15 year old on prozac!

[duckielala]

My brother has been out of hand for almost most of his life. Not anything major but rebellious and when he was younger doctors prescribed him as ADHD. Which I thought was a bunch of ****, because I felt he just wasnt getting the proper attention love and care at home as he should. So now at 15, and having problems doing good in school, he is doing home studies and doing much better and seeing a psychologist and psychiatrist because he doesnt get along with my mother. He for the past few years has expressed great anger towards her and hatred. Since he is still somewhat hyper they prescribe him now with medication to lower his blood pressure and now prozac because he was talking about suicide. I urged my mother to take him off it immediately because its not needed and will cause all kinds of future problems. She wants to also but she is now afraid that taking him off cold turkey will not be good for him. Does he need to be taken off slowly or can we just stop his use all together.

[girl522]

I'm pretty sure that with any antidepressant you have to taper off slowly.  You should make an appointment with his psychiatrist and discuss this with him/her.  They might switch him to a different med.

[sparkeler]

By stopping cold turkey, serotonergic activity will drop drastically. Hence withdrawal side-effects may appear such as electrical surges/shocks in the head (brain shivers) and/or body, pins and needles on the skin, feelings as being on the verge of losing consciousness, blackouts, short term memory problems, etc.. Above mentioned side effects refer to epileptiform activity, or electrical discharges, in the brain. When dosages are cut back, (withdrawal) side-effects are at least minimized. No one should stop taking their medication cold turkey, but anti-depressant use should be tapered off very, very slowly.

[hotone]

Yes, I found that out the hard way! The withdrawals were herendous. I gave up and went back on a lower dosage of Lexapro. My doctor said that the side affects weren't from withdrawals, she said it sounded more hormonal--I know better! After being on antidepressants for about 15 years, I'm just one of those that do not produce enough serotonin and will probably need drugs for the rest of my life.

[duckielala]

Thank you all this is very important information. Thank you all very much!