(Photo By Joel Salcido for USA TODAY first appeared 5/02/06)Evan Kitchens, 10, suffered severe side effects as a small child before being weaned off atypical anti-psychotic drugs.
According to a special report published in the St. Petersburg Times today, "more and more, parents at wit's end are begging doctors to help them calm their aggressive children or control their kids with ADHD. More and more, doctors are prescribing powerful antipsychotic drugs. In the past seven years, the number of Florida children prescribed such drugs has increased some 250 percent," reported Robert Farley.
There is so much to this issue, I can't encapsulate it in a blog post. But the concerns are many. How often are antipsychotic drugs actually necessary? How much of a child's environment affects his behavior and emotions? Have we counted the costs? All of them?
One pediatrician interviewed for this article said this. "Some parents are so stressed out, they come in seeking a pill," Dr. Esther Gonzales said. It's easy to medicate kids; "it is very hard to change environment."
There is more divorce and more drug abuse, more domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse. Working parents are overwhelmed. This may be one collection of reasons, but I don't think working parents are the only ones overwhelmed. We need to study that more.
Do the side effects outweigh the potential benefits of the drugs? I don't know.
Anyone out there have personal experience with this issue that you can share? Help us understand how you battle on behalf of your child.
1 comment:
I just saw your post. My son is Evan Kitchens... the beautiful litle boy featured in the story in USA Today. I am not sure what you are asking. I never wanted to "medicate " Evan, much less cause him harm. I certainly never thought of it as the easy way. I just wanted to cure him of what I now know is Autism. Parents want to fix their children That is what we do. When they have a scratch we usa a bandaid and that fixed it for them, not only the injury but their confidence, fears and all of the other emotions that they are going through. I just don't think that parents (speaking in general) want to just give their kids a pill. Most of us are infact trying to "fix" them. I use to rely on the professionals for help. Drug companies as well as doctors should not be allowed to give drugs to children without them being tested and proven safe for them. I never knew about the side effects of these horrible drugs and I certainly never knew that they were not approved by the FDA for the use in children. The regulation of prescription drugs in this country is lacking to the degree that it is costing our children their lives. I have no answers... only a very sad story about a little boy that does come from a very safe and good home. A story about a little boy that was a victom of a very "out of control" society of doctors and pharmacutical companies. I hope that this helps
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