Switch to Prozac?

[Elanor]

My son (12) has been taking risperidone (risperdal) for over 2 years - and it's been really helpful in reducing his stress and aggression. However, he gained weight, and he has to have blood tests (ie today's fun and games).

 

I've got a CAMHS appointment coming up, and I might suggest a change to prozac (the dr originally suggested either risperdal or prozac). From experience, I know that I don't want him to do without meds - but I'd really appreciate your views and experience with prozac.

 

Thanks

 

Elanor

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi Elanor,

 

I am not sure about the Prozac, I know a few people over here that have had bad experiences with it.

 

My son takes Risperdal too, and he had problems with eating too much, we went back to the Paediatrician about this as it was becoming a worry as he was constantly ravenous all the time.

 

The doctor ended of lowering the dose and this helped a great deal, so I suggest that you ask the doctor about this as well.

 

Please dont reduce the dose without talking to your doctor.

 

[Tez]

Eleanor only you can decide with the help of your doctor whether prozac is right for your son but if it helps A takes prozac and it has been like a miracle drug for him, but he was very carefully monitored for the first few months and you should be aware that, like many of these drugs, that it is not licensed for use in the under 15s because there is insufficient clinical data from that age group to license it. Weight gain can also be a problem with prozac but the gain is supposed to have a ceiling level and I haven't noticed any undue weight gain with A other than his filling out due to puberty.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Tez

[darky]

hi there my daughter was on prozac and it was fabulous for anxiety and phobias. the only problem was she went totaly hypo and seemed to have NO inhabitions. the dose was reduced, but it never reduced her hyperactivity and some anxiety came creeping back in. at school she became almost unmanageable.

she has now been swithed to citalopram and its a lot better.

[curra]

He Elanor,

as others have already said, only your consultant can tell if it's the right medication for your son.

My son is taking Risperdal and Prozac, both in very low doses. Prozac was prescribed to reduce his anxiety and I can say that it has had a positive effect. He still tends to get depressed at times but not as bad as it used to before he was traking this medication. He takes Risperadl to reduce his aggressiveness

Hope this helps,

 

Curra <'>

[Elanor]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

 

My son uses risperdal (at 0.5mg per day) to control his aggression - although my understanding was that it worked by controlling stress, which was the root cause of the aggression. I'm alaramed at the thought that Prozac might also cause weight gain. I guess I've got a lot to talk to the psychiatrist about, but I'll certainly ask his views since I am worried.

 

Thanks

 

Elanor

[Tez]

Eleanor I looked this article up for you to give you some background to the clinical studies going on into SSRIs and weight gain.

 

SSRIs and weight gain

 

As I said I didn't notice any particular gain in A and the benefit he gained from Prozac far out weighed any concerns that I might have had about his weight. I didn't mean to put you off completely, just to make you aware of the possibility and if you read the article it does say that less weight gain is associated with SSRIs than some other classes of drugs.

Edited August 23, 2006 by Tez

[Flora]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

 

My son uses risperdal (at 0.5mg per day) to control his aggression - although my understanding was that it worked by controlling stress, which was the root cause of the aggression. I'm alaramed at the thought that Prozac might also cause weight gain. I guess I've got a lot to talk to the psychiatrist about, but I'll certainly ask his views since I am worried.

 

Thanks

 

Elanor

 

Just another angle on this.

 

My 12yo was on risperdal and citalpran for a couple of months at the end of last year. Over christmas I took him off all of the drugs because I honestly couldn't see that they were doing any good and I was concerned about him taking all this medication without any postive effects. In January he was started on melatonin and had a course of cognitive training with the OT.

 

I'm not giving advice. Every single person will have different results from the meds; just thought I'd give you a different perspective.

 

The melatonin has helped tremendously with his sleep problems; I wouldn't say he's any less anxious about school (which is the root of his anxiety, amongst other things), but the fact that he (and I) can get a good night's sleep regularly has been a saviour.

 

It's important to treat severe anxiety and depression, but it's equally important to discover the cause and deal with that appropiately. I took my son off the meds not only because they weren't helping, but because I didn't want to be masking the REAL problems.

 

Flora