Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Thanks, . Not sure how rationally I'm thinking right now as my emotions are running pretty high, but I am able to see things more clearly than when I was in the midst of the whole thing. I'm actually don't know how seriously they are taking my concerns, which is one of the reasons I am so concerned right now. I'll wait to hear back from the doctors and then go from there. > , I think this is a really big blessing. Having your son at has given you time to actually sit by yourself and think things through clearly and rationally. I think it is really good sign they are taking you seriously with your concerns. If you feel the need to go, I would go because you are going to drive yourself crazy with worry if you don't. What were his ocd symptoms before starting the medication? > in WA > > > To: > Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 7:42 AM > Subject: Re: Very worried! > > > > , > My son ( severe onset of OCD at 16) has been on Lexapro since the day it was approved.( 10 yrs ago?) with no side affects. He once took Resperdal with Lexapro and thought he was going absolutely crazy. He only took the Resperdal twice and we threw the bottle out. I didn't need a doctor to tell me perhaps it is not the correct drug combination. > I say go with your gut and do what you think you have to do to save your son. Don't wait for permission....go to and don't leave until you have done everything possible advocating for your son. > Stay strong & pray often, > Dana > > Very worried! > > Hi all, > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > Wondering what you all think? > > Thanks > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Hi , why was the Risperdal added after the Lexapro? And if you think this began with Lexapro, than perhaps withdrawing it to see how Risperdal alone affects him?? One more question - prior to the severity of his symptoms, what were the behaviors? What prompted the first medication behavior-wise? Any of those initial behaviors still there or worsening after starting meds? Would be interesting if they stopped meds to see what his " baseline " is then and start from scratch (and consider meds you have taken successfully). So sorry he's lost more weight. Have they given any indication of what they have seen, is he continuing all the same behaviors there as at home?? (((hugs))) > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Hi He initially started on a low dose of Lexapro back in mid November. At that time he had just entered an intensive day program, however it was *not* an OCD program, it was for " teens in crisis. " It wasn't really a good fit for him because the other kids were there for substance abuse and other issues, but we felt it was best for him at that point because he was really beginning to go downhill and struggling a lot with his stress/anxiety. When he entered that program, he surely had his tics/Tourette's, anxiety and OCD, but at that point he did have severe anxiety, however the OCD not really debilitating at that point and he was WAY more functional than he became in the ensuing months. So Risperdal was not on the radar at that point because he wasn't exhibiting severe OCD and/or possible psychosis at that time, so they started him on Lexapro. Then about a month ago, after he began urinating and defecating outside the bathroom, and his OCD had ramped up tremendously as well as his stress/anxiety and he began exhibiting psychotic-like behaviors, that is when the psychiatrist here decided to try the Risperdal. Again, he's on a very low dose, started on ..25mg and is now only on .5mg. As far as the initial behaviors still being present, they are, and they have ramped up in severity, however, the bathroom issues and the other more psychotic like behaviors like laying on the stairs for hours in the dark; sitting in my car for hours in the garage, those type of behaviors did not start until after he'd been on the Lexapro for about 2 months and had gotten up a little more in the dosage. And he definitely was *not* having any weight loss issues before going on the Lexapro. That definitely started after he began Lexapro. Of course the ramping up of his symptoms and the new behaviors (and weight loss) that came after Lexapro could also be the natural progression of his OCD, however, it was a pretty rapid decline, especially the weight loss, so I have to question whether it would typically progress so rapidly unless it's a PANDAS situation or some other contributing factor (like medication). I'm leaning towards what you are thinking........stop the meds he's on now and start with a baseline and then introduce the Elavil starting at a low does and slowly ramping up. I think if they took him of the meds he's on now, at the very least they could possibly tell whether there is an increase or decrease in his symptoms/behaviors. As far as his behaviors, yes, he is definitely exhibiting them there, including the bathroom issues. On one hand I had wished that wouldn't be the case, but on the other hand I'm somewhat relieved that it wasn't just something to do with the home environment and that they are seeing these things there so they can address them accordingly. He's even doing the same thing with them, when he pees in his pants or on the floor or whatever, he insists it's water. I'm beginning to think he's just totally disassociating this behavior and really does believe it's water! All they're saying at this point is that he's struggling a lot with his tics, and struggling in general due to his severe anxiety/stress. He's not up to participating in any of the group activities yet because it's to stressful for him. In typical form for him, he's socializing with the staff but not quite as much with the kids, mainly because he's embarrassed and anxious around his peers because of his tics. Whenever I talk to him he is beyond exhausted because his tics have ramped up quite a lot due to the stress of being there. Bottom line? He's a mess!! If he weren't so physically frail and his weight loss wasn't so quick, I would still be worried about him, but not nearly how worried I am now. I did get a message back from his psychiatrist today saying that they are working on changing around his menu, adding supplements, etc. so I was somewhat relieved to hear that! > Hi , why was the Risperdal added after the Lexapro? > > And if you think this began with Lexapro, than perhaps withdrawing it to see how Risperdal alone affects him?? > > One more question - prior to the severity of his symptoms, what were the behaviors? What prompted the first medication behavior-wise? Any of those initial behaviors still there or worsening after starting meds? > > Would be interesting if they stopped meds to see what his " baseline " is then and start from scratch (and consider meds you have taken successfully). > > So sorry he's lost more weight. Have they given any indication of what they have seen, is he continuing all the same behaviors there as at home?? > > (((hugs))) > > > > > > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 , the med that saved my life has been Anafranil. It has done the same for my daughter. She had some pretty bizarre beliefs and fears and thus odd actions as a result of her OCD and trich (compulsive hair pulling) and she completely stopped pulling her hair or having these bizarre fears once on it for a while. The reason that I am writing this is because Anafranil is the one tricyclic antidepressant that I know of that in known to work for OCD. Elavil is in the same class of drug, a tricyclic, so Anafranil may be just the thing for him. It truly turned my life around more than once. One of the unfortunate side effect of Anafranil is that many people have weight gain. Thus, it could help your son on both accounts. Re: Very worried! , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > , > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle pieces together. > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by email. > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying bipolar neurobiology. > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family member, it may not help the other. > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead to bipolar symptoms. > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the side-effect of weight gain. > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even months to show up. > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, >> >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! >> >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. >> >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. >> >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. >> >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. >> >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. >> >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. >> >> Wondering what you all think? >> >> Thanks >> >> > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 , well I sure see why you suspect the Lexapro, and after your own reaction to same/similar type meds. Hate that this is increasing his tics, but HOPEfully some of the stress and anxiety will decrease as he adjusts his 2nd week there and so on, gets a bit more comfortable there. As shy as I was growing up and somewhat as a teen, I can imagine my own anxiety being at but eventually calming down, with friendly staff and all and just having it get more routine. Understand what you mean about being glad it's not just the home environment he did things in, but sorta wishing he wasn't doing them all there, BUT being glad they get to see them.... As concerned as you are, and all us parents would be with our own kids in this situation, try to take some comfort that at least there at you know he'll make progress and things will turn around for the positive, they are just now at the beginning of ' evaluating, etc. He's in the best place for this too, even with losing weight. Hope they find some combo that will help lessen his tics frequency or severity too. There will be a rainbow at the end of his stay at ! > > Hi > > He initially started on a low dose of Lexapro back in mid November. At that time he had just entered an intensive day program, however it was *not* an OCD program, it was for " teens in crisis. " It wasn't really a good fit for him because the other kids were there for substance abuse and other issues, but we felt it was best for him at that point because he was really beginning to go downhill and struggling a lot with his stress/anxiety. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 , well I sure see why you suspect the Lexapro, and after your own reaction to same/similar type meds. Hate that this is increasing his tics, but HOPEfully some of the stress and anxiety will decrease as he adjusts his 2nd week there and so on, gets a bit more comfortable there. As shy as I was growing up and somewhat as a teen, I can imagine my own anxiety being at but eventually calming down, with friendly staff and all and just having it get more routine. Understand what you mean about being glad it's not just the home environment he did things in, but sorta wishing he wasn't doing them all there, BUT being glad they get to see them.... As concerned as you are, and all us parents would be with our own kids in this situation, try to take some comfort that at least there at you know he'll make progress and things will turn around for the positive, they are just now at the beginning of ' evaluating, etc. He's in the best place for this too, even with losing weight. Hope they find some combo that will help lessen his tics frequency or severity too. There will be a rainbow at the end of his stay at ! > > Hi > > He initially started on a low dose of Lexapro back in mid November. At that time he had just entered an intensive day program, however it was *not* an OCD program, it was for " teens in crisis. " It wasn't really a good fit for him because the other kids were there for substance abuse and other issues, but we felt it was best for him at that point because he was really beginning to go downhill and struggling a lot with his stress/anxiety. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Our son had trouble when he took Risperdol. He was on it less than a week. I got concerned when one morning he couldn't sit still....couldn't stop humming/singing/talking....he finally told me he felt like he had a fax machine in his head and it was spitting out too much information at once. At that point we were told to discontinue the med. I cannot speak about Lexapro...never been on that. Debbie > > Hi all, > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > Wondering what you all think? > > Thanks > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks, Debbie. I was so fearful of my son taking any meds to begin with because of the horrible reactions I had to many of the same types. So it's really hard for me at this point to *not* think that some of his more recent symptoms/behaviors and weight loss could be from either or both meds. In addition to my anxiety being through the roof and not sleeping, I could barely eat and lost a lot of weight while I was on these meds. I had to force myself to drink Ensure each day because the thought of food made me nauseous. > > Our son had trouble when he took Risperdol. He was on it less than a week. I got concerned when one morning he couldn't sit still....couldn't stop humming/singing/talking....he finally told me he felt like he had a fax machine in his head and it was spitting out too much information at once. At that point we were told to discontinue the med. I cannot speak about Lexapro...never been on that. > > Debbie > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > Thanks > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks, Debbie. I was so fearful of my son taking any meds to begin with because of the horrible reactions I had to many of the same types. So it's really hard for me at this point to *not* think that some of his more recent symptoms/behaviors and weight loss could be from either or both meds. In addition to my anxiety being through the roof and not sleeping, I could barely eat and lost a lot of weight while I was on these meds. I had to force myself to drink Ensure each day because the thought of food made me nauseous. > > Our son had trouble when he took Risperdol. He was on it less than a week. I got concerned when one morning he couldn't sit still....couldn't stop humming/singing/talking....he finally told me he felt like he had a fax machine in his head and it was spitting out too much information at once. At that point we were told to discontinue the med. I cannot speak about Lexapro...never been on that. > > Debbie > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > Thanks > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I'm so glad to hear it has worked for you and your daughter. I have heard that can be a great med for OCD, however I've also heard a fair amount of people have trouble tolerating it and have experienced increased anxiety/agitation, and therefore I worry a lot about my son taking it. > , the med that saved my life has been Anafranil. It has done the same for my daughter. She had some pretty bizarre beliefs and fears and thus odd actions as a result of her OCD and trich (compulsive hair pulling) and she completely stopped pulling her hair or having these bizarre fears once on it for a while. The reason that I am writing this is because Anafranil is the one tricyclic antidepressant that I know of that in known to work for OCD. Elavil is in the same class of drug, a tricyclic, so Anafranil may be just the thing for him. It truly turned my life around more than once. One of the unfortunate side effect of Anafranil is that many people have weight gain. Thus, it could help your son on both accounts. > > Re: Very worried! > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > , > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle pieces together. > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by email. > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying bipolar neurobiology. > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family member, it may not help the other. > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead to bipolar symptoms. > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the side-effect of weight gain. > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even months to show up. > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > >> > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > >> > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > >> > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > >> > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > >> > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > >> > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > >> > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > >> > >> Wondering what you all think? > >> > >> Thanks > >> > >> > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I think that all meds have issues with people having problems taking them, but I can't imagine that anxiety or agitation would be one for Anafranil because it is a tricyclic antidepressant that if anything causes a feeling of fatigue for some, but not agitation. When I went on it decades ago, the psychiatrist explained to me that it is an extra atom that makes the difference between Tofranil, a similar medication that doesn't help OCD, and Anafranil, and boy oh boy, am I grateful for that little atom!! Re: Very worried! > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > , > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle pieces together. > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by email. > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying bipolar neurobiology. > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family member, it may not help the other. > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead to bipolar symptoms. > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the side-effect of weight gain. > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even months to show up. > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > >> > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > >> > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > >> > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > >> > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > >> > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > >> > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > >> > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > >> > >> Wondering what you all think? > >> > >> Thanks > >> > >> > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I think that all meds have issues with people having problems taking them, but I can't imagine that anxiety or agitation would be one for Anafranil because it is a tricyclic antidepressant that if anything causes a feeling of fatigue for some, but not agitation. When I went on it decades ago, the psychiatrist explained to me that it is an extra atom that makes the difference between Tofranil, a similar medication that doesn't help OCD, and Anafranil, and boy oh boy, am I grateful for that little atom!! Re: Very worried! > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > , > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle pieces together. > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by email. > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying bipolar neurobiology. > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family member, it may not help the other. > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead to bipolar symptoms. > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the side-effect of weight gain. > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even months to show up. > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > >> > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > >> > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > >> > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > >> > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > >> > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > >> > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > >> > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > >> > >> Wondering what you all think? > >> > >> Thanks > >> > >> > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I just realize something else......the day we departed for 's and the following day, the doctor recommended giving my son 1mg. of Ativan every 8 hours to help with his anxiety. We tried that and even tried valium and neither one phased him in the least. I was pretty surprised because especially given how frail he is now, I thought for sure the Ativan or Valium would help to calm him down, but they seemed to have no effect whatsoever. I had taken Ativan in the past and I remember that initially it helped a lot but then I started having rebound effect and it was horrible. But that was after having taken it for about a week or so and my son was only taking it for a day and a half so I doubt if he was having rebound effect. I jokingly told his doctor that I think it would have taken a morphine drip to have helped calm down his anxiety/stress when we went to admit him at 's. The psychiatrist at 's actually brought up Anafranil for the same reason you mention about it being a tricyclic like Elavil. I'm hoping to talk with him today more about meds and will let you know what he says. One thing I know for sure, is in my case I feel strongly that what really ended up helping me get back to normal after my two bouts with severe anxiety was getting on a good supplement regimen and eating a well balanced diet. Of course I had no appetite while I was on all of the wrong meds, but when I eventually got off of those and on Elavil then I was able to eat better. I do feel that Elavil helped, but I also feel that without the supplements and balanced diet, it would have taken a lot longer to get back on track. I have my son on several supplements, but I'm going to chat with his MD here to discuss what other supplements he thinks might be helpful at this juncture. > I think that all meds have issues with people having problems taking them, but I can't imagine that anxiety or agitation would be one for Anafranil because it is a tricyclic antidepressant that if anything causes a feeling of fatigue for some, but not agitation. When I went on it decades ago, the psychiatrist explained to me that it is an extra atom that makes the difference between Tofranil, a similar medication that doesn't help OCD, and Anafranil, and boy oh boy, am I grateful for that little atom!! > > Re: Very worried! > > > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate > it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended > up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, > not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told > him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, > which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe > how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from > one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with > my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and > nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. > However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I > had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through > the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and > leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and > see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > > > > > , > > > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle > pieces together. > > > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email > because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or > even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets > you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again > (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about > discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you > 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% > confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by > email. > > > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI > anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar > disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may > have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, > depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing > medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med > or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a > mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such > as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to > starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic > that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying > bipolar neurobiology. > > > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the > terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that > responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to > mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety > meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I > can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to > some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another > family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family > member, it may not help the other. > > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and > Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent > seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead > to bipolar symptoms. > > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, > Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the > side-effect of weight gain. > > > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro > started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little > too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. > If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) > things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even > months to show up. > > > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your > son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said > that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of > course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > > >> > > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was > admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral > has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. > in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great > detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss > with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was > admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I > called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is > now down to 111 lbs.!! > > >> > > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder > behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was > doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time > went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed > that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back > on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the > Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like > behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been > on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we > were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > >> > > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. > initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that > about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe > anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two > different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on > medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I > could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it > was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going > crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that > I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > >> > > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and > probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me > completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most > people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my > skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > >> > > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight > loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started > on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to > the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and > defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased > appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > >> > > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure > enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced > psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just > yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, > and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this > morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite > consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be > on. > > >> > > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the > dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I > can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend > a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment > moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult > to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't > want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors > and staff. > > >> > > >> Wondering what you all think? > > >> > > >> Thanks > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I just realize something else......the day we departed for 's and the following day, the doctor recommended giving my son 1mg. of Ativan every 8 hours to help with his anxiety. We tried that and even tried valium and neither one phased him in the least. I was pretty surprised because especially given how frail he is now, I thought for sure the Ativan or Valium would help to calm him down, but they seemed to have no effect whatsoever. I had taken Ativan in the past and I remember that initially it helped a lot but then I started having rebound effect and it was horrible. But that was after having taken it for about a week or so and my son was only taking it for a day and a half so I doubt if he was having rebound effect. I jokingly told his doctor that I think it would have taken a morphine drip to have helped calm down his anxiety/stress when we went to admit him at 's. The psychiatrist at 's actually brought up Anafranil for the same reason you mention about it being a tricyclic like Elavil. I'm hoping to talk with him today more about meds and will let you know what he says. One thing I know for sure, is in my case I feel strongly that what really ended up helping me get back to normal after my two bouts with severe anxiety was getting on a good supplement regimen and eating a well balanced diet. Of course I had no appetite while I was on all of the wrong meds, but when I eventually got off of those and on Elavil then I was able to eat better. I do feel that Elavil helped, but I also feel that without the supplements and balanced diet, it would have taken a lot longer to get back on track. I have my son on several supplements, but I'm going to chat with his MD here to discuss what other supplements he thinks might be helpful at this juncture. > I think that all meds have issues with people having problems taking them, but I can't imagine that anxiety or agitation would be one for Anafranil because it is a tricyclic antidepressant that if anything causes a feeling of fatigue for some, but not agitation. When I went on it decades ago, the psychiatrist explained to me that it is an extra atom that makes the difference between Tofranil, a similar medication that doesn't help OCD, and Anafranil, and boy oh boy, am I grateful for that little atom!! > > Re: Very worried! > > > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate > it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended > up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, > not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told > him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, > which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe > how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from > one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with > my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and > nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. > However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I > had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through > the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and > leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and > see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > > > > > , > > > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle > pieces together. > > > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email > because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or > even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets > you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again > (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about > discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you > 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% > confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by > email. > > > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI > anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar > disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may > have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, > depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing > medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med > or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a > mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such > as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to > starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic > that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying > bipolar neurobiology. > > > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the > terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that > responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to > mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety > meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I > can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to > some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another > family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family > member, it may not help the other. > > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and > Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent > seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead > to bipolar symptoms. > > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, > Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the > side-effect of weight gain. > > > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro > started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little > too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. > If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) > things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even > months to show up. > > > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your > son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said > that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of > course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > > >> > > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was > admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral > has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. > in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great > detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss > with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was > admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I > called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is > now down to 111 lbs.!! > > >> > > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder > behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was > doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time > went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed > that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back > on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the > Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like > behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been > on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we > were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > >> > > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. > initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that > about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe > anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two > different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on > medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I > could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it > was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going > crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that > I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > >> > > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and > probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me > completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most > people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my > skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > >> > > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight > loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started > on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to > the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and > defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased > appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > >> > > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure > enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced > psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just > yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, > and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this > morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite > consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be > on. > > >> > > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the > dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I > can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend > a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment > moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult > to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't > want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors > and staff. > > >> > > >> Wondering what you all think? > > >> > > >> Thanks > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks, Chris. I'm trying stay optimistic and think like you said that there will be a rainbow at the end of the 's stay. It's hard right now because he's in such terrible shape mentally and physically, but I know this is the only place for him to get the help he needs and turn things around. I think his tics are burning a TON of calories now and that combined with the increased stress/anxiety is surely contributing to his weight loss. Whenever we talk to him on the phone he can barely get through a 5 minute conversation without taking several breaks for tic bursts. It's agonizing to hear him like this, but I know with time and the right treatment his tics and stress will lessen and he'll start getting better. > , well I sure see why you suspect the Lexapro, and after your own reaction to same/similar type meds. > > Hate that this is increasing his tics, but HOPEfully some of the stress and anxiety will decrease as he adjusts his 2nd week there and so on, gets a bit more comfortable there. > > As shy as I was growing up and somewhat as a teen, I can imagine my own anxiety being at but eventually calming down, with friendly staff and all and just having it get more routine. > > Understand what you mean about being glad it's not just the home environment he did things in, but sorta wishing he wasn't doing them all there, BUT being glad they get to see them.... > > As concerned as you are, and all us parents would be with our own kids in this situation, try to take some comfort that at least there at you know he'll make progress and things will turn around for the positive, they are just now at the beginning of ' evaluating, etc. He's in the best place for this too, even with losing weight. Hope they find some combo that will help lessen his tics frequency or severity too. > > There will be a rainbow at the end of his stay at ! > > > > > > > > Hi > > > > He initially started on a low dose of Lexapro back in mid November. At that time he had just entered an intensive day program, however it was *not* an OCD program, it was for " teens in crisis. " It wasn't really a good fit for him because the other kids were there for substance abuse and other issues, but we felt it was best for him at that point because he was really beginning to go downhill and struggling a lot with his stress/anxiety. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks, Chris. I'm trying stay optimistic and think like you said that there will be a rainbow at the end of the 's stay. It's hard right now because he's in such terrible shape mentally and physically, but I know this is the only place for him to get the help he needs and turn things around. I think his tics are burning a TON of calories now and that combined with the increased stress/anxiety is surely contributing to his weight loss. Whenever we talk to him on the phone he can barely get through a 5 minute conversation without taking several breaks for tic bursts. It's agonizing to hear him like this, but I know with time and the right treatment his tics and stress will lessen and he'll start getting better. > , well I sure see why you suspect the Lexapro, and after your own reaction to same/similar type meds. > > Hate that this is increasing his tics, but HOPEfully some of the stress and anxiety will decrease as he adjusts his 2nd week there and so on, gets a bit more comfortable there. > > As shy as I was growing up and somewhat as a teen, I can imagine my own anxiety being at but eventually calming down, with friendly staff and all and just having it get more routine. > > Understand what you mean about being glad it's not just the home environment he did things in, but sorta wishing he wasn't doing them all there, BUT being glad they get to see them.... > > As concerned as you are, and all us parents would be with our own kids in this situation, try to take some comfort that at least there at you know he'll make progress and things will turn around for the positive, they are just now at the beginning of ' evaluating, etc. He's in the best place for this too, even with losing weight. Hope they find some combo that will help lessen his tics frequency or severity too. > > There will be a rainbow at the end of his stay at ! > > > > > > > > Hi > > > > He initially started on a low dose of Lexapro back in mid November. At that time he had just entered an intensive day program, however it was *not* an OCD program, it was for " teens in crisis. " It wasn't really a good fit for him because the other kids were there for substance abuse and other issues, but we felt it was best for him at that point because he was really beginning to go downhill and struggling a lot with his stress/anxiety. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I personally suffer from anxiety and depression and there are many SSRI's that I can not take. I have taken Zoloft in the past but had to go on it very slowly. Tried things like Welbutrin, Cymbalta, and felt like I was gonna crawl through my skin. Even Zoloft makes me nauseous. Right now, I am not on anything but St. 's Wort because I have such a hard time with them. My dd took Lexapro, but her depression and OCD actually increased on it. So much so that she was crying and having major scrupulosity episodes on a vacation to Disney ( " the happiest place on earth---not for us " ). As for weight/eating issues. My dd has been a horrible eater her whole life and it gets worse on meds. She is 13 years old, 58 inches and just finally hit 60lbs. She does look anorexic. And for all intents/purposes, she technically is anorexic. We have tried in the past giving her an appetite stimulant called Cyproheptadine (generic name). It didn't really work for her but I know a lot of people said their kids started eating like crazy on it. When she was on Lexapro though, she did actually eat more and gained a little weight at that time. So I don't know if he would have any luck with cyproheptadine and I know you are wary of meds, but it might be something to look at. > > Hi all, > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > Wondering what you all think? > > Thanks > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 , I want to thank you for posting this. I had no idea that bi-polar responds to different meds. My sister is dx bipolar. I have had family members and doctors say they think I might have it, but I have not been diagnosed. However, just as I told in my earlier response, I get that " jumping out of your skin " sensation when I try to take an SSRI. I put it in those exact terms before I even read your response. I think it might be time that I personally see another doctor. My dd's doctor has said that she too may have a bipolar component, so if for some reason things do not get better I may need to talk to her psychiatrist about this. Sorry to hi-jack your post , but I felt like I needed to respond to this one. > > > Hi all, > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > Thanks > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 , I want to thank you for posting this. I had no idea that bi-polar responds to different meds. My sister is dx bipolar. I have had family members and doctors say they think I might have it, but I have not been diagnosed. However, just as I told in my earlier response, I get that " jumping out of your skin " sensation when I try to take an SSRI. I put it in those exact terms before I even read your response. I think it might be time that I personally see another doctor. My dd's doctor has said that she too may have a bipolar component, so if for some reason things do not get better I may need to talk to her psychiatrist about this. Sorry to hi-jack your post , but I felt like I needed to respond to this one. > > > Hi all, > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > Thanks > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 , No highjacking at all:) I'm on groups for Tourette's OCD and Lyme and I honestly would not have survived had it not been for the amazing, insightful, knowledgable, and caring people on these groups, this one especially. Thanks to people like and so many others, we can all learn and help each other, and in this case, possibly solve a longstanding issue that has been wreaking havoc with you and your daughter. Medications can be so tricky, I've learned that the hard way through my own experiences. Before my postpartum experience, which was almost 16 years ago, I was like many people who would just listen to whatever a doctor told me to do or take and not question it. What I went through as a result was an unimaginable nightmare, but I'm so grateful it happened when it did because I hear about so many elderly people who don't know any better and just take whatever their doctor prescribes with disastrous results. I feel so badly for people with mental illness who aren't involved in any groups like this and are at the mercy of incompetent psychiatrists and doctors who hand out medicine like candy and paint everything with a wide brush. I went through 5 psychiatrists in a 5-month period during my postpartum situation, and at one point I counted 18 bottles of different medicines I had been given, many at the same time, which one after the other only worsened my condition. At one point, I began having mild convulsions and almost had to be hospitalized because of the medications. By the time I finally got to the last psychiatrist who knew what she was doing, she was horrified to hear all of the medications and the dosages I was on at that point. She was so kind and patient and never gave up while she slowly weaned me off everything and got me on the right medication, Elavil. She truly saved my life! So the moral to this story? I learned the hard way that these days you really have to be your own doctor to a point, and always listen very closely to your own body and your gut feelings. > > , > > I want to thank you for posting this. I had no idea that bi-polar responds to different meds. My sister is dx bipolar. I have had family members and doctors say they think I might have it, but I have not been diagnosed. However, just as I told in my earlier response, I get that " jumping out of your skin " sensation when I try to take an SSRI. I put it in those exact terms before I even read your response. I think it might be time that I personally see another doctor. My dd's doctor has said that she too may have a bipolar component, so if for some reason things do not get better I may need to talk to her psychiatrist about this. Sorry to hi-jack your post , but I felt like I needed to respond to this one. > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > > > Thanks > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 , No highjacking at all:) I'm on groups for Tourette's OCD and Lyme and I honestly would not have survived had it not been for the amazing, insightful, knowledgable, and caring people on these groups, this one especially. Thanks to people like and so many others, we can all learn and help each other, and in this case, possibly solve a longstanding issue that has been wreaking havoc with you and your daughter. Medications can be so tricky, I've learned that the hard way through my own experiences. Before my postpartum experience, which was almost 16 years ago, I was like many people who would just listen to whatever a doctor told me to do or take and not question it. What I went through as a result was an unimaginable nightmare, but I'm so grateful it happened when it did because I hear about so many elderly people who don't know any better and just take whatever their doctor prescribes with disastrous results. I feel so badly for people with mental illness who aren't involved in any groups like this and are at the mercy of incompetent psychiatrists and doctors who hand out medicine like candy and paint everything with a wide brush. I went through 5 psychiatrists in a 5-month period during my postpartum situation, and at one point I counted 18 bottles of different medicines I had been given, many at the same time, which one after the other only worsened my condition. At one point, I began having mild convulsions and almost had to be hospitalized because of the medications. By the time I finally got to the last psychiatrist who knew what she was doing, she was horrified to hear all of the medications and the dosages I was on at that point. She was so kind and patient and never gave up while she slowly weaned me off everything and got me on the right medication, Elavil. She truly saved my life! So the moral to this story? I learned the hard way that these days you really have to be your own doctor to a point, and always listen very closely to your own body and your gut feelings. > > , > > I want to thank you for posting this. I had no idea that bi-polar responds to different meds. My sister is dx bipolar. I have had family members and doctors say they think I might have it, but I have not been diagnosed. However, just as I told in my earlier response, I get that " jumping out of your skin " sensation when I try to take an SSRI. I put it in those exact terms before I even read your response. I think it might be time that I personally see another doctor. My dd's doctor has said that she too may have a bipolar component, so if for some reason things do not get better I may need to talk to her psychiatrist about this. Sorry to hi-jack your post , but I felt like I needed to respond to this one. > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > > > > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > > > > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > > > > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > > > > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > > > > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. > > > > > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. > > > > > > Wondering what you all think? > > > > > > Thanks > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 You and your son are in my thoughts for a smooth recovery. Personally, I'm not one to believe that diet or supplements are going to do the trick, if it is a biochemical disorder like OCD. My daughter is amazingly better on Anafranil, but she still has lots of sensory and OCD issues around food, so she eats a very limited selection of food items and is quite thin. Thus, her recovery can't be from a healthy diet. Somehow she is doing okay on a really paltry amount of food. Re: Very worried! > > > > , thanks so much for all of this great information, I truly appreciate > it. What you are explaining does make a lot of sense. The medication that ended > up helping me in the end was Elavil, which is one of the older anti-depressants, > not sure what class it is in. My son's psychiatrist was surprised when I told > him that was the med that ended up helping me. > > > > One of the worst meds they put me on during those episodes was Neurontin, > which I believe is also an anti-seizure medication. I can not begin to describe > how horrific the side effect were. It was all I could do to keep my focus from > one minute to the next because the anxiety and agitation was so severe. > > > > I'm going to ask my son's psychiatrist what he thinks about trying Elavil with > my son. I realize it's not an OCD med, but it is used for anxiety disorders and > nervousness/agitation is *not* listed as one of the potential side effects. > However, I do remember I had to go up very slowly because the second episode I > had a new doctor and he put me on 50mg. out of the gate and it sent me through > the roof. Then I went back down to 10mg. and worked my way up and I was fine. > > > > Perhaps another thought, like you suggested, taking him off the Lexapro and > leaving him on Risperdal to see if that makes any difference. I will wait and > see what his psychiatrist and therapist say and go from there. > > > > > > > > > , > > > > > > (1) I think maybe this will be an opportunity to fit a lot of the puzzle > pieces together. > > > > > > (2) Can you email with his doctor at ? Personally, I love email > because you don't have to think on your feet as you would in a phone call--or > even if you were to physically go there to talk to his doctor. Email lets > you think of further ideas without having to debate about calling the doc again > (or tracking him down physically) as each new idea comes along. > > > > > > Doctors and medical institutions are variable in their policies about > discussing patients via email. Sometimes they will go ahead and do that if you > 1st sign a request and acknowledge that email is not guaranteed to be 100% > confidential. I really, really hope that will okay communication by > email. > > > > > > (3) Your own experience with anxiety and adverse reactions to SSRI > anti-depressants strongly suggests that your anxiety is a subset of bipolar > disorder. People tend to over-react to the notion that they or their child may > have bipolar. But " bipolar " just means that a person with anxiety, OCD, > depression, etc. may respond badly to SSRI's and do well on mood-stabilizing > medications. Once a person with bipolar is stabilized on a mood-stabilizing med > or meds, SSRI's can be added if needed. But if SSRIs are used alone--without a > mood-stabilizer on board--in a person with bipolar, bad symptoms may occur such > as agitation, " jumping out of your skin " , feeling worse than you did prior to > starting the SSRI. It sounds like what happened to you. Plus there's a statistic > that 50% of women who develop post-partum depression/anxiety have underlying > bipolar neurobiology. > > > > > > To reduce the stigma of the term 'bipolar', I think they should change the > terminology. e.g. there could be Type A anxiety/depression (the kind that > responds to SSRIs) and Type B anxiety/depression (the kind that responds to > mood-stabilizers and may get worse with SSRIs). > > > > > > You probably already know the list of SSRI anti-depressant/anti-anxiety > meds: Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Venlafexine, and others that I > can't think of at the moment. Bupropion (Welbutrin) is kind of an SSRI, as well. > > > > > > Mood-stabilizing meds come in 3 categories: > > > (1) Lithium. Some people respond to Lithium; some don't. It's genetic to > some extent: if a family member has responded favorably to lithium, another > family member may respond well, too. Or if it did not help the one family > member, it may not help the other. > > > (2) Anti-seizure meds, including Trileptal, Tegretol, Depakote, and > Lamictal. Besides stabilizing electrical activity in the brain to prevent > seizures, anti-seizure meds also stabilize electrical brain pathways that lead > to bipolar symptoms. > > > (2) Second-generation anti-psychotic meds such as Risperdal, Zyprexa, > Seroquel, and others. All the anti-psychotic meds (except for Geodon) have the > side-effect of weight gain. > > > > > > Looking at the timeline of your son's experience, I wonder if the Lexapro > started making things worse and worse and the Risperdal may have been too little > too late in the face of several months of Lexapro. Not that I'm blaming anybody. > If a person with bipolar is started on an SSRI (without a mood-stabilizer) > things may briefly improve. The adverse reaction may take days, weeks or even > months to show up. > > > > > > Anyhow, I think that bipolar disorder may be the underlying cause of your > son's suffering. Which is maybe what the doctor had in mind when he said > that your past history could help them with decisions about meds for your son. > > > > > > As awful as this all is, I think it may lead to the right meds (and, of > course CBT-ERP) to get your son healthy again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Hi all, > > >> > > >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was > admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral > has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. > in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great > detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss > with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was > admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I > called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is > now down to 111 lbs.!! > > >> > > >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder > behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was > doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time > went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed > that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back > on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the > Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like > behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been > on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we > were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. > > >> > > >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. > initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that > about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe > anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two > different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on > medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I > could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it > was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going > crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that > I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > >> > > >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and > probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me > completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most > people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my > skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > >> > > >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight > loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started > on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to > the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and > defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased > appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > >> > > >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure > enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced > psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just > yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, > and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this > morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite > consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be > on. > > >> > > >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the > dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I > can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend > a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment > moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult > to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't > want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors > and staff. > > >> > > >> Wondering what you all think? > > >> > > >> Thanks > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 More thoughts: (1) The state of the art/science of medicine is still, unfortunately, trial-and-error (or guessing-and-trying). There's all sorts of research going on which will eventually result in better assessment of how a particular person will respond to a particular med at a particular dose without having to go thru quite as much guessing. I picture a day when the person arrives for his/her1st appointment with the psychiatrist and has a blood test (to identify how he will metabolize and respond to a variety of meds). Then he'll have a brain-imaging scan. The brain scan will light up the various brain pathways and identify particular patterns which are causing the person to have problems. " Yes! See how the electrical activity moves from brain area 3C then over to brain area 14D? That is the pattern we see when a person is having the kind of depression which responds well to medication X. His blood test results show that he will respond to medication X but that he will need lower doses at wider intervals compared to the average person. " (2) Meanwhile, of course, you need a dedicated team of professionals and family to watch how the child responds to a given med. And, of course, starting 2 meds at once can make it difficult to figure out which med is causing what. I am so glad your son is at --in a controlled setting with professionals who can closely monitor the results of whatever is being tried and keep him safe along the way. (3) Kids can have paradoxical reactions to benzodiazepines (Ativan etc.) Those meds can help children to feel calmer. But sometimes, instead of having a calming effect, those meds can make a child feel worse or else just have no effect at all. My son was tried on various meds in this category and experienced no effect one way or another. (4) I'm not familiar with tri-cyclic antidepressants (other than knowing they exist). I had on-the-job learning with all the meds my son took over the years, but he was never tried on the tri-cyclic family of meds, so I'm ignorant about them. However, the reports of success with tri-cyclics by others on this Listserve sure sound intriguing! A whole nother category of meds that might help! (5) About kids who get worse on SSRIs: even that rule of thumb can apparently be inconsistent. The 14 year old daughter of a woman I work with had been started on an SSRI for depression and anxiety. But she got worse instead of better. She was eventually hospitalized and placed on a mood-stabilizing med. After about a month of inpatient psychiatric acute care, she was transferred to a residential treatment center and stayed there about 6 months. Well, she's been home for several months now and is doing great. She's only on one med now. And which med is that? The SSRI she was on at the beginning! Go figure. But her story does illustrate the bottom line: she was kept in an inpatient/residential setting while all the med-changing was going on and was very stable on the med before being discharged home. And--who knows?--maybe after some more months of doing well on the SSRI maybe she'll get worse and need a mood-stabilizer. (I want my rule of thumb back!) > , > > No highjacking at all:) I'm on groups for Tourette's OCD and Lyme and I honestly would not have survived had it not been for the amazing, insightful, knowledgable, and caring people on these groups, this one especially. Thanks to people like and so many others, we can all learn and help each other, and in this case, possibly solve a longstanding issue that has been wreaking havoc with you and your daughter. > > Medications can be so tricky, I've learned that the hard way through my own experiences. Before my postpartum experience, which was almost 16 years ago, I was like many people who would just listen to whatever a doctor told me to do or take and not question it. What I went through as a result was an unimaginable nightmare, but I'm so grateful it happened when it did because I hear about so many elderly people who don't know any better and just take whatever their doctor prescribes with disastrous results. > > I feel so badly for people with mental illness who aren't involved in any groups like this and are at the mercy of incompetent psychiatrists and doctors who hand out medicine like candy and paint everything with a wide brush. I went through 5 psychiatrists in a 5-month period during my postpartum situation, and at one point I counted 18 bottles of different medicines I had been given, many at the same time, which one after the other only worsened my condition. At one point, I began having mild convulsions and almost had to be hospitalized because of the medications. > > By the time I finally got to the last psychiatrist who knew what she was doing, she was horrified to hear all of the medications and the dosages I was on at that point. She was so kind and patient and never gave up while she slowly weaned me off everything and got me on the right medication, Elavil. She truly saved my life! > > So the moral to this story? I learned the hard way that these days you really have to be your own doctor to a point, and always listen very closely to your own body and your gut feelings. > > > > >> >> , >> >> I want to thank you for posting this. I had no idea that bi-polar responds to different meds. My sister is dx bipolar. I have had family members and doctors say they think I might have it, but I have not been diagnosed. However, just as I told in my earlier response, I get that " jumping out of your skin " sensation when I try to take an SSRI. I put it in those exact terms before I even read your response. I think it might be time that I personally see another doctor. My dd's doctor has said that she too may have a bipolar component, so if for some reason things do not get better I may need to talk to her psychiatrist about this. Sorry to hi-jack your post , but I felt like I needed to respond to this one. >> >> >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! >>>> >>>> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from the Lyme angle at that point. >>>> >>>> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. >>>> >>>> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. >>>> >>>> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. >>>> >>>> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what my son should be on. >>>> >>>> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be to meet with doctors and staff. >>>> >>>> Wondering what you all think? >>>> >>>> Thanks >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 It must be really hard to sit around and wait, after everything you've been through lately. I'd feel like flying out there, too, if I was in your shoes. I'd want to make certain that the professionals don't sit on this for too long. I agree, it sounds like the SSRI might be the culprit, and it's worth a trial of discontinuing. It's odd that none of the professionals thought of this before. It's a shame your ds had to be hospitalized without anyone even trying to d/c the lexapro first. Maybe keep him on the Risperal for now and stop the lexapro, as was already suggested. Hang in there! Fay > ** > > > Hi all, > > I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was > admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward > spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing > almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both > discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern > about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's > almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and > literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost > another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! > > I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder > behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he > was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and > as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had > attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now > that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is > possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight > loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, > and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't > severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from > the Lyme angle at that point. > > He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. > initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that > about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with > severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living > in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was > put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the > point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the > next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting > odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the > biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. > > Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and > probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all > sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction > that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to > crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. > > So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight > loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he > started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be > attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like > urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss > and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. > > I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure > enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced > psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just > yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication > experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional > weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's > a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what > my son should be on. > > I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the > dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all > I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to > spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and > treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. > It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I > did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be > to meet with doctors and staff. > > Wondering what you all think? > > Thanks > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Thanks, Fay. I'm feeling a little better now that I've spoken with my son's psychiatrist today and also spoke with the dietician. They psychiatrist is going to keep him in Risperdal, taper down the Lexapro to get him off of that and introduce Clomipramine. I was hoping that he would take him off everything and start from scratch, but I have to put my faith in him/them at this point and let them do their job. I think they realize that they really need to stay on top of my son's weight issue, among other things, so I'm feeling a little more comfortable (for now). The psychiatrist told me that my son is very much on board with trying to increase his food intake and working with them to help him gain some weight back, so I was glad to hear that. Not that he was resistant to begin with, but I don't think he understood the dangers of his weight being so low now. I had to be careful with everything I said to him because he freaks out if he thinks he's sick, so I didn't want to scare him too much with the weight loss issue. Much better for them to do that than me It sounds like the biggest problem since being admitted are his tics because from what I can gather they are pretty non-stop and very debilitating and exhausting. I knew they would ramp up because of the trauma of going away from home unexpectedly and the stress being in an unfamiliar place, new people, etc., but I didn't think they would be quite this bad for so long. The psychiatrist is going to try increasing the Risperdal with the hopes that it will help settle his tics down enough so he can function better, so we'll see how that goes. He is on a very small dose now, so I think it's worth a try. > It must be really hard to sit around and wait, after everything you've been > through lately. I'd feel like flying out there, too, if I was in your > shoes. I'd want to make certain that the professionals don't sit on this > for too long. > > I agree, it sounds like the SSRI might be the culprit, and it's worth a > trial of discontinuing. It's odd that none of the professionals thought of > this before. It's a shame your ds had to be hospitalized without anyone > even trying to d/c the lexapro first. Maybe keep him on the Risperal for > now and stop the lexapro, as was already suggested. > > Hang in there! > > Fay > > > >> ** >> >> >> Hi all, >> >> I am SO beside myself with worry right now! As you know, my son was >> admitted a week ago to 's. Over the past 3-4 months, his downward >> spiral has been very rapid in just about every respect, including losing >> almost 20 lbs. in less than 2 months. Of course my husband and I both >> discussed in great detail, his rapid decline and I also stressed my concern >> about his weight loss with doctors at 's when we admitted him. He's >> almost 16, when he was admitted he was 5'5 " and weighed 113 lbs, and >> literally looked anorexic. . I called this morning to find out he's lost >> another 2 lbs. since a week ago and is now down to 111 lbs.!! >> >> I know for a fact he was not exhibiting any type of eating disorder >> behaviors because I was with him at all times and would have known if he >> was doing anything along those lines. He clearly had a reduced appetite and >> as time went on it became more of a struggle to get him to eat, but I had >> attributed that to his OCD/anxiety and the progression of the illness. Now >> that I look back on things and analyze the whole picture, I believe it is >> possible that the Lexapro (and Risperdal) may be the cause of his weight >> loss and psychotic-like behavior. He started on Lexapro in mid-November, >> and prior to that had not been on any meds because his condition wasn't >> severe enough to warrant meds, and we were coming at treatment more from >> the Lyme angle at that point. >> >> He's been on 20mg. of Lexapro now for about a month, started on 5mg. >> initially. He's on a very low dose of Risperdal (.5mg.) and started on that >> about a month ago. Here's the thing.......I had two HORRIBLE bouts with >> severe anxiety, one was postpartum, the other pre-menopause. i was living >> in two different places when each episode occurred, and both times I was >> put on medication after medication that made my symptoms so bad to the >> point where I could barely eat, sleep or function from one minute to the >> next. I would say it was sort of like a psychosis, but I wasn't exhibiting >> odd behaviors, just going crazy in my own head. Both episodes were the >> biggest nightmares of my life that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. >> >> Now I never took Lexapro or Risperdal, but I did try Paxil, Zoloft, and >> probably a dozen other anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, which all >> sent me completely through the roof. I basically had the opposite reaction >> that most people do to a lot of these meds, and I felt like I was ready to >> crawl out of my skin, it was beyond horrible and unbearable. >> >> So here I sit, watching my son exhibiting severe anxiety, rapid weight >> loss, agitation, and behaviors that were clearly not present before he >> started on Lexapro or Risperdal. Now of course, these behaviors could be >> attributed to the natural progression of his OCD, but the things like >> urinating and defecating, severe withdrawal, and especially the weight loss >> and decreased appetite were non-issues prior to him starting on Lexapro. >> >> I googled Lexapro and psychosis to see if I could find anything and sure >> enough I did find some postings from people saying they experienced >> psychotic-like behavior and thoughts while on Lexapro. I had spoken just >> yesterday to my son's psychiatrist at 's about my medication >> experiences, and this was before I just learned about my son's additional >> weight loss this morning since being admitted. The psychiatrist feels it's >> a definite consideration about my experiences with meds and deciding what >> my son should be on. >> >> I placed a frantic call to his psychiatrist, the therapist, and the >> dietician at 's this morning, I am so beside myself right now it's all >> I can do not to hop on a plane to Wisconsin. Not to see my son, but just to >> spend a few days meeting with his doctors to brainstorm on medications and >> treatment moving forward now that they've had a little time to observe him. >> It's difficult to do this type of thing over the phone so far away. If I >> did go, I wouldn't want my son to even know I'm there, it would strictly be >> to meet with doctors and staff. >> >> Wondering what you all think? >> >> Thanks >> >> >> > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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