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Adolescent Anxiety/Depression Medications
My son born 8/17/87 (age 17) has been on Paxil for approximately 3 years. It was prescribed for General Social Anxiety and School Phobia. It was successful, and we have made the choice based on research and other goals to now wean off the Paxil by gradual reduction in doseage over a 6 month period. He's been on Paxil CR 25MG, 1 tablet per day. Then he went to 3/4 the dose for a month. As of 9/24/04, we went to 1/2 the dose. He'd been taking 37.5 MG of Effexor for depression and the weaning off Paxil thereapy.
On Friday, he entered an the "Acute Partial Program of KidsPeace. The center's physchatrist recommended and prescribed that he stop Paxil immediately and start taking 150MG of EffexorXR.
Based on research, trial and error experiences in the past, both my son and I believe this is too drastic of a change in medications at this time. There are several other emotional and physical challenges confronting us in the next 2 to 3 weeks, including eye surgery.
How do we decide?
On Friday, he entered an the "Acute Partial Program of KidsPeace. The center's physchatrist recommended and prescribed that he stop Paxil immediately and start taking 150MG of EffexorXR.
Based on research, trial and error experiences in the past, both my son and I believe this is too drastic of a change in medications at this time. There are several other emotional and physical challenges confronting us in the next 2 to 3 weeks, including eye surgery.
How do we decide?
Thanks sea cow. We did a lot of research on Paxil and are basically following the experiences shared on this site (below) and those of my son's reaction to the weaning off process. It's been working. Only about 1 more week to go and off totally.
http://paxil.bizland.com/jbuzzw.htm
My son is now on Zoloft, 100 mg per day for depression, and it seems to be working already after 1 week vs. all the other new drugs (not necessarily tried and true).
Experiences shared on this site about Effexor are scary and have been helpful.
Zoloft has been around for a long time for depression/anxiety, and it is easier to use for shorter periods and to wean off easily.
I think we're on our way--but never take anything for granted.
Only time will tell.
http://paxil.bizland.com/jbuzzw.htm
My son is now on Zoloft, 100 mg per day for depression, and it seems to be working already after 1 week vs. all the other new drugs (not necessarily tried and true).
Experiences shared on this site about Effexor are scary and have been helpful.
Zoloft has been around for a long time for depression/anxiety, and it is easier to use for shorter periods and to wean off easily.
I think we're on our way--but never take anything for granted.
Only time will tell.
Hi, I have an 18 year old son who had been taking Paxil CR for social anxiety, and we have taken him off due to large amount of weight gain. As you found out, Paxil has withdrawal symptoms that are very unpleasant, we weaned my son off very gradually, we got him down to 12.5mg every other day and then split the pills with a pill splitter (you can get at any pharmacy) to reduce it down even lower to half every other day and eventually off. He still had some intestinal and stomach side effects getting off and it made him have an increase in anxiety for a few days. My recommendation would be to SLOWLY wean him down to reduce the chance of unpleasant side effects. Good luck, my son is now off of it and actually seems to feel better off of it! As far as the other med your doc is recommending, I don't know about it.
Thank you for your responses, especially with regard to the Effexor.
My son has a difficult time focusing in many areas of day-to-day activities, and we certainly do not need a medication to inhibit the ability to work on improving in that area.
He doesn't have ADD; rather, he's just a typical teenager, and a "guy" with too many gadgets, electronics, hobbies and clutter that distracts him from focusing on responsibilities such as education, hygiene, taking care of own his health, finding a part-time job, helping around the house, etc.
He's been a victim of many unfortunate experiences in his life--i.e., losing his father at age 6, moving from CA to PA to be closer to traditional family (hands-on grandparents), then losing his grandfather ("pal") only 5 years after his Dad. In addition, he's been bullied since 4th grade, and he's sensitive/caring and doesn't take kindly to negative criticism from teachers and adults.
The Paxil, psychotherapy, and maturity helped him a great deal with his anxiety about school and shyness. Three years ago, at age 14, he wouldn't even go into a small local video store to rent a movie or game on his own. He'd rather go without, unless I did it for him.
Now he's well-adjusted in those areas. He's made the choice to get off the Paxil along with the psychiatrist that was monitoring his medications. The new psychiatrist in the KidsPeace program has entered into the picture just last week--without really knowing that much of his history and recommended the drastic change in meds.
In all honesty, my son doesn't want to take any medications anymore but realizes he has to taper off the Paxil. He tried "cold turkey" and got the zaps, flu-like symptoms and was in bed for 4 days. I suggested he research the drug on the internet at that point, and it was quite an education for him.
I think through therapy, goal-setting, routine and learning coping skills while weaning off Paxil is the best route at this point.
I'm optimistic that our lives will improve greatly over the next year, and when he reaches age 18, we'll be looking back at the last few months and next year and say, "What an emotional roller-coaster ride that was! Finally, we're on the ground and onto a better, brighter future."
Thanks again,
Reba Lois
P.S. He's very gifted in music, and that is his passtion right now. I believe he can be an accomplished musician, but I'm trying to get him focused on getting his education first, and a vocation to earn a decent living while pursing his music career. He's so good, that he could probably get a grant to music college, which he has set as a long-term goal.
My son has a difficult time focusing in many areas of day-to-day activities, and we certainly do not need a medication to inhibit the ability to work on improving in that area.
He doesn't have ADD; rather, he's just a typical teenager, and a "guy" with too many gadgets, electronics, hobbies and clutter that distracts him from focusing on responsibilities such as education, hygiene, taking care of own his health, finding a part-time job, helping around the house, etc.
He's been a victim of many unfortunate experiences in his life--i.e., losing his father at age 6, moving from CA to PA to be closer to traditional family (hands-on grandparents), then losing his grandfather ("pal") only 5 years after his Dad. In addition, he's been bullied since 4th grade, and he's sensitive/caring and doesn't take kindly to negative criticism from teachers and adults.
The Paxil, psychotherapy, and maturity helped him a great deal with his anxiety about school and shyness. Three years ago, at age 14, he wouldn't even go into a small local video store to rent a movie or game on his own. He'd rather go without, unless I did it for him.
Now he's well-adjusted in those areas. He's made the choice to get off the Paxil along with the psychiatrist that was monitoring his medications. The new psychiatrist in the KidsPeace program has entered into the picture just last week--without really knowing that much of his history and recommended the drastic change in meds.
In all honesty, my son doesn't want to take any medications anymore but realizes he has to taper off the Paxil. He tried "cold turkey" and got the zaps, flu-like symptoms and was in bed for 4 days. I suggested he research the drug on the internet at that point, and it was quite an education for him.
I think through therapy, goal-setting, routine and learning coping skills while weaning off Paxil is the best route at this point.
I'm optimistic that our lives will improve greatly over the next year, and when he reaches age 18, we'll be looking back at the last few months and next year and say, "What an emotional roller-coaster ride that was! Finally, we're on the ground and onto a better, brighter future."
Thanks again,
Reba Lois
P.S. He's very gifted in music, and that is his passtion right now. I believe he can be an accomplished musician, but I'm trying to get him focused on getting his education first, and a vocation to earn a decent living while pursing his music career. He's so good, that he could probably get a grant to music college, which he has set as a long-term goal.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Its impossible for me to advise you against the advice of your doctor but in general I think you have to go with your own experience and knowledge of your son, and move, if possible to the very minimum dose of anything, and preferably nothing. YOu can go off the paxil at a faster pace than you are now doing, but that doesn't mean that you should switch to a higher dose of effexor.
I am no expert but I would recommend staying away from the effexor. This drug is very bad. Caused me memory loss and severe side effects. This also sounds like a very high dose. Think about a second opinion.
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