Anxiety - made appt, what to expect?

[Anonymous]

My almost 11 year old DS has struggled with anxiety off and on his entire life. I am not sure if it is just puberty setting in, but this last year has been very tough. After a tough morning, my husband and I have both decided it is time to talk to his dr about meds. We are on the waiting list for a therapist as well. For those that have medicated, what should we expect? I know it is very much trial and error.

[Anonymous]

Don’t expect a magic pill. It will make it so he CAN do more things but that doesn’t mean he will WANT to do them and it won’t give him the skills he needs to do them. You will still need to push him outside his comfort zone, encourage new activities, work on social skills, work through tough times etc. It’s just not the magic fix most people think it is.

[Anonymous]

We’re right there with you with an 11 yo girl. Wouldn’t talk in therapy so we’re meeting with a psychiatrist for meds.

[Anonymous]

Our 13 year old is on Lexapro. It’s not perfect, but much better. It takes the edge off the anxiety at least.

[Anonymous]

First of all, be prepared that it might take you many weeks to see a difference with the meds. Maybe not down at the end of the day what meltdowns happened, will help u notice if that diminishes. I feel like it took close to two months for me to really see it…and since u start on a low dose it can be subtle. (Was subtle but unmistakable for my son… and got better with raising the dose twice since.)

I feel like it helped him from having a hair trigger. But the stuff that helped longer term we all had to learn, from a therapist. And it really did take us parents going in for a chunk of the therapy sessions. Like “coping ahead” is a big one we still do, had to learn what that really meant.

Good luck. It can take time, quite a bit of time, but meds and therapy were life changing for our family!