Im losing my daughter....

Scince the age of 4 my daughter has been on numerouse meds. She will soon turn 11 and as of now she is on abilify 5mg, depakote 750mg, trazadone 50mg, and vyvanse 30mg. Long story short, I swear these meds are messing her up!!!! She has numerous suicidal/homicidal thoughts, hypersexual, rages, destructive. One minute shes fine the next shes not. I feel that ive never given my daughter a chance to know her self w/out the meds. So I have decided that i am going to wean her off of everything, cancel all psych appt and in home therapy!!!! My God wth am I doing to her!!!!! She is doing more on the meds than she was when she wasnt on them. You know maybe I thought there was something wrong with her and all along she was just being a kid and i hadnt grown up yet, because scince shes been on all these meds shes not my baby anymore. Has anyone ever felt this way & acted and got results?

[91004]

I would never put my child on meds unless they truly needed it. Age 4 seems young to me to have any problems. Is there a history of bipolar in your family. I would not take her off the meds yourself. I would let your doctor know you want her off the meds. Possibly continue the therapy until you see how she reacts without the meds. If you take her off the meds with no medical guidance from her doctor you will be liable if anything happens and the finger will be pointed at you because you didn't give meds when the doc said to and when she has been on it for so long.

[margypops]

I am going to leave others with knowledge of the drugs you mention to answer you, my own personal opinion is that you need another opinion other than the prescribing Doctor , I would say with proper supervision she could be weaned off all this. There is a ADD and ADHD forum also for answers and indeed an expert/Doctor Forum, you and your daughter do need help, I am glad you have come to tell us, please let us know how she is doing.

[specialmom]

Hi, first, you need medical supervision to wean her off these meds.  Withdrawel can be serious.  Very serious.  So, make sure you do this the right way.  I would want a professional there during this time (psychotherapist, psychiatrist, etc.) in case things go badly.  You do not want to fly solo with your daughter at stake.  

I don't know what the original problem was that started all of this.  And so many years of medication, it is hard to predict how she will respond.  I would be flexible with what you decide to do from there to best suit her needs.

I will tell you a short story.  My mother in law had a mental breakdown after having her 6th and 7th child (my husband was the seventh, a twin).  She went into a psych ward for 8 months, came out on many many medications.  She had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.  The meds were controlling her life and she felt that her mental state was getting worse from there.  She got off everything she was taking and went the natural route.  She became a super supporter of homeopathic/ natural medicine and never had another episode of severe mental issues.  She did take supplements/ vitamins and some things that looked like twigs (lol)----  but she cared for herself  or saw natural medicine doctors (some md's do this) until she got cancer (which ultimately ended her life) naturally.  I worked in the mental health field for many years.  I have seen the good the bad and the ugly as far as medication.  If it were my daughter, I'd be flexible about how you handle it from here on out.  She may need pharmaceutical benefit but it is worth a try to try something different.  Just keep her  safe in the process.  I wish you lots of luck.