Children living with the severe stresses of poverty, says Duff Wilson of the Times, do have twice as high a rate of mental illness than others, accounting for some of the difference. The concern is whether antipsychotics are being prescribed for too many children because it's the easiest and least expensive thing for doctors to do.
The study, says Wilson, found that poor children often received antipsychotics for conditions such as ADHD and conduct disorders - uses for which the drugs have not been approved. It's not illegal to do this, but the drugs may not really be helping, either. And another concern is the long-term health risks of these medications - obesity and metabolic changes.
Have you had an experience where you believed your child was prescribed an antipsychotic drug inappropriately? Was Medicaid a factor?
~Marcia
Source:
Wilson, Duff. Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics. The New York Times. 11 Dec 2009. Web. 14 Dec 2009.
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no. my child has been diagnosed with bp since she was 7. she only had 1 pdoc that believed that more was better.
i adopted my daughter, through the state, so she has state health ins. when she was diagnosed, the pdoc started her on resperdal. by the end of the first week, i called because she was sleeping 14 hrs a day and wetting the bed every night. not only that, she was so constipated that i could smell fecal material on her breath. i called the pdoc and had her seen immedialtely.
he changed her mood stabilizer to depakote. its been working ever since.
we’ve had 3 pdocs since. all with the less is more theory. in fact, the one we have now, frequently asks me if we can lower the amount of medication she takes. shes doing great, her behavior is under control, shes just now starting to enjoy school, she growing in therapy, and i really am starting to enjoy her company, so i keep saying no because i know if we change anything, i will lose my daughter, as i know her, for anywhere from 6 months to 2 years.
if it weren’t for medicaid, i wouldn’t be able to afford to take care of my daughter. they pay for all her meds, her pdoc visits and her therapy. it isn’t all about the medications, its about working with a therapist so that you can be a functioning member of society.
the thing is parents have to be involved and proactive. if the parent doesn’t like the medication the docs give their children, they have a right and a duty to seek out another doctor or at least ask questions. i guess the fact that i am an r.n. helps me with the ins and outs of medications. becoming educated about what your child has been diagnosed with is a must. also asking questions of the doc like, “if this was your child, would you try this medication?”
i sometimes think, we as parents, are to into the automatic fix. if we think that a pill can fix what is going on with our child we would rather give them that than really work with them so that they can learn to cope. i also realize that we all have to work, and as a single mother myself, it is really difficult to raise my daughter as well as to support her. it would be easier if i didnt have to take her to therapy every week, not to mention taking care of the melt downs at home, school, and church, but i also know that it takes a really long time to accomplish what has to be done to have my daughter become a functioning member of society. since she is not a throw away child, i keep plugging along.
research shows what research shows. what it doesn’t show is that the reason we have so many more kids on antipsychotics is because we have so many more young single mothers that are trying to do the best they can with little education and support. these moms are just doing what they are told by the doctors, who supposedly know more than they are supposed to know about what is going on with their child. so really, who is to blame?
i was told by psychiatrists that i may have bipolar disorder but i wont allow myself to be diagnosed with it because i think they take away your gun rights and the process to get a gun legally while on disability for bipolar sounds like it would take years.
Yes. My son was put in Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch in Billings, Montana. They give the kids there Risperdal at night time to “ease them”, which I think is terrible and just so they will go to bed. I have been researching this product and it said that it was not intended for children, nor was it ever tested on children. My son has ADHD, NOT bipolar. This is a med given to kids with autism and bipolar people. If he doesn’t have any of those, why are they giving this to him? I have no control over it either because he is now in the state of Wyoming’s custody, for the CHINS act (child in need of supervision). I am doing everything in my power to try to get him back and protect my son. I think they just want to medicate these kids and put them in restraints all the time instead of giving them therapy without drugs. They are children and their brains are still developing. This can be harmful in the long run. Or even fatal.