Did meds help your child?

[Kimmy b123]

I am just wondering if there are any parents here that had their child on meds? Did they work and help? Thanks

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[hopeangel]

Hello Kimmy!

My dd was put on meds after her first breakdown, which was terrible, she suffered with psychosis during that period over the course of several months she remained in hospital for observation and to keep her from killing herself.

She was tried on two other drugs until they settled on Seraquel for her, which has seemed to help stablise her and help her with anxiety, sleep and mood.

She is better on her meds than off and when she used to resist taking them a while ago she would go into decline every time.

HTH

[griz]

Hello Kimmy:  I don't think there is a one size fits all for medications.  It seems that some people do well on one medication while other's seem to do better on other meds.  As for my DD,  She was put on medication when she first started to show signs of anxiety and depression.  She was put on lexapro and it spiraled down from there.  As she got worse they tried adding meds, changing meds and she continued to feel worse emotionally, along with gaining 60lbs and losing half of her beautiful hair.  She decided one day that she was done with the meds and stopped taking them.  She told her P that she was going to stop and he cautioned her to withdraw slowly because of the side effects.  She told him she was done and would rather deal with the side effects than take another pill.  We watched her closely over the next two weeks and it was horrible watching the withdrawal from the meds but in her case I think she was right.  After the withdrawal we started to notice small changes in a positive way and she is much better off the meds.

I am not advocating that people should  not be on medication however I feel it is a very personal experience.  For DD the meds made things worse but the therapy made a difference.

Griz

[TiredMama]

We went thru many different combos before a doctor (with 58 yrs of practice experience ) hit upon a perfect combination of Ability and Lamictal. It saved our lives. My daughter experienced about 18 mos of relative stability and minimal side effects. Then she randomly decided she was no longer taking meds.  (she also told a doctor last week that she had outgrown her PD now that she's a legal adult  ). It's been down hill since she's been med free. I resisted putting her on meds but after she tried to harm me, it was that or she had to go. It took time to fined the right ones. She was happy when she was stable... .and so was the rest of the family.

[crumblingdad]

Our DD16 seems to do better with minimal meds.  We've been through quite a few and only one has been a constant that has been truly beneficial.

She started on Zoloft at 100mg per day and this has been increased to 200mg per day and this seems to be the one that has remained throughout and helps take the edge off for her most and we do see a noticeable change when she has gone periods without it.  This was for depression as well as to take edge off anxiety.

Early on Adavan was prescribed for anxiety.  She had a history of Benzo abuse and her mom was with her when Psych prescribed - when I discovered this I was adamant that it was discontinued due to the likelihood of abuse.  Her mom noticed she was a zombie when she did take it so the effects weren't really advantageous.

Due to the Benzo probs we had early on she was complaining of night terrors from PTSD and anxiety so they did also prescribe Clonidine just to be taken at bedtime and I think it was somewhat helpful but she was constantly back and forth sometimes saying it did knock her out but often made her nightmares worse. 

Also had Hydroxizine (basically like Benadryl) prescribed as an "as needed" for anxiety during day and from time to time she took it and it would help but made her very sleepy.  She doesn't take it anymore.

She got Adderal prescribed for "ADD" at one point but after a month or two I was suspicious she was simply getting them to get high on amphetamine.  She later admitted she knew exactly what to tell her Psych and snowed him to convince him she had ADD and get this prescribed so we refused to refill anymore. 

Seroquel was prescribed at one point at night, as a stronger alternative to clonidine, to help with nightmares and sleep.  She took it for a few weeks but she was actively using and getting into Heroin at that point.  I had stressed the dangers of using alcohol and/or anything with such a strong med to her, strangely she heeded those warnings so never took it very consistently and when she did it made her so groggy the next morning she hated it.

I believe her RTC just started giving her Naltrexone but that's simply due to her heroin addiction recover and unrelated to anything BPD, just to help her reduce her cravings so she can focus more on her recovery.

They have by far the best psych we have had treating her currently and she doesn't believe DD needs anything more then the Zoloft and DD has been as stable as ever but she's in a structured RTC setting.  Personally I'm not a fan of meds, although not opposed , just prefer a minimalistic approach to them.  However, it's a personal choice and try to leave that to the professionals as much as possible.  I've seen nothing truly effective with meds in helping her outside of the Zoloft over last 3 years.

[sunshineplease]

Such a tough question because (as mentioned) everyone responds differently to meds. In addition, BPD symptoms vary widely, and some symptoms are more responsive to drugs than others.

I look at these medications the way I do painkillers. If the pain is bad enough (and who's to say but the person living with the pain?), they're worth a try. Like any pain med, they don't cure anything, but they may make life bearable. At the same time, if the meds don't do the job, or the side effects are untenable, it's just not worth it. My husband, for example, was put on oxycodone after a knee replacement. The drug worked fine, but completely screwed with his sleep: In the end, he decided he'd rather live with the pain.

In UD18's case, the meds were a distraction. Zoloft "for anxiety and depression" did nothing, so she switched to Prozac. No improvement we could see, though she claims she felt a little better. (We thought it had more to do with spring's longer days, plus falling in love for the first time.) Either way, she had to come off it, due to weight gain and vaginal bleeding. So she switched to Lexapro: Same problem. A second prescriber added Seroquel and then Cymbalta, and that's what dd was on when she started posting suicide-related messages on the internet, her cutting intensified, and she was unable to attend school. After hospitalization, she finally got off most of these, but took a side trip down the Trazadone highway in a wilderness program, thanks to a third prescriber who didn't understand how much dd was hoping "just taking pills" would be the answer. In the end, based on what we were seeing, and in conjunction with her T, we decided we simply wouldn't pay for any more meds: DD had been waiting a year for them to work, and wasn't doing nearly the work she should have been doing (in our opinion). So she entered a RTC off all meds, and she's been med-free for 9 months. At the same time, she's done a ton of hard emotional work, and things are looking a lot brighter -- fingers crossed, of course.

Not sure where you live, but here in the U.S. it's an insurance-company driven world, where drugs are often covered to a larger degree than the evidence-based therapies that seem to work best for BPD. At the same time, there is a logical desire among health care providers, parents, and patients just to "get some relief." Unfortunately, BPD is a many-fanged beast, and there don't seem to be easy answers.

I hope you find the right combination of interventions to help your child.

[BioAdoptMom3]

A combination of 20 mg. of Prozac and 5 mg. of Abilify has been a godsend to us with our DD!  We saw marked improvement when they added the Abilify!