Aspies For Freedom

Blog post by Kristina Chew:

http://www.autismvox.com/is-medication-u...ncreasing/

Damn, typo in title.

I think this is an important issue.

I get the impression that many youths, and apparently younger children, are given drugs they really do not need.

I think it may be.  My 6 year old daughter was recently officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.  We had suspected it for a few years.  The diagnosing neuropsychologist wanted to put her on medication.  I have and will continue to to reject this idea.  She's already on high dosages of medication for epilepsy, I don't want to put any more chemicals into her system.  And the meds they wanted to give her would have completely shut down her personality.

I know a lot of families whose children take Risperidone.  There are children who are 3 that are on some of these drugs.  I dont like the idea of medicating children.  My son is 4 and the only thing he takes is melatonin for his sleep complications.

There are no medications for autism, if anyone prescribes a medication for autism (rather than some other condition) then they're guilty of medical malpractice.

Medication is too often used in an attempt to make a child conform to the classroom environment.

I was given medications for years to treat my "ADHD"...

Seems like wikipedia says that FDA has approved several drugs "for autism" - while this is mostly drugs to control certain behaviors.

So in your opinion would medications to deal with sensory issues and/or medications to deal with severe anxiety fall into that same category?

I am not asking with preconceived ideas, but curious as to the thoughts on the subject.

Autistics seems to given alot of off-label drugs.

What are off-label drugs?

Thanks for the link!

It all seems a bit dodgy to me.  I'm not in favour of children being medicated unless necessary and proven beyond doubt to be as safe as possible.