Conversion disorder

[Kimpalermo518]

Our family is desperate to help our 14 year old daughter who has a conversion disorder accompanied by depression & severe anxiety. Her case seems to be unique for a number of reason that I can expand on if anyone out there needs more information. Our child has been doing very well once we finally found the medication Lexapro. She was a year into taking 30mg daily plus Clonepin (.25mg 2x daily) and doing very well. Recently, she started going down hill. She is not having 10 pseudo-seizures per day like she was before the Lexapro. She is highly depressed now. The psychiatrist started her on a mood stabilizer 4 days ago and her depression has only worsened. Here are my questions: Is there an expert on conversion disorders in  New York or the United States who we should be consulting for a second medication opinion? Does anyone have a suggested medicine that could help? The dr. will not give her more of the Lexapro because she said that 30 is the maximum adult dose. My intuition is that she needs more of this... it worked so well before. Four days ago, instead of adding more Lexapro, the doctor actually dropped it down to 25 mg stating that maybe the daily mood swings from doing ok, to very sad may be because she's getting too much Lexapro. It's been 4 days of this mood stabilizer and being on a lower does of Lexapro and all my child wants to do is sleep on the couch or cry all day or sit sadly watching a tv show for a distraction. We have been through hell with this disorder and don't know what else to do. Here's the most difficult part to all this... My daughter is deathly afraid of needles. She has an extreme phobia where the mere mention of vaccines, needles, etc. throws her into a severe panic attack or seizure. This is not a kid who is a little afraid to get a shot. So we're basically in a living hell. We cannot take blood to figure out what's going on. We can't put her in a mental hospital because they will force her to have blood work. My husband and I think that we will lose our child... if this were to occur. In the past, she has had seizures up to 15 minutes long where she comes out of it not knowing who we are, infantile, violent, unable to count to 10 ... etc. Our daughter has a very high IQ and has skipped 2 grades in school. She will not ever tell us if she has suicidal thoughts, because she knows that that would be the words to get her taken against her will. We are in a terrible situation and desperately need to know what other people do in this type of situation. The mood stabilizer, called Lamotrigine, is not doing anything as my child is getting more depressed as each day passes. I'm thinking that lowering her dose of Lexapro may be hurting her as well... I have no clue and would appreciate anyone who can help with guidance or their own experience. Just to keep in mind.... our daughter doesn't seem to have any antecedent other than her own thoughts when her medication started not working. She has been going to therapy and we are very loving parents. Our daughter is usually a straight a student and wants to go to an really good college. At this point, she is so depressed, she has no motivation to do her studies which she normally loves. Please take the time to help us if you think you have information that we could use.

[Mishrae]

PLEASE TRY GOING GLUETEN FREE...IT HELPED ME!!!!

[anxiety860]

Hey there. First off your support that you and your husband have for your daughter is 100% amazing, and 100% needed for her.  Great job! I'm sorry I cannot comment on the seizures as I know nothing about that... As far as the mood pill she just started taking 4 days ago, sometimes when starting new medication the side effects can be worse at the start.  That is why sometimes we anxiety people have to go through a few bad side effects at the begginning of a new pill and hope it gets better as it starts to truly kick in.  If she is truly, and I mean truly getting worse you can try new medication.  But you mentioned the lexapro was working well for her? So did she start to get worse even when she was stil taking the lexapro? Also, are you sure that she was taking her medication everyday? I know when i was 12,13,14 I would have days where I wouldn't want to take my medication.  I would feel like I was starting to do better so I wouldn't take it, then I would get worse because I wasn't taking the meds! So if you're doing this already, just make sure she is taking the lexapro everyday.  If she is and is still getting worse maybe try other medication? prozac works well for me.  Has she tried anything like xanax, klonopin? at her age I would suggest kkolnopin.  This may sound 100% crazy too, but as far taking blood. there are pills out there that will calm her WAY DOWN I don't know what they are exactly called, this may help for the whole taking blood situtation.  My cousin can't even get an MRI without getting completely knocked out... I'm sorry I am not much help here, but if things continue to get worse know that there are other doctors out there, there are different meds, different coping skills, etc.  

[CRSeaside]

Please look into
NYU Langone Medical Center.
They specialize in Conversion  Disorder.   Let us know. Pamela