Allergies, Asthma, Diabetes, and other chronic conditions:
Things to consider for these students:
Do they understand the nature of their disease/disorder/disability?
Do they know what can trigger illness?
Do they understand their medication regimens?
Do they understand how and when to renew their prescriptions?
Do they know the signs that their baseline illness is getting worse or that they’re having a flare-up, and do they know how to respond?
Do they require any special housing considerations -- distance to classes, refrigerators for special foods or medications, dust-free or air-conditioned dorm rooms?
If a child has had a very complicated history with multiple surgeries, treatments, specialists, and medications, a folder with the medical history, contact information, and all medications and treatments can be very useful. Your teen might just stash it in the bottom of his trunk, but it can eventually become an invaluable resource as he takes on more responsibility for his own health.
Encourage your child to schedule a “check-out” visit with her doctor before she takes the plunge to assuming responsibility for her own healthcare, without mom and dad looking over her shoulder. I reassure my patients that I am still available to them by phone and email but that I reserve the right to say “For this you need to go to student health” or “I cannot discuss this by email. Call me.”
Eating Disorders and other Mental Health concerns:
I try to work with patients and families struggling with these issues to pave the way for a smooth transition to college. For a patient in ongoing treatment, this may require a lot of family attention during the summer before freshman orientation. If you happen to see an adolescent medicine specialist, he or she may have access to a medical listserve that exchanges information all over North America about specialists near the college your student attends. Many college health services will only see students in crisis, so ongoing treatment needs to be arranged off or near campus. The student health services can also often be a good resource for names.
One patient of mine who had been in treatment for severe anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder since elementary school was able to find a psychiatrist, therapist, and a dietician before she arrived in August. The family conducted phone interviews before going to meet the candidates and establish the connection. Her mother told me,
“By doing the research and referrals through the student mental health services, the school was aware of her needs and a psychotherapist was ready to begin treatment immediately after classes began.”
For students who may only need periodic follow-up, many therapists back at home will be willing to continue treatment by phone on a regular basis and have face-to-face meetings during breaks.
One caveat. Some students feel that the summer before college is the right time to go off their antidepressants or other psychiatric or behavioral medications. This is almost never a good idea. Experienced psychiatrists recommend staying on a stable regimen through at least the first semester and probably the first year before tapering off. So much is happening that it is not the right time for an experiment with one’s mental health.