My younger daughter went through years of episodes of not feeling well. It was always blamed on "mental" illness. It was blamed on "depression" on meds, on "bipolar", on psychosomatic stuff, on anxiety, etc. etc. Even when our kids have measurable physical issues like slow growth, that is still blamed on mental illness or meds because stress of mental illness can affect the hypothalamic pituitary axis, and so can the meds. Sleep issues? Well that must be "mental" illness, too. The doctors never did address two things... 1-Those physical complaints can be the cause of or exacerbate what we are calling "mental." 2-Even if from the meds or "the illness", that doesn't mean they should not be addressed! They are still symptoms, and as such, they are adding yet more stress. It is like either a vicious circle, or the scenario of which came first--the chicken or the egg. 

One thing my younger daughter was grateful for later is that even though the doctors did not believe her complaints were "real," and although I could not "believe" them either, at least I did not DISbelieve her. I always was non-chalant but compassionate. She still was expected to do things because even if her life is with pain, then that's her life. People do live with pain and feeling bad. If it was too bad (like migraines, vomiting, etc.) then of course she had to take care of herself... but at least I NEVER said to her that what she was feeling was not real.

--Jeanie aka "Naomi"
ItsNotMental-The Book
Older dd: formerly(?) teen-onset bipolar (morphed into ultradian cycling): "Recovered" after over 13 years - stable off psych meds almost two years. Now fine on just diet changes and higher thyroid levels (after healing - addressing gut issues/Candidal overgrowth while using EMPowerPlus and other supplements). She added EMpowerPlus back on just because she feels better on it - gets sick less often.
Younger dd: formerly(?) Childhood-onset schizoaffective, TS, OCD, anxiety, PTSD, migraines. After over 15 years, is now "recovered" for almost 5 years after treating endocrine issues, food sensitivities, gut issues, sleep issues, nutritional/mitochondrial needs.

 Thank you so much, Naomi!  That is pretty much the tact I have taken with her--"nonchalant but compassionate" and never as you say DISbelieving her.  I can't crawl into her body and feel what she's feeling.  And although she has complained about stomach pains off and on since she was little, she didn't complain about the vertigo and nausea etc. until with all the meds.

And I do know that at least part of it is indeed physical.  She did show an inflamed stomach when scoped and her GI doc--who is a godsend--is the first doctor who really believed her.  So the acid-refluxy stuff we know has an actual basis.  The vertigo and other things just don't know. 

I know what you mean about the physical complaints being blamed on the mental...I will share with you that about eight months ago her nausea and dizziness were about at its worst.  We had her scoped on a Friday.  On Monday, before the results of her scope were even in, her partial hospitalization program called to say that she was just trying to manipulate everyone with her stomach complaints.  They said it varied throughout the day and that if she can function at certain times than she must be manipulating during the others.  Oh, was I angry!  We had an appt with the GI doc the next day and she explained that dd's stomach was "quite inflamed" and that it is logical it would bother her more at certain times of the day based on whether her stomach was coated with food, whether she was experiencing lots of anxiety etc...Six months and a few prevacid and karafate prescriptions later, and her stomach complaints were much, much better.

Perhaps the most extreme example of everything being attributed to mental:   around this same time the poor kid's eye started to wander.  This was not just a little bit, it would completely veer off to the side.  Boy, did we get grilled about this!  We had very pointed questions from her mental health team, about how could she have a lazy eye, only very young children get lazy eyes, could she be doing this for attention, etc.  It was very obvious that they thought this was a ploy for attention stemming from her mental health condition...the poor kid was having double vision, etc.  A visit to a specialist showed that she very badly needed corrective surgery, which she had.

Where is the compassion sometimes?  Wouldn't you think that you would wait until test results come back before making assumptions about a kid faking things?  Wouldn't someone other than the parents put together that a child with an inflamed stomach and a lazy eye might not be feeling their best and this might be making everything worse?  Her regular optometrist was the one who said some of her "hallucinations" might be more related to the double vision.  As far as only affecting young kids--apparently some of the psych meds can affect occular muscle tone (intermittently) and it is possible that it contributed to this.

Anyhow--I so completely understand your points. Since the prevacid and the eye surgery we have had many months of feeling much better (still more "not feeling well" then other kids, but better than before).  Just this past month it seems to have gotten worse again.  Now there is the med changes and she is nauseated.  I think she is starting to feel better, so I will just hang tight, but I really do feel sorry for kids undergoing these med changes and what it must do to their systems.

I have taken lexapro and Effexor, and when I have tried to go off them, I get horrific "discontinuation" syndrome. ( If I miss more than 24 hours of my Lexapro, I am almost throwing up).  I never plant any ideas in her head that anticipate she won't feel well, but I have a hard time NOT believing her...

Thank you so much for listening.

-

Jennie (37) depression treated effectively with lexapro
Husband (58)
daughter Alison (14)
Bipolar I with episodes of psychosis; Oppositional Defiant Disorder
lithium, depakote, zyprexa, zoloft

Holy Moley!!!!  This POOR CHILD!!!!   I have some choice words to say about the doctor!!!!!  

By the way, vision changed over and over with some of the medications and my younger daughter actually had some minor but permanent vision loss in ONE eye (and interestingly, her one eye also went out. It IS a possible medication side-effect called strabismus.

They both got dizzy from meds and would fall a lot. In fact, a lot of people I know on meds fall a lot, and get dizzy a lot. It also can make them feel very fatigued, spacey, and whiny. I cannot believe any doctor would call all that psychosomatic. In fact, when my older daughter felt the dizziest and fell the most it was when dosages were too high.

--Jeanie aka "Naomi"
ItsNotMental
Older dd: formerly(?) teen-onset bipolar (morphed into ultradian cycling): "Recovered" after over 13 years - stable off psych meds almost two years. Now fine on just diet changes and higher thyroid levels (after healing - addressing gut issues/Candidal overgrowth while using EMPowerPlus and other supplements). She added a little EMpowerPlus back on as a multivitamin simply because she feels better on it - gets sick less often.
Younger dd: formerly(?) Childhood-onset schizoaffective, TS, OCD, anxiety, PTSD, migraines. After over 15 years, is now "recovered" for almost 5 years after treating endocrine issues, food sensitivities, gut issues, sleep issues, nutritional/mitochondrial needs.

 Aha!  Another strabismus patient...

In fairness to the pdoc, it was more others on the treatment team (her partial hospitalization teacher, counselors, etc.) that made the comments.  However, even the doc seemed to not take the dizziness complaints very seriously...I have such mixed feelings about where she's at now.  The structure seems to be good for her, but it is not the most up to date, well-intentioned program.  It is what is available where we are.  I guess that is a topic fo ra different thread. 

So sorry to hear about the vision loss in your daughter--that is terrible!  I am glad to hear it is minor.

Thanks so much for listening...

--

Jennie (37) depression treated effectively with lexapro
Husband (58)
daughter Alison (14)
Bipolar I with episodes of psychosis; Oppositional Defiant Disorder
lithium, depakote, zyprexa, zoloft