Very Depressed 10 year old...

[IsThisReal]

My son is nearly 11 and he has been diagnosed as depressed and experiences what the doctor is classifying as a mood disorder.  I've been doing lots of reading, however, we're 15 months into talk therapy and 3 months into psychiatry care and things only seem to be getting worse.

The psychosis episodes are becomming dangerous and physical and are becomming more frequent.  I am beginning to be concerned about the welfare of the rest of the family.  

He is currently being treated with Zyprexa (for voices he hears) and prozac for depression.  I am at wits end, and at the point of wondering if I need to put him in a hospital or seek another doctor's opinion.

Any advise would be great, this is tearing up our family and nearly every day is a nightmare.

[Melissa0116]

My son was diagnose at the age of 5 with ADHD, OCD and anxiety.  They put him on concerta and zoloft.  When he was put on the Zoloft, I told the psychiatrist that I did not like this idea and that I was scared of what could go wrong with the med.  She explained that this would help him and he would be fine.  

After 1 month of taking Zoloft, he started hitting anyone that tried to discipline him.  He also got tics from this which resulted in putting things in his ear, throwing things, and hearing things in his head.  He never could sleep either.  I explained this to the doctor and she, of course, upped the dose.

The dose made it extremely worse, so I took matters into my own hands and weaned him off the zoloft in 1 month.  After he was off of the zoloft but still taking the concerta after 6 months, my baby boy was back to the loving child I always knew.  

He is now 11 and is doing extremely well, and only takes Vyvanse for ADHD.  He also takes 3 mg of melatonin in the evening for calmness and restlessness and this has helped immensely.  The only diagnosis that he still has is ADHD.  After a year of being off Zoloft all of the harsh side effects were gone and he was happy again. No more tics or outbursts.  Occasionally, he gets upset, but no hitting or throwing of things, just yells and then calms down.  He is like any other 11 year old boy.  

I would get a second opinion and make sure that the psychologist and psychiatrist are specifically trained in pediatrics.  I hope that this helps and please let us know how he is doing.

[therese83]

There is no harm in getting a second opinion, you are perfectly entitled to.

It sounds like the present regime is not working.

Maybe the prozac is making him worse?  I mean do not stop it, but it probably needs to be looked at by another doc.

I hope that they can find something that works for you all.  If he went into a child psychiatry unit then they would see the full picture and this would have a lot of advantages.  He has an illness and putting him in a ward aill help him and should not do any harm.  Think about it

My heart goes out to you, best of luck

[MarkDK]

I have psychosis with my depression, although not as bad. I also found that talk therapy didn't help me much, even after 5 years and two therapist. The medication that was prescribed by my fist psychiatrist was not effective in negating many of my symptoms, so (at the time) my father and I sought a second opinion which opened a lot of doors, and got me where I needed to be with a Cognitive behavioral therapist. Sorry about my grammar etc.

Hope this can be of use, sorry if its not :(
Mark

[teko]

Wow, I would get a second opinion. It sounds like what they are doing right now is not working. Maybe they diagnosis is wrong. He is also at the tender age where puberty is going to be in the mix as well. Keep us posted.

[LeftCoastChick]

Having psychosis is extremely unusual with depression. Honestly, he should be hospitalized until they can figure out the right meds for his his physical and mental outbursts. I highly doubt he just has depression. It could be at least another mood disorder. My brother was the same way, and he should have been removed from the home and hospitalized. I have PTSD as a result, my folks refused to acknowledge that it was that bad. He heard voices,  had many "imaginary friends", and the child psychiatrist just gave him Ritalin. He tore my family apart, my brother was the proverbial "pink elephant" in the room. You know it's there, but you want to ignore it.

Here's a link to the child behavior community:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/765064

I do though think he should be in hospital, for all of your family's sake.

LeftCoastChick
Depression Co-Community Leader