Medication Question

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2007
Medication Question
6
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 10:46am

Ok, quick background. Ds have a med. dx of PDD NOS, and Anxiety Disorder NOS, perhaps social phobia, but I don't agree with that one. Anyway, last school year we started him and Adderall. We have experience with is because oldest ds takes it for ADD, and GAD. So, we were pleased with the results and will continue this school year as well. The Dr. wants to starts him on some anti-anxiety meds. I have a lot of say on what we do here, I chose the Adderall, and also chose that we start that type of med. before anti-anxiety med. etc...

My question is this...what type of med. do you know of that is probably safest? I have been doing some research and for his age group (9yr.) Zoloft and Prozac sound best. I really worry about messing this up. I don't want to harm him. I have been putting this decision off and can't any longer. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks so much,
carey

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-05-1998
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 11:29am

My youngest son, who has GAD, takes a low dose of Paxil, which seems to work well. My middle son (Aspie and SAD) took Zoloft for a while for the Season Affective Disorder and that worked well, too. We didn't see any negative side effects with either medication.

Elizabeth

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2007
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 4:33pm

Carey,

We tried Zoloft w/DS (then 6, AS, ADHD, OCD) last school year. It takes about 4-6 weeks to kick in I think. For DS it worked wonders for his anxiety, however, it activated his ADHD symptoms & he became very aggressive & less controlled. We immediately tapered him off these meds. His doc had previously told us that might happen, but if it worked it would have been very helpful. That being said, every child is differednt & each medication may affect each child differently. I'm still gald we gave it a try.

HTH
Janet

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2007
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 5:11pm
Thanks for your responses. This morning when I posted this I wanted to be ready for his appointment. AAHHHH I called the doc to make the appointment and was told he didn't work there anymore. No letter, no nothing, just gone and we are left in the lurch!!! This is with the University of Michigan Hospital too, not some rinky dink operation. I have to call back on Monday and talk to somebody else and try and get a new doc. I am really worried that we are going to have to start all over. I am having such a rotten day!! I made the mistake of saying out loud "this day couldn't get any worse" when lo an behold, it just keeps getting worse. Ahhh, that's life I guess.
Carey
'
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2007
Thu, 08-16-2007 - 5:32pm
Carey,
My six-year-old with Asperger's and anxiety had bad side effects from Prozac. It took a while to get into his system and we had to increase the dosage once. It worked well for a few months but then he became manic. He even bit his teachers, which he had never done before. He had to go cold-turkey on it and had a rough transition. The few months that it worked were wonderful for him and us. He was less rigid and willing to try new things. If he needs to, we may try a different type of anti-anxiety medication. Unfortunately, there is no way to know how the medication will affect each person and there is a long adjustment period to get the correct dosage. Also, the liquid generic Prozac tastes horrible!
Good luck!
Susan Sz.
Avatar for njbeachma
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Sun, 08-19-2007 - 11:04pm

Hi, I'm coming in late on this but wanted to give our experience. DS is 6 and we started using 1/2 tablet of .01 mg Clonidine in the evening before bed to help with anxiety. His anxiety peaked in the winter of last year when his horrible Kindy teacher felt he needed someone "in his face" to teach him manners. His doctor is wonderful and after much discussion with her about his sleeplessness at night (worrying about the next day) and his fight or flight responses (mostly fight!) we decided on the low dose of Clonidine. I believe there is also Tenex which is similar to Clonidine.

Anyway, it has worked very well in taking the edge off his anxiety as well as helping him get to sleep at night. I do not recommend using it during the day since it makes them very tired. The one dose at night seems to get him through the day. It's not magic and we still needed to implement parenting strategies but he is MUCH more relaxed and able to function calmly. Tantrums still happen occasionally but not nearly as much and not nearly as long. He also does not have intense tantrums anymore and is developing coping skills when he's upset. To put it simply, our good days far outweigh our bad days, now.

I also give him Omega 3 tablets to help with his mood.

Good luck.
Shelley

Avatar for stephsmom98
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Mon, 08-20-2007 - 9:50am

I'm sorry you didn't get in for your appointment. That is a shame you weren't notified. Do you know who else you can visit?

((((hugs))))

They put my daughter on Zoloft two years ago, but it didn't seem to work, but maybe I didn't wait long enough, I don't know. We see her psychiatrist next month and we will be in the same boat with medications. She will go on something I am sure because her anxieties and fears are hampering her life. May I ask what your child is anxious about? I am curious to see what differences and similarities each child has. My daughter is fearful of going up steps right now and the water. She is also nine. I have to hold on to her in the swimming pool and I don't want to do that forever.

Debbie

Debbie, Mom to my "only" Stephanie