where parents of kids with special needs connect

Is your child on Anti-Depressants?

We started our 6yr old son on anti-depressant/anti-anxiety meds today, for anxiety that has interfered with his ability to function for the past year+ He also has Sensory Processing Disorder (but fights against sensory integration therapy) and some OCD tendencies (but not compulsions). It's been a LONG year for us - multiple therapists, evaluations, weekly OT and psychologist appointments, explosions, aggression, meltdowns...we're now hoping that a low dose of meds will take his edge off and enable him to be receptive to other therapies.

I guess I'm looking for some encouragement from those of you who have gone the med route. These are big time serious meds for a 6yr old and it's scary to think about...I'm trying NOT to think about it too much. We are working with both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

Tags: meds

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Stevens on December 9, 2010 at 5:36pm

Hi Jaimee,

I just came across your post. We tried antidepressants (Prozac) when our son was about six also. We had to give him the Prozac because he also had anxiety problems, and the Ritalin he took for his ADHD made his anxiety a million times worse. Unfortunately, the cure was worse than the problem -- our son became completely, completely uninhibited on the Prozac. Yes, his anxiety was gone, but no one could be in the same room with "Prozac boy" without wanting to kill him. We switched to an anti compulsive med (?) (Luvox), and that was a bit better.

You have to be really careful with antidepressants -- they are very serious. Observe carefully, and if there are any issues, make sure you get in touch with your doctors right away.

As a side note, we eventually got our son off his meds through diet, nutrition, and sensory integration work. We found the diet really had a profound effect on his hyperactivity and anxiety issues. He had some serious food allergies (dairy, corn, corn syrup, artificial sweetners). Whenever he ate these things, his behavior would barrel out of control. We also found that high quality fish oils really helped his mood and anxiety.

Just a thought. Hope this helps.

Rob Stevens

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jaimee Ulmer on December 10, 2010 at 4:18pm

Thanks for your reply, Rob. We are hoping to be able to return to sensory integration therapy at some point, because I don't believe that meds will help with sensory issues. I have made diet changes for eliminating red40, some preservatives, and greatly reducing processed foods. I think all of that helped somewhat, but then things got out of control anyway. I'm not aware of any food allergies that our son has though. I will look into fish oils.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jaimee Ulmer on December 10, 2010 at 4:32pm

Thank you for your reply Cassie. I appreciate another mom just giving an encouraging word!

Our son has been on meds for just over a week now and we are seeing a marked difference. He is more relaxed, more adaptable, plays more and is chatty (he didn't chat before, everything was a constant, defensive argument with him). We had been working a lot on aggression and explosions with the Ross Greene method of Plan B, but we see an even greater improvement in these areas since starting meds as well. A few minutes of an outburst of frustration is considerably better than 45 minutes of an out-of-control, raging meltdown.

It still is scary, when I really think about it...but like you said, we have been to hell and back with our child in the past year. We took a lonnng while to get to meds, but we are feeling like we made the right decision. I'm hopeful now that we will be able to resume other therapies in the next year and have them be fruitful.