Those with experience with Zoloft......

[Cynful]

My DS13 was placed on Zoloft 25mg. (1/2 tablet the first week, then whole) for anxiety and OCD. He's been on it for about 10-11 days now. He did a half tablet for the first week and did fine on it - slept ok at night and no other side effects besides some drowsiness during the day. Now that we've upped it to the whole tablet (just 3 days ago), he's not sleeping well at all at night and he's literally exhausted during the day. He doesn't have any other side effects besides these.

 

If you have experience with Zoloft, do you know if this will go away? Is there anything I can do to help him. Each day has gotten progressively worse for not sleeping well and then exhausted during the day. He takes magnesium at night and it used to help him, but doesn't seem to be helping him now.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thank you,

[cjbeach]

We JUST started my ds on it 15 days ago. He was on 25 mg for 11 days then we upped to 50 mg. He is an Aspie and we started it for anxiety and OCD as well. My ds is not a sleeper to begin with but I have found him to a little harder to wind down at bedtime since we started Zoloft. A few days after we started the 25 mg Zoloft we re-started Melatonin (2 or 3 mg) and it has helped.

[sheryl]

Cynthia, I do NOT have first hand experience with Z. My friend's ds 11 yo WAS on Z, but he regressed backward and wet the bed at night.

 

I will say any med works differently in people. What may work for one may not work for another. That's where I am now with my dd hence the recent thread.

 

HTH! Sheryl <><

[8filltheheart]

zoloft severely increased our ds's depression. (OCD, high anxiety, high functioning Aspie). I would contact his dr and tell him what is happening. These drugs respond differently in children and the side effects can be brutal.

[Cynful]

Thanks everyone. I've dropped him back to 1/2 and he's doing better. I've called the doc but with the holidays and this not an emergency, I'm not sure yet when I'll hear back.

[Ottakee]

I just cut my daughter back as well to 1/2 tablet. We think it might be triggering her seizures. She does sleep well at night but seems a bit out of it during the day often. She has so many multiple medical issues though that it is hard to sort out.

 

Hopefully when we see the pdoc on Tuesday we can remove it all together.

[specialmama]

My son's been on it (a form of it anyhow: Fluvoxamine) for almost 3 years. It's revolutionized his life! His obsession no longer controls him, he controls it. We've had to tweek the dosage about every 10 mths, but we're so glad we tried this. As for my ds's sleeping patterns, well, since 18mts of age he's only required 2 hours of sleep to function. Not sure if the meds have affected his sleeping at all. ;)

[rhettsmommy]

My ds was on Zoloft for 3 weeks...started with 1/2 tab then up to a whole. He couldn't sleep at night, woke up MANY times throughout the night, would sleep til 11, still groggy all day long til around 7 when he would zing.

 

His Ped. 1st said to dose @ night...til the sleeping disturbances started. It did get better when we changed the dose to the morning.

 

 

He's recently been diagnosed by his psychiatrist and therapist as Bipolar co-morbid Asperger's, so he's no longer on the Zoloft.