A response to "The Medicated Child"

This semester I asked our students to watch "The Medicated Child" and then send me an opinion paragraph. One of our students wrote a very personal response and I asked if I could share it here on our blog.

"This video hits close to home for me. I struggled with migraines and depression through high school. I was seeing my family doctor and he had been prescribing medications for a while. Some of them didn't work/ some worked for a period of time and then stopped working. We tried going to a chiropractor, psychologist, and eventually a neurologist. I had been home from school so much that I received a tutor to get my homework and to help me catch up. I ended up missing the last two months of my senior year. At the end while studying for finals and NY regents my neurologist decided to hospitalize me and to take me off my meds (that my family Dr. had prescribed) and to switch them. During my three days there I had to have an IV with regular 8 hour injections of a specific medication to get rid of my migraines, at the end of the three days the doctor had changed all my meds and gotten rid of my migraines. (this was AWFUL! and I had to study!) Fortunately due to a great tutor I finished my senior year with great exam scores and graduated.But I still struggled with mild head aches and depression while away at college.I found myself having casebook symptoms of depression.At this point in my life I am not on medications (head aches are no longer a problem)I found that the side affects (nausea and stomach problems) out weighed the benefits from the drugs, and hated depending on medications. The problem was never finding a drug that actually made a significant difference.
During this film I was reminded of some problems: *I am taking advice from my family physician and although he is doing all he can to help me, it has been years of trial and error and I feel that it still isn't under control, should I be seeing another doctor? (I felt that he was great at diagnosing mild child sicknesses, but this was out of his field) *I don't like being dependent on medications!* Are all these medications safe?* Are the side affects worth it?*Why am I taking all these medications if they are still not totally helping me?
I felt for the children in this video. I was almost jealous of the specialized care they got.Up until this point I feel my doctor thinks I am making things up, and that he medicates me just to make me feel better in the moment and to get me out of the office. He quickly researches things on his blackberry, but I don't think he really listens to me. *I think if a doctor is taking the responsibility to prescribe a patient than they should have the time to listen to them, if not why not refer them to another doctor or specialist? * My family tried different methods that their friends suggested to us, I think the families in this video have other methods they could be exploring before resorting to drugs, and it is up to the doctors to suggest healthier alternatives before loading kids up with dangerous drugs. * I think parents give doctors their kids lives, they should be more invested in the problem besides taking them to the appointment. I think parents should be doing their homework as well. Could parents of children that have passed away saved them by researching the drug and it's potency? * I also feel many of these parents that take their kids into doctors just don't know how to handle their kids, and the easiest solution is to but them on a mild tranquilizer. Some of the fits their children are throwing could just be normal children behavior. Kids are going to have attitudes and fits, it is how you handle them and address the problem. * Maybe these parents need a lesson on how to manage their kids first, who says it is the kids?"

I am very honored that this person chose to share their story, and I hope that we can keep these things in mind as we help our own children/students grow.