Anxiety Meds for Kids

[scbusf]

If your kid(s) take or have taken medication for anxiety, I would love to hear your story - please PM me if you'd rather.

My 7 year old DD has been in counseling for a while and her anxiety continues to get worse. I'm currently trying to figure out if we need to switch therapists, switch to a different type of therapy, or consider medication.

I am so upset that I'm even considering meds, but we are at a point where we have to do something.

 

[Lizzie in Ma]

First, ((Sherry))

Secondly, anxiety medications can absolutely have their time and place, please don't think you've done anything wrong by considering them.  You are trying to do the best thing for your daughter.

Our experience with anxiety meds has been positive though oldest dd has these issues from neuro-Lyme and bartonella and thank God for the meds.

There is generally a learning curve for which one may work best and at what dosage. 

I hope you find something that works for her.

[gardenmom5]

anxiety is part of dudelings asd.  our family also has a genetic mutation that reduces ability to use b-vitamins (deficiencies can contribute to anxiety), so supplementing them with a good brand is very important for us.  I use emerald laboratories b-healthy, and I felt the improvement within 10 days.  and that was after having switched from a "better" drug store brand.  (I only knew that one was working because if I didn't take it for a week or two, I started to feel bad.)

 

His naturopathic doctor originally put him on 100mg pharmagaba (pricy, I switched to NOW gaba, which requires a higher dose for the same effect, but is far less expensive).  it did help. he no longer takes it.

 

He now does 1 @ 2x per day pure encapsulations barcopa, and 2 @ 2x per day douglas laboratories ashwaghanda (theirs is more concentrated than other brands) and his response has been amazing. (the two supplements work together) even at half dose, we saw improvement for him. his life is very different.   he still has his moments, but they are fewer and further between.

[EKS]

My son, who is now 19, took Celexa for about 6 months when he was 10yo.  It definitely improved some of his behaviors that were (I see now) related to anxiety.  He didn't have any physical side effects that I could detect.  I did notice two behaviors that were odd.  He started to lie all the time about *everything* even things that there could be no possible purpose to lie about.  The other thing was that he started cutting everything up (with scissors, an x-acto knife he found, whatever)--his desk, the wood around the window in his room, boxes, my desk, the plastic on mechanical pencils, etc.  Both of these behaviors stopped when he went off the medication--well, the lying diminished to what I would consider typical for his age, but the cutting stopped.  His doctor thinks I'm nuts and that the behaviors had nothing to do with the drug, but my theory is that it eliminated the anxiety that was inhibiting him from doing those things.  I would guess that if it truly was an effect of the medication, that its manifestation would vary from child to child, with different behaviors becoming uninhibited.

 

Also, coming off of the medication was difficult.  His doctor said to go to half dose for a week and then off.  If you look online you'll find that a lot of people need to go much more slowly, so I did something like 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, and off but it still wasn't slow enough.  He had the "brain zaps" or whatever they're called for maybe a month or 6 weeks.  And his behavior and mood were so awful that, in desperation, I asked the doctor to put him back on the meds.  But then, seemingly overnight, he was back to his normal self, and so he never used that medication again. 

[gardenmom5]

 

 

Also, coming off of the medication was difficult.  His doctor said to go to half dose for a week and then off.  If you look online you'll find that a lot of people need to go much more slowly, so I did something like 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, and off but it still wasn't slow enough.  He had the "brain zaps" or whatever they're called for maybe a month or 6 weeks.  And his behavior and mood were so awful that, in desperation, I asked the doctor to put him back on the meds.  But then, seemingly overnight, he was back to his normal self, and so he never used that medication again. 

 

 

a friends adult daughter had capsules with granules in them.  she had to break open the capsule, and count out the grains and reduce from there no more than two or so a day to avoid withdrawal effects.

[EKS]

a friends adult daughter had capsules with granules in them.  she had to break open the capsule, and count out the grains and reduce from there no more than two or so a day to avoid withdrawal effects.

 

If I had to do it over again, I'd go down by eighths.  It bugs me that my son's doctor was so clueless about that.  He is usually a very knowledgable guy.

[poppy]

My daughter is 7 and has sometimes crippling anxiety. She is in counseling. When it became an issue at school we went to a psychiatrist . She started on 12 mg of Zoloft (lowest recommended dose is 25 mg). We met every 30 days to discuss and increase dosage until we found a comfortable spot. It's been 5 months. It has made a huge difference. I haven't seen any negative side effects so far. I have no regrets .

 

The counseling works SO MUCH BETTER now that she has a clearer head. Medication is can be useful therapeutically while also improving quality of life. It is not a parenting failure. It's also not necessarily forever. I don't know if she will need Zoloft for months or years - but - it is not like insulin treatments or any other medication required for life to maintain health. It's a tool.

[Pawz4me]

Youngest DS (16) has been on fluoxetine for a couple of months now for what his pediatrician suspects is social anxiety.  The changes have all been very positive.  His doctor is using the "start low and go slow" approach for dosing and is monitoring DS closely until we can get a psychiatrist to take over (appointment in November).  But we've been very pleased with how he's responded.  I haven't noticed any negative effects.

[BooksandBoys]

If I had to do it over again, I'd go down by eighths. It bugs me that my son's doctor was so clueless about that. He is usually a very knowledgable guy.

My experience is that most doctors are clueless about this. I have to titrate very slowly to avoid brain zaps. I've had to argue with every doctor about this when its time. Several friends have had to advocate for themselves on this too.

[EKS]

My experience is that most doctors are clueless about this. I have to titrate very slowly to avoid brain zaps. I've had to argue with every doctor about this when its time. Several friends have had to advocate for themselves on this too.

 

This doctor also told me that the brain zaps weren't real, which I didn't appreciate.

[swimmermom3]

If I had to do it over again, I'd go down by eighths.  It bugs me that my son's doctor was so clueless about that.  He is usually a very knowledgable guy.

 

When our dd was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at age 15, our highly skilled pediatrician wrote an initial prescription, but asked us to utilize a prescriber who specialized in pediatric psychiatric medications. This does not have to be a child psychiatrist. There are many really good psychiatric nurse practitioners who can prescribe for your child. The advantage over your pediatrician is that the majority of their practice focuses on the administration and effects of the meds on young people which can be the opposite of what occurs in adults.

 

Also, most adjustments, additions, or subtractions need to be done very slowly. Be wary of any adjustments that are significant in quantity or that change frequently