Older Child, Older Children Adoption - Drugging The Children?

07/26/07

Drugging The Children?

Posted by : Cindy Bodie in Older Child Adoption Blog at 10:23 am , 404 words, 137 views
Categories: Adoptive Families, Challenges, Behaviors

I thought I could calm down by now, blogging on my personal blog about a youtube video someone had sent me. It was a San Antonio news special detailing the use of psychotropic drugs in the Texas foster care system, something I’m very well acquainted with having adopted five large sibling groups from Texas over nearly a twenty year time period.

Julie also recently explored this area of mood stabilizers in a post this week.

My first two sibling groups from Texas, in 1990 and 1991, arrived drug free as had an original sibling group from Honduras. By 1995 things had changed. Even my then 12 year old was shockingly on Ritalin. He clearly did not need it. I immediately took him off the drugs and watched a tall, skinny son of mine grow big and strong. He was never, not for a minute, hyperactive. If anything, I'm the hyper one.

SPONSOR

for California

By 1999 it seemed routine as all four new kids came to my family toting prescriptions and medicine bottles that 3 out of 4 clearly did not need. In 2000, it was a full-time job to maintain a newer child’s medicines which I promptly started a two year program on weaning him. He may truly need medicines but I wanted a few years of clear-headed thinking to prevail, unmasked by medicine so I could determine his true character along with a psychologist and a special education team.

If you have adopted older children from America’s foster care system, I believe you’ll have already encountered this phenomenon, please view the video.

I am not anti-drugs when medications are needed to help a person function, but I am strongly against the overuse that numbs children, that threaten their developing internal organs, and that simply make life easier for the parents because the kids are then so subdued.

I understand that desire, I know firsthand how difficult many children can be, yet it is vitally important that we work with our kids, eliminating an often unnecessary chemical dependence.

I am med free and so are all my kids now at home but I do have one son that may soon need a mood stabilizer for everyone’s safety. We’ve tried for five years but he’s struggling too hard to remain in our family. I do see that sometimes there is a need but I simply cannot shake off this video and how it has affected me this morning.

8 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: lmg1567 [Member]

I viewed the video after reading your other blog and proceeded to send it to several foster mom's I know who NEED to see it. I had a 4 yo arrive on Zyprexa, Benadryl, Vistaril, Adderall, Zoloft and Seroquil. When I asked the pharamcist what all of these things were for, I was astounded, because this kid was out-of-control nuts. He was having "meltdowns" 30+ times a day every day. He also ran off in terror saying he saw "ghosts". We (with the okay of his caseworker) weaned him off everything but the anti-psychotics and saw immediate improvement. His psychiatrist told us at one point that he needed the meds in order to deal with living with his very mentally unhealthy mother. If a 4 yo NEEDS this much medication to deal with his mother, there's a red flag right there. Over the last four yrs. we have found that every time we bring up behaviors to the psychiatrist for all 4 of our previously medicated kiddos, he either writes a new script. or modifies a previous one. I kept telling him, "No, we don't want MORE medication, we just either want something that makes a difference, or we want to know that this is not about meds, it's about behavior and counseling." He always said we just had to find the right combo and eventually, we were picking up 27 different scripts/mo. for four children!!! As soon as school got out, we weaned everyone off everything and honestly, their behavior is not a bit worse.

I believe that there is a proper use for these meds, but the thought of toddlers and young children being on these meds for YEARS sickens me. What are we creating here? It makes me want to cry that we waited so long to put our foot down. Of course, the school wants nothing to do with our kids without the meds so we'll be homeschooling this year. If they have to be on meds to pacify the teachers, they can't be there.

Thank you for this eye-opening link. More people need to speak out on this subject.

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 10:42

Comment from: nancyderen [Member]

It's good to read these perspectives. The ER staff at my favorite local hospital (the only one I'll go to now after bad experiences at others) think I'm crazy when they suggest a new med, I say, "But will that sedate her or make her tired, cause I don't want that?" and they say, "WHY NOT?" in exasperation. I only believe in meds to treat an actual disorder, not a symptom (other than briefly in emergency cases with psychotic or manic adults when they may need extra help to "come down" during an episode). My daughter has very severe OCD and has done very well on Anafranil to treat that specific disorder. We've experimented with other meds, but the thing is, it is so hard to tell what is trauma-related, what is behavioral, what is neurological, and what is biochemical that I am not willing to risk major side effects just to put a band-aid on behavior when she doesn't seem to have the disorder that the meds are for. So many professionals think that out-of-control kids should be sedated, period. This can actually make it harder for the kid to think straight and learn coping skills and work through traumas. I find this very disturbing.

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 12:03

Comment from: Kathleenb [Member]

Three of my four arrived from TX on Adderall. One needed it for hyperactivity - he wasn't safe w/o it and his movements were so out of control and jerky all the time that everyone around him was in danger (literally) from what he held in his hands. The youngest one, then not on meds, we have since placed on Adderall due to his combination of hyperactivity and lack of attention. The other two we took off Adderall - couldn't see any difference w/ or w/out it.

However... I'll say again, the beta blocker my 17yo recently started has been like a miracle. Much less conflict, opposition, etc., and SHE notices it and feels better. Since the beta blockers have also been used to treat PTSD and reduce the impact of incapacitating memories, my 19 yo son also decided to try the same med. His nightmares that have plagued him as long as he can remember are gone. Gone.

May not work for everyone else, but it's been so great for us I feel like shouting it from the rooftops.

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 18:34

Comment from: John [Member]

My oldest adopted son was on Ritalin in foster care. His foster mom dumped the pills down the toilet, my son thrived very well. Ritalin can make someone appear hyper who isn't.

Number two came home on Anafranil. They finally admitted they were trying to mask his behavior. My son is BiPolar, and that drug is one that BP kids cannot tolerate, they become very manic. The placement almost ended because my worker was so alarmed by my son's behavior.

You are right Cindy, meds that come home with a new kid need to be looked at carefully. John

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 18:37

Comment from: John [Member]

Kathleenb, is the beta blocker only for PTSD, or also for ODD? John

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 18:41

Comment from: Eric [Member]

· http://pandacurry.com

We also adopted a sib group of 6 from San Antonio TX. The amount of meds these kids were on was awful. They were basically sedated to control their behavior. Not one of my 3 youngest could keep awake through dinner. We have since had their meds reevaluated and dosages decreased, removed or changed.
Eric
PandaCurry.com
Feeding a Large Family

Permalink 07/26/07 @ 23:06

Comment from: Kathleenb [Member]

John, I don't know if anyone uses beta blockers for ODD; no one ever told me my dd had that as a dx - but she's been both oppositional and defiant for a long time - until the med change. We can tell her she's making a poor choice, or she's wrong, or she's not being properly respectful, etc., and she'll listen w/o having a cow. She may not make a better decision, but we can have a reasonably civilized discussion now. That was IMPOSSIBLE for the last two years. I'll take it. I hope that after living more calmly for a while, maybe she'll be able to generate more self-control w/o the drugs, or maybe she'll be able to do counseling and actually get something out of it. If not, at least the drugs are improving our relationships, and her own happiness - and I think her ability to accomplish what she wants.

Permalink 07/27/07 @ 10:40

Comment from: SunnyAndrsn [Member]

I'm a treatment foster parent, and initially just went along with whatever the sw and psychiatrist told me to do. As time went on and we saw no improvement with the child that we would eventually adopt, I was amazed at the amounts of medication he was on, and the ever changing dx. ADD, bi-polar, ODD, RAD, and depression. He had meds for all of these and I overheard the pharmacy saying "oh look, another Dr. C cocktail".

That made us stand up and take notice, especially after the warning about Paxil use in children came out. The thing that bothered me the most was that we had to ask to have him taken it off it.

Even more scary, all of the other treatment foster parents we know are shocked when they find out our kids take no medications. They think it's weird. I often hear how 'great' their kids are as compared to mine. Yeah, they are walking zombies from all of the medication!

Another RAD kid we have right now was taken off of the meds--by his own request, and supported by me. I could walk into that shrinks office and say "this kid is awful, his mouthy and contridicts everything I say" Kid of course would get up set and there would be my 'proof'. That shrink would be writing 'scripts faster than you can say malpractice.

DS, BTW, had one accurate dx (RAD), for which we found a fabulous therapist. No meds for over 3 years, and a fabulous kid in the making.

Permalink 08/06/07 @ 10:07

Leave a Comment: You need to login to leave comments.:

Login | Register