What mood disorder medications have worked for your difficult child?

AK0603

New Member
My son is going to see his psychiatrist again Thursday, his father is going to call me after the appointment. His dad said the therapist also suggest doing some kind of mood disorder medication. and I have searched online at a few different ones but mainly found them for adults.

Curious what your children are on or have tried, positive and negatives? He was on Risperdal for a bit, but it didn't help and caused him to wet the bed, and I only found out later it's not even a mood disorder medication, so I don't know why they gave him that anyways.

All these drugs are so confusing.
 

dreamer

New Member
zoloft could be activating especially if he has a mood disorder.
Most of the medications used for children for psychiatric diagnosis'es have not been tested in children.......
normally mood stabilizers are lithium, depakote and tegretol...and also trileptal and lamictal have been used in some kids.
 

oceans

New Member
My son is doing great on Lamictal. We tried Lithium first, but it caused his thyroid stimulating hormone to skyrocket. My nephew has done well on Tegretol and has been on it since he was pretty young.

http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/medications/moodstabilizers.htm

This is a really good site and it has lots of information on mood stabilizers.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Zoloft, and any antidepressant, can reek havoc with anyone with a mood disorder. It does stop the depression, but can kick a kid into a rageful, out-of-control mania that can really cause problems. I have bipolar and tried Lithium and Lamictal. I loved Lamictal--minimal side effects and very helpful. Lithium is the Gold Standard for bipolar. Risperdal is not a mood stabilizer. It's an anti psychotic and is more apt to work the short term than for the long term. The first line mood stabilizers, in my personal order of favorites are:(there are no other first line mood stabilizers): Lamictal, Lithium, Depakote, Trileptal, Tegretal
The antipsychotics, sometimes used as mood stabilizers (however, very prone to only working for short periods of time are) Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Geodon, Abilify
Often a child with a mood disorder needs a mood stabilizer and an antipsychotic, so the medications may look like this: Lithium/Seroquel. Antidepressants and stimulants can destabilize those with bipolar/mood problems, even if mood stabilizers are in place. Many with bipolar can't take antidepressants or stimulants, even with co-morbid ADHD. I suggest reading "The Bipolar Child" by Dimitri and Janet Papalos. The book is very good, and there's a long chapter on medication. You may be able to check it out at the library. Good luck.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
N has done wonderfully with trileptol and abilify. But she needs the combo to be stable. It didn't work when psychiatrist tried to stick to just one mood stabilizer.

But you have to remember, medications work differently for different people, kids included. What seems like a miracle drug for one person may not seem to do a thing for another.
 

Sara PA

New Member
If the Zoloft is making your son unstable, no mood stabilizer will correct that. The only treatment for antidepression induced mania/bipolar is discontinuation of the antidepressant.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
My son isn't on a mood stabilizer, but I've trialed a few. Here is my honest experience. Lithium was a nightmare BUT BUT BUT my psychiatrist was overdosing me, and refused to test by blood level and, by the time I went to somebody else, he took a test and found me to be toxic, so that means little expect you make sure your psychiatrist tests your child a lot when he's on Lithium. My level was 1.6--way high for somebody who weights 90 lbs. Lamictal was fantastic. I decided to go off of it because I was doing fine without it, and I felt it blunted my creativity (I'm a writer). However, that's the way I'd go if I needed one or if my child did. My daughter was trialed on Depakote as a teen and she tossed it in the garbage saying it made her feel "stupid" and she was in college. She slept a lot. Everyone is different--the effects can be good for one, bad for another on a any medication.
 

Arttillygirl

New Member
My son's just started on Zoloft. Scary reading this. What do I look for to make sure it's working or what signs mean it's a mood disorder instead of depression?
 
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