shorty0201

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give everyone an update on my daughter. May and June were horrible with her. She was becoming increasingly worse(hostility, anger, depression, feelings of hopelessness, banging her head on the walls when she was angry - hard, terrible anxiety, etc). She also came home stoned, drunk, had smoked cigarettes, sneaking out at night, etc. You name it, she was doing it, and she was out of control. I wasn't sleeping very well at night and going to work at 5:00AM didn't help either. I knew something had to be done, but what? I had previously tried to get her psychiatrist to take her off of her meds, but they all said no, she'll be on meds for at least 3 years, maybe even her whole life. I spoke with Isyorke and she gave me the courage to try to fight to get her off of her meds. I found a female psychiatrist (all the rest were male) and she said she was willing to try her off of her meds. My daughter has now been completely off her meds for going on 2 weeks, and off her Wellbutrin for over a month now. She is a totally different kid, she is able to control her anger and tame it down. She shows no signs of hostility, depression, anxiety, etc. She's not hearing voices or seeing things any longer. She hasn't cut for at least 4 months. I know this all seems like such a short time to be off her meds, but I have faith she won't need them anymore and I will fight tooth and nail to keep her off of them! Any relief is welcome! These doctors are out of control and the parents' hands are tied because if you try to go against the doctor's orders they will press charges in the courts, and they also have you scared to death that nothing will work except the meds! What a vicious cycle!!!!! My daughter is also seeing a counselor. The counselor said she couldn't believe the difference in her, she was like a normal teenager and totally different. Normally she chews her fingers up (her nails were gone a long time ago, so she chews on her skin, she chews on them normally all day long), and also when she talks to her counselor, but this time she sat there and talked with her hands idle. She talked about what she is going to do when she graduates and grows up - what a welcome change from talking only about death! Needless to say the counselor was amazed at the changes. I appreciate all your prayers and responses! :) I read them all, they helped me through some very trying times, times I don't wish to re-visit. My daughter will be a Junior in High School this year, and I just want to see her graduate!!!! I believe the meds numbed my daughter to pain, so she was able to hurt herself without feeling it. I also believe the meds left her to feel as though she could do whatever she pleased and she could careless about the consequences. These thoughts have also changed, I won't go into detail as I have already talked everyone's ears off, sorry, I'm just so very excited and hopeful for the first time in a long time. I know there will be ups and downs, but these will be normal ups and downs, not extreme hills!!! I am trying to teach her that it's ok to have up and down days. That it's ok to be irritable when you are PMSing. These are all normal feelings, and oh by the way she's also a teenage girl :rotfl: !!!! Please just keep praying for us, as we still have two more years of highschool to go! I will keep you all updated as we go through it!!! Thank you each and everyone!!!!!!!

I really do appreciate all responses! I read all of the threads, but not always am able to reply. I thought I would give everyone an update on my daughter. She is getting worse (more suicidal, depressed, angry, but she is controlling her cutting so far) I really believe that it could be her Wellbutrin and Zoloft. I also think her menustrual period has some bad effect on her, she gets so much worse when she is on it. I want to wean her off of everything, but I am really scared that it will get as bad as last year(which was worse) I don't know what to do?????? I have found a new psychiatrist, but I am concerned that he won't help her. I really would like her to be totally off of the medication!!!! Any suggestions on the lastest?????? Thanks to all!!!!!!

I'm not sure if the last thank you worked, so I will try again. Thank you so very much for those words of encouragement! They are greatly appreciated. It seems like this is tearing up my entire family (husband, son and daughter).

Thank you so very much for those words of encouragement!

I appreciate all of your responses. There's not a whole lot of people I've found to talk to about this who truly understand. The bi-polar meds they tried her on were Trileptal and Lithium, they did get to Therapeutic levels (this was during her last admission, which was 30 days). The only reason I took her out was because we ran out of insurance. The insurance companies don't treat brain illnesses like other illnesses. If you had a problem with your heart, they wouldn't put a 30 day inpatient limit on it. You would stay until you were all better. I don't understand. It's funny because if you say the word "Counselor to her" or "Counseling" she refuses to go and unfortunately she's old enough and big enough I can't just pick her up and take her in. If I knew what was to come, I would have put her in Counseling a long time ago. I usually don't give her too much attention towards her cuts. But maybe too much I don't know. I do let her know she makes me angry, and saddens me when she does this, but it is like she doesn't want to quit. She will not make a committment to stop. I also clean up her arms, I put Vitamin E, because I don't want her arms to scar up. So far it's working, they haven't scarred yet. I don't think she has sexual identity issues that I know of, she has a boyfriend(he's one that I actually like, a good kid!) I also don't think she's on street drugs at this time, she has smoked pot before and I still don't know if she tried "Ecstasy" She swears up and down she hasn't, but the way this came on last year made me wonder. Her drug tests at all of her hospitalizations all came back neg. I send a hug and a pat to you too Leigh, I did read what you wrote about your sister. She reminded me of my daughter, so very much. The anger, the agitation, the cutting, the defiance against authority or anyone who does not give them their way. I could go on and on, I already have, sorry. Sometimes it's good to just write it all down and get it all out. Something is wrong with our teenagers, and it's only getting worse. I always worked full time, but either me or dad was always home with Heather and her brother(almost 18). They were never latch key children, so I don't think it really matters what you do for your children, they are going to do what they want to when they become teenagers. I better close for now, sorry to make this one so lengthy also. Thanks to all!

I came to this site last night looking for information on Ablify. I have a fifteen year old daughter who about a year and a half ago slipped into a major depression. She has been self-mutilating for about that long also, that I know of. She was in and out of the adolescent units 6-7 times within about a 8 month period. They tried numerous meds, even the Bi-Polar meds(they didn't work at all, just made her worse). The hospitalizations didn't seem to help at all. She had attempted suicide a few times last year. She has thoughts of suicide and death alot, and has said she hears voices and sees things. It seems as though she has a obsession with death. Last year when she got bad she started to wear all black all the time. She has since started wearing some colors, but I can tell when she slips further into her depression because she goes back to wearing all black. She went through some catatonic episodes, had an MRI and an EEG. The Neurologist said there isn't anything neurologically wrong with her. She refuses to go to a counselor for therapy, but will go to her Pyschiatrist for her meds. There was an incident about two months ago where I told her she couldn't go somewhere and she went under her bed and was tearing things up , cussing at me, and talking about death. This went on for about two hours, she finally calmed down and was ok for a while. When she gets really depressed she either goes into her closet or under her bed and tells me to leave her alone. A lot of times this is when she cuts on herself. She's a beautiful girl and it breaks my heart to see her do this to herself and I can't stop it. I've tried love, talking, anger, and I don't know what else to do. She is on 150 mg zoloft once a day and 100mg of Wellbutrin 2 X's a day. It seems to get worse when she has PMS, I really don't know if there is an actual connection or not. She actually had done well with the cutting until about a month ago. She has gotten bad again. There for a while she kept saying that she might have to go to the State Hospital. I've taken her razors away from her, but she finds anything to cut with, including her own fingernails. I just wish it would all go away and my daughter would come back to me. There are times when she can become very manipulative, especially if she doesn't get her way. She's very defiant against authority, she even cussed out a police officer to his face when she refused to come home with me from her friend's house and they were forcing her to come home. Then there are times when she can be so very caring for children or the handicapped children who can't take care of themselves and she will stick up for them no matter what. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what kind of support groups are out there for me and maybe if I can get her to go, a support group for her. What about meds? The doctor was talking about adding Ablify to her meds. I just don't know what to put her on, and I'm concerned that she's not going to function well as an adult. She is a Sophomore in Highschool, and only has two years left. I'm sorry to make this so lengthy. Any ideas? Thanks!