Can an antidepressant really work THAT fast? I'm amazed...

[Chaosuncontained]

Carson started taking Celexa on Monday of last week. Friday was his first "good" day at school. He got most of his work done in class. He didn't show defiant behaviour. He didn't hide under his desk. He didn't show anger or have "attitude". He had a good weekend. Told his 10 year old sister he loved her.

This week has been the same. Actually playing football with his peers (never happened before)! Running, laughing. Getting his work done!!

The only "bad" thing... if you can call it that, is he told me today that he "loves" a girl in his class. And I got an email from his teacher telling me that he is making this little girl feel uncomfortable with his "advances". This is 4th grade. I'll tell him to calm in down a bit but he obviously is feeling good about himself... so I must tread carefully.

Can an antidepressant work that fast?? Could I finally know whats been the biggest missing piece of the puzzle? I have filled out more IEP paperwork this week. I swear I felt I had to tell them what color underwear was I wearing the day I conceived him. Geez LOL

PS: I need to change his medications down below and diagnosis's

Intuniv, Focalin, Celexa. ADHD, Depression and Severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

 

[keista]

Yes, they can work THAT fast. Congratulations! It sounds wonderful for you.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Yes, they DEFINITELY can work that fast. We were told "two weeks" to begin to see results... we knew we were on the right track in 4 days.

However - it might take a couple of rounds of dose-tweaking and/or timing adjustments (evening? morning? split dose?) to get a balance between not-enough and too-much.

 

[BusynMember]

You can get an instant boost, but usually that goes away and you have to wait for six weeks. I don't know if the new drugs say two weeks, but I always heard six weeks and that's how long I always had to wait. I've taken many antidepressants and in my experience, that's how they work.

 

[ready2run]

i have taken celexa off and on over the last 6 years and yes it does start to work that quickly.

 

[Liahona]

Glad its working!!

 

[TerryJ2]

Wow! That's amazing.
Yes, now you have a new can of worms ... he's so happy, he's able to make advances toward the girls. Best to sit down and talk to him.

 

[gcvmom]

Not to be alarmist... BUT... is his amorous or "crush" behavior toward the girl (or girls in general) new?

I ask because I see you have "mood disorder" as a diagnosis descriptor. In my experience with my difficult children (both with different forms of mood disorders) antidepressants can be very tricky. They may work initially on the depression, but it can sometimes continue pushing them over to the other end of the spectrum into a very disinhibited or even manic/hypomanic state.

With my difficult child 1, even though he was depressed, antidepressants (Imipramine, Celexa, Paxil) made him DISinhibited and we saw increased sexual preoccupation, increased aggression, increased agitation. Took us a LONG time to figure out that was the problem, and once we got him on a mood stabilizing medication (Tegretol in his case) and a different class of antidepressant things finally got better.

With my difficult child 2, a very similar response to antidepressants (Zoloft in his case) -- we saw increased aggression and a lot of disinhibition, sexual preoccupation, etc. He went on to develop full-blown bipolar disorder and in his hypomanic state was becoming more and more hypersexual (or as much as a 10 or 11yo boy can be). Now pretty much all SSRIs, tricyclics, or anything else in that class is off the table for good.

So in a nutshell, my advice is to keep a keen eye on his behavior while on this medication. Write down comments like the one you got about the girl in the classroom. You should know in another week whether or not this is going to be a good match for him or not.

 

[Chaosuncontained]

Thank you all for your comments. The change has been dramatic. Before the medications he was failing all his classes. Because he refused to do his work in class. His anxiety would have him running for cover. Literally, as he would run from class or hide under his desk or a table. He would completely shut down and refuse to do all work. He seemed aggitated a lot and lost control several times at school (bit a girls ankle, hit a boy that he thought was trying to hit a girl).

Now the teachers are commenting that he is bright, cheerful, able to get his work done with minimal prompting and redirecting. Interacting with his peers AND they are interacting with him.

GCVMOM, Thank you for your comments. I never would have thought of this as possibly being a manic episode. He was on Abilify for 5+ months. At first it seemed to help. But then it stopped. I don't remember the dose he was on, but it was a whole small blue pill. LOL I have it in his file but I am too lazy to get up and dig it out right now. Then he was on Rispirdone (and I never spell that one right) for a short time--NO improvement. Now he has been diagnosis as having Depression. I would have sworn it was a mood disorder (especially since I have one and it runs in families). I've never seen him this...happy. Before his "moods" were Sad and Mad. He was either low or aggressive/mean/angry. He sees his doctor on the 26th. I will definately tell his doctor about this crush. I hope it's just the fact that he feels so much better about himself (major low self esteem) that he is just being a 4th grader and has a crush on a girl. Thanks so much for your insight--GREATLY appreciated.

 

[TerryJ2]

I am reading this with great interest. My difficult child is usually angry/mad/sad but I have seen him laugh out loud at movies, and smile a lot at school. I know he can be happy. In fact, when he first went on clonidine, he smiled and hugged us for the first time in mo's.
Scary having to experiment, though. That's pretty much what it's all about.
Wishing you continued success. Yaayy!

 

[hearts and roses]

My difficult child also had great, almost INSTANT positive results with celexa. When her psychiatrist kicked her dose up just a bit, we noticed immediate manic behaviors, so I just wanted to echo what GVC said. Keep an eye on it.

That said, I am soooo happy for your son - he must feel so great to be happy! And I'm also happy for you! Yay!