Pediatric prozac side effect

[dpet19]

I have a neice who is 8 yrs old. She is taking 20mg Prozac daily. Recently she has complained of headaches  and altered mental status (staring spells) noted  by her teacher. Could these new effects be connected with the prozac treatment. She is waiting for a CT scan at the moment.

[care_berry]

Hi guys, wow this has certainly been an interesting and sad read. I just wanted to have a little input myself here. For the parents of children that have been mentioned in the post who have had traumas, have you guys considered that hypnotherapy may be helpful to your children? I say this as someone who experienced a trauma myself which I finally healed last year through finding a wonderful qualified hypnotherapist. It doesn't require dangerous medicines or years of therapy. Usually one or a few sessions hits the target. We got it on the first try with me!  

[Julie359]

LOL..., apology accepted, i was stratching my head on that one, glad everything has been resloved.... all the best now. x

[whodunnit]

Sorry,

My post was addressed to Sarah and I mistakenly wrote your name in the text. Total mind slip. Not directed at you at all. Many apologies for a mind in anger.

Sarah and I have had contact and resolved this via IM's.

[Julie359]

Your more than welcome, I can appreciate that it must be an awlful situation not knowing what to do for the best, but with Risperiadal it did knock the **** out of me, i doubt very much she would be able to function with this drug.  What dose did the doc start her on? Maybe you should do alot more research on this and talk to a few other people before deciding what to do for def....

But whatever you do decide i do wish you and ur little one all the luck in the world and i hope that soon she manages to come to terms with what has happened and starts to be a child again....God bless hun xxx

[sarah357]

Thanks for the comments and concerns. She hasn't started taking the Risperadal yet and I am not sure if I want to give it to her as I was already very skeptical about it since she is so young. I don't want her acting like she is now but I also don't want her being totally numb or "sedated" if that is what happens with the Risperadal. It is definetely a tough situation for me to be in but luckily she is in therapy so we will have to work through it.

[Julie359]

Hold on a minute...how on earth did i get dragged into ur argument???????? Please i don't deserve to get shouted at, what on earth did i do!!!!!! I'm on your side in this, i don't condone any child being given these dangerous drugs, so ur having a go at Sarah for not directing her anger at the proper person but now UR doing exactly that with ME!!!

Just take a deep breath and calm down! I'm not in the wrong here.

[whodunnit]

I'd appreciate you do not take your rage out on me. Direct it at the culprits.

Yes, you say you know they shouldn't be around her but experience tells me that lasts for a year or two and then things seem to relax but the victim is still prone to any contact. That's why I state it and reiterate.

And of course I have no children. Only 4. 3 girls. 3 now adults, unharmed and a 15 year old girl still at home, unharmed. Why? I protected them as much as I could and was lucky too.

My brother, 5 years older, molested my sister, 2 years younger than I but I was never told anything until nearly 30 years later. That's the sort of garbage I'm talking about, right? You understand? Because I didn't know I kept in touch with the ******* whereas he should have been put down, in my opinion.

You have no idea what my children and I have been through, nor am I going to enlighten you, it's none of your business and is irrelevant for your purpose.

You say you don't intend to keep her on meds for life. You're missing the whole point Sarah. We're saying these meds are NOT FOR KIDS. The doc will say it's fine but he does not know. No one does. That's the point.

Did you not understand what I wrote? Meds don't cure this sort of problem. Her taking a pill won't take her back in time, reinstate her innocence and remove the attack. She'll always remember it Sarah. Children of her age tend to find ways to deal with it mentally and you taking her to psychiatrists is not helping her in any way. I did the same thing at age 10, just forgot what had happened to me. It's just that no one ever told me when the time was right as you can later.

When she's older? For sure. But right now she has little ability to understand what happened, what's going on and why she feels upset so often. She'll be damned angry I would think, rightly so. As I am in writing this toyou.

You'll do whatever you think is best I know. But you didn't write this info on this forum to be ignored.

For God's sake though Julie, face facts. Here's some :

. Very few meds work first time for people, often maybe a dozen are tried before any help is achieved,

. Side effects of many meds are worse than anything already happening. How will a 4 year old explain that to you and will you understand? Ask people here if they have trouble describing side effects. Ask.,

, Most meds have been released and pronounced "safe" simply because they have passed clinical trials set by government. Never do these clinical trials include 4 years olds and never do they include young people and monitor them long term before releasing the med.

. Adult patients with depression need meds to change the chemistry of their brains, self included. That also changes the brain itself. Can you predict, or your doc, what might happen to your daughter's brain on the med you mention?

Go ahead and do what you need to Sarah but don't do so with your eyes closed. Find out the possibilities before you are sitting opposite the doc who says "Ahh, bad news I'm afraid".

Get the truth and don't rely on a doc to give it to you. They are not affected by the treatment, your daughter and you are. Understand?

How dare you accuse me of being judgemental. About what, by the way? I've given you opinion, based on 40 years experience with depression and just as many with more docs than I can remember. All saying what your doc told you. "No problems expected".

Look after your little girl, her brain is her biggest asset and it needs protecting most.

[Julie359]

sorry just to add....i read ur comment about people being judgemental, i really hope u don't think i'm doing that, i have 3 girls myself of whom one was sexually abused, she had to go through not only the abuse but also all the medical examinations by the police and interviews etc by social services which didn't help at all and the person who did this was living right across the street from us, so trust me i do understand fully what you are going through.... she was 7 at the time i found out, now she is 13.  She became extremely distruptive and voilent after it came out but prior to me knowing she was extremely quiet and withdrawn with wetting and soiling the bed.

I do truely hope and pray she manages to recover from this nightmare and i hope that the boys who did this burn in hell cause the little barsta** who did that to my baby got off extremely lightly due to his age..... we see him on a regular basis but he moves his arse sharpish whn we do cause i warned if he ever come within breathing space of her i would chop off his dirty little penis and shove it up his A hole, then burn him alive......

  

[Julie359]

Ohh please be careful.... I really do erge you on this, Risperidal is an anti-psychotic drug that when taken as needed in small doses is brill for anxiety but it has some extreme unpleasnat side effects.  The doc put me on this, gave me the lowest dose 0.5mg i took 1 tablet and was knocked sideways..... didn't know my a*** from my elbow.  I then decided to take half and still found myself dribbling and walking around like i was on another planet... then after it wears of i was left wit a banging headache and feeling like i had the hangover form hell.

Now i am a fully grown adult, weigh 60kg approx and am 5ft 3ins, if this drug does this to me and many other adults then what on earth is it going to do to ur baby girl, who's mind and brain development is still forming..... it could totally change the brain chemistry and neuro pathways within her brain and she could end up needing these drugs for the rest of her life just to function normally because of the damage they could do to her now.

Psychriarists will tell you the fairly tale and tell u what u want to hear when it comes to these drugs, they won't tell you the truth but all u have to do is read up on the leaflet to know how problematic they can be.  

Yrs of being on psyc drugs i can you they do have an impact on your body and change it, they do damage!!  

Your baby needs ur love, comfort and total support to get through this, she nees to be made to feel safe and secure... Not drugs!!

i really hope as well as you don't feel i'm having a go, i'm not, i just feel extremely strongly regarding this... best of luck for both urself and your precious little one x

[narla]

I totally agree that's why when I first wrote I wouldn't condemn any doctor trying to help a child that's suffering.Yes it needs to be dealt with in therapy but sometimes other things are needed to help in conjunction with the therapy.

[sarah357]

Thanks for your advice, but I really do know that my daughter doesn't need her abusers near her again. I don't need you to tell me that. Of course I'm not going to let them near her again! They are lucky they are out of state because who knows what I would have done to them.

I don't understand why some people are so judgemental. Well, actually I do. You probably don't have a child yourself. And if you do, have they gone through anything like what my child has gone through? It is very easy for individuals to say what they will and will not do until they have been in a situation. I don't plan on keeping my daughter on meds for life but it is dangerous for a 4 year old to want to hurt herself and others, not eat, sleep a few hours a night, and physically attack people at home and school. She almost got kicked out of preschool!  She is very hurt inside yet has withdrawn and doesnt want to talk about her feelings. So I don't know what world you're living in, but when a child has severe PTSD, talking and love unfortunately is not enough or we wouldn't be in this predicament.

[whodunnit]

Sarah,

What dreadful things we human beings are. To abuse a 4 year old is disgusting and frankly I'd like the death penalty for such hideous violence. regardless of the offenders age. Just dispose of them permanently. Not all agree but that's my solution. Stop one and he can't do it again.

As to meds for her Sarah, you've tried Prozac and say it did Zip. I'm not surprised but don't be too sure it hasn't done anything as yet. Docs do not know how these drugs affect adults, let alone small children.

As to the Risperadal? No way Sarah. Please. You know what happened, that's the issue, not using drugs on her as well. That is abuse in itself as I see it.

PTSD maybe but at her age drugs will not remove the problem. Only talking and love can do that. And removal of the offenders from her life, permanently. You say they are out of State. What does that mean? A crime is a crime isn't it?

You must make sure these cretins never get near her again and make sure she knows they will never be near her again. That's the security she needs, not meds.

One thing with meds Sarah is they never cure depression etc. All they do is hide symptoms for a time. So even by giving her "approved" meds nothing will be solves as she will recall it all as soon as she comes off. So, unless you plan to keep her on those meds for life don't start with the meds. Ask your doc. Ask "Will these meds cure her problems?" They will say no and then you will know it ain't worth the risk.

Be clear, they do not cure mental illness. Ever. So why start using them at her age?

I'd really like to be next to the moron who "approved" these meds for essentially babies. Shove them down his throat would be first on the list.

To Julie,

Yeah, so sorry for your aunt. It was horrendous back then, exactly like we saw in Cuckoo's Nest. Exactly. No anaesthetic, strapped and held down and shocked. And yes, it was certainly used as a threat back then.

I've had contact over a year with an older US lady who had it done to her for years because her husband wanted her to obey. He complained to the doc and the doc believed him. She wrote her story and published it herself but of course no one was that interested. If you have ECT you must be crazy, right? And have no voice. That's how it works, even today.

Today we have drugs to numb the body so people aren't physically damaged etc but do you know what that allows? A higher current to be passed through brains. Great. I'd be sure some in hospitals are still abused with it. People are people, nasty at base level.

We are lucky to be ill today when compulsory treatment needs us to be extreme before they can do it. Otherwise I would have been down the gurgler years ago too. Thank goodness for today. Better than ever before but still quite primitive really.

[narla]

I'm glad she is getting counselling my parents didn't know I was being abused at the time and when I did tell them at age 26 they just swept it under the carpet never spoken about again they still spoke to and saw my brother,mums dead now but my dad who is 78 lives with us and he still talks to my brother,even though I've told him I'm going through counselling because of what ths did to me psychologically.Hopefully with your daughter starting counselling at a young age and with your support she won't have the long term problems I've had,which included alcohol and codeine abuse which I used to fog the brain and numb the memories.Just watch her closely as she grows up and make sure she deals with all her feelings and emotions,because she is so young some of the therapy will have to wait until she is old enough to understand. Best Wishes I wish I could hold your daughter and take away her pain,I always wished as an adult that someone would've held me and taken away my pain.I feel for her with tears running down my cheeks.

[sarah357]

Thanks..it has been reported. It is out of state and they haven't done anything yet and they are taking their sweet time. I know a lot of things are overdiagnosed too, like ADHD and people want to blame doctors-there are some bad ones but there are some excellent ones too; a huge percentage of children with mental illnesses have suffered trauma as children because of the sick f***ks that do this and they are the ones to be blamed. My daughter suffers anxiety and fear day and night, and now lacks the ability to even live like a normal child.

[narla]

I hope your brother and his 2 friends have been reported and get the help they need but also get the punishment they deserve,I was sexually abused by my own brother who is 10 yrs older than me at the ages of 7 to 10 and I'm still trying to deal with it and I'm now 47.

[sarah357]

My daughter is only 4 and was offered prozac! I was in shock and couldn't believe it; she was having horrible sleep anxiety. It was just a pediatrician that suggested it. A few months later we found out that she had been molested by my brother who is 16 and 2 of his friends. She has horrible rage problems and was diagnosed with PTSD. Of course she has since been seeing a psychiatrist that specializes in children and they had to try prozac on her, which I agreed after speaking with the psychiatrist since he is more knowledgeable.

It has it's risks, but it also has benefits for children that have nightmares about horrible things that happened to them, as well as therapy. Prozac is approved for children 7 years and older. Well, it didn't even work for her after being on it for 2 months. Now they want to put her on Risperdal which is approved for children 5 years and older. I am very worried that with all the mental illness in my family and with what happened to her, she will be dealing with this her whole life and this is just the beginning to many issues we have.

[Julie359]

Sadly my mum had Schizophrenia and back 30yrs ago or so they used alot of ECT and they used it on her, b4 having this done she had a fire in her belly, would stand up for what she wanted but a few sessions of ECT and she was a quiet little mouse....why?? Because i was told she was too dam petrified to say anything to anyone otherwise she got walloped with bolts of electric through her brain.... TORTURE!!! Thats all ECT is. Its you either behave or you get this, a form of control. My aunt told me they would drag her kicking and screaming into the room and it use to take a whole bunch of them to tie her down, they wouldn't give her anything to knock her out....just shove a leather strap in her mouth and zap away.....Then for a good day or two she wuld be dribbling like a baby, with her eyes rolling around in her head.... No wonder she bloody killed herself... If that was happening to me so would I...

[narla]

Believe me I had an arguement with my sons psychiatrist,he told me my son would become socially stunted.I tried to explain he still had his swimming with his peers and he went to a youth group,so I made sure I didn't isolate him,By the time he was 15 he chose to finish his schooling at a school.He was very sociable and went in 2 of the school musicals and has a lot of confidence,not the zombie anymore that he was as a child.

[whodunnit]

Yeah,

Parents can only doo what they think is best and many of us used to believe docs were the font of all knowledge. I learnt better but had that attitude until I was in the barrel myself. So it's very hard to be critical of parents I guess when they mostly just want the best for their child.

It's the attitude you've raised about using meds to make people more compliant that gets to me. I was in a mental ward for a couple of weeks a few years back and didn't take meds for sleep at that time. But the nurses made damned sure everyone else took theirs. Why? It made their nights easier of course, forget the patients welfare.

I acyually got extremely angry at them as they have this habit of shining a torch in your eyes every few hours to make sure you ain't dead yet. It's a legal requirement. But, for me, all it did was wake me up and spot at them, word wise. They stopped after a few nights.

ECT is used in the same way, to make patients docile where they are impossible to "manage". It works, patients do become very quiet and docile after a few such treatments. Short term anyway.

[Julie359]

By standing up to the doc's and being a strong, loving mum u proberly saved him from a life of hell i hope you realise this....and all i have to say is well done!!

With children who are depressed or have ADHD or the likes etc.... drugs ani't the answer, what is needed as whodunnit says a loving home with lots of support plus patiences is needed.  However it's not always the parents fault because as lay people we trust and respect what a doctor tells us, thinking they know better, and so we give these children the drugs thinking they are going to be a 'good' thing not really knowing what can and does happen, only when it's too late.  

Mind you this doesn't just happen with kids but also the elderly as well, there is a big thing in the news at the mo here in England about the elderly who have demenia who are being dopped up to the eyeballs with anti-psychotic drugs to calm them down, a staggering 210 thousand are being given these drugs here in England and it is estimated that 3/4 of those patients do not need these drugs and are doing far more harm than good..... and is causing a high rate of premature deaths...... When investigated as to why such a high amount of the elderly was being given these drugs it turned out to be that the carers were not trained efficently enough to deal with a dementia patient and could not cope, this applies in nursing homes as well as the family home, so therefore instead of providing training t these people they choose th fast and more cost effective method and zombify these poor vunerable people who can not stand up for themselves and basically end up as vegetables........something needs to be done and fast!!!  

[doctora]

I thought you may be able to help this person out, read original post.

[needananswer75]

I was put on Prozac back when I was 15 (I'm 34 now). What I learned from my own personal experience is that this drug IS NOT for children. I went from being depressed to feeling like a zombie and had to get of the medication. Prozac can cause many bad side effects in children. Please insist this child at least see another doctor to get a second opinion.

[narla]

I forgot to mention I did all this while I was a practising alcoholic and addicted to codeine,also I was on Zoloft for my depression,anxiety and panic attacks.If you love your children enough you can do anything,I didn't want my son to be an addict like me.

[whodunnit]

Hi there,

It must have been horrendous for you trying to decide what to do. That was a few years back too. Glad to hear your son has come through OK and the bad times are behind.

There's no doubt at all about the guinea pig statement though. All anti d's are used on us before they really should be. I hate being the front line for drug companies to experiment on but I don't have a choice that's legitimate. I need meds or it's bye byes really.

But to use children is so sick I can't deal with it. I too get angry when I hear about it as, like Julie has written, their brains are still trying to form.

What you do when a young child is depressed I don't know, except act as a parent and spend as much time as you can with them. Like Narla did.

I guess the parents are culpable too as they want placid kids, not kids with energy, emotions and tantrums. At what cost?