctors get a bit rude and imply that the parents are uncooperative.

Although the 2 year old probably was acting out, the parents may well have been concerned about giving her the prescribed drugs. They would have been faced with a team of doctors telling them that they only way they could help is if the parents do as they are told. The parents would have felt a bit helpless no matter what route they chose.

 

[tracy]

Doctors make mistakes ... big ones and too often. Here's the drug that was prescribed to my then 10 year son last spring at 10 mg (I have the bottle in front of me): metoclopramide ... also known as maxeran.

"Children: Daily dose should not exceed 0.5 mg/kg, since with higher doses extrapyramidal symptoms frequently occur." (http://www.rxmed.com/b.main/b2.phar...phs/CPS- (General Monographs- M)/MAXERAN.html)

"Children (5 to 14 years): 2.5 to 5 mL (2.5 to 5 mg) 3 times a day before meals, depending on response and body weight. (above link)

Though it may well have been the case with your child, something like this isn't necessarily a medication error. The dose you have listed is for treatment of digestive problems, not migraines. That's why for other problems it doesn't have a definite dose, it says the doctor will determine the dose. The dosing for the same med used differently is often different. We use maxeran all the time where I work and we give more than 0.5mg/kg as our daily dose. Generally we give twice that because that's what the effective dose is for our patients and their condition. One 10 mg dose could be too much or it could be fine depending on the child, his weight, his condition, etc. If he or she weighed more than 20 kg and was using the med once a day, then 10 mg would still fall into the 0.5mg/kg daily dose.

Pharmacology is a very complicated subject, especially when it comes to pediatric and neonatal patients.

 

[marygaspe]

I am speaking as an "old mom". My kids are raised and out. But what troubles me about this new generation of mothers is their reliance on drugs to handle their children. I'm sorry to sound so blunt, but I would never give my kids uppers or downers(which is really what we are talking about here) It truly confuses me how readily parents are to seek medication for children who would benefit more from a good spanking than a pill

 

[Curiosity]

Many of the warnings on prescription inserts - are in compliance with possible future litigation and are not necessarily going to be the outcome of a medication....

Ariadne - if your ten year old was prescribed such a drug for migraines....did the doctor do a thorough physical check up prior to recommending anything?

A history of the onset of the migraines - certain allergies to certain foods can set them off - eyesight impairment - lack of ability to focus - especially when they are deeply involved in schoolwork, computer, and classroom chalkboard reading.... terrible light sensitivity is often never picked up and some children have a terrible time with changing light patterns such as a sudden burst of sunlight from behind clouds...this can tick off a headache so badly.... just plain anxiety over a party or a school test.... or blood sugar irregularities..... even a spider bite...or worse a child your son is having to deal with at school such as a bully or a highly competitive one your child does not get along with.

Allergy tests would be the first with a regular eye chart exam and hearing and also teeth eruption- with the molars especially.... tonsils, and all the regular childhood stuff.

I am not writing this in the assumption it hasn't been done, but what does your doctor base the son's migraine onset upon? Has he given you the reasons for prescribing the medication? What is it supposed to do for your child? Is it a temorary fix, a cautionary trial, or a permanent part of your son's future life?

It must be a nightmare for families choosing among all of the offerings placed before them, whether to work, whether to stay home, whether to go to a doctor or try some home remedy, and it could take quite a while to pin down what the problem is..... but rather than the quick fix, I'd take parental
investigation along with a bit of an "old fashioned doc"....for a while....before introduction of anything medicinal prescribed on a regular basis.... which may (or not) set up another set of symptoms.

 

[Curiosity]

I am speaking as an "old mom". My kids are raised and out. But what troubles me about this new generation of mothers is their reliance on drugs to handle their children. I'm sorry to sound so blunt, but I would never give my kids uppers or downers(which is really what we are talking about here) It truly confuses me how readily parents are to seek medication for children who would benefit more from a good spanking than a pill

Mary

Sometimes in a child's world, a tantrum gets the attention from the hardworking parents who are trying to be perfect and have loaded themselves down with far too many tasks to be aware parents
all the time. Kids don't know how to express frustration and unhappiness and inattention.

What if an alternative was in place to pre-empt the angry tantrum.... like a few minutes when kids get home from school or parents get home from work...they are met with complete sitting down attention, cuddling, talking about their day - good and bad stuff - discussing dinner choices... and maybe even just having a quiet time sitting holding hands....

This is certainly less expensive than prescriptions and their side-effects in the long term.... giving the child reassurance the home is a secure place - even if the outside world seems overwhelming.

 

[marygaspe]

Mary

Sometimes in a child's world, a tantrum gets the attention from the hardworking parents who are trying to be perfect and have loaded themselves down with far too many tasks to be aware parents
all the time. Kids don't know how to express frustration and unhappiness and inattention.

What if an alternative was in place to pre-empt the angry tantrum.... like a few minutes when kids get home from school or parents get home from work...they are met with complete sitting down attention, cuddling, talking about their day - good and bad stuff - discussing dinner choices... and maybe even just having a quiet time sitting holding hands....

This is certainly less expensive than prescriptions and their side-effects in the long term.... giving the child reassurance the home is a secure place - even if the outside world seems overwhelming.

Yes, but better, and here I am going to irritate allot of other women, but even better,how about if the couple makes some hard financial decisions about their goals as parents and Mom stays hom with the kids at least until they are young teenagers?That's what we did. We did without allot, for sure, but when my kids came home from school they came home to me in the house. I suppose it is not possible for all parents to do this, but if possible, this is the best solution yet! The reason we didn't see these so called psycho-babble "afflictions" in children when I was growing up and when we raised kids was because we were attentive parents.