Re: 11 year old should i take her off meds?

[Guest guest]

Each child is different but in my opinion, it is too soon for you to take your

child off of her meds, especially if she is doing well on them and they seem to

be working. I think that because of her age, she may very well experience flare

ups of her OCD in the future. Many of the children on this site have been on

meds for years prior to be taken off, if they were taken off at all. I would

talk to your doctor about this if I were you. I thought that there was a new

law that said that there couldn't be limits on visits for a mental health

condition. Maybe that is just in my state--anyone out there familiar with this?

Kelley in NV

11 year old should i take her off meds?

My daughter has been diagnosed with ocd since June. it was a nightmere for about

3 months and slowly slowly things are better. she is has been seeing a therapist

every week since then and now we are starting every other week. she has also

seen a psychiatrist just to monitor her meds...she is on luvox. has anyone

weaned their child off meds successfully with no relapse? the other problem

which is horrible is my insurance only covers 25 sessions which we have maxed.

they wont increase the numbers so it is all out of pocket now.

thanks

michele

[Guest guest]

Is your doctor in your health plan? If not there is with some

insurance companies something called a " single case agreement "

where the insurance agrees to treat the doctor as they are

in there group.

For most large companies there is not a limit on mental

health visits if the doctor is in there insurance plan.

The mental health parity bill passed last fall to remove the

limit. I have not found any child psychitirsts in our area

in our plan. We have a limit too. I am requesting a

" single case agreement " for next year.

Hope this is of some help.

Pam

>

> My daughter has been diagnosed with ocd since June. it was a nightmere for

about 3 months and slowly slowly things are better. she is has been seeing a

therapist every week since then and now we are starting every other week. she

has also seen a psychiatrist just to monitor her meds...she is on luvox. has

anyone weaned their child off meds successfully with no relapse? the other

problem which is horrible is my insurance only covers 25 sessions which we have

maxed. they wont increase the numbers so it is all out of pocket now.

> thanks

> michele

>

[Guest guest]

Michele,

If things are slowly getting better, why are you anxious to take her off

of the meds? Medications take up to 3 months to have full effect. There

shouldn't be too many pdoc visits just for med. management. Maybe we

need a little more background.

Dina

[Guest guest]

Hi Michele, if the insurance won't cover the psych visits/meds then ask about

any " prescription assistance plan " that they know of to help cover the cost of

medication. As to a " relapse " yes, there is a good chance of that. With

continued therapy, or at least using the tools she learned while in therapy, she

eventually can try to lower/come off medication and see how she copes on her own

(using what she learned in therapy to " boss back " OCD). My son's OCD returned

several months after stopping Celex, which he was on in 9th and 10th grades. I

had read that this can happen, OCD returning several months after stopping

medication. That's why the therapy is so important to have also.

I can't believe the insurance won't give an exception for her visits when she

obviously needs them. I know my son's was 26 a year, but going every other week

or sometimes 3 weeks, that helped. But if he had needed it more often, I think

the therapist can apply for more visits. You can appeal their decision, if you

haven't already.

Just some thoughts,

>

> My daughter has been diagnosed with ocd since June. it was a nightmere for

about 3 months and slowly slowly things are better. she is has been seeing a

therapist every week since then and now we are starting every other week. she

has also seen a psychiatrist just to monitor her meds...she is on luvox. has

anyone weaned their child off meds successfully with no relapse? the other

problem which is horrible is my insurance only covers 25 sessions which we have

maxed. they wont increase the numbers so it is all out of pocket now.

> thanks

> michele

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Michele. Our insurance has a limit on appointments too. But, I found out

you can ask them to take benefit from your " in patient " mental health care and

apply them to " out patient " . You should call your insurance company and ask if

they would be willing to do that.

Why are you thinking of taking her off the meds? Does the therapist or

psychiatrist suggest that? Or is it due to the limit on appointments?

Our son's primary care doctor monitors his meds now, because seeing a

psychiatrist counted towards the same limited mental health appointments as the

psychologist did, with our insurance. And we wanted to save all those

appointments for actual therapy. Once he saw the psychiatrist, we opted to have

his regular doctor take care of the meds. Is that an option for you (assuming

you want her to stay on them)?

BJ

>

> My daughter has been diagnosed with ocd since June. it was a nightmere for

about 3 months and slowly slowly things are better. she is has been seeing a

therapist every week since then and now we are starting every other week. she

has also seen a psychiatrist just to monitor her meds...she is on luvox. has

anyone weaned their child off meds successfully with no relapse? the other

problem which is horrible is my insurance only covers 25 sessions which we have

maxed. they wont increase the numbers so it is all out of pocket now.

> thanks

> michele

>