flyingdumbo127
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2014
Just want to offer a and extra care with prayer Ursula. Best to you and your daughter always!
Great point!Have her magnesium levels and Vitamin D and B checked. These all can play a role in anxiety and doctors don’t really test for it.
Benzos are a no for me, and thanks for this. I'm okay with her trying antidepressants or other anxiety meds but I have a family history of addiction and I won't risk her long term wellness. I know people who can take them very occasionally and do great, but our family history is a red flag.I hesitated to respond to this, but I’m going to.
I took care of a patient not too long ago who was a severely addicted, homeless lady. Young, but looked much older. You could see she once was a beautiful woman, but her face and body had severely deteriorated. She was admitted to the hospital for a bloodstream and heart valve infection due to shooting up. It wasn’t her first, and, as an active user, she was not a candidate for surgery to repair the valve damage. (So her life expectancy was short.) Her arms were covered in large bumps making them appear all gnarly. I had occasion to sit with her and talk for a good, long time. Really sweet lady. She told me her addiction started when she was a young girl and prescribed benzodiazepines. I believe her.
The doctors you think are inexperienced may just know more than you give them credit for. After all, they see lots of different patients and cases during four years of medical school. Many have jobs working with patients before that. Then they start seeing hundreds, if not thousands, as they start their careers. Working in hospitals, we see this, unfortunately. Point being that there can be more reasons than inexperience for not prescribing some things. They also have liability and accountability if something happens, so naturally, they have to be careful and discerning.
Sounds like you have a great therapist for her! And hugs to you. This parenting thing is quite a journey.My 11th grade daughter has the opposite problem. She does great on standardized exams without any preparation whatsoever (perfect 1520 on the PSAT and 1560 on the SAT), but she developed some pretty severe anxiety about just going to school. She fell behind due to a class schedule change and just couldn’t handle it. She was having panic attacks every morning and missed a lot of days (which just compounded the problem).
I recommend therapy. We were lucky to find a great one here. She’s also on low dose antidepressants, although it’s difficult to know their effectiveness yet. (They also seem to give her headaches.) She’s doing much better, but still in therapy for now and still learning various coping strategies. Like @mumto3girls said, having a third party helping the student (and the parents) really works. Her therapist texts and checks up on her daily. I love having the professional support.
I’m going to check her vitamin and mineral levels now too. Thanks @HeatherC!
My son’s is out of network, needed to get him set up with someone asap in 2021 and it was almost impossible. At this point he’s doing so well and has a great relationship ship with him, so I’m just paying OOP. He gets his prescriptions from someone in network.There can be a wait to see a therapist covered by insurance in my area, so I would try to get an appointment now, knowing that she might not be seen for several months. In the meantime, encourage her to explore some of the mindfulness apps, meditation/relaxation shows on netflix, or any physical activity she enjoys-yoga, hiking, swimming, kickboxing, etc. In a pinch, I have found Olly's goodbye stress gummies to be helpful, they are sold at Target.
I have a lot of experience with this and continue to. My daughter has anxiety and most of the anxiety is school related. During her yearly physical with her doctor, I step out of the room so the doctor talks to her/asks questions....she always does that. Afterward, doctor came out and said to me that my daughter has a lot of anxiety and should see a counselor/therapist. I immediately got on that and was shocked. The list the doctor gave me, about 2 pages, not one was accepting new patients. It took me a good month to eventually find a therapist (that was also in network). She has been seeing a counselor since April 2023. The office is always filled with "kids", from young to teens. I contacted the 504 coordinator at my daughters high school. I'm going thru the process of getting her extra support. Being that she has been diagnosed by her physician, she qualifies but it's not as easy as that. Had a Team's meeting with some of her teachers, myself and the 504 coordinator. Most of her teachers said they "don't see it affecting her in class." Some did see. I'm in a waiting period as to what will be done, if anything. I wish I had done this sooner. I do think it affected her when taking the SAT. SAT will make accommodations for anxiety (such as giving more time) if you have a 504, I think. I know of someone with an IEP, he has attention deficit disorder and he received extra time taking ACT. I would start with your child's physician. If physician agrees and gives anxiety diagnosis then contact 504 coordinator if that is the track you want to pursue.My very bright 16 year old has started getting worse and worse test anxiety-- she's making herself (and us) miserable and probably doing worse than she should. Any of you have experience with this? Does anything help? I'm not opposed to medication if it helps. The SAT is looming, which makes it worse.
We had the same experience. Therapists just weren’t taking new patients. I called so many different ones! We were waiting to see one provided by the school district, who was stretched very thin, when we just lucked out with a recommendation from a friend. Reach out. Talk to all your friends, family, coworkers, etc. Others are going through similar problems and can help.The list the doctor gave me, about 2 pages, not one was accepting new patients. It took me a good month to eventually find a therapist (that was also in network).
I had issues with some medical providers when my son turned 18. Even if he signed paperwork saying they could speak to me, some would give me a hard time. He was in a bad place and kept missing appointments, appointments I didn’t know about. Finally they started sending reminder emails to me, he wasn’t capable of managing appointments at that time.Here's another bit of info from our experience to think about
One of our son's issues really manifested during Covid shut downs. I encouraged him to go to mental health on his college campus. They were so overwhelmed with students that he was never able to get an appointment.
By that time, he turned 21 and seeking help was on him. It becomes more difficult as they become adults to find professionals for them and get them to make or go to appointments.
I just wanted to mention that for some professions, it doesn't stop at HS. My granddaughter has to get straight A's in her regular college courses Before she can even be considered for her profession!!! That's crazy. And even more crazy is that they only take 12 people a year in that profession, and there are only 2 colleges in our state that offer this. So far, she is holding her own, but it must be very difficult to do. I am proud of her but wonder what she will do if she is not one of the 12 picked in 4 years????Unfortunately the pressure to do well on the standardized tests and get into an amazing college is just out of control. My teens don’t have test anxiety thank goodness but a lot of their friends do. I think a conversation about expectations and life experience about how the test isn’t a measure of their ability to succeed or how intelligent they are is a great start if you haven’t already had this. Sometimes saying it again and again in different ways helps too as I know my teens choose to hear only half of what is said most of the time before I get tuned out. I also recommend getting them the book “The subtle art of not giving a F***”. It’s a great reminder that we over analyze and put so much pressure on ourselves and how to not let it consume us. Best of luck the teenage years are not easy, I have an 18, 15 & 14 yr old.
I had issues with some medical providers when my son turned 18. Even if he signed paperwork saying they could speak to me, some would give me a hard time. He was in a bad place and kept missing appointments, appointments I didn’t know about. Finally they started sending reminder emails to me, he wasn’t capable of managing appointments at that time.
It has been an eye opening experience. Trying to find a counselor, seeing the counselors office full of kids. It's a crisis. I made it a point to tell the 504 coorindator about this. He agreed, saying he has seen a large increase of students with anxiety.We had the same experience. Therapists just weren’t taking new patients. I called so many different ones! We were waiting to see one provided by the school district, who was stretched very thin, when we just lucked out with a recommendation from a friend. Reach out. Talk to all your friends, family, coworkers, etc. Others are going through similar problems and can help.
I have a family member who is a child psychiatrist who also agrees, her waiting list is super long and she doesn’t accept insurance.It has been an eye opening experience. Trying to find a counselor, seeing the counselors office full of kids. It's a crisis. I made it a point to tell the 504 coorindator about this. He agreed, saying he has seen a large increase of students with anxiety.
Usually those who struggle with tests it's not a material issue. I mean you can study all the time and yet when you get to the test blank or you have other issues that make it difficult.Study more to be more confident in taking the tests? I mean if you know the material, the tests shouldn't be too hard, right? (i'm sure things have changed a lot since I was in school, but if I know my stuff I wouldn't be too concerned)