OCD/Anxiety medication for children

[ariel817]

I have a 13 yo son diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, mild depression, and OCD.  He was put on prozac 1 1/2 years ago, starting at 10 mg.  It helped a little, so eventually it was increased to 20 mg.  In January, it was increased to 30 mg, but it seemed like the anxiety fears were more on the upswing, and the OCD wasn't as much under control.

He also had a lot of health issues going on that same year, and we believe the prozac was tangled up and at least increasing his stomach pain.  He missed three weeks of school in February, because it was so intense he could barely sit up.  After stopping the prozac, he's doing better, although he does have other health issues so he does still have some on-and-off stomach pain.

Anyway - our psychiatrist has left it in our hands -- do we want to:
1) go back to a lower dose of the prozac, and see if he tolerates it
2) try a similar medication to prozac, but that will probably have a similar side-effect profile
3) try a medicine like welbutrin that may help depression, but won't help OCD/anxiety
4) go without medicine

I'm leaning towards option 2, but is it true that the similar medicines will probably have same side effects?

[Ted A Grossbart, Ph.D.]

Sometimes if you can be ready to jump into a cancellation you can get in sooner.  

If there is someone off your insurance who is a super expert, it might work (if practical) to do a one-shot consultation out of pocket.

I'm left feeling that there a lot of specifics that are not getting dealt with a clearly as they might (such as side effect profiles)  and I think you can expect more clear and specific guidance.

tg

[ariel817]

When we thought he was off our insurance (turned out to be a paperwork snafu), we searched for other pediatric/adolescent psychiatrists, particularly ones that mentioned OCD and anxiety -- while there were several on the insurance and in the area, many were not accepting new patients.  So, the answer is a qualified yes - it might be difficult, and certainly involve a long waiting period.

[Ted A Grossbart, Ph.D.]

I'm concerned about his approach.  There are a lot of technical specifics that he should be advising you on.  Would it be possible to see someone else for a second opinion?

tg