Many parents might not fully realize the dangers of leaving medications within reach of young children. According to a press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every 150 two-year-olds in the U.S. visits an emergency room for unintentional medication overdose each year. This often happens after a child finds and eats or drinks medicine without adult supervision.
Behavioral problems in children can range from mild mischievousness to serious misconduct that can interfere with normal development. Children and adolescents with extreme behavioral problems, more than typical childhood misbehavior, should be evaluated by their physician for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD).
Americans--including children--are taking more prescription drugs than ever before. Things can go wrong when these drugs are mixed with other prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, herbal remedies, and even caffeine. Many patients and caregivers are not informed enough to know when drugs can interact badly.
What bigger crisis does one face than learning their child has been diagnosed with a chronic condition? It’s virtually impossible to collect your thoughts, let alone organize them. For me, organizing the many aspects of my life after receiving that news alleviated some of the stress and allowed me to focus on helping my child. You need to navigate through mazes of information that must first be acquired, then digested and finally stored. In a crisis situation we tend to look at the total picture, which is extremely overwhelming.
Medications and nutritional supplements have an important role in the treatment of special needs children and adults. Medications are one component of a multimodal treatment approach. The psychiatrist is an integral part of an interdisciplinary team and can be the designated “team captain.” He or she has a pivotal role as an expert in the medical diagnosis and best practice treatment guidelines for each child’s specific needs. This unique expertise helps support parents in making the right intervention choices to optimize their child’s potential.
