prelude to mania?

Steely

Active Member
OK..........so I know I am being a bit jaded.........but I am just concerned with son's new, and sudden, energy and happiness.

About a month ago his anxiety was so severe he was immobilized by it. Everything from physical maladies, to agoraphobia - you name it, he had it. So, after a lot of hesitance, psychiatrist started him on Paxil - all of us knowing, it could cause mania.

Flash forward to now......he is energetic, project orientated, happy - but also talking non stop (not that that feature is so new), waking up after only 7 hours of sleep rested, and zipping around the house building things, jamming to music, redoing his room, working out with weights, etc. The thing that gets me is that this behavior is NORMAL for most - so why would I be worried? I guess because this has not been his usual demeanor for the last 3 years unless he has been manic. And mania, for him, always spirals downward into a horrible, awful, rage that last weeks, or months.

So............I am hoping! Maybe? Do I dare hope that this could possibly be a new era of my son's long lost personality reemerging - without the prior disastrous mania problem? Or do I worry?
What your thoughts?
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I am hoping with you... :bow: :hypnosis: Sending some positive juju your way.
We just never know do we what these crazy medications are going to do to our g'sfg???


Positive thoughts your way.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but I'd be concerned if this were my son. You're going to have to watch him carefully (not that you don't). This scenario happened to my son on Effexor, and then it did spill over into aggression. Needless to say, we discontinued it.

Why was Paxil chosen? Our three psychiatrists say they never prescribe it because a large percentage of people who take it end up having strange episodes of disinhibition, even if they don't have bipolar disorder. It happened to my daughter, and it was frightening.

I hope I'm proven wrong and am sending positive thoughts your way.
 

Steely

Active Member
Yea, smallworld.........I am with you. I am worried about the same thing. I think Paxil was chosen because he did really well on it for a time about 5 years ago. Then it induced mania, after about 3 months - but it was confusing because it also coincided with a steroid shot for poison ivy - which as I now know, induces mania in my difficult child - and he was not on a mood stabilizer at that point. I also think Paxil was chosen because it is supposed to be so good with anxiety. I did not know about the disinhibited factor of Paxil.

I have called psychiatrist, and I will call her again. Thanks for all the other positive thoughts......I, too, am keeping my fingers crossed. However I have been there done that with difficult child too many times to get too hopeful. That is sad, though, isn't it.
 

Janna

New Member
I'll be the optimist.

I took Paxil myself for some time for anxiety. Hated it. Made me feel awful, really. Didn't last long.

So, aside from the constant talking, doesn't really sound like your difficult child is manic. 7 hours of sleep is plenty for some. Heck, my easy child is 9, he goes to bed at 9, but doesn't fall asleep until around 11 PM. I wake them up around 6:30 AM for camp, and he really has no problem with that. We took them to the beach this past weekend, the kids didn't get to sleep until almost midnight, and at 5 AM, we were on the road, and they were all wide awake. Now, 7 hours isn't every day, but really, I can live on 6 hours of sleep, and so can alot of people. So, I guess I'd ask what was his sleep pattern before? If he was only sleeping 8 hours, not much different. If he was sleeping 12 (which is also not normal and unhealthy), I'd question the 7 hours now.

Everything else sounds pretty normal. At 16, I wouldn't expect him to lay around doing nothing if he was feeling normal. Maybe he just feels better and wants to enjoy his life.

I dunno, I don't know him, just throwing that out there.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I had a miraculous reaction to paxil. It helped every problem I had, but it took six weeks at least to kick in before I felt better. It's very hard to withdraw from Paxil--if you think your son may be getting manic, you may want to start withdrawal sooner rather than later because it has NASTY side effects even when you taper. Hypertalking can be a prelude to hypomania. I would keep a good eye on him.
 
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