After 25 years of taking medication for a wrongly
diagnosed disorder, Wendy Lawson is now tackling the issue on
television and in a book. (code: 00723DW10)
WENDY Lawson knows what it is to suffer due to the wrong
medical prescription.
Wrongly diagnosed as being
schizophrenic when she really had autism spectrum disorder, the
successful Warrnambool academic and author suffered the misery of 25
painful years of inappropriate medication.
Wendy has just
returned from the UK where she featured in a new BBC documentary
focusing on the incorrect prescription of anti-psychotic drugs for
people who had autism spectrum disorder, or ASD.
"I'm not
angry about what happened to me, because it was ignorance. I didn't
have a correct diagnosis at that stage but I am very angry that it
is continuing to happen to other people," she said.
Wendy
said the documentary revealed that the wrong prescription of
anti-psychotic drugs for people with autism spectrum disorder was
continuing, causing a wide range of damaging side effects, although
the extent of the problem was unclear.
"For me it caused
constipation, blurred vision, a dried mouth and it caused me to
drift in and out of a zombie state and worsened the effects of
autism spectrum disorder," she said.
Wendy said that after a
correct diagnosis in 1996 she stopped taking anti-psychotic
medication.
Although her life improved dramatically since
then, she said years of taking anti-psychotic medication had left
her with the legacy of occasional involuntary limb
movements.
The documentary, which screened in the UK
recently, showed the inappropriate prescription of anti-psychotic
medication for people with ASD could also cause epileptic attacks,
heart and weight problems, Wendy said.
"I can't quote
figures (as to the extent of the problem) in Australia but I do
know, via the Internet, that lots of parents think anti-psychotic
medication will help their (ASD) child with aggression and
anxiety."
"It will not help unless the child has a psychotic
disorder as well as autism spectrum disorder."
Following the
success of her first book, Life Behind Glass, a personal
account of autism spectrum disorder, Wendy has completed a second
book of ways to improve life for children with ASD. The new book,
titled Life Within Grasp, is due for release in January.
.
. . (Report: EVE LAMB)