I feel helpless...

[care4myboy]

My son who is only 11 y.o. is dealing with anxiety, depression, and tactile hallucination. He is on Abilify and Lexapro, and they worked fine for a couple of months, but now he is having tactile hallucination episodes again. His Dr. up his dosage and it does help with the hallucination, but the anxiety and depression are not lifting. Watching him dealing with severe anxiety is heartbreaking. I wish I could take it off him and put it on me. Anyone shares this same feeling?

[Pennywink]

I’m sorry to hear that! Unfortunately I don’t know much about tactile hallucinations to offer much help there besides my sympathy.

But yes - I understand wanting to take all the hardships for our children. And I’m thankful to have the opportunity to help him through it. I actually also started having some severe executive functioning issues around the same time as my son’s ADHD diagnosis, so at least we’ve been able to learn & do this together.

Hang in there!

[Onthemove1971]

I too can't offer any direct experience with what your son is going through..

But what I can add is that watching our children suffer ( our child also has a chronic illness in addition to ADHD) it is life changing. I know what I can provide him is love, support and encouragement. We all know if we had a "magic wand" to change things we would.

But since we live with the life we have... I know our son has a different reality than most and that will help him go through life looking through different lenses.

I would like to suggest that ( and maybe you have) you try to build a great team of people to help you at his school and personal life. Only allow those in that accept you and help your son. There is no time for those who can't help you.

Can you get Occupational Therapy at school for him and maybe the school psychologist? Also getting an IEP that builds on auditory skills and tools so that when he struggles tactile he can just use his eyes, ears and voice.

Just send me a message if you need any more help.

For now we send you lots of love and support!

We are glad you are here with us and sharing your wonderful son with us.

Take care!

[care4myboy in reply to Onthemove1971]

Thank you so much for the kind words and advice. Knowing that we are not alone in this daily struggle does help.

[Cjkchamp]

I would encourage looking into broad spectrum micronutrients. There are two companies, Hardy Nutritionals and True Hope.

[Pmommyof5]

My daughter is on Abilify she’s 10. She has ADHD, Anciety and Depression. She’s had hallucinations in the past and even suicidal thoughts while on another Anxiety medication called Prozac where she has to be admitted into a facility because of the side effects(very traumatic experience since the facility was two hours away and had poor communication with me). We have her on Abilify which seems to help except doesn’t help with all the other symptoms.

We are receiving Wrap Around services through my private insurance at my request because honestly the medication doesn’t fix them it only feels like a band aid is placed until the next symptom or concern. I tried the micronutrients and for my daughter had no effect. I tried and bought different supplements and omega 3s and probiotics( Dr says it’s known to help anxiety and other depression symptoms with autistic kids so it should help with non autistic kids as well).

There are times when you feel hopeless and lost. You go on the Internet and do your own research like me to do your best to help our kids but we can only be supportive.

I read this book called Bible Promises for Parents of children with special needs.

I understand how you feel and know that you’re not alone. I go to support groups and there are many of us.

[Hidden in reply to Pmommyof5]

I read a devotion every morning and quite often it hits home.

I felt inclined to share this short one below:

A Time for Beauty

Isaiah 61:3

One January morning I woke expecting to see the same dreary midwinter landscape that had greeted me for several weeks: beige grass poking through patches of snow, gray skies, and skeletal trees. Something unusual had happened overnight, though. A frost had coated everything with ice crystals. The lifeless and depressing landscape had become a beautiful scene that glistened in the sun and dazzled me.

Sometimes we view problems without the imagination it takes to have faith. We expect pain, fear, and despair to greet us every morning, but overlook the possibility of something different ever happening. We don’t expect recovery, growth, or victory through God’s power. Yet the Bible says God is the one who helps us through difficult times. He repairs broken hearts and liberates people in bondage. He comforts the grieving with “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3).

It isn’t that God just wants to cheer us up when we have problems. It’s that He Himself is our hope during trials. Even if we have to wait for heaven to find ultimate relief, God is present with us, encouraging us and often giving us glimpses of Himself. In our journey through life, may we come to understand St. Augustine’s words: “In my deepest wound I saw your glory, and it dazzled me.”

By Jennifer Benson Schuldt

REFLECT & PRAY

Prayer: Faithful God, give me the faith I need to make it through today and help me to see You at work as I face adversity. Amen!

He is our shield everyday in our chaotic lives. Thank you.

[care4myboy in reply to Pmommyof5]

My son was suicidal as well. May I ask what probiotics and Omega 3 acid you put her on and are they helping? My son is taking krill oil 500 mg per day. I haven't seen any positive result yet. Thank you for reaching out.

[Pmommyof5 in reply to care4myboy]

My daughter takes Coromega omega3 has a more effective absorption and she is taking Culturelle kids Probiotics.

For my other two children with adhd and anxiety we also purchase Captain Calm by Neba since magnesium is known to relax them a bit.

For a while we would purchase all the Neba health products until I found the coromega which works better for Omega3.

I notice an increase in her attention span and her self control but it took some time.

Dr told us with vitamins and so forth we won’t see changed until about 3 months and she asked us to do a daily journal of what happens each day so we can actually track if there’s any improvement which there was.

I won’t try the cbd oil because it has an extremely high correlation with psychosis in children who have anxiety and depression and my doctor told us it’s currently being studied by the FDA because they have seen an increase of 40 percent of patients coming in with psychosis due to cbd oil.

[Dsmith05 in reply to care4myboy]

I give my son the 500mg krill oil one pill twice a day. I tried to reduce to one pill once a day and saw an uptick in behavior issues.

[anirush]

Besides medication we have found behavioral therapy really helps to deal with anxiety. The counselor presents situations and walks the child through what is the best and worst thing that would happen and how to deal with it.