Introduction - Help for my Adult Daughter

[LizK]

Hi

Just joined the site to get information to help my adult daughter. She was "diagnosed" by her GP with Anxiety and prescribed a medication over 5 years ago and has had not been review by anyone. The last couple of Dr's she has seen who have refilled her script have advised her they will not fill it again until she is reassessed by her "own" Dr. So she Dr hops to get her anxiety medication which I would have thought by now was not too effective after 5+ years of no dose adjustment. She seems to become agitated and describing that she has large amounts of anxiety when ever she forgets to take the medication, however within a few minutes of taking the meds she is "better". I have spoken to her recently and I know she is terrified that she will have her anxiety meds taken away from her leaving her feeling really horrible with no help at all and unable to cope.

She is now struggling to get out of bed in the mornings, her house was in a desperate mess but her sister went over yesterday and cleaned the place up for her and she sat there doing very little. She expressed to her sister that she cries most days and that the day before she spent the entire morning crying, she has difficulty seeing positives in her life and has some minor debt issues(Under 6k) which she seems to worry continually about. She posts all sorts of stuff on Facebook about her anxiety and more recently about her feelings of depression which are becoming more prevalent for her.

We have tried to help her every way possible and so has her sister. I am really concerned she will continue down this spiral. We have asked her to get some help several times, provided solutions for to her to get help...pretty much tried everything I can think of. I am concerned this could flip over and she self harms. Her sister who spent the day with her is really concerned about her well being and feels it won't take much to "tip her over"

Depression runs through our family on my mother side and I personally have suffered from it. I was able to eliminate depression from my life and am fine but that is a story for another time.

Any Suggestions as to how to help my (27 yr old) daughter would be greatly appreciated. I am just starting to read through the site now but thought I would just introduce myself first.

Thank you

LizK

[Croix]

Dear LizK~

Welcome here to the Forum. I'm sorry you are in this situation, it is every parent's nightmare. As you read the similar threads you will see of course that under normal circumstances an adult is the only person that can decide to get treatment.

That doe not mean you are powerless, just that your daughter may have to be persuaded that seeing a doctor again is not a threat. From the sound of it she depends very much both on her medication, and also the idea the medication is available. So it is not really surprising if she is reluctant to risk its supply.

Frankly from the symptoms you describe I don't think any doctor would simply refuse her, in fact the opposite, therapy might well need to be stepped up. I'll mention this is just a guess based on my own experiences with an anxiety condition -I'm no doctor.

I know you have tried different things to try to get her to get help and I apologize if I'm retracing your footsteps however if I was in that situation I'd firstly consult with my own GP and get their views.

I'd then present a visit to your GP as being a safe thing to do with no risk of her losing her meds, pus the strong possibility of improvement. if possible you or here sister take her to the surgery.

If there is someone else she is more likely to listen to then that might be a possibility too.

If at any stage you feel your daughter is in actual danger please ring 000. Sometimes it can seem a betrayal of confidence, however it is the only thing to do to keep someone safe.

Your own situation, and that of her sister may well need attention and support too. You are both under extreme stress and worry. A visit to your GP for your own sake would be in order.

You can also ring our own 24/7 Help Line (1300 22 4636) or the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467) on your own behalf,. They are there for people in your situation too. talking to experienced professionals does help.

Do you have family or friends to care and support you too?

Croix

[quirkywords]

LIzk

I too want to welcome you to the forum . I noticed that your first post was to offer help to someone else and this is what the forum is about helping and receiving help. As you will have noticed it is a very supportive place.

Croix has given you a very detailed and helpful reply.

I noticed you mentioned your daughter posts all sorts of items on Facebook about her anxiety and depression.

I wonder if she gets support by doing this or do you think it is not helpful for her. I know people who do put a lot of their mental health issues on Facebook and for some it seems to help and others can get upset when they don't get the response they are hoping for.

Does your daughter have friends she confides in who understands what she is going through?

As Croix mentioned it is important that you and your family need support too as you know it is very exhausting caring for some with depression.

Feel free to post here as much as you like. You are not alone.

Thank you for sharing your story with honesty.

Quirky

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi LizK,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for posting and introducing yourself. It's great to 'meet' you! I'm one of the younger champs here - I can see that both Quirky and Croix have given some support already and hopefully others will too.

I'm sorry that your daughter is struggling so much but I'm also glad that she's so open about it - especially with her sister. Having someone to talk to (even if it's not a therapist) is important and knowing that someone can just listen so she doesn't feel so alone.

You mentioned that you'd 'tried to help her in every way possible'. Can you maybe talk us through some of the things you might have tried? What do you think might be the reasons she hasn't wanted more help?

I will just say too that you can have your daughter see a new GP and 'start from scratch'. All you need to say is that you aren't seeing that original GP anymore. Even though GP's may have good intentions by asking your daughter to see the initial GP, it's not at all necessary.

Hope this helps,