Re: SSRI's - its Open Season and we're not sure where to go

[Guest guest]

Join the club, bostonpies. My son has spent almost the

last year on a melange of meds, starting with Prozac

then Zoloft and now Lexapro, and have reached the

maximum dose, I think. We gave each med about eight

weeks total, between ramping up and maintaining max

dosage. No change I can tell of. The doc now wants us

to try a combo of Lexapro and Ziprexa, but I'm so

afraid of the antiphyscotics that I've been holding

off. My son is very stable and functional. But I hate

knowing he still suffers so much. Hope we all get our

answers.

--- bostonpies <wjoltsik@...> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,

>

> We decided to taper off our current SSRI (Celexa)

> completely with our

> 13 year old son, to see what his baseline behavior

> is. He has been

> on various doses of Celexa (some way too high) for a

> whole year with

> no response or so he kept telling us. Well, turns

> out he was right,

> because after almost no dose now, he feels

> absolutely no different.

> What a waste of a year... we are pinching ourselves

> wondering how on

> earth we allowed this to go on for so long. For

> some reason, the

> psychiatrist kept saying " he is doing so well " and

> he was for awhile

> (his OCD seems to come out more when Dayight Savings

> brings us more

> darkness; when there is alot more daily sunlight, he

> does better) but

> she wasn't listening to us when things got bad

> again, I guess. She

> was also treating him for GAD, not OCD, before we

> finally figured it

> out a month or so ago.

>

> Anyway, when we start again in a few weeks - as

> mentioned, first we

> are seeing what he is like on NO meds - we will try

> yet another SSRI.

> So far he has tried Celexa, Paxil, and I think

> Prozac (the medical

> records were confusing on this one). We were told

> recently by a very

> smart physician friend (not a psychiatrist, though)

> that Luvox

> specifically targets pediatric OCD. I have also

> read (on the OC

> Foundation website) that sometimes an SSRI that

> works for a parent,

> may be a good place to start for the child. That

> would bring in

> Zoloft and Wellbutrin in our case. I have also

> heard good things

> about Lexapro.

>

> It is nice to have choices, but the thought of

> wasting more time on

> another drug that doesn't work for my son, is

> painful. (Its been over

> 2 years of trying in total, with complete med

> resistance). So, how do

> we choose? Is there a good rule of thumb that I'm

> missing? I know

> that there is no guarantee and it is

> individualistic, but perhaps

> there is one SSRI that tends to work more than

> others that

> this community is familiar with. It would be such a

> great help to

> narrow down the selection.

>

> Also, HOW LONG DO WE WAIT BEFORE MOVING ON TO A NEW

> DRUG? I want to

> give it enough time and I have read various opinions

> on this.

>

> Thanks in advance.

>

>

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

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[Guest guest]

As to how long to trial a medication, I believe it's 16 weeks. If I

read differently I'll post. But it can take for some people 16 weeks

to begin to really kick in and make a difference. Now part of this

is that people may be starting low dosage, working up, so you have to

have a few weeks at the recommended dosage, etc. I know when

was on Celexa, I noticed more after he'd been on it 4 months and

another member or two in my Celexa group said the same.

It really has to be hard if the first med doesn't work, then you

trial a 2nd, etc., what with all the " trial periods " you wait on. I

know some parents have gone through all the SSRI's, the last one

being *the* one that really helped.

Celexa is all we have tried. I know I asked one psych about it, I

felt it made him sleepy. He said could try Luvox (I think it

was that one) as it was less sedating or more activating, something

like that. But since sleepiness was the only side effect

had, I figured we could put up with that!

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> We decided to taper off our current SSRI (Celexa) completely with

our

> 13 year old son, to see what his baseline behavior is. He has been

> on various doses of Celexa (some way too high) for a whole year with

> no response or so he kept telling us. Well, turns out he was right,

> because after almost no dose now, he feels absolutely no different.

[Guest guest]

,

Your situation does sound similar to mine. My son is also (mostly)

stable and functioning, yet suffers from the OCD when it happens. His

case is probably moderate compared to some I've read here. I don't

know your situation, but I don't like the sound of an anti-psychotic.

Personally, I would rather keep trying with a different SSRI and the CBT.

How old is your son? How does he take to the constant " changing of

the meds... " . My son is completely skeptical, and I must say, I don't

blame him!

>

> > Hi Everyone,

> >

> > We decided to taper off our current SSRI (Celexa)

> > completely with our

> > 13 year old son, to see what his baseline behavior

> > is. He has been

> > on various doses of Celexa (some way too high) for a

> > whole year with

> > no response or so he kept telling us. Well, turns

> > out he was right,

> > because after almost no dose now, he feels

> > absolutely no different.

> > What a waste of a year... we are pinching ourselves

> > wondering how on

> > earth we allowed this to go on for so long. For

> > some reason, the

> > psychiatrist kept saying " he is doing so well " and

> > he was for awhile

> > (his OCD seems to come out more when Dayight Savings

> > brings us more

> > darkness; when there is alot more daily sunlight, he

> > does better) but

> > she wasn't listening to us when things got bad

> > again, I guess. She

> > was also treating him for GAD, not OCD, before we

> > finally figured it

> > out a month or so ago.

> >

> > Anyway, when we start again in a few weeks - as

> > mentioned, first we

> > are seeing what he is like on NO meds - we will try

> > yet another SSRI.

> > So far he has tried Celexa, Paxil, and I think

> > Prozac (the medical

> > records were confusing on this one). We were told

> > recently by a very

> > smart physician friend (not a psychiatrist, though)

> > that Luvox

> > specifically targets pediatric OCD. I have also

> > read (on the OC

> > Foundation website) that sometimes an SSRI that

> > works for a parent,

> > may be a good place to start for the child. That

> > would bring in

> > Zoloft and Wellbutrin in our case. I have also

> > heard good things

> > about Lexapro.

> >

> > It is nice to have choices, but the thought of

> > wasting more time on

> > another drug that doesn't work for my son, is

> > painful. (Its been over

> > 2 years of trying in total, with complete med

> > resistance). So, how do

> > we choose? Is there a good rule of thumb that I'm

> > missing? I know

> > that there is no guarantee and it is

> > individualistic, but perhaps

> > there is one SSRI that tends to work more than

> > others that

> > this community is familiar with. It would be such a

> > great help to

> > narrow down the selection.

> >

> > Also, HOW LONG DO WE WAIT BEFORE MOVING ON TO A NEW

> > DRUG? I want to

> > give it enough time and I have read various opinions

> > on this.

> >

> > Thanks in advance.

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

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> Find them fast with Search.

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>

[Guest guest]

,

Your situation does sound similar to mine. My son is also (mostly)

stable and functioning, yet suffers from the OCD when it happens. His

case is probably moderate compared to some I've read here. I don't

know your situation, but I don't like the sound of an anti-psychotic.

Personally, I would rather keep trying with a different SSRI and the CBT.

How old is your son? How does he take to the constant " changing of

the meds... " . My son is completely skeptical, and I must say, I don't

blame him!

>

> > Hi Everyone,

> >

> > We decided to taper off our current SSRI (Celexa)

> > completely with our

> > 13 year old son, to see what his baseline behavior

> > is. He has been

> > on various doses of Celexa (some way too high) for a

> > whole year with

> > no response or so he kept telling us. Well, turns

> > out he was right,

> > because after almost no dose now, he feels

> > absolutely no different.

> > What a waste of a year... we are pinching ourselves

> > wondering how on

> > earth we allowed this to go on for so long. For

> > some reason, the

> > psychiatrist kept saying " he is doing so well " and

> > he was for awhile

> > (his OCD seems to come out more when Dayight Savings

> > brings us more

> > darkness; when there is alot more daily sunlight, he

> > does better) but

> > she wasn't listening to us when things got bad

> > again, I guess. She

> > was also treating him for GAD, not OCD, before we

> > finally figured it

> > out a month or so ago.

> >

> > Anyway, when we start again in a few weeks - as

> > mentioned, first we

> > are seeing what he is like on NO meds - we will try

> > yet another SSRI.

> > So far he has tried Celexa, Paxil, and I think

> > Prozac (the medical

> > records were confusing on this one). We were told

> > recently by a very

> > smart physician friend (not a psychiatrist, though)

> > that Luvox

> > specifically targets pediatric OCD. I have also

> > read (on the OC

> > Foundation website) that sometimes an SSRI that

> > works for a parent,

> > may be a good place to start for the child. That

> > would bring in

> > Zoloft and Wellbutrin in our case. I have also

> > heard good things

> > about Lexapro.

> >

> > It is nice to have choices, but the thought of

> > wasting more time on

> > another drug that doesn't work for my son, is

> > painful. (Its been over

> > 2 years of trying in total, with complete med

> > resistance). So, how do

> > we choose? Is there a good rule of thumb that I'm

> > missing? I know

> > that there is no guarantee and it is

> > individualistic, but perhaps

> > there is one SSRI that tends to work more than

> > others that

> > this community is familiar with. It would be such a

> > great help to

> > narrow down the selection.

> >

> > Also, HOW LONG DO WE WAIT BEFORE MOVING ON TO A NEW

> > DRUG? I want to

> > give it enough time and I have read various opinions

> > on this.

> >

> > Thanks in advance.

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

________________________________________________________________________________\

____

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>

[Guest guest]

My son is 11, so immaturity may not be helping here. He is also skeptical about

the meds helping,

but at least he has been cooperative.

Re: SSRI's - its Open Season and we're not sure where

to go

,

Your situation does sound similar to mine. My son is also (mostly)

stable and functioning, yet suffers from the OCD when it happens. His

case is probably moderate compared to some I've read here. I don't

know your situation, but I don't like the sound of an anti-psychotic.

Personally, I would rather keep trying with a different SSRI and the CBT.

How old is your son? How does he take to the constant " changing of

the meds... " . My son is completely skeptical, and I must say, I don't

blame him!

>

> > Hi Everyone,

> >

> > We decided to taper off our current SSRI (Celexa)

> > completely with our

> > 13 year old son, to see what his baseline behavior

> > is. He has been

> > on various doses of Celexa (some way too high) for a

> > whole year with

> > no response or so he kept telling us. Well, turns

> > out he was right,

> > because after almost no dose now, he feels

> > absolutely no different.

> > What a waste of a year... we are pinching ourselves

> > wondering how on

> > earth we allowed this to go on for so long. For

> > some reason, the

> > psychiatrist kept saying " he is doing so well " and

> > he was for awhile

> > (his OCD seems to come out more when Dayight Savings

> > brings us more

> > darkness; when there is alot more daily sunlight, he

> > does better) but

> > she wasn't listening to us when things got bad

> > again, I guess. She

> > was also treating him for GAD, not OCD, before we

> > finally figured it

> > out a month or so ago.

> >

> > Anyway, when we start again in a few weeks - as

> > mentioned, first we

> > are seeing what he is like on NO meds - we will try

> > yet another SSRI.

> > So far he has tried Celexa, Paxil, and I think

> > Prozac (the medical

> > records were confusing on this one). We were told

> > recently by a very

> > smart physician friend (not a psychiatrist, though)

> > that Luvox

> > specifically targets pediatric OCD. I have also

> > read (on the OC

> > Foundation website) that sometimes an SSRI that

> > works for a parent,

> > may be a good place to start for the child. That

> > would bring in

> > Zoloft and Wellbutrin in our case. I have also

> > heard good things

> > about Lexapro.

> >

> > It is nice to have choices, but the thought of

> > wasting more time on

> > another drug that doesn't work for my son, is

> > painful. (Its been over

> > 2 years of trying in total, with complete med

> > resistance). So, how do

> > we choose? Is there a good rule of thumb that I'm

> > missing? I know

> > that there is no guarantee and it is

> > individualistic, but perhaps

> > there is one SSRI that tends to work more than

> > others that

> > this community is familiar with. It would be such a

> > great help to

> > narrow down the selection.

> >

> > Also, HOW LONG DO WE WAIT BEFORE MOVING ON TO A NEW

> > DRUG? I want to

> > give it enough time and I have read various opinions

> > on this.

> >

> > Thanks in advance.

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

I can only tell about our experience--my DD (12) was put on Prozac at

age 7. She is now 12 and still on it, along with Buspar. It has worked

really well for her. The first time she started, it took a couple of

weeks to titrate up to 30 mgs. Her anxiety seemed even HIGHER (hard to

believe!) the first 2 weeks and then back to where we were and at week

6, she began to improve. By week 12, she was a new girl! So, I would

think you would need to give it at least that long. I know it's hard.

I've read lots of success on this board with Luvox.

Dina

[Guest guest]

I can only tell about our experience--my DD (12) was put on Prozac at

age 7. She is now 12 and still on it, along with Buspar. It has worked

really well for her. The first time she started, it took a couple of

weeks to titrate up to 30 mgs. Her anxiety seemed even HIGHER (hard to

believe!) the first 2 weeks and then back to where we were and at week

6, she began to improve. By week 12, she was a new girl! So, I would

think you would need to give it at least that long. I know it's hard.

I've read lots of success on this board with Luvox.

Dina