Med Holiday for a child?

[gamecaco4]

I know what a med holiday is and what it is for, but would like to know, first hand, how hard is it? How hard is it on the child (in this case a 10 year old) to go through coming off of four meds? He's on Concerta 54mg, zoloft 100, geodon 40, and guanfacine 1.

Also, for parents who have been through a med holiday with their child, how was it for you? Did you do admit them to the hospital for the duration? If so, how long were they there? Why did you do it and would you do it again?

I'm trying to prepare myself. For 6 months, we've been trying "one last thing" before starting over, but we're done. He's done.

 

[wyverary]

First of all, that is a lot of medication for a ten-year-old, especially Zoloft which can be VERY dangerous in younger people. My first suggestion would be to SWITCH DOCTORS.

Also, be aware, that with certain meds, suddenly stopping them can be extremely dangerous. I recommend seeking out another doctor and talking to them about it. I certainly would not recommend changing anything without the advice of a competent professional.

 

[gamecaco4]

First of all, that is a lot of medication for a ten-year-old, especially Zoloft which can be VERY dangerous in younger people. My first suggestion would be to SWITCH DOCTORS.

Also, be aware, that with certain meds, suddenly stopping them can be extremely dangerous. I recommend seeking out another doctor and talking to them about it. I certainly would not recommend changing anything without the advice of a competent professional.

This is the fourth doc that has recommended keeping him on it.

We would not be stopping them cold turkey...we would wean him down until it is safe. We have talked to the last two docs (over the last year) about getting him off meds/starting over. The first basically said "Nope. No point. He's doing well." The second, and current, is on board with this starting over approach if we go through everything else first. Well, we're at that point now. Even though he'll be supervised, I will not do it at home. He will be admitted for the majority of the time he's withdrawing from the meds. I know I can't do it. But I also know I can't do this.

Thanks for your concern!

 

[Tarragon]

Tricky to just hand out advice without knowing what the kid has to deal with. I'm on medication, and starting the slow process of coming off them. Very slow process!

Just out of curiosity (I don't know this) what is a med holiday? Is it to see how someone copes without pills? Is it a chance to let the body recover from taking them? Why all of them all at once? That's got to be a heck of a shock to the system!

Definitely would be cautious.

 

[Evy the Owl]

I personally would advice you to

1. Only do this with the consent of a doctor
   
2. Only go with one med at a time and take it slow. I guess the "easiest" med to stop with would be the Concerta, since it is only in your system for 12 hours and not the whole day.

 

[wyverary]

Only go with one med at a time and take it slow. I guess the "easiest" med to stop with would be the Concerta, since it is only in your system for 12 hours and not the whole day.

*ALERT: NON-PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. TAKE WITH GRAIN OF SALT*
It's my understanding that it's actually better to start with the meds with the longest half-life, as the body has an easier time adjusting when the drug leaves the system slowly rather than suddenly.

But in any case, I agree with both Evy and Tarragon. You haven't provided many details with how the child himself is doing, what his conditions are, and what problems you think the medications may be causing. If you've been through four doctors who all say the same thing, then I doubt any of us here could offer anything of any additional use.

 

[Meistersinger]

Is this child on any benzodiazepines? From sone of the other psychotropic boards I've been on, it's best to taper off the benzodiazepines first, then taper off any of the other drugs.

You may also want to go to the Icarus Project website and download their Harm Reduction guide for getting off psychotropic drugs. Show that guide to the doctor, and see if this would be appropriate in this case.


Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

 

[gamecaco4]

We (as his parents) wouldn't be doing it without the help and consent of a dr. The reasons we want to try this are many. All of his meds were added one at a time over the course of about a year for various reasons. The zoloft was removed while he was hospitalized for suicidal ideations a year ago because, apparently, zoloft can increase suicide risks/depression in pediatric asperger's patients. He was prescribed it again in September because of a new symptom - extreme fear/near phobia of bees and spiders.

Honestly, he's 10 and on 4 psych meds. That is concerning to me. My hope is that we can drop his tolerance to any/all of these meds and possibly get him off some of them. Moreover, we want to know for sure that he needs these meds. It isn't something we are taking lightly or something that we are jumping into. We've been talking it over with the newest dr for 6 months, who agrees that it may need to be done, but wants to try this, that, and the other thing with his current regimen before we take that step. We will NOT be doing it on our own. He will be inpatient at a local (10 mins away) hospital that specializes in pediatric mental health. Why inpatient? If he goes off meds and we find that he gets violent/suicidal/self harming, he and we need to be safe.

 

[Meistersinger]

While I appreciate your concerns, I was making suggestions to run past the doctor, as most don't have the foggiest idea how to slowly and safely get patients off psychoactive drugs. The Harm Reduction guide, was written in consultation with many in the medical and behavioral health fields, such as Dr. Mark Foster, Dr. Chris Gordon, Dr. Bruce Levine, Dr. Bradley Lewis, and Dr. Charles Whitfield, among others.

The whole gist of the Harm Reduction Guide is to come off these drugs very slowly. They recommend a 10% decrease in current medication over several weeks for months. Even then, a 10% drop may be too much, in which case, making a smaller drop, such as 5%, may be needed.

I'm speaking from experience, as my descent into hell started almost 20 years ago, when my PrimaryCare Physician put me on Prozac, then cold turkeyed me off that and put me on Effexor. When Effexor didn't work, he cold turkeyed me again and put me on Elavil. I changed doctors after the Elavil, primarily because I was out of work and lost insurance. The new doctor cold turkeyed me off Elavil, as she did not believe in using psychotropic drugs, as most Osteopaths at the time did not. 10 years later, I was underemployed again and had a breakdown in a different PCP office. This doctor, who was an MD, at least was smart enough not to prescribe. Instead, her office was the community clinic to a regional hospital and I was immediately sent to the psychiatric ER. The hell started again when the psychiatrist put me on citalopram and buspirone. I was eventually put on 60mg of citalopram, and developed signs of heart disease. That drug, and statins, made my LDL and HDL levels worse, and certainly did not help my blood sugars and A1C levels, since I'm also a type 2 diabetic. The final straw, which is how I ended up on SSDI, was Viibryd, which I had every side effect listed on the PI sheet, as well as some that didn't show up on any clinical trials. I've since gotten off Viibryd, and have been taking fish oil and niacin supplements, in addition to Ginko Biloba, vitamin c, b-complex vitamins, zinc, and garlic tablets, as well as a lot of psychotherapy and light therapy to combat the depression. While my psychiatrist approves, he still doesn't have the foggiest idea on how to wean a patient off a drug, even when the PI sheet nowadays tell doctors how to do it, and even after I showed him the harm reduction guide.


In addition, is your child receiving any kind of psychotherapy, such as ABA? The phobia with spiders and insects might be better handled by operant conditioning, which, to me, is what ABA is about. From what little I remember from Psych 101 in college, that's what ABA seems to be based on.

Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

 

[Evy the Owl]

Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

1) Never judge all the psychiatrists, because you've seen three.
2) Never advice someone to just mess with their kids mess without the concern of a doctor. There's a reason you need education about meds to become a doctor/psychiatrist. Messing around with meds on your own is VERY dangerous.
3) I do agree that slowly tapering off is a good idea though. As a med taker myself, I felt the horror when I read you cold-turkeyed psycho-drugs many times.

 

[Tarragon]

. The zoloft was removed while he was hospitalized for suicidal ideations a year ago because, apparently, zoloft can increase suicide risks/depression in pediatric asperger's patients. He was prescribed it again in September because of a new symptom - extreme fear/near phobia of bees and spiders.

Honestly, he's 10 and on 4 psych meds. That is concerning to me .

It does sound alarming, he's only 10!!!

But, what's to stop him just having a phobia about spiders and bees? I've always had arachnophobia but that's nothing to do with Aspergers. NT people can have phobias too. To me, it sounds frankly ridiculous to medicate someone over a phobia.

Can I ask what country you are from? I think there's a big difference in approaches in different countries (Im thinking specifically America, where it seems the norm to give kids pills).

 

[Meistersinger]

1) Never judge all the psychiatrists, because you've seen three.
2) Never advice someone to just mess with their kids mess without the concern of a doctor. There's a reason you need education about meds to become a doctor/psychiatrist. Messing around with meds on your own is VERY dangerous.
3) I do agree that slowly tapering off is a good idea though. As a med taker myself, I felt the horror when I read you cold-turkeyed psycho-drugs many times.

First off, it was not a psychiatrist that put me on this stuff. It was a general practitioner, who didn't even have the training in psychiatry.

Second, even with training in psychopharmacology, most psychiatrists haven't the foggiest idea how to titrate patients of psychotropic drugs. While some are now beginning to get a clue about titration, most still don't.

Third, until very recently, I wasn't even offered any kind of psychotherapy. My problems weren't biological, they were environmental. I was trying to find full-time work, without success, having to take care of an invalid mother, and catching hell from the rest of the family for living at home with her. As far as they were concerned, I was an over-educated, lazy, shiftless SOB that didn't deserve to live. The only time I was good enough to been taken into their confidence was when they needed dirty work done. When it came time to be paid for doing whatever needed to be done, I was ALWAYS shown the door. The only time I saw them offering mom any help is when they wanted something to crow about to their friends and church. Yet, when I asked for help, I was told to go f*** myself.

Fourth, I never said to titrate off a drug without the help of a doctor. I said show this Harm Reduction guide to your doctor and ask if this was a reasonable way to get off the drug.


Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

 

[Arashi222]

You're son is 10yrs old right? All medications in the psychiatric realm seem to have a greater risk of suicidal ideation in younger populations and also in those that have spectrum disorders as we tend to be very sensetive to medication. I have a degree in clinical social work. My recommendation would be to speak with your psychiatrist about it. Let him know delicately how you and your son feel about the medications and that you would like to take him off the medications to allow his body to reset so you can start afresh. He might recommend a hospital setting some drugs are hard to come off of without medical help. Also there are CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapies) that can be used with children on the spectrum to help with anxiety and fear responses. Usually they work best with combination of meds and therapy but for some meds are not a possibility. Good Luck though.