8 year old on psych meds???

Specialties Pediatric

Published

Well, I just got through talking with a very good friend of mine. Her eight year old daughter, with no previous psych history at all, was just put on klonopin and prozac after a TWO DAY hospital stay.

Here is a little background: She has always had allergies and asthma, and frequent ear infections, etc..... Other than that, healthy, happy, go with the flow kid.

She was with her grandparents in the car after a visit with her dad and step mom (whom she sees maybe 4-5 times a year at most), and had taken some tylenol for a headache. While riding in the car, her grandparents said she started having some type of seizure like activity. Said she was awake but unresponsive.... lasted almost and hour, and then she didn't remember anything about it. They took her to an emergency room, and the doc said she had a severe sinus infection/impaction, and bilateral ear infections. The doc said she was probably having a panic attack related to the pain.

As they were leaving, I guess she collapsed into one of the seizure type things again, so she was admitted. CT of the head, EEG, bloodwork, etc.... showed nothing, except the infections previously mentioned. No fevers.

After 2 days in the hospital, and several more "episodes" they deduced that first, she was allergic to tylenol and codeine since the " episodes" were worse and lasted longer if she had taken those, and that she was having panic attacks brought on by pain and stress.

I guess she has been having some trouble at school with kids teasing her for being "brown". She is biracial, and lives in a mostly white town. (although there are many other races, just not as prevalent). She has gotten this teasing all her life, but is taking it more personally now. She really doesn't talk to her mom much about it either.

They put her on bactrim, a decongestant, klonopin, and prozac!!! I just don't see how they could do that without a further psych eval, when she was WELL. Her mom said she didn't think a psych doc even saw her daughter.... just a ped.

Since I dont "do" kids much, I really had no idea what to tell her, except that it didn't sound right to me, and that I thought she needed to get a second opinion from not only a local pediatrician, but also a psych doc, ASAP!

My friend, the girls mother, was just recently diagnosed as bipolar, so I guess it could very well be that her daughter is having some psych issues, but it just seems that it would be hard to dx a child from a 2 day hospital stay, no psych doc, and when she is so ill! Today she was in so much pain from the sinus thing that she didn't want to be touched. My friend said that she was "spazzing out" telling everyone not to touch her or her dolly, and being combative, etc.

Anyone have any thoughts???:confused:

ShandyLynn,

Does your friend live in the same State you do (I know where you live from Christmas)? If she does PLEASE pm me, I know where she can take her daughter to sort out the Psych stuff.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

:)

But to dx a child with no previous history when she is seriously ill and in pain? And to immediately start her on meds without a psych eval or counseling first?

In my opinion children can react to pain and illness very differently than adults can, and I can't understand them starting her on heavy duty meds like that when she is still so PHYSICALLY ill.... without waiting to see if her behavior isn't just a reaction to infection or pain.

Has anyone ever seen the "episode" like behavior in children like I posted above?

so children do need psych meds but that is usually after a careful evaluation by psych. i would have mom talk to her peds and get a referral to a good PED psych for further evaluation.

when kids are hurting, they do become combative if you touch the area that hurts. that doesn't mean she needs drugs to calm her down or sedate her. if all kid were co operative and never fought nurses and doctors, or parents trying to evaluate a pain then life would be a piece of cake.

Specializes in MS Home Health.

I agree an evaluation should occur. I personally would not put any of my children on anything like that without the eval, first.

renerian

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