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

January 21, 2008

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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