Caring for Your Hurting Teen

Caring for Your Hurting Teen — Comments Off on When Your Teen Comes Home From the Mental Health Hospital
17
Aug 26

When Your Teen Comes Home From the Mental Health Hospital

LeavingHospital.jpg“As with any illness, a brief setback may occur once the support of the hospital is removed.”

When a loved one has surgery, you bring him home with a list of after-care instructions: keep the arm elevated; apply ice every hour. Whenever I brought a teen home from the behavioral health hospital, I found myself asking, “What do I do now?” My teen was usually shaky at best, sometimes still on the verge of being suicidal. As with any illness, a brief setback may occur once the support of the hospital is removed. The first few days will probably be the hardest. Many teens find it jolting to leave the calm consistency of the hospital. Keep the following in mind to ease the re-entry:

  • Don’t plan any kind of a celebration. Your teen will not be up for it.
  • Don’t invite anybody over. If your teen wants to see a friend, that’s okay, but keep well-meaning relatives away for these first few days.
  • Make their favorite meal.
  • Try to establish set meal times and stick to them. Your teen will appreciate the predictability.
  • Try to structure the days as much as possible, mimicking the hospital’s use of repetition to de-stress your teen’s brain. For example: eat; go for a walk or a short outing; do homework; rest. Repeat. I know this may be a tall order, but the more you can structure the day, the easier the transition will be and the quicker the recovery will be.
  • If there is tension in your house that you cannot eliminate, a grandparent or other relative may be willing to let your teen come and stay for a while.
  • Secure the environment, even if your teen has not been suicidal. Put away knives and lock up medicines. Guns of any kind have no place in your home anymore. Taking these measures will give everybody, including him, peace of mind.
  • Above all, stay strong and know that you will get through this.
Caring for Your Hurting Teen — Comments Off on Are Supplements Better than Psychotropic Medicines?
12
Aug 26

Are Supplements Better than Psychotropic Medicines?

Teenager“…adding a vitamin where there is no deficiency will not cure a disease that has a different source.”

Sooner or later, it seems like many parents of mentally ill teens ask themselves this question. When the medicine seems to bring only miserable side effects, it’s natural to ask ourselves if maybe we’ve missed the obvious. Even if the medicine has brought your teen relief, you may be dissatisfied that it hasn’t brought greater improvement.

A couple of summers ago, I browsed through a book on holistic medicine while I was visiting my mom. It said that people with bipolar disorder don’t absorb sufficient B vitamins, especially B12.  Since my son has bipolar disorder and I was always looking for new answers, I went to the health the food store and bought some vitamin B. After all, how could it hurt?

The B-complex I bought was called something like “Stress Tabs.” The irony of the name was lost on me until about a month later when my son complained that his anxiety was worsening. After a month of no improvement, I became suspicious of the vitamins and removed them. Within a couple of weeks, his anxiety had come back down. I’m glad I didn’t buy him a B12 shot as the book had suggested! The following summer, I had all of my son’s vitamin B levels checked during his blood work. To my surprise, they were all on the high side–including the B12. Lesson learned. I should have started with blood work and gotten some real information before rushing to buy something that seemed harmless.

Severe vitamin deficiencies can cause all sorts of symptoms. But adding a vitamin where there is no deficiency will not cure a disease that has a different source. If you suspect a deficiency, ask your doctor to test for it during blood work.

 

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