Re: at what age does Dr. G start ssri's?

October 13, 2006

How wonderful for you that you are starting him so young. It makes a

huge difference. My younger son we caught early and he is fine my older

son started two years older and we are still having lots of issues. I

don't know what age he considers right to start them. My younger son

never had any I think my older son was five or six when we started

SSRI's. It was the last thing he tried.

We still adjust them and change them to find the right one for each age.

One thing I can definitely answer is Dr. G does not believe our children

have autism. He hated to even use the word. He thinks it is the crime of

the century to give our children a label when it is so obviously a

medical problem. The autistic symptoms are caused by our children

developing what is similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at such early

ages before they have reached their developmental milestones. He

believes is healing the immune system foremost and then a lot of these

other diagnosis' (auditory processing problems, sensory integration

problems....etc.) disappear. I know when my older son is well all these

things disappear but when something is off, lots of things return.

Good luck to you. Jerri

Cheryl Lowrance wrote:

> I haven't posted much but I've been on the list for a few months

> now. I am awaiting an appointment with Dr. G but I was hoping to get

> some answers here since it's probably going to be a few months.

>

> I was wondering about the ssri's. I'm not to hot on the idea of

> putting my son on meds and he is only 3 years old. I will, of

> course, try whatever Dr. G thinks is suitable as I do think from my

> research that my son fits the profile very well. Can we expect

> ssri's this young? And if so, what would the dosage be?

>

> And I would also like a little clarification. Does Dr. G think the

> kids are *not* autistic? Or does he think they have autism because

> of ? I'm a little confused and could use some clarification.

>

> My son is not very severe although he has receptive and expressive

> language delays. We think he probably has an auditory/visual

> processing problem as his receptive language is still very low

> compared to his cognitive ability but he's too young to test since he

> doesn't understand or speak.

>

> Thanks for any input.

>

> Cheryl Lowrance (c.lowrance@...)

> Mom to Gryffin10/9/03 and Tynan 10/27/05

>

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>

October 13, 2006

Hi Cheryl-

I commented below:

--- Cheryl Lowrance <c.lowrance@...> wrote:

> I was wondering about the ssri's. I'm not to hot on

> the idea of

> putting my son on meds and he is only 3 years old.

> I will, of

> course, try whatever Dr. G thinks is suitable as I

> do think from my

> research that my son fits the profile very

> well. Can we expect

> ssri's this young? And if so, what would the dosage

> be?

**** Hi - Usually Dr G likes to get the body a little

healthier and then starting SSRIs, but at the same

time, if your child isn't receiving care or waiting

for it, he would advise that SSRIs and diet changes

are the best things you can do in the meantime. At

age 3, you don't need to worry about (nor would you

likely succeed lol) getting him on an SSRI in advance.

Yes, he would (if indicated) use them on a child this

age - he did mine (2 boys) - at a much lower dose than

what is 'therapeutic' for behavioral/mental health.

It's an important med for several reasons - it

increases blood flow to the temporal lobes (I think

that's the ones), has neuroprotective benefits (like

some protection from the inflammation), and it has

positive immune modulating effects. I felt like you

.... " Maybe we could leave off the SSRIs? " ... but now

I've seen what they do for my boys - significantly

brighter eyes, etc. But for a child yours' age, I

imagine other meds would come first.

>

> And I would also like a little clarification. Does

> Dr. G think the

> kids are *not* autistic? Or does he think they have

> autism because

> of ? I'm a little confused and could use some

> clarification.

>

**** It's sort of a 'what's in a name' thing... the

name " Chronic Fatigue Syndrome " has always been a

curse to that community (where the hypothesis

gets a great deal of research and treatment plans

from), and Autism is by definition a developmental

disorder. To assign a different name, maybe they

(medical community) could perceive it differently...

look at the incredible amount of efforts just trying

to show that this " developmental disorder " could have

a medical cause? These kids were included into the

" autism " umbrella/label/definition with no studies to

show that this was not a medical illness. It just

doesn't belong under the psychiatric/developmental

portion of the ICD9 book.

> My son is not very severe although he has receptive

> and expressive

> language delays. We think he probably has an

> auditory/visual

> processing problem as his receptive language is

> still very low

> compared to his cognitive ability but he's too young

> to test since he

> doesn't understand or speak.

***** Hmmm - receptive and expressive language was the

first to improve in my oldest " ASD " son, and auditory

problems improved quickly too. We still have some

issues w/auditory processing on occasion, especially

when he's been ill and isn't currently on any meds,

but it's far better than when we started. I hope you

see great progress. (He did actually speak but it was

echolalia, which switched over and began to develop

normally although not perfectly for a time. Only a

professional can tell.)

Best of luck with your visit!

>

> Thanks for any input.

>

> Cheryl Lowrance (c.lowrance@...)

> Mom to Gryffin10/9/03 and Tynan 10/27/05

>

__________________________________________________

October 13, 2006

Jerri's reply is really good. My son's *issues* too, for the most part,

disappear when he is feeling well, but return full-force when he is sick.

My son started on SSRI's right around his 4th birthday. We started with Dr.

G one year ago, just after 3.5 years old and the SSRI was started ~6 months

later.

Kristy