Prozac for kids?

[MichelleRC]

I saw the old thread, but wanted to know if anyone had updated success stories (or the opposite?), and what dosages your kids were taking.
We just had an absolute disaster of a trial with Zoloft with DS1 and are waiting for it all to get out of his system before we try a low dose of Prozac. We opted to go with Prozac before Lexapro since Prozac is available as a generic.
I am a little leary after the experience with Zoloft, but an really hoping for something to help with the panic attacks and general anxiety (he also has Aspergers) without the negative side effects.
TIA!

[pinkmomagain]

Two of my anxious children are on prozac and have great success with it and no side effects that I can see. They are each on 10mg. Which if fairly low, from my understanding. It comes in liquid form so your dr can start even lower and increase by small increments to get dosage just right. It does take a couple of weeks I believe to see how well it's working. We have no experience with Zoloft so I cannot compare...but a friend has her child on it with great results. I will say that prozac has been around a long time and approved for kids for quite awhile. Unfortunately, there is a bit of trial and error with these behavioral/mood meds to see what works best.

If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer if I can.

[egoldber]

Ugh, I am so sorry. Zoloft was a disaster for older DD as well.

But really, Prozac (generic) has been a godsend for her. Really and truly it has changed her life. She is only on 10 mg but she is so much calmer, more relaxed, easy going and go with the flow. She is doing so well that we have decided to remain at just 10 mg for now vs. ramping her up. She has been on this dose since March.

ETA: She started by taking half a pill and then a whole pill. We actually ramped up on the Prozac while she was tapering off on the Zoloft so we were never without meds. She is able to easily swallow it in a spoonful of applesauce or yogurt.

[MichelleRC]

Thanks! I am so pleased and encouraged that you both have had success. We have had such a horrendous few weeks that I am so looking forward to a turn-around. We are starting with cutting the 10mg pill in half. Will update later!!

[MichelleRC]

Well, I think we may be looking at strike 2.
After 2 weeks on 5mg of Prozac, he does seem happier (and his teachers even commented on that) , but still had a few panic attacks. His very minor ADHD has become kind of major, his Aspergers behaviors seem to be more pronounced and he does not appear to be thinking before speaking or acting. He has a very high IQ but is not so blessed in the common sense department, and that is definitely more apparent.
Is 2 weeks long enough to get an accurate picture of what he will be like on this med?
I just don't think this is working the way I want it to.

[egoldber]

5 mg is an incredibly low dose. Older DD is on 10 mg and that is still considered barely even a therapeutic dose. Is there any reason the doctor does not want to go up to 10 mg? If it were *me* I would want to see how he does on a higher dose before making that call.

I think we did not see the full effects until 3-4 weeks into the 10 mg dosage. It also took that long for her to get realllllllllllly bad on the Zoloft, so I do think that more time may be needed.

So it could certainly be that yet a different med is needed. But not responding to 2 meds is, our psychiatrist said, a sign that maybe this is not the right medication avenue to pursue.

Also, my older DD also struggles with impulsive behaviors. We have considered trying one of the non-stimulant ADHD meds in conjunction with an SSRI to try and help with that. But she is not yet at the point where that call is easy to make. What has your doctor said about that?

[pinkmomagain]

Just wanted to come on and agree with Beth, that 5mg is super low. If you are not seeing any negative side effects and some positive (but not enough), I would talk with the prescribing dr to see if he thinks going up would be the right next move.

As far as exaserbating the adhd behaviors (lack of filter, etc.) I can't attest to, since my dd who has both adhd & anxiety is also on a nonstimulant adhd med (intuiv) in addition to the prozac.

Again, I would not hesitate to share with your dr what you are observing and get his feedback. But I do believe that they like to give it a little more time (4 weeks or so?) to see the full effect of something like prozac.

[MichelleRC]

I have a call in to the dr so I will see what she says when I hear back. He is only about 51 pounds (he is very underweight), so she is having us break the 10mg in half for a while. Probably because he also had such a bad reaction to the Zoloft, she was being conservative.

I am definitely going to ask about the non-stimulant ADHD med. I am just so frustrated that the negative side effects are appearing so quickly without the benefits. We will stick it out if this is something that will help him in the long run, but this is just not my kid, KWIM? He was never impulsive and hyper like this before. His ADHD was primarily inattentive. Our school librarian asked me today, in a loving, concerned way, why he was so spazzy.

I am going to also ask about vitamins or supplements. He is a very very picky eater so dietary changes are sort of out of the question, but some supplements might be worth a try.

I need chocolate.

[cchavez]

Maybe you could try gaba or 5htp? L-theanine. GAba has been aswesome for my son. Some places even make transdermal gaba cream. hth

[MichelleRC]

I am not familiar with gaba, i have to look into that.
DH and I started taking 5-htp and he said it made him less cranky and i think it has helped me sleep more soundly. I have not given it to DS though yet.

I did start Behavior Balance--I think Gena recommended it. I have to slip it in his afternoon Coke (he needs the caffeine to settle down when we get home from school) when he is not looking. He refused to take it, but has not noticed when I give it to him in stealth mode, LOL. No side effects so far, I am giving him about half the recommended dose at the moment.

We go back to the developmental ped on November 10. I chose not to fill the Lexapro rx at this time, he begged me not to, so we will see what our other options are at the next appointment.

Whew. This is hard.