IT1967

Member
Who here has had success with-putting their kid on an anti-anxiety medication? As you may or may not have read in another post of mine, I started my son (difficult child 2) on Zoloft, and he got worse than he ever was with-his meltdowns, rage, etc... the medication is definitely out of his system, but the meltdowns and rage continued. Before that, he had only been on Concerta and Intuniv and was doing fair. Guess what? Now, he's so bad the psychiatrist has put him on Risperdal, just like my difficult child 1. I'm simply crushed. And when I tried my difficult child 1 on Prozac before we started with-a psychiatrist (gen. pediatrician Rxed it), the same thing happened to her. It felt like it flipped a switch on them - a very bad switch. Don't get me wrong, both kids were having major problems, but they escalated to a whole other level after trying those 2 medications. Here's my HUGE concern. difficult child 1 was started on Zoloft by the psychiatrist about the same time as difficult child 2. *knock on wood*, she's doing well. She's still on Concerta and Risperdal, but the Zoloft has improved her noticeably. I am PANICKING that it may backfire and trigger the same horrible reaction that happened to her before and just happened to my son. We're further along with-the Zoloft than I got with-the Prozac we tried with-her way back. I HATE THIS! We start with-a new pediatrician for both kids next week because our old pediatrician was completely heartless when my difficult child 1 was at her worst. She did nothing to try to help us move up our first appointment. with-the psychiatrist and in general could've cared less what we were going through. Even though we can't afford a neuropsychologist evaluation, would a neurologist appointment. help? Should I be thinking about another psychiatrist? In general, I don't think he's a bad guy, and he's well respected, and I get where he's coming from. But it's like nothing to him to throw these powerful drugs at me without blinking an eye. I am so discouraged. I feel like this is never going to get better, that my kids will always have to be on these horrible medications and I'm petrified they're going to get extremely overweight. They've never had weight issues before, but I know how terrible it is to be a kid with-a weight problem let alone a kid with-a weight problem with all the issues my kids have. I'm feeling completely hopeless. So please if anyone can share some positive hopeful stories about their use of medications with-their kids, I'd really appreciate it.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
I completely understand your panic.

Fingers crossed.

by the way, a lot, if not most, psychiatrists are like that. They are trained to throw medications at problems to see what works. It's a very broken system.

There are new methods to test saliva, to determine what people can and should take and what their bodies can tolerate. But they're still in the experimental stages.

Does the psychiatrist explain how ea medication works? And why he's prescribing them?

As others have said, it is horrible to be on this merry-go-round. But that's all some doctors have. Are you in an area where you have a choice of psychiatrists? A mid-sized city, for ex?

As long as the medication is working now, I would just stay on top of it. Just take one day at a time.
Hugs.
 

IT1967

Member
Hm, Topamax. That wasn't even mentioned. I do live in a mid-size city with-excellent medical services and lots of it. I also have one more question: Has anyone here had their children on Risperdal and they didn't gain weight? I'm praying there will be some positive responses. Thank you everyone. This place is at least somewhere I can go where people know what I'm going through.
 

Bunny

Active Member
My son takes risperdal and he has not gained a tremendous amount of weight, and he has shown big improvement on it. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's better than what it was.

Good luck with the medications. Trying to find the right one can be stressful, but if you can eventually find what works for your kids things will improve for all of you.
 
L

Liahona

Guest
difficult child 1 took Zoloft and it was not good. difficult child 2 and I take Zoloft and do great on it. difficult child 2 also takes risperdal and hasn't gained weight with it. It just depends on the kid. Even with siblings one medication will work for one but won't for the other. Good luck
 

HaoZi

CD Hall of Fame
difficult child 1 took Zoloft and it was not good. difficult child 2 and I take Zoloft and do great on it. difficult child 2 also takes risperdal and hasn't gained weight with it. It just depends on the kid. Even with siblings one medication will work for one but won't for the other. Good luck

Very true. I did well on Zoloft when I took it, my sister went off the deep end on it. Don't give up hope!
 

JJJ

Active Member
Wow, your kiddos are really young. I thought Paxil was the AD of choice for little ones, has that changed?

Tigger was on Buspar and Ativan for anxiety (not at the same time). They definitely helped.

Eeyore was on Risperdal for years and remained underweight the entire time.

Stims sent Tigger off the deep end. I hate that it is so much hit or miss on the medications.
 

IT1967

Member
Well, I feel a little encouraged hearing that not everyone on Risperdal has had terrible weight gain.

JJJ, my kids being so young and on these medications is what is completely breaking my heart. :(
 

HaoZi

CD Hall of Fame
I hear you, I tried everything (supplements, allergy testing, special diets, etc) before giving up and trying medications when mine was 8 or 9.
 
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