A Leap of Faith.

Despite the fact that we are more aware of depression and anxiety these days there still remains some stigma in my opinion with medicating one or the other as part of someone’s treatment.

As an adult it can be hard to agree to taking medication so you can only imagine how hard it must be for a parent to make that decision for their child.

We were recently placed in that position with Leni and although we had discussed it a few times with his paediatrician, when it came up again in our last appointment I knew it was time to bite the bullet and give it a go.

The script came through relatively quickly but the decision to fill the script took a tad longer because i was so nervous about what to expect despite being told by our doctor that there would be close to no side effects.

Knowing that things had escalated to a point where his anxiety was having a negative impact on every aspect of his day I knew we had to give it a go so I filled the script and the very next morning he started taking a new medication on top of his ADHD meds.

SSRI medication, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors take a week or two to take effect if they are going to work on an individual. We noticed a difference in Leni within a week. His mood had lifted and it was easy to see the change because instead of his usual bad mood and inability to handle his emotions in the evening he was calm, approachable and even affectionate.

The only side effects we noticed in the first 2 weeks was a decline in appetite and a delay in the onset of fatigue but within the past week both have picked up again which is great.

Overall it’s been a relatively positive experience for us and one I am grateful we finally worked up the courage to try. Being responsible for someone else’s well being can be quite daunting and as a parent you don’t want to get it wrong. In this instance we took a risk, trusted our paediatrician and it has worked out for the best.

It is still early days but it’s made such a difference in our lives so quickly that I hope it continues this way. I was almost too scared to write about it in case I jinxed it but I knew I had to share just in case there was one person reading this that needs to know it’s ok. Using an ssri in children when it is needed can be life changing for that child and their exhausted family.

Our experience has been a good one and there will be parents who read this that may disagree with our decision but you need to look after your child and what’s best for your family, after all you know your child best.

Sometimes all you need to do is take a leap of faith and see where you land.

We landed right where we needed to be!