Chynna's 'Sensational' Pearls: SPD and Medication

This post is part of the Best of the Best, Edition 12: Medications and Their Use with Special Needs Kids. Check the link after the 15th to check out all the contributed posts.

I've touched on the subject of medication here on The Gift before. It can be a sensitive subject for some. As a person who has issues such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues running deeply through the fiber of my family genes, I can honestly say I am not 'anti-medication'. I know that there are some individuals who need the medication as part of their overall self-care regimen in order to function most effectively. In such cases, it's necessary.

One of my sisters, for example, has suffered with deep depression since she was fifteen and is on two different kinds of SSRIs just so she can have the inner strength to get out of bed in the morning to face her day. Without the medications, she is unresponsive, unmotivated and on the brink of suicide. For her, depression is her main issue so the medications do exactly what they're supposed to do and help her function.

What irritates me is when medications are given freely to be a bandaid solution when there's a deeper issue at play that professionals ignore or simply won't deal with. And, unfortunately, this seems to happen frequently to children living with SPD or other sensory issues. It happened to Jaimie.

For those of you out there who have read our story in, Not Just Spirited: A Mom's Sensational Journey With SPD, you know that one of our biggest hurdles in getting Jaimie help was having the experts we dealt with see that, in her case, anxiety wasn't the base of her struggles. We knew that her anxiety and reactions stemmed from a much deeper issue that we couldn't get others to see. We didn't know what those issues were exactly, all we knew is that the anxiety was the tip of the iceberg, not the structure of it. Frustratingly, the psychologists Jaimie saw initially concentrated on her anxiety and behaviour and not what was causing it.

They wouldn't see that when they'd get to close to her, she became increasingly more anxious. Or notice how she avoided certain toys because of how they felt or sounded. Or understand that the perfume or cologne they wore bothered her so much, she ran away. Or listen to us when we said, "Please don't touch her without explaining to/warning her why you have to or what you're doing." They told us she had mere behavioral issues and that we needed to apply stronger discipline tactics and 'strongly advised' us to put her on SSRIs.

"Why," Steve asked the head psychologist after what felt like the hundredth time she'd given us that advice. "So she'll be more willing to do what you want her to do?"

That's how I felt too. When I told them that what we wanted to do was get Jaimie into an SPD clinic we'd heard about, the psychologist actually seemed angry. What she said to me after that will be engrained in my memory for the rest of my life: "OTs see everything as SPD or sensory-related," she said sharply. "At some point, you guys are going to have to accept that your daughter has very serious mental health issues. Yes, she has a few sensory reactions but her anxiety is only going to worsen with age. She needs to be on medication."

And that was coming from a highly sought-after psychologist in our city who actually deals with children who have Autism, Asperger's, AD/HD, behavioral issues and other hurdles. That scared me. If she was saying things like that to us, how many other parents had she given that same awful advice to?

When they first started talking medication for Jaimie, she was barely three-years old. We decided right off the bat there was no way we were going to just put her on medication when we didn't fully understand what was going on in her little body. My gut told me that it wasn't just behavior or anxiety with her and that if we put her on the medication, it wouldn't have helped her the way it should have. Even before her SPD diagnosis, I recognized that certain things (eg: changing the lighting in our house, removing the smelly things, letting her squish herself into empty chip boxes, etc.) we did calmed her down. I guess that's why when Jaimie finally got into SI Therapy, I wasn't surprised by anything we learned to help Jaimie because they were geared directly to her sensory issues--the root of the problem--not just focusing on that iceberg tip.

We felt very strongly that we'd try everything possible to ease her worrying, anxiety and stress without medication before turning down that path. I've been on anti-depressants so I know how they work. Not only do they have to find a dose that works well, they also have to find the right kind of medication. And it's really alot of experimentation with dosages and brands until something works. This can take a long time and cause even more stress than what the person is taking the drugs for in the first place. On top of all of that, a child with SPD already has a brain struggling to function as effectively as it can. When you throw medication aimed at the brain's chemistry into the mix, not only will the medication not work (because it isn't targeting the same issues in the brain) but, in some cases, it can actually make things worse. Now I'm not a neurologist, but I am a mom of two kids coping with SPD that's on the more severe end of the line. I've seen the success in digging deep down to their sensory issues, learning how to help them cope with each area. I've experienced how coupling that with a good diet, proper communication tools, good sensory tools and educating others on SPD can make a HUGE difference in the lives of these kids--without medication.

Now, understand. This is just our story to this day. I'm not against considering medication in the future for any of my kids if they need it. There are times when Jaimie still experiences tremendous anxiety that isn't sensory-related and I help her work through it all. All I'm trying to say, dear 'sensational' caregivers, is to trust your own guts when it comes to allowing experts to convince you medication is 'the only way'. It isn't. Even if your child does need the SSRI's or other medications, you'll still need to create an entire holistic approach in helping him function. Medication alone isn't going to solve things (but you all know that already!)

Back then, we didn't know about the term 'Sensory Processing Disorder' or know about phenomenal resources like The SPD Foundation. All we had to go on was our own gut instincts screaming to us that Jaimie didn't just have a mental health issue or some condition that could be calmed with a pill. She needed more. And we needed to make others hear us so we could all understand her better. If you find yourselves in the same situation, listen to your gut and do the research. And always get a second (or third or fourth) opinion.