Anti anxiety meds

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My daughter is 17 and suffers terrible with social anxiety. I would say the anxiety is greater than her struggles with Aspergers. Because she is old enough to make her own decisions regarding how she wants to go forward.

Where do I draw the line in leaving her to make the decision to consider the possibility of meds to lower anxiety and encouraging her to do so.

If I let her make her own decisions I dont think we would leave the house, this is if I were not enabling and doing all the talking , so that she didn't have to ask anything of anybody.

If she decides against anti anxiety meds, then her world would cease to grow and she does want it to grow. She has learnt the strategies and cognitive behaviour techniques. The anxiety is all pervasive.

She froze today in class watching a dvd for english fully aware I was in the parking lot waiting to take her to the gp for extra rebated sessions with the therapist. Someone had to physically take her out. It seems like a big set back as she has come out before, with no problems.

If anti anxiety meds were to be suited to her with no side effects I can only see this as a benefit for her in going forward to do the things that she wants. She always struggles socially because of anxiety.

I would appreciate feedback if anyone on the spectrum is taking anti anxiety meds and this has helped you tackle anxiety so you can try and talk in public.

Personally, the anti-anxiety meds were a godsend for me.

However, unless you plan to force feed them to her, I suggest you do leave that decision to her, unless you want to go through the hassle of getting and paying for pills that she never touches. Just because you make her get them, that doesn't mean that she'll take them if she's opposed to it.

Frankly, if it were me, even if I wanted them, I wouldn't take them if my parents decided to make my having them mandatory. Attempts to control a teenager, especially one with Asperger's, will backfire.

Additionally, I know of no anxiety meds with no side effects. It's a trial and error medication. The first set I was prescribed made things worse. The second did nothing. The third finally worked. If I weren't determined, I'd have given up and denounced them after the first.

I was on anti-anxiety medication. When I tried to wean myself off the medication, I had the worst withdrawal symptoms of my life, and they lasted for months. Couldn't sleep, intense nightmares when I did sleep, nauseous, vomiting, headaches. And it didn't even help with anxiety. 0/10 will never try meds again.

Well, um, there's your problem?

I disagree. It is entirely valid for an individual to stop or reduce their medications. When I decided to stop SSRIs (antidepressants), I spent a week researching how to tritate (reduce safely) off of them. Then, I spent the next 10 weeks reducing my normal dose (half daily for a week, half every other day for a week, half every third day for a week, etc.) until I could simply stop taking them. Ten weeks is a little quick for most tritations, but it worked for me. Some individuals simply want to reduce, not quit.

I personally feel I might have benefited from having something for my anxiety starting closer to that age....probably would have helped quite a bit. Though I am not sure if there are any anxiety meds with no side effects whatsoever, but depending on the medication and dosage there may not be any noticeable unpleasant effects. I think bringing the idea up to her would be a good idea, see how she feels and maybe encourage giving it a try, but don't try to force it that can just make things confusing because that is telling someone 'you have to take this drug whether you like it or not' which in my opinion is not a good approach when concerning drugs since an individual should have say in what they are putting in their body.

If she is bothered by this and really wanting to move forward without being held back so much by it, perhaps she would be open to the idea.

I was on the medicine in high school and it was great because I handled things better and I had better coping skills. I still had anxiety but it made it less and it helped me stay calmer in stressful situations. I probably should be on it now but don;t have Plan D and shall sign up for it.