Re: SSRI's - Please Advise

January 22, 2008

Hi - I input my comments below:

Hope it helps...

--- simple_treasure2003

<simple_treasure2003@...> wrote:

> Dr. G prescribed my 2.8 year old son Zoloft earlier

> today. Needless

> to say I am pretty nervous and somewhat afraid of

> giving him this

> medication.

**** My typically developing son was in the early twos

when he started SSRIs. I only saw increased

brightness in his eyes. I wasn't sure of any side

effects, but was suspicious it increased some

hyperness... it was counteracted by Tenex, which is

very beneficial for him. In fact SSRIs & Tenex combo

was great for both of my boys.

>

> 1 - Did your child make significant, moderate or no

> improvement

> while using SSRIs?

*** Both of my boys made significant improvements.

It's hard to say which med did the most.

>

> 2 - Side effects while using meds

**** I am not really aware of any certain side

effects. Sometimes I suspected it made it harder for

one to go to sleep, or made them a bit hyper ... but I

pretty much suspected them for every negative

experience (that or a food) for a couple of years

there. Same problems have steadily occured in the

absence of any meds.

>

> 3 - Do any listmates have children who were able to

> stop SSRI usage

> once because there was no longer a need for the

> medication? Did any

> experience difficult in stopping meds?

**** Both of my boys stopped meds, and they stopped

them rather abruptly and not the whole taper off

period. There was no problem with this ... the doses

were always low and there was no difference. One

child has not needed them, another I asked for because

of fatigue and eye contact being poor. He has

improved and I think it helps his health as well, and

I am about to ask to have my other son put back on

them too, as he is having some symptoms of actual

depression.

>

> 4 - Any thing else you think I should be concerned

> with?

***** No. I am extremely comfortable with their use

now - but I wasn't always. I used to be like those

who bad talk SSRIs. I had the suicidal reaction to

Paxil the first time I tried SSRIs and was very very

afraid of them. (I had that reaction likely due to a

very inflamed brain.) But knowing their benefits,

their effects on subtle immune modulation, their

neuroprotective benefits, the fact that they are the

primary treatment for nearly every single medical

illness I have ever had, I have accepted that we need

them and benefit from them, and that they are helpful

not harmful. My kids and I are going to need

resources that 'normal' vibrantly healthy people don't

need ... but perhaps we could reach that point one day

- but not without help. I went years without

treating my anxiety (it is severe) because I didn't

comprehend how bad it was (how could I since it was

lifelong?),and how badly it interfered with my life

until I actually did treat it appropriately, and I'm

looking back at the years I lost with some mourning.

I don't know if they are the perfect med, but I think

they are the best option we have right now. I've

looked for answers all my life in things within my

control (the right supplement, the right exercise

program, the healthiest diets, etc) and I'm only now

submitting to the fact that those things are not going

to " fix " me, that I must submit my medical care to

someone else.

Hard to do.

>

> My own brain is foggy right now but I so look

> forward to your

> feedback.

>

> Thanks in advance!

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January 22, 2008

You remind me of me when we first started the ssri. If you search

the archives you'll find my post about my own trepidations. I think

you'll find that many of us have been right where you are right now.

It's hard to decide to do something that the rest of the biomedical

community finds to be taboo. But please keep an open mind as you

will likely find huge benefits. I've put my comments within:

On Jan 22, 2008, at 7:36 PM, simple_treasure2003 wrote:

>

> 1 - Did your child make significant, moderate or no improvement

> while using SSRIs?

>

I can't stress this enough - *yes*! My son made wonderful gains and

continued to make gains with every increased dose. We are now at 1.5

pills of zoloft a day and this past increase only brought about very

subtle changes but he has made tremendous progress while on it. Dr.

G wants to try to up it one more time and see if we can get anything

more or if we need to stay at 1.5.

Improvements were across the board. Language, brighter eyes, more

aware, more attentive, better self regulation. Cognitive skills

greatly improved.

> 2 - Side effects while using meds

>

The one side effect we saw was increased urination. He literally

potty trained the week before starting zoloft and he was day and

night potty trained. When we started the zoloft it was practically

lost. It makes them very thirsty and I think the urge to pee comes

on really quick. He was still potty trained but at the same time he

wasn't. He knew what he was supposed to do but it was very hard for

him to do it as he wouldn't feel the urge until 2 seconds before he

just went so we had *a lot* of accidents. It started to subside

after several months and after several increases in dosage. It seems

like once we reached a certain threshold with it, it stopped being so

much of an issue. He now has no accidents during the day except

occasionally and those are usually due to him being too involved in

something and choosing to wait too long, like any other typical

child. He does still wear a pull up at night but since this latest

increase in dosage I've noticed many more dry morning diapers than

wet so it looks like night time is fading, too. He's even at the

point now where I can ask him to hold it if he tells me he needs to

go and we are in the car or something like that where there isn't a

potty available. He can't hold it too long but he's doing very well

with holding as long as he can. So if you see this happen, odds are

good it will get better as you move along with the ssri's.

Oh, he was less hungry for a while but once he adjusted to the meds

he started eating again. Granted, that doesn't mean much since my

son has always not had much of appetite! He was a bit hyper and

sleepless for the first couple of weeks, too. But that faded fairly

quickly just like the eating.

>

> 3 - Do any listmates have children who were able to stop SSRI usage

> once because there was no longer a need for the medication? Did any

> experience difficult in stopping meds?

>

I can't answer this one since my son is only 4 but I suspect some day

we won't need them.

>

> 4 - Any thing else you think I should be concerned with?

>

Try not to let the stigma get to you. Do what you think is best for

your child. Understand that the black box label is not something

that is exclusive to kids and that most people that do suffer those

effects (children and adults) are generally not dosed properly. Most

docs that prescribe ssri's tend to try to start everyone at full dose

(or close to) and that really causes a shock to the system. You

really need to titrate it up in order to really be able to see and

control the situation and get the system used to having it around.

My son is *not* running around trying to commit suicide and I've

never even remotely gotten the impression that he was feeling like

anything other than himself. During this time you really need to

make sure you communicate with Dr. G and let him know what is going

on, negative and positive. It's really important because all of

these things contribute to knowing if it's a right fit. That can be

the hardest part is finding the right one for right now. The " right

one " will likely change over time so it's a balancing act.

Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions.

Cheryl

>

> My own brain is foggy right now but I so look forward to your

> feedback.

>

> Thanks in advance!

>

January 23, 2008

Hi,

My son is 6, and we started the protocol a year ago, with the SSRI

added late spring. I was really nervous initially, but trusted Dr G,

knowing that we had to be all in for this to work. I'll respond

specifically below, but, although we saw improvements at each stage

of implementation of the protocol, the most dramatic positive changes

came from the Zoloft.

See specifics below, but have faith - we were lliterally amazed by

the improvements with the Zoloft.

Alaine

>

> Hello Listmates,

>

> Dr. G prescribed my 2.8 year old son Zoloft earlier today.

Needless

> to say I am pretty nervous and somewhat afraid of giving him this

> medication. I know this list is full of parents who have children

> that are treated by Dr. G if you would be as kind as to share your

> experience with SSRIs it would be greatly appreciated.

>

> I have the following questions but any information you would be

> willing to share it welcomed:

>

> 1 - Did your child make significant, moderate or no improvement

> while using SSRIs? ===Amazing improvement with language useage,

eye contact, fine motor, and executive function.

>

> 2 - Side effects while using meds ===After the first few days, he

generally had one or two tough nights falling asleep, and early on,

did have intermittent urine accidents.

>

> 3 - Do any listmates have children who were able to stop SSRI usage

> once because there was no longer a need for the medication? Did

any

> experience difficult in stopping meds? ====not applicable to us

right now.

>

> 4 - Any thing else you think I should be concerned with? ===The

SSRI has been the thing that has really allowed to progress.

While we saw improvements all along, each time we bumped the SSRI, we

had serious WOW!!! moments. We also had a defiant period over the

summer, which was a little tough, but we saw it as developmentally

appropriate, and he moved past it reasonable quickly.

>

> My own brain is foggy right now but I so look forward to your

> feedback.

>

> Thanks in advance!

>

January 23, 2008

My son has been seeing Dr. G. for about a month and began Valtrex about that

time. My son has also been having a lot of urine accidents. Before going on

Valtrex he rarely had a wet bed and never had daytime accidents. Now, he's wet

every night and is having lots of daytime accidents (most of which don't look

intentional). He has been on Celexa (an SSRI) for quite some time before taking

Valtrex and did not have accidents. I just wanted to post this because

accidents could be caused by the Valtrex as well.

Dr. G. said that the accidents may be because the Valtrex is causing changes in

his brain. We are to be patient.