Newbie mum of 15yr old ASD with Psycotic depression thrown in!

[Robsmum]

Hi there, I'm a newbie on here - but am so glad I found this site as it gave me a certain amount of sanity last night during a particulary difficult evening. My 15 yr old son (middle child - 3 boys)has Aspergers - diagnosed when he was 7. We managed without any help for 6 years until bless him, he hit the dreaded teens!!!!! Although now permanently at home, he has spent the whole of the last academic year in and out of 2 mental health hospitals (one an intensive care unit for mental health). He has now beem diagnosed with psycotic depression, takes meds for the psycotic part of his depression, meds for the actual depression and meds to enable him to slepp as he became a total insomniac. He is no longer able to access full time education as this causes him to plummet again - however, we are lucky enough to be involved in a wonderful scheme through Bedfordshire (called PLACE). This allows my son to be educated along with a few other children who struggle to access schooling (for all sorts of reasons). Anyway to cut a very long story short, my son starts a college course through them this Friday - which is causing his anxiety to build and boy-oh-boy are we feeling the effects. Nothing at the moment that we say or do is helping him at all. He is unfortunately being pushed back a school year (to yer 10 instead of yr 11) due to the amount of schooling he missed whilst hospitalised and also as no-one wants to lump more pressure on him than is needed - i.e. GCSE's. Our biggest problem at the moment is that our other 2 sons (18yrs and 10yrs) are really struggling with their brother and have done since he was discharged from hospital. Does anyone out there have similar problems? Any advice would be gratefully received!!

[Karen A]

Hi there, I'm a newbie on here - but am so glad I found this site as it gave me a certain amount of sanity last night during a particulary difficult evening. My 15 yr old son (middle child - 3 boys)has Aspergers - diagnosed when he was 7. We managed without any help for 6 years until bless him, he hit the dreaded teens!!!!! Although now permanently at home, he has spent the whole of the last academic year in and out of 2 mental health hospitals (one an intensive care unit for mental health). He has now beem diagnosed with psycotic depression, takes meds for the psycotic part of his depression, meds for the actual depression and meds to enable him to slepp as he became a total insomniac. He is no longer able to access full time education as this causes him to plummet again - however, we are lucky enough to be involved in a wonderful scheme through Bedfordshire (called PLACE). This allows my son to be educated along with a few other children who struggle to access schooling (for all sorts of reasons). Anyway to cut a very long story short, my son starts a college course through them this Friday - which is causing his anxiety to build and boy-oh-boy are we feeling the effects. Nothing at the moment that we say or do is helping him at all. He is unfortunately being pushed back a school year (to yer 10 instead of yr 11) due to the amount of schooling he missed whilst hospitalised and also as no-one wants to lump more pressure on him than is needed - i.e. GCSE's. Our biggest problem at the moment is that our other 2 sons (18yrs and 10yrs) are really struggling with their brother and have done since he was discharged from hospital. Does anyone out there have similar problems? Any advice would be gratefully received!!

 

Hi.

Welcome to the Forum.

It sounds as though your son,yourself and the other two boys have all had a very difficult time.

I have not had similar experiences as Ben is 12 and has not yet reached his teens although I have to say I am not looking forward to the prospect with great glee.

However there are others here who have ben through difficult times.

A few people in the last few months have posted that their teens have also needed admission to mental health provision for various reasons.So I know you are not alone.

 

Young Minds is a charity that supports young people with mental health needs and their parents.

They have an excellent helpline.If the advisor cannot provide the information needed they will organise a call back from a professional with experience.I will find a link for you.Although they may not have a lot of experience of AS they will be very used to supporting parents of teens with mental health needs.

 

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/

Karen.

Karen.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Karen A

[JsMum]

wow sounds like you all have it really tough!

 

The one thing that popped into my head was your other sons, is there any Siblings Disability groups in your area, where we are they run a siblings social and activity group, where they get to talk about how it effects thier life having a brother/sister with a disability, councilling and activities to help bonding between siblings.

 

National Autistic Society may know of any in your area.

 

It maybe an idea to request that your sons are referred to CAMHS to look at some kind of councilling too, as this must be very stressful for them too.

 

Anyway just a thought, a big fat warm welcome to you and your familyx

 

some links.

 

http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/parents-relatives-and-carers/siblings/support-for-siblings-of-people-with-autism.aspx

http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/parents-relatives-and-carers/siblings.aspx

http://www.siblingsupport.org/

 

JsMumx

[Karen A]

wow sounds like you all have it really tough!

 

The one thing that popped into my head was your other sons, is there any Siblings Disability groups in your area, where we are they run a siblings social and activity group, where they get to talk about how it effects thier life having a brother/sister with a disability, councilling and activities to help bonding between siblings.

 

National Autistic Society may know of any in your area.

 

It maybe an idea to request that your sons are referred to CAMHS to look at some kind of councilling too, as this must be very stressful for them too.

 

Anyway just a thought, a big fat warm welcome to you and your familyx

 

some links.

 

http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/parents-relatives-and-carers/siblings/support-for-siblings-of-people-with-autism.aspx

http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/parents-relatives-and-carers/siblings.aspx

http://www.siblingsupport.org/

 

JsMumx

 

Thought I would add on the same subject.

We have just had an invitation to go to a ''Help 2 '' course run by the NAS about supporting sibblings.

The help 2 courses I have been to are very good.

So it could be worth seeing if there is one coming up in your area too.