Psych meds for 3yo?

amother

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 7:50 pm

Anyone with wisdom? Pediatrician recommended psych meds, SSRI or Risperidone or similar. We have an upcoming appointment to discuss it more in depth. I'm totally for meds when they're handled responsibly and are likely to help, but 3 feels way too young to me. Child is autistic and self-harms when anxious, which is a lot. I don't want child to have scars, or at least limit the ones already caused. Aside from that, functioning has worse lately. Lots of meltdowns and lashing out at siblings, tantrums and unable to be soothed is getting worse. But still, 3 years old on psych meds??? Doctor even said usually he doesn't suggest it until age 5 or 6 at the youngest. I just want what's right for my child. I'm scared if we put child on meds then we won't even know child's true temperament and baseline, because meds might skew it.

amother

Floralwhite

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 7:53 pm

Is this your regular pediatrician recommending it or is this a specialist . If it were your regular Ped I would say get a second opinion from either a neurologist who specializes in this field or I’m not sure maybe a psychiatrist. Don’t put child on meds through a regular pediatrician. You need someone who understands and deals with cases like this all the time. Call relief or Shuki Berman and see who they recommend you can see. Wish you much clarity and hatzlacha, it’s such a hard call

amother

Violet

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:03 pm

Hi op. Hugs. I have 2 high functioning asd kids. One is 8 one is 4. The older one I waited till 7 to put on meds bec I was against it and had a bunch of excuses not to.
My 4 year old is a carbon of my 8 year and I spoke to 8 year olds psychiatrist and he said I can bring 4 year old in already so I plan to make an appt asap bec I see the difference the meds make and y wait till hes 7 and suffer more

amother

Turquoise

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:06 pm

Please please please look into pandas and pans and brain inflammation. There is a reason these kids act this way and there are things to do. Many kids get it when they’re very young and it’s misdiagnosed as autism. My child was acting the way you are describing when they got pandas, our pediatrician was telling us it as asd and referring us to neuro and saying we might need psych meds, we treated pandas aggressively and now they are a different kid.

amother

Babypink

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:09 pm

Speak to a qualified pediatric psychiatrist. No one here can tell you what to do. This isn’t something to play with, in either direction. If she needs it you need to give it and if she can be helped in other ways then meds can be harmful.

amother

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:30 pm

amother [ Turquoise ] wrote:

My child was diagnosed in infancy. We’ve been through all the testing and experts and specialists and on and on and on. Paper trail is a mile long and nothing is new. ASD isn’t the only diagnosis but it’s the one I’m told is causing this particular issue.

I agree with going through a specialist for actual meds but we’re starting the discussion with our regular pediatrician. If we decide to go further I’ll probably take child to the hospital based developmental pediatrics clinic where child is also a patient. I know nobody here can tell us what to do but I’m asking mainly to hear from parents who medicated such young children and in hindsight would they do it again or wait?

amother

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:33 pm

amother [ Blonde ] wrote:

Please go to a child psychiatrist first to properly evaluate your child. 3 is very young, and pediatricians aren't specifically trained for psych disorders.

Specifically psychiatrist? Can a neurologist prescribe? Or developmental ped? What would be the benefit of going to another specialist? I don’t ask out of stubbornness, it just sometimes already feels like too many cooks in the kitchen.

amother

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:34 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

Risperidone is a really good med if the child needs it but it causes major weight gain- in case you want to take this into consideration.

interesting. that might actually help my child.

amother

Blonde

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:41 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

A neurologist is not a doctor that specializes in psychological disorders, a neurologist specializes in brain disorders so the right doctor would be a child psychiatrist, if it was my child I wouldn't trust any other specialty.

amother

Magenta

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 8:44 pm

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

If you can afford to pay you might consider Biodynamic Craniosacral therapy. It's super calming.

I’m interested in this for my 8 year old son. Where can I find out more information? Do you personally know of a practitioner?

amother

Coffee

Wed, May 05 2021, 9:14 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Are you located in NY?
If yes, can you share the name of the hospital based developmental pediatrics clinic?

Thank you

amother

Aqua

Wed, May 05 2021, 10:49 am

I'm so sorry you are dealing with this.
I'll let you in on a secret I learned from personal experience: The doctor is offering meds because that is the only thing he knows.
Please try other options.
I dealt with meds
Then discovered there are other doctors who look at the underlying issues and help to repair and build rather than suppress.
I've been working with a great naturopath for myself and my kids and have seen amazing progress bH.
This is the difference between treating symptoms and healing.

amother

Wed, May 05 2021, 1:59 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. My child b'H is getting many many therapies. OT, PT, speech, feeding, music, special ed, b'H child has come a long way. for the poster who asked about the developmental peds clinic, it's not in NY. We had our appointment about the meds and I heard out the pros and cons and decided no for now, but am working with the team of specialists and told the doctor that if we decide to go to the meds later, I want to do it with a child psych who treats very little children and really knows my child's medical diagnoses and ASD. I'm relieved we don't need to do meds for now. b'H