Psychotherapist symptoms and conditions

My husband and I have been increasingly worried about our 11 year old son lately. He had been becoming increasingly unhappy and difficult. He was in the school play, one of the things he loves most, but had no enthusiasm or energy for it. He seemed apathetic about many activities he had always been eager to participate in. I kept thinking maybe he was just tired and too stressed out. It seemed like almost nightly he was sinking into anger and depression. We were walking around on eggshells trying to prevent him from spiraling into one of his angry moods where he would just shut down and say he didn't care about anything. The happy, cooperative, well-adjusted kid we had always known was gone.

Three weeks ago we began to talk about the fact that maybe there was more going on than just adolescent angst. We were beginning to believe some kind of professional intervention might be required.

Two and a half weeks ago our local paper ran the story about the Miller family whose son committed suicide while on Singulair. My son had been taking Singulair for three months.

The same day the newspaper story ran, my son had another tough morning When I went to bed that same night, I found two “suicide” notes from my 11 year old on my pillow. (He had not seen the article.) In one he asked for a gun or knife for his birthday so he could kill himself. In the other, he told me he had been thinking about killing himself since February.

My life for the past month has been filled with conversations and appointments with the suicide hotline, the pediatrician, a psychotherapist, the school social worker, the mother of the boy who committed suicide, the FDA, etc. etc., filling out forms and writing notes and observations.

My son had just recently finished his last bottle of Singulair. I had not yet refilled the prescription, and we have no intention of doing that. The turn around in my son has been extraordinary. My incredibly exuberant and joyful son is back. I did not realize until the past few days how much light he brings to this house and how far away he had faded. But everyday, as the drug leaves his body, his beautiful, loving, affectionate, helpful happy self returns. We just kept thinking for so long… I guess this is normal for a 6th grader. It must be adolescence. It is an incredible gift to see the cloud lifting.

I worry a great deal about the children who are not as severly affected - whose parents are thinking, as we did, maybe this is just typical for kids this age. I am incredibly grateful that my son was finally able to articulate some of the horrible feelings he had inside, and that the article appeared when it did to give us some clue as to what we were really dealing with.

Hello all, and in response to Sarah (Flowerbabies)

Thank you so much for your great advice. I live in Toronto, Canada. I will try to drink the magnesium and the nettle tea and plenty of water. The psychotherapist I went to see has me working on a book called "Anxiety & Phobia workbook" by E. Bourne. I haven't finished it yet, so I can't say whether is good or not.

I would not mind hearing what techniques you have to help you cope or stop the panic attacks? Anything that you may suggest I will try, as nothing else seems to be helping.

As for everyone else, I feel for you and want you to know that my thoughts are with you. It's funny how sometimes coming to this website is the only thing that's comforting to me.

All the best,
Claudia.

hi claudia, you poor thing,i really feel for you,i know exactly how you are feeling right now as i have been there. that kind of workbook does your psychotherapist have you following? how do they suggest you deal with the panic/anxiety attacks? that may be the best place to start,i know what worked for me but i searched for my own methods.please let me know what they suggest and i will see if i can give you some practical tips that will help. as far as cleaning out your system... i take magnesium daily,as well as a b complex and b6. stear clear of tea and coffee,drink camomille tea to soothe your nerves and to help restful sleep.you could also try nettle tea to cleanse the liver as the liver has to process all the excess hormones you need it to be working at it's best to rid you of toxins faster. eat a diet high in fibre as the fibre will also cleanse your system and will help remove excess hormones. other than that drink loads and loads of water as dehydration is an anxiety sufferers worst enemy. it will take time but you WILL get better,you really need to work on the mental aspect of the panic attacks with positive thinking techniques etc.as i said before let me know what treatments your psychotherapist has suggested and i will see if i can add to it. i won't say i don't still have a little anxiety about panic attacks happening but i have many great techniques that i use that have so far......kept me panic attack free. please get back to me and i will do all i can to help. i could give you some book titles that i read that really helped me if you would like,you can buy them on ebay for very little cost. also which country do you live in?

sarah

On January 17, 2006 I was prescribed 500 mg of Levaquin for 10 days for a sinus infection. I was told to take the pill before I went to bed. That night I was extremely restless and could not fall asleep. I would start to fall asleep and then my body would "jump" awake again. I also woke up in the morning with nausea. I would force food down my throat. I lost my appetite and no longer craved foods I used to. I was having very earlymorning bowel movements. I had pain in my arm for a couple of days. I have never felt so crappy from being on a drug! After seven days on Levaquin I called my pharmicist and told him I felt like I was dying and he told me to start taking the pill in the morning. I did and felt a little better. Nevertheless, my nausea never went away in the morning. I would have tremors in the morning and was always cold. Finally, in April I started to have night sweats and lost alot of weight. In May I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I started on 10 mg of Lexapro and started seeing a psychotherapist. I was fine for about a month and then my nausea came back.

In November 2006. I was put on 40 mg of NEXIUM which has saved my life along with increasing my Lexapro dosage to 15 mg. LEVAQUIN NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET NOW! I STRONGLY BELIEVE THIS DRUG CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE AND KILL YOU!!!!!!!