A Tough Pill to Swallow: Medicating Autism
[Julianna] (0:09 - 0:42)
Today, we're talking about medication. Between 30 and 60% of autistic children between ages eight and 15 are prescribed medication to manage symptoms like aggression, irritability, hyperactivity, and other problem behaviors. But we would guess that about 100% of parents do not want to medicate their children. But we do it. So that's why this episode is titled, “A Tough Pill to Swallow: Medicating Autism.” So Kelley, tell me, when did Beau start taking medication?
[Kelley] (0:43 - 1:37)
A tough pill to swallow indeed, right? Well, he was about six and I was totally against medicating my child, and my husband was against medicating his child, and we didn't want to do it. And we just were hitting a wall of behavior. And in Beau's case, we were also hitting a wall of learning to read. I really wanted him to be able to have certain sight words and certain words for danger and being able to read directions. I certainly didn't care if he ever read a novel, but instructions, directions, recipes, that kind of thing I knew were essential for independence and he was struggling to learn to read for a lot of the reasons why autistic people struggle to learn language and learn to read. And that was the impetus. My main goal was to help him learn to read.
[Julianna] (1:37 - 2:42)
Yeah.
[Kelley]
What about you?
[Julianna]
Well, for us, we started medicating our son after preschool, before kindergarten. So that summer. Teachers aren’t supposed to say, “Hey, you should medicate your child.” But they might strongly suggest it. The message was pretty clear that before he entered kindergarten and over the summer, that might be a good thing to experiment with. And we're going to get into all that, but summertime is a good time to do that because there's so many variables when school starts. And, as you know, it's really hard to gauge when a lot of different things are happening in a child's life. So what's affecting this? What's affecting that? So we started that summer and a lot of it was his anxiety. We were addressing anxiety, frustration—all of those things that were really impeding the learning process.
[Kelley] (2:43 - 3:39)
Yes. Again, medication is a tool for behavior management, for better learning. It is best though when it's a tool for these things and not when it's a crutch for other therapies and other interventions. And so the best use of medication is to support the child's other developments, right? All the other therapeutic interventions. So Julianna, it's interesting because officially there's only two drugs that are approved for autism, specifically Abilify and Risperidone, right? And yet those are by far not the most commonly prescribed medications. We are going to do an episode about off-label treatments, but it's important for parents of autistic kids to know that the second you deviate from Abilify and Risperidone, you're going off-label. So what are some of the other things that are regularly prescribed for autism?
[Julianna] (3:40 - 4:12)
Yeah. So there's regularly six classes of drugs and over 50 brands of medication to choose from. I'm not even going to pretend to know how to say or list them, so I'm going to read what they are. So the drugs often fall into one of the following six categories: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs—we know them—tricyclics, psychoactive or antipsychotic medications, stimulants, anti-anxiety medications, and anticonvulsants.
[Julianna] (4:14 - 4:15)
Yes. Right?
[Kelley] (4:15 - 4:16)
Yes. So those are some big, scary words.
[Julianna] (4:17 - 4:29)
And I did a little digging back—well, I didn't have to dig because this, my list of medication that my son is currently and was on in the past, I keep maintained.
[Julianna] (4:31 - 4:36)
Although now he is 24 and he is managing his own medication—which is important.
[Kelley] (4:36 - 4:39)
Very important. And one of the reasons why I wanted Beau to read—so he can read his own labels.
[Julianna] (4:39 - 4:41)
Absolutely. He manages it all.
[Julianna] (4:41 - 5:09)
So I am still in the conversation with him about it, and I want to know what he's on. But I even have a list at the bottom of my list of what drugs he's on, the different categories. And beyond these six that they mentioned, he also uses a tranquilizer. He's using anti-epileptic medications. So off-label, it's a wide range of drugs.
[Kelley] (5:09 - 5:56)
And experimenting with medicating your child is often just that. It's a huge experiment. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of data collection. It is very overwhelming when you consider how few doctors there are out there that specialize in it. And your pediatrician, your first line for medication for your child, might discourage you because they don't know enough about it. Finding good doctors, getting second opinions—it's a rabbit hole. What we're trying to do with this episode, what we want all parents to get out of it is ideas for collecting data and ideas for different medications and when to stop, when to start, when to try a different dose.
[Julianna] (5:56 - 6:04)
But I think you and I would agree that the first thing to do is to find that good psychiatrist. I mean, a pediatrician is really, a developmental pediatrician—
[Julianna] (6:05 - 6:18)
A developmental pediatrician might be able to do it, but this isn't something like when we go to a GP and they give us our antidepressants. This is something where you need somebody who really specializes in medicating children.
[Kelley] (6:18 - 7:05)
And if you are in an area of the country where there are not a lot of child psychiatrists—which believe it or not, there are as many areas of the country where there are unfortunately not a lot of resources. They're listed in the paper where you can find a telehealth doctor or you can go to a site like Autism Speaks that has a lot of information about medications—a good guide for medications—and do your own research and bring that to the prescribing physician. Because a little bit of educating the physician—depending on, again, where you are in the country—might be necessary.
[Julianna]
And the paper you're talking about is our refrigerator paper.
[Kelley]
And so in our refrigerator paper, we do reference the Autism Speaks because we do think that they have a good guide and we don't always agree with everything about Autism Speaks. But when there's good data, we like to support it.
[Julianna] (7:05 - 7:22)
When I was looking for resources like that, I came upon theirs and it really does cover everything you need. And that information is all in our refrigerator paper, which you can find at refrigeratormoms.com.
[Kelley] (7:22 - 7:51)
I am going to say one last thing, and that is that while social media—and we are certainly in social media—while it is a good resource, it is a place to start. You will find parents that say all kinds of things on social media. Never forget that these are strangers that don't know your child and you don't know them. So be cautious when gathering information about your child's medication only from a social media source.
[Julianna] (7:51 - 8:13)
Right. I mean, that's why it's so important to partner with a psychiatrist who really understands and is really at the forefront of what's going on in medicating children and adults, as my son is going through now, with autism and comorbid conditions.
[Kelley] (8:14 - 9:10)
So one of the harsh realities of medicating your child is the side effects. Nobody ever wants to talk about it, but we're going to do a brief list. The complete list is in the paper, but here are some things to be aware of, because you're going to see one, if not more, of these side effects. The most common one, weight gain. Weight gain is probably universal. Very few children escape the weight gain that comes with the two that are approved for autism. Drooling, another extremely common one. Agitation and anxiety. This is interesting because if the medication is not right, then it can't lead to severe anxiety or agitation. It can also be a crash. Some of the stimulants in particular, if they're not long-release, extended-release, which if you're with a doctor that may not know that, you can get these crashes, and those can be as bad as ...
[Julianna] (9:10 - 9:12)
What you're trying to help. Yeah.
[Kelley] (9:12 - 9:32)
Sometimes skin rashes, itching, swollen breasts is another one that's extremely common for Risperdal, I think. That's a big one. And one that needs to be monitored.
[Julianna]
Yep.
[Kelley]
Extreme thirst, unusual bleeding or bruising. Again, you have to read through what these are, because you have to be on the lookout for them.
[Julianna] (9:33 - 9:48)
And again, yes, you should be on the lookout, but also a psychiatrist should be able to tell you specific things to look out for, the ones that are the most common, and they're going to be tracking that, too. But obviously, you're the first line. Yes.
[Kelley] (9:49 - 10:10)
Yes. And sometimes they get better.
[Julianna]
Yes.
[Kelley]
So when to call it and not even take any chances, and when to stick it out a little bit longer, play with the dosage—aagain, you need a partner that is a doctor that is familiar with these things. So what are some of the ways, along those lines, that a parent knows that the medication is having a positive effect?
[Julianna] (10:11 - 11:04)
Yeah, and that's really trial and error. The biggest part of this is tracking it. So you really do need to be a bit of a detective and observe their behavior. So you know what you're looking for, for one thing. I used to chart. I used to have a little calendar printout, and I would mark down days, like if we were addressing big tantrums. So the frustration and anxiety and all of that ramped up so much that it would lead to big meltdowns, not tantrums. Go back to our refrigerator paper on tantrums to decipher the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown. But we were in severe meltdown territory. So I would track when he would have big meltdowns and see. It was just doing the math. Did they decrease? And that was really effective.
[Kelley] (11:05 - 11:07)
And even just decreasing in duration is important.
[Julianna] (11:07 - 11:18)
Yes, I would put like a star for a meltdown, and then I would say 15 minutes. And then I'd do star, two hours. And then we'll see frequency and duration. We would track that.
[Kelley] (11:19 - 11:21)
Redirection possibilities, right? We'd be able to be redirected.
[Julianna] (11:22 - 12:28)
Right. You know, like any experiment, it's like, are there other factors? So that's the other thing. Back to the summer idea. If you're doing this when there are fewer elements that could be influencing behavior, it's better. So you really know if it's the medication working or if it's some new therapy you're trying. You want to get an idea of what's what. So there's lots of ways to check. And then once your child becomes a little more self-aware, if they ever do, they can communicate. You just ask them, how are you doing? Are you feeling anything? Do you have a headache? Or I just emphasize, be sure to report if you are feeling a stomachache or if you seem to be shaking a little bit. Tics were a thing. Tics was definitely one for my son. And if he had a shaky hand or something like that. So you need to be tracking.
[Kelley] (12:29 - 13:27)
Yes. And some of the other criticisms—other than obviously the side effects, which is a legitimate criticism—people argue that medication is a way to control an autistic person into submission, influence their behavior in a way that it shouldn't be. And my response to that is that, well, first of all, like in my son's case, he's entitled to learn to read. That is something that we should pull out all the stops to help him because that will influence everything in his life. If he can read what he needs to to survive. So that's the first criticism I have back at the criticism that I should have never medicated him. And the second is that these things are not cures. They're not meant to be cures. They were not going to beat the autism and the autistic personality out of your child or anything. They allow your child to be more themselves because they're not in the grips of some of these more debilitating behaviors.
[Julianna] (13:27 - 13:59)
Yeah. And to me, I also felt like it was really giving him access to other things. So, he went through a period that was so intense and he needed all interventions to get his behavior under control so he could go to school. He wasn't able to really learn anything because it was all about what was happening on the playground and he couldn't get into the classroom and look at what school did for him.
[Kelley] (13:59 - 14:03)
Look at how remarkably successful he is.
[Julianna] (14:03 - 14:43)
Yeah. And medication was definitely a key tool. It's a little bit like if you're on an antidepressant—which I am. And when you take an antidepressant, it's not going to change your personality. It's not going to change who you are. It's just going to give you a little breathing room to do the other hard work. It's similar. Obviously, it's not equal. So I understand that criticism, but I reject that criticism.
[Kelley] (14:43 - 15:16)
Right. And at the end of the day, these people aren't in your house raising your kid. You are responsible and you have to have a little shield for these criticisms. And it's a criticism from a voice in your head because you're doing something that you never wanted to do. And that's something we grapple with as parents, no matter what our child's disposition or diagnosis is. You set some goals for them and you do what you think is right. Hopefully, you have a good partner and a good doctor to discuss things with.
[Julianna] (15:16 - 15:57)
Yeah. Another complication rather than a critique is it can get complicated when there's more than one diagnosis. So that's another thing to look out for, because many kids on the spectrum also have perhaps OCD or ADHD or something else. And so medicating multiple disorders is difficult, but not impossible. But you need to really balance out what you're medicating. And it comes down to what we go back to with any treatment. You're really not looking at the diagnosis. You're looking at the symptoms.
[Kelley] (15:57 - 16:35)
In later episodes, we are going to get into diagnosis and what we think is a distinct advantage later, since our children were diagnosed, where people are fine-tuning the diagnosis as the years wear on. It's important. And again, it lends itself to the right medication. And maybe you can't do everything at once. So if you've got hyperactivity and behaviors, maybe you're going to start with the behaviors because whatever's more debilitating. And one at a time is a good rule of thumb and see how we were responding to that. Because again, a lot of these kids are taking a combination of medical intervention.
[Julianna] (16:36 - 16:45)
Well, what can you say if your child decides they don't want to take medication as a young child?
[Kelley] (16:45 - 17:24)
I would say that prior to adolescence, there might be some fear there. So they're picking up on what you're dropping.
[Julianna]
Yeah.
[Kelley]
I think if you're scared to medicate them or you really don't want to, if your partner's not really on board, you are maybe giving them some fear. You got to get on the same page. Much like when we talk about in ABA, the routine of it all, that's important. When they get to be adolescents, I think that it becomes more of a conversation about how they're feeling and how they would manage their behavior differently. A different type of trial and error, right?
[Julianna] (17:24 - 18:38)
I know when my son was really small, when we were first starting, his psychiatrist would say, “I'm going to give you a vitamin that's going to help you worry less.” And he wanted to worry less.
[Kelley]
Yes.
[Julianna]
And so if you approach it like that, like this is an aid. And what so often I would have to remind myself is that he didn't want to be in that state. He didn't want to be in that state of high anxiety or having those meltdowns. He didn't like that at all. And if there was something that he could take... In fact, I was reviewing some messages that I had sent, I think to you. And one of them was about my oldest son. He had been going to our psychiatrist for a while and had been feeling better. And at one point he asked if his younger brother, who was on an earlier episode and who was at the time being very whiny—he asked me if his doctor could give Ethan a vitamin to help him stop whining. But there was no cure for whining at that time.
[Kelley] (18:39 - 18:40)
Vitamins for everybody.
[Julianna] (18:41 - 19:05)
So he was on board with it. Let's medicate that guy too. Positivity. But that wasn't without its hurdles. Don't get me wrong. There were times where he didn't want to take it, but that was in heightened, extreme emotion. And for the most part, the silver lining of medicating your child early is that it just becomes routine.
[Kelley] (19:06 - 19:36)
I'm sure you did too. A pill we had that if we were having an intense meltdown would help him calm down. And he learned very quickly that that was a big help to him. It did not become a crutch or I'll just have a meltdown and you'll give me a pill. That certainly never happened. But he understood that this would help him. And I believe that it helps decrease the incidence of meltdowns because he could. We all had something that made meltdowns a little less intimidating.
[Julianna] (19:37 - 20:23)
Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately, as an adult, my son is still on board with medication. But I know that some adults, especially if—and this is pretty common—if they're feeling pretty good, they decide to go off their medication. But I think and that is something that, again, you're always talking to them about. These are the pros, even if there are some side effects. But reminding them that they were feeling good when they were on medication. And if they're still in your home, you do have a little bit of leverage. And there's some expectation that if you're all living together that this is something that you do for the family too. In addition to yourself. But really impressing upon them the importance of that tool.
[Kelley] (20:24 - 20:24)
As a mental health tool.
[Julianna] (20:25 - 20:25)
Absolutely.
[Kelley] (20:26 - 21:33)
So what does the future of medicating children for autism look like? Oftentimes we're disappointed because autism research is woefully underfunded.
[Julianna]
Yes.
[Kelley]
But there are a couple things we're really excited about that we think that have potential and we're keeping our eye on. And we certainly intend to shout from the rooftops in future episodes.
[Julianna]
You were just telling me about one.
[Kelley]
Yes. So folate. So it is off-label now, but there is an increasing body of research that indicates that folate deficiencies have an effect on children and behavior. And there are several clinical studies going on right now. And I believe it starts with a blood test though, where your folate levels are analyzed. And I believe that the level of folate supplements that you take in response to that is quite high. So again, probably not without side effects, but it is currently being done off-label for some folks and they're having great success with it. So I think it's exciting. I'm actually going to have my son's folate levels tested because they've never been tested. And I feel like it's good information. We're always for more information.
[Julianna] (21:34 - 21:54)
I know. And it's interesting, that one. I think that one's being primarily used right now to mitigate the side effects of certain chemo treatments. So it's really interesting what you find and where it could apply to autism. It's really interesting. Any others?
[Kelley] (21:54 - 21:56)
Well, you tell me.
[Julianna] (21:57 - 22:30)
Well, okay. There's oxytocin. I know that one's one, a neuropeptide. That's the cuddle drug. And that one is supposed to improve repetitive behaviors, social skills, emotional recognition. And CBD.
[Kelley]
Of course. CBD, everybody wants to know.
[Julianna]
I know. It works for pets. So it's still highly controversial. It's poorly researched. Some studies claim it's amazing. Some say it can be toxic.
[Kelley] (22:31 - 22:43)
Well, I think that the jury's going to have to be out on that a little bit longer. Research can't catch up on CBD because it's not legal at the federal level.
[Julianna] (22:43 - 22:43)
Correct.
[Kelley] (22:43 - 23:55)
So none of the research studies that can be funded at the federal level, which is what we need. If it works, it works, right? And if it doesn't, I caution, extreme caution when you are going to the neighborhood dispensary because you never know what you're going to get there.
[Julianna]
Right.
[Kelley]
So we've reached the point in the podcast where we talk about what we would do if we were in this situation, as we've often been. If we're concerned about the side effects and the big bad idea of medicating our children, then that's preventing us from pursuing medication as a possible intervention—again, in conjunction with all of the other interventions we do and not as a sole intervention. It boils down to analysis, research and data, conversations with a competent physician, a real tough and honest conversation with yourself and your partner about what it is that's preventing you and where the fear is coming from. And if it's justified, hopefully the research that you do, hopefully this paper can help put some of those feelings at ease. And once they're articulated, you let them go.
[Julianna] (23:55 - 24:11)
This is definitely one where fear is bigger for medication. It's not like trying ABA, because you are changing brain chemistry. And we don't want to underplay that because it is scary.
[Kelley] (24:11 - 24:13)
It is a tough pill to swallow.
[Julianna] (24:13 - 24:35)
It is a tough pill to swallow. And it's an emotional one. When we started medicating him at age five and a half when he's growing—what's going to happen with his brain and who knows what we're going to find out. But again, it's really the cost-benefit analysis.
[Kelley] (24:36 - 24:58)
Yes, and what are you costing them and what do they want? Do they want to be having meltdowns? Do they want to not be able to go to school? Do they like it when they can't focus on anything? They all have special interests. If they can't pursue their special interests, these things matter and these things should be put into the cost-benefit analysis and that's what we do.
[Julianna] (24:59 - 27:26)
Absolutely. So another question we pose to ourselves is what would we do if we're concerned about the long-term use of medication on our children, especially if they started taking medication at a very young age. So yeah, just like I said, that was our big fear. So my husband and I, we had real risks to consider because one of the first drugs that our son's psychiatrist wanted to put him on was Zoloft, a really common starter drug after Buspar, which is the entry point. When that doesn't work, you move to Zoloft. We'd done, of course, an exhaustive family history. My husband's brother has bipolar and one of the side effects of Zoloft is that it can trigger latent, I don't want to say trigger. I'm not a doctor. This is my understanding of the drug. But basically, if you do have a predisposition when you're a teen or in your 20s, if you're on Zoloft for prolonged periods of time, it can trigger that. That was definitely something we didn't want to complicate matters. So we—my husband and myself and our doctor—we're really always looking out for that, but she really did think that was the best drug. But we always had that fear. And there was a time a few years later where our son was having a massive meltdown. We went into one of those 8 p.m. emergency office visits, where the psychiatrist had to give him something to calm him down. And in that conversation, and I said, “But what about the bipolar? I'm afraid of the bipolar.” As he's kicking, biting, screaming, all this stuff. And she looked at me in her very calm voice, said, “You know, what you're dealing with now is worse than anything that you might be worried about in the future.” And I say, “All right, thank you for that perspective.” I needed that perspective. What we were dealing with and what we were coping with in the moment, it was much more important to deal with than any potential risk that we were facing.
[Kelley] (27:27 - 28:06)
And if our spouse or other family members were against medicating our children? This comes up a lot.
[Julianna]
Yeah.
[Kelley]
I will tell you that my stock line to my husband was not just for medication, but for anything that I wanted to try was don't tell me no if you have no other answer. If your only answer is let's just wait and see.
[Julianna]
Yeah.
[Kelley]
That is not an answer. Come up with a better idea. I'm open to any ideas, but no with no explanation is not going to cut it with me. I'm going to need more data than that. My husband, of course, was easy to get on board. He was right alongside me reading things and asking questions. We are very fortunate in that.
[Julianna] (28:06 - 28:15)
And we'll get to that at some point, but we are, full disclosure, we have very supportive spouses and fathers to these children.
[Kelley] (28:16 - 28:49)
People who are extended family members that have these opinions, ask yourself, are they ever around your child? Because chances are if they're around your child regularly, they're going to see what you see and they're going to be pretty amenable to whatever intervention you think will help because they see the difficulties. If it's someone that really doesn't spend any time with your child and has read something on the internet or just is in theory against medication, you just need to have to ignore it because they don't know. They're not there.
[Julianna] (28:49 - 28:57)
Something we're always saying, it's your family. You're the one doing that daily observation and that research.
[Kelley] (28:57 - 29:45)
And if Grandma's there every day, show her the research. Show her what you've read. I think Grandma probably is going to get there pretty quickly if she's watching one of those meltdowns unfold.
[Julianna]
Right. Absolutely.
[Kelley]
And now we're at the to-do list with things that are to be done immediately, in the short-term, in the long-term, and things that are blocked that we never do. And again, as always, this is in the paper. We think these are pretty good so we're going to go through the bulk of them but you can find them in the paper. In the immediate, this is something I touched on earlier, but ask parents, teachers, peers, therapists, people who are around your child and children who are autistic regularly for referrals and for information about what they see in your child.
[Julianna] (29:45 - 29:50)
You referred me to our son's doctor.
[Kelley] (29:50 - 29:53)
Yes. The greatest, right?
[Julianna] (29:53 - 29:54)
She's the best.
[Kelley] (29:54 - 30:02)
The best. And, you know, God bless her. She's retiring.
[Julianna]
She's retiring?
[Kelley]
I presume. She's got to be.
[Julianna] (30:02 - 30:03)
Oh, no.
[Kelley] (30:03 - 30:03)
I know.
[Julianna] (30:03 - 30:24)
I say that because my son now lives across the country so she hasn't been able to prescribe for him because he's not in our state. So, that's why I didn't know. But she was such an important part of our team and I still miss her.
[Kelley] (30:25 - 30:30)
Yes. I think of her often. Along those lines, follow the directions from the prescribing physician to the letter.
[Julianna] (30:31 - 30:31)
Yes.
[Kelley] (30:31 - 30:43)
Do not deviate. When they say that you don't miss a dose, you do not miss a dose. You do not miss a dose. And if that means setting an alarm on your phone, setting an alarm on your child's phone, it's never too early for your child to be involved when he takes his meds.
[Julianna] (30:43 - 30:43)
Right.
[Kelley] (30:44 - 30:46)
So, follow the directions to the letter.
[Julianna] (30:46 - 31:42)
Yes. Absolutely.
[Kelley]
Short term?
[Julianna]
Short term. Discuss the best way to introduce the medications to your child and involve therapists in helping with this. And that's a good one especially if they're young and they're having trouble swallowing a pill or something. You can ask your occupational therapist to help with swallowing pills. I think we both did this. We used little mini M&M's. You can use a Nerd. You can use a sprinkle. You can use anything really small and work your way up to pill size. But mini M&M's are great. Just make sure they don't chew on them. And then a behaviorist or speech therapist can help with social stories about pill taking. Those are all good things to do. Also, have realistic expectations for the medication. Again, not a cure. Just one piece. And go slowly introducing medications. Which, again, if you've got a good psychiatrist, you're going to do that.
[Kelley] (31:42 - 32:15)
And in the long term, be patient, be patient, be patient. It takes time to get it right and there's a lot of trial and error. It's not a cure. Don't expect a cure. Patience is the name of the game. But what autistic parent isn't growing patience by the minute, right? Unsolicited observations from those who don't see your child regularly might be good if they tell you how you're doing something different.
[Julianna] (32:15 - 32:15)
Yeah.
[Kelley] (32:15 - 32:18)
Because that is kind of good information, right?
[Julianna] (32:18 - 32:18)
Yeah. Absolutely.
[Kelley] (32:19 - 32:35)
Yeah. “I don't see your kid regularly and last time we had a conversation” or “He asked me how I was.” This is good, solid data. As children grow, efficacy wanes, their bodies are changing, they're metabolizing things differently, so that is a constant evolution.
[Julianna] (32:36 - 32:45)
The long list of medication I just referred to is testament to that. Things are always evolving.
[Kelley] (32:46 - 33:03)
Right. So, keep current with research. You are always looking for something that works more efficiently, maybe less medication as they age, more coping mechanisms, but you have to stay current on what's out there as part of the job of medication.
[Julianna] (33:04 - 33:51)
The other thing is that if you need a second opinion, that's not a bad idea too. If you're a little stalled out, if you plateau, if the doctor you're working with runs out of ideas. In our case, ours was so great, she even recommended one. She said she’d seen him plateau a little bit or something like that, and she recommended we get another head together and get a second opinion. So, usually that's initiated by parents, but if something's not working, like any therapist or any other tool in the toolbox, if something's not working, try an adjustment.
[Kelley] (33:52 - 33:53)
Things that are blocked.
[Julianna] (33:54 - 34:14)
So, again, don't doom scroll. I'm always the one going, oh, social media. You can and will find good examples of whatever you want to believe on social media, Google searches, all those things. Just don't be in your little silo. Don't shop around for opinions on social media. Again, they don't know your family.
[Kelley] (34:14 - 34:15)
No, and you don't know them.
[Julianna] (34:15 - 34:42)
No, right. You know, what are they recommending? What's their background? Don't take unsolicited advice from anyone who doesn't know your child. It’s kind of the same thing. You don't know me. You don't know our family. And don't argue with people who are opinionated on medication, autism, vaccines, any other armchair expert on your child. Just save all that energy for yourself and your family.
[Kelley] (34:42 - 35:08)
Amen. So, why is this conversation important? Well, first of all, this conversation is important because medication is one of the front lines of intervention. We touched on this in the beginning. Only two medications are officially approved for autism and yet there is an exhaustive list of medications that are regularly used. So, if people are doing it, we need to talk about it.
[Julianna] (35:08 - 35:40)
And it's actually one of the few approved interventions for autism. I mean, there's only two approved drugs, but it's only one of the very few approved interventions for autism. So, that's one thing that your diagnosing doctor might actually put out there in the beginning. You wouldn't probably jump on that right away if they're really young, but that's out there. So, whether or not medicating your child is worth doing is something that only you, your family, and when they're older, that autistic person, can decide.
[Kelley] (35:40 - 36:04)
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Refrigerator Moms, “A Tough Pill to Swallow: Medicating Autism.” We have the full paper on our website refrigeratormoms.com and you can find all of our great to-do's, What Would We Do's, and research on the site. Also, let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from you and we'd love to know what you want us to research next. Thanks for listening.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability.
Creators and Guests
