Guest guest Posted December 5, 2000 Report Share Posted December 5, 2000 Carol, Zoloft and other SSRI's will increase blood flow to the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain, areas where SPEC scans have shown autistic kids to be blood deficient. While even adults can take a couple weeks to adjust to a change in SSRI dose, autistic children can take even longer. Hyperness can certainly occur but should fade. When we started giving an SSRI to our son at age 5, 40lbs. We started with VERY, VERY small amount doses; i.e.; 0.5 mg of Prozac/day for 1 week to ensure toleration and then we upped the dose to 1mg/day for 3 weeks. Over time we worked our way up to 3.3 mg/day. If your child has OCD tendancies, depression, etc. then a comparable higher dose may be warranted (Zoloft dosing is higher than Prozac dosing as I recall). If the aim of the Zoloft is just to increase brain bloodflow, then I wouldn't expect the dose to go any higher. That being the case, I would have started at 3mg/day of Zoloft and worked up to 10mg over a couple months. Discuss with the doctor about cutting the dose a little near term. Either way, the hyperness should fade gradually over the next week or two. Hopefully, your child will seem more alert and focused, and despite the hyperness may be more alert already. FWIW, Jeff P.S. I'm not a doc, but do have a degree in Biology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2000 Report Share Posted December 5, 2000 Jeff et al, I know of children receiving doses of 30mg daily of Prozac. Parents started very low 1-2mg (or lower?) and titrated up very gradually. Thanks, Ed etiguy@... on 12/05/2000 11:12:01 AM Please respond to egroups egroups cc: (bcc: Decelie/CHASE) Subject: [ ] Zoloft (and all SSRI's) Carol, Zoloft and other SSRI's will increase blood flow to the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain, areas where SPEC scans have shown autistic kids to be blood deficient. While even adults can take a couple weeks to adjust to a change in SSRI dose, autistic children can take even longer. Hyperness can certainly occur but should fade. When we started giving an SSRI to our son at age 5, 40lbs. We started with VERY, VERY small amount doses; i.e.; 0.5 mg of Prozac/day for 1 week to ensure toleration and then we upped the dose to 1mg/day for 3 weeks. Over time we worked our way up to 3.3 mg/day. If your child has OCD tendancies, depression, etc. then a comparable higher dose may be warranted (Zoloft dosing is higher than Prozac dosing as I recall). If the aim of the Zoloft is just to increase brain bloodflow, then I wouldn't expect the dose to go any higher. That being the case, I would have started at 3mg/day of Zoloft and worked up to 10mg over a couple months. Discuss with the doctor about cutting the dose a little near term. Either way, the hyperness should fade gradually over the next week or two. Hopefully, your child will seem more alert and focused, and despite the hyperness may be more alert already. FWIW, Jeff P.S. I'm not a doc, but do have a degree in Biology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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