[srhackett]

My son is 12 and is extremely brilliant. Just took SATs and scored higher than 5% of high schoolers who took them. He is high strung most of the time and alwaysstrives for the A++ He does not take criticism well Has had lots of social problems and fears. When he is in a high extreme situation he has to run to the bathroom and often vomits. SOme examples, thew up for 1.5 hours before going to airport to take a class trip and once at airport and with friends he was fine. Threw up during a sleep study we had done to see if there was a neurological disorder. Completely panicked and froze and ran out of a school dance lke a caged animal because he didn't want to be there and although he can dance and was asked to by all the kids/teachers chose to stand alone. I can give countless others. He has been in therapy and now I unfortunately feel we have nochice but to put him on meds. Also he has/always had trouble going to sleep, staying asleep and always wakes earlyI am afraid of this. Although he has never said he wold commit suicide he has said he cannot take this anymore and I cannot do this anymore.The doctors have said, zoloft (why he is IBS D), lexapro(I hated this), celexa, prozac. I am afraid of the teen suide rate. I dont' want to make him more D. I don't want to make him totally zoned out. He has tried tyelonlPM for when he has had trouble sleeping.I wondered if maybe a xanax type thing for when we know a big anxiety producing event comes but that doesn't help with daily social issues.Does anyone have any insight? I really would appreciate your help. I loved this group when I was in full throttle IBSD and could have never survived without it.

 

[Kathleen M.]

I don't know if Buspar is OK for teens. It is similar to SSRI's but is anxiety specific, and I didn't think it was included in any of the black box suicide things like antidepressantsThey usually prefer to stay away from potentially addictive meds like Xanax in teens, most of the time.The other thought is Remeron. It is a tetracyclic antidepressant. It is related to an anti-nausea drug and can be effective for that. It tends to make people sleep, and it also tends to be good for people with IBS-D. Again, not sure about its use in teens, but may be worth having the discussion.Keep up with the therapy if you can. Some people can learn over time to control the anxiety, hard to know if getting older will help with that, but with the therapy that will give him a good shot.Sometimes they can use a beta blocker (usually for high blood pressure, but usually at a lower dose) to block anxiety reactions for short term use, so that may be an option to explore, as well.

 

[srhackett]

HI KathleenFunny thing is I was put on Remeron when I was first diagnosed!! It was the perfect drug for me and got really lucky that my first scrip was the right one. You and I probably had many an IBS bulleint board discussion if I remember correctly!I was thinking about that for him too - will mention it tonight. At least I knwo what that drug does.

 

[onthebit]

Poor guy! I would suggest looking into both group therapy and cognitive-behavioral individual therapy for his anxiety. If I had to pick between the two, I'd choose group therapy, because at his age the peer group is so influential.I would also consider family therapy if there are any family problems at all. Sometimes kids' symptoms express, or contribute to, larger conflicts within the family. Not saying it's your fault or anyone's fault--just looking at it from a systems perspective.Good luck!