celexa2016.us.com

When it comes to our kid’s health, we’d do just about anything, I know I would – and we know that most all parents feel the same. Doctors of pediatrics are special folks indeed, able to relate with the child, gain their trust, and figure out what’s going on – all the while talking with the concerned parent, on the emotional edge, it’s a tough job. Indeed, perhaps it’s the toughest job in all of healthcare or medicine, except maybe choosing the best one for your family.

Luckily, in any community the medical practitioners know who the good doctors are and they listen to their patients and their recommendations, as well as their complaints. Since, kids are one of our emotional hot buttons it’s impossible to keep all parents happy when it comes to pediatrics, pediatrics medicine, or in-hospital pediatricians. They all do the best they can, and they all learn to deal with totally stressed out parents.

The patients, the kids themselves, well; they are the easy part usually. It’s amazing how resilient they are when it comes to their own conditions, hardships, or diseases. It’s really the parents you have to watch out for, just ask any pediatrician, they’ll tell you, hopefully with a sense of humor which comes with the job – and the adversity which builds their character.

As our kids reach adolescent ages, things get a little trickier, for the parents and the doctors. There are something teens won’t tell their parents or their doctors, but the doctors seem to have a sixth sense about it all. Now then, as a parent you are probably wondering what to expect right? Well, for broken bones it’s pretty straight forward, the doctor will have advice, but your teen won’t listen. Luckily, kids bones heal fast, and they are amazingly adaptable.

For other more serious issues, it’s you the parent who will probably bear the brunt of the emotional trauma, so make sure you look in your own mirror and take it in stride, ask for the straight goods from the doctor. Read their face and their words. But before you even go in, make sure your kid’s doctor comes highly recommended from both other parents and the medical professionals in your city or town. That is by far the best and safest way to get a professional and qualified doctor for your child, or teen.

Depression is a psychological disorder that affects human psyche in such a way that the person, who is depressed acts and react abnormally toward themselves and others. There are lots of stressors in adolescents’ life, at school, home, social interaction and change in body chemistry. As an adolescent, they have not learned to cope with some of the everyday life stressors in positive way; teens do not yet have the knowledge or the practice that can help them. This lack of knowledge drives adolescents to become more stressed than adult, who have years of knowledge and have learned positive coping skills. Therefore it comes to no surprise to discover that adolescent depression is strongly liked to teen’s suicide. Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more deaths in youth’s aged 15 to 19 than any other disease. Despite this increased suicide rate, depression in adolescent is under diagnosed do to lack of knowledge in caregivers. Depressed adolescent could be viewed as an oppositional, outcast, defiant teenager by care givers. Another reason for why depression is often over looked in children and adolescence is because children are not always able to express how they feel.

Symptoms of mood disorders take on different forms in children than in adults. An adolescent is a time of emotional turmoil, mood swings, gloomy thoughts, and heightened sensitivity. This time of self-actualization is the hardest time in teenager’s life, they are looking to belong to some type of social group and find themselves. It is a time of rebellion and experimentation. In order to understand and identify the depressive symptoms, which may be superimposed on the backdrop of a more transient, but expected, development storm. Therefore, diagnosing adolescent depression relies on all the care givers working together, therefore parents working with physicians, teachers, and anyone who interacts with patient on a daily basis. Often the symptoms of adolescent depression are masked. Instead of expressing sadness, teenagers may express boredom and irritability, or may choose to engage in risky behaviors. Mood disorders are often accompanied by other psychological problems such as anxiety, hyperactivity, substance abuse, eating disorders, lack of self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. The diagnoses in adolescent depression include a drastic change in eating, sleeping patterns, significant loss of interest in previous activity and interests. For most teens, symptoms of depression are directly related to poor family relation, lack of family support and low self-esteem stemming form in creased emphasis on peer popularity.

The majorities of cases for adolescent depression are mild and can be dealt with through several psych sessions. For the more severe cases of depression, in conjunction with talk therapy, medication may be necessary and without pharmaceutical treatment, depressive conditions could escalate and be fatal.

In order to help these troubled teens the caregivers have to work together with parents, teachers, school counselors, mental health professionals, and other adults who are caring for the teen. This is the safest and proven way to accurately evaluated the severity of an adolescent’s depression. Once the diagnosis made now the healing process can begin.

Most people are not aware of the adolescent medicine specialty. They do not think of switching from a pediatrician to a Chicago adolescent medicine specialist, although it is an option. One problem is that there are not very many of these specialists around. It takes two to three years of additional training to become board-certified in this specialty, which has only existed as a board certification with the American Medical Association (AMA) as of 1996. Most of these specialists work near urban centers.

These doctors work with an awkward age group: teenagers. The problems teens experience are different from those of children. Adolescent medicine specialists make teens feel comfortable enough to open up about what their symptoms may be. Teenagers have different health problems than children and adults. These include acne, body image, eating disorders, peer pressure to drink and do drugs, and inexperience with sex. A doctor who can get them to open up about what is worrying them could make a huge difference in their lives.

The three leading causes of teenagers’ deaths are accidents, suicide, and homicide. Many of the problems they face are psychosocial in nature, as opposed to needing a medical diagnosis. Adolescent medicine doctors meet teenagers where they are now, encouraging them to take responsibility for their own health choices. Discussions might include drinking and driving, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, how to take care of one’s skin, and issues related to food and exercise. If a healthy lifestyle is ingrained early enough in a person’s brain, then it will probably continue into adulthood. Some adolescent medicine practices allow the teens themselves to schedule the appointments, thus taking at least partial responsibility for their own care.

A timely visit with an adolescent specialist could save a teen’s life if the doctor establishes trust with the teen and he or she is willing to talk about suicidal feelings or feelings of depression. Opening up to the doctor might help make the teenager feel not so alone, and it could pave the path to more communication between parents and their kids.

Typically, visit to Chicago adolescent medicine specialists will take longer than other doctors’ visits and the patient, without his or her parents present, may end up talking about things unrelated to what the visit was originally scheduled for. There will be less of a feeling of being rushed in and out of the office and more of a feeling of establishing a real relationship with a doctor. That’s what adolescent medicine specialists do. They make connections and provide a safe space during the transition years from child to adult.

One of the hardest, and most emotional periods in parenting are the adolescent care years, from the time your child reaches their pre-teen years and throughout their teen years. This is the time when their bodies begin to change, their tastes change, they discover what attracts them to others and they discover just how cruel the world can sometimes be. This will be a roller coaster time for everyone involved, and this is the time that they will need you the most, even if they will not willingly admit it.

From Pediatrician to the “Alone” Doctor

The first sign that your child is reaching the adolescent care stage is the realization that they do not need you with them at their doctor visits any more. Once they reach the age of 12, they will need a new level of medical care, far beyond just tracking their development and ensuring that they are healthy. Now is the time that they will have questions for the doctor that they may not want you to hear.

The doctor, too, may want to be able to examine your child and ask his own questions without mom hovering over it all. At this point in their lives, they need to be comfortable asking any questions they may have about puberty, depression, sex, drugs, tobacco, alcohol and birth control. Your doctor will want to evaluate their physical and mental health, whether they are having any trouble in school, and whether they feel pressured to do things that they do not want to by their friends. The only way to get honest answers is to make your child feel comfortable talking alone with them, and if there are issues, the doctor will discuss them with you later.

Keeping Diet And Obesity in Check

Starting now, it is all going to be about appearances between your child and their peers. Children can be some of the cruelest creatures on the face of this planet, and it only gets worse into the preteen and teenage years. Obesity, diet, skin care, acne, hygiene, dress and self-esteem suddenly become the high voltage issues of the day. Your job, as a parent, is to keep a level head, attitude and anger in check, and teach them as best as you can on how to do things properly.

Explain to them how good skin care habits and hygiene will help them to look their best. Explain how what they eat can affect the way they look, especially when it comes to their weight and how it can affect whether they develop acne or not. This will probably lead in, at some point, into discussions of attraction between the sexes, peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and sex. Best advice we can give is to speak from the heart, and relate to them as best you can from experience.

Keeping Stress at Bay

It is important that children be socialized, participate in sports and other activities that build their self-esteem but there is a limit to everything. A growing problem, especially among teens, is over-scheduling. This can lead to your teen being stressed out, anxious and feeling pressured to succeed. Monitor their activities and be ready to act if it looks like they have taken on too much for them to handle. Praise them for their drive, but remind them that they need to think of themselves first, and their health.

Avoiding Depression

Another growing issue that parents should be aware of is teen depression. Every parent should educate themselves on the symptoms of depression: mood swings, no longer taking pleasure in things they have always enjoyed, weight loss or gain, chronic insomnia or long periods of sleeping, feelings of hopelessness or guilt, lack of concentration and a fascination with morbid subjects like death and suicide.

When it comes to this issue of adolescent care, keeping communication lines open is very important. Encourage your child to talk openly about what is troubling them, try to keep them involved in daily activities, and it may be time to consider trying counseling. Do your best to comfort, reach out, and offer your own counsel at such times. Seek advice from your family doctor, and encourage your child to talk with them as well.

The deepest human bond is between mother and child. It has a sacred aura. Our instinctive response to mother and her newborn baby is awe and empathy. We view her baby as her own flesh and blood even though the fetus actually was not a part of her body. This response underlies the legal framework that protects family privacy and parental rights. It also means that the image of a baby as a mother’s possession can override recognition that a newborn is a separate human being. As a result, the question of “true mother love” is seldom raised today, as it was in the proverbial wisdom of Solomon:

Two women claimed the same child as their own. Solomon offered to cut the baby in half to settle the dispute. One woman replied she would rather forfeit the child than see him killed. Solomon judged her to be the true child’s mother and awarded her the child.

The core of assessing a mother’s love is whether that love is self or baby oriented. Does she view her baby as her possession or her responsibility? Does she see herself as an owner or a custodian of her baby? Which is foremost: what her baby can do for her or what she can do for her baby? In essence is the baby’s purpose to fulfill her desires or to develop as an autonomous person?

These questions must be raised with adolescents and dependent adults as they consider continuing a pregnancy to childbirth. Are their motives egocentric or centered on the best interests of the unborn child? Although the phrase “in the best interests of the child” is commonly used, too often the phrase “the least detrimental alternative” more accurately describes a given situation. Still our focus now is on the best interests of the newborn baby and the adolescent parent.

Enhancing an Adolescent’s Personal Growth
Approaching pregnancy with a problem-solving attitude can enhance an adolescent’s personal growth. Adolescents can learn how to question and resolve their egocentric desires and gain self-respect and self-confidence in doing so.

Adolescence is a critical time for learning how to resolve personal problems in ways that uncover and serve true self-interests. Self-fulfillment can’t occur without growth in awareness, knowledge, wisdom and long-term planning. Deferring individual wishes and urges for the benefit of others is character building. When adolescents acknowledge that becoming pregnant unintentionally or intentionally was a mistake, they can make decisions that avoid grave consequences for everyone.

The decision-making process can be particularly crucial for dependent persons who are in a position to reverse inter-generational cycles of academic and social failure. They need help seeing that, contrary to their predecessors, they can build self-respect and self-confidence through achievements other than childbirth. They can be empowered to face and master the challenges of adolescence without the responsibilities of parenthood.

Involving Families
A dependent mother’s family is crucial to the course of her pregnancy and its aftermath. A family can choose to assist in childrearing. However, this can be complicated by an adolescent parent’s mental and emotional problems. Family members shouldn’t assume responsibilities for a dependent mother’s baby without having the decision-making authority accorded by legal and physical custodianship of the baby.

Even then, parents of dependent parents can’t be presumed to be competent. Parental involvement might not be desirable when incest, abuse, alcoholism or drug abuse is involved. Intervention might be necessary to obtain a legal and physical custodian for the dependent mother herself and for her baby. A Parenthood Planning Team can assess whether or not relatives are capable of assuming childrearing responsibilities for a dependent mother and for her baby.