Please help me with my daughter!

[Elise1977]

I have a 9 year old daughter.  We have recently put her on zoloft per her doctors suggestions.  She was very anxious. She was biting her nails until they were bleeding and moved on her to her toenails.  She was 1 of 4 people that failed the TAKS test out of her grade.  She has nightmares EVERY night now. We've only seen her decline since her Zoloft started. She is very smart and dropped from an A student to a C student within a matter of months.  I have a 2 year old sickly child that requires alot of my attention.  I'm sure this has something to do with the problem but I can't NOT take care of him b/c of her.  Please HELP!

[jdtm]

I don't understand - how long has your daughter been on Zoloft?

[Elise1977]

For about 3 months.  And when I had the teacher fill out paper work for further testing, she commented that Harley had changed drastically since Jan....Which would be about the time the Zoloft set in.  She was put on Zoloft b/c of the nervous tendencies and lack of sleep.  Now everything is magnified 10 x..... i'm not an over-reactor..... I'm seriously concerned on this matter.  

[jdtm]

It sounds as if the Zoloft is not working or the dose is too high.  Your family doctor did not raise the dose since your daughter started this medication, did he?  Once, when our child's dose was raised too much too fast, she basically was out of control at school and at home.  Every SSRI is different (Zoloft is one of these anti-anxiety meds) and sometimes it takes several tries before the correct medication and dosage is found.  

[Elise1977]

The dose has never been changed but it's 25 mg.  I'm considering wheening her off of the med until she goes for her clincal testing.  

[ames67]

The symptoms you describe are associated with anxiety and the Zoloft should help with that although it often takes 2-4 weeks for you to see the benefits. You could also take your daughter to a counselor. You can also try having her do something else whenever she starts to bite her nails such as write or draw or exercise. I am sorry to hear aout the TAKS test. That is such an anxiety provoking time for kids in Texas and they have soooooo much pressure put on them to do well. I am sure by the time she gets to retake it she will be feeling better. DOnt' forget to take care of yourself, sounds like you really have your hands full. Take Care!

[ames67]

If you are going to ween her off be sure to talk to the doctor about the best way to do it. Suddenly stopping it could be a disaster. SSRI's of which Zoloft is one work differently in people, especially in children. And if you are going to continue with some kind of medication you may want to seek out a child psychiatrist since they have more experience with children's reactions to medications.

[jdtm]

I looked up Zoloft on the internet and it appears as if the 25 mg is the lowest dosage.  I still think it is too high for her - would her doctor consider only half a pill instead of the full dose?  Perhaps another SSRI would be more beneficial.  Also, anxiety is best treated by a multi-modal approach and as the above poster stated - therapy might be of help.  It took us three different medications and several dosages before we found the "right" meds for our child.  It is not an easy or short path.  And, if you think that weaning her off of the Zoloft is a good idea, then try it.  I do know of some children who suffer from anxiety who really did not do well with medication (although they tend to be not the norm).

I do not know about testing in Texas but in most areas, children with disabilities (and a doctor's note) are exempt (or get preferential treatment as writing in a separate room or having no time constraints) from these formal testings.  Perhaps the school could get more information about this so everyone could be better prepared for the future.  By the way, anxiety is an "invisible disability".  Finally, one more thing - children with severe anxiety tend to do very well in school until the third grade and then, at that point, we begin to see a decline.  This is not to alarm you but just to make you more aware as research says "if there is a choice between cognitive and emotional attention, emotional will win every time".  I wish I could be more upbeat, but anxiety is a time-consuming and difficult (although treatable) disorder.  

[jdtm]

The above poster is correct if you are going to wean your daughter off of Zoloft.  It took six weeks for our child to get her first med out of her system (also a SSRI) and the picture was not pretty.  And we had the expertise of an excellent child psychiatrist.  Our child was 7 years old at the time.

[Elise1977]

Thanks for your help!  I fear its so late in the year that we may have an issue with special treatment or exemption..... and the fact that she hasn't seen a psychiatrist or anything yet.  She has only seen her family dr and I am now in the process of sending her to a specialist.  You are probably aware of the time this should take.  Ugh.  It was a week before I got the information to me, to the teacher, back to me, and sent back to the clinic.  So yes I understand the long road.... I'm such an impatient person.  I'm very proactive and want things to move at my pace.  HA!  Fortunately for my daugther (not to boast) she has 2 very LOVING parents.  We are sometimes impatient and will overreact sometimes but are definitely working on it! Learnign more about this has def slowed us down and made us realize the severity of the situation.  I willing to go through this with my daughter side by side patiently as long as I know she isn't suffering too much.  I will take any advice for making this easier on her. i will be ok.  She on the other hand shouldn't suffer.....