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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Janis on February 9, 2004, at 15:26:37
My friend has a son who will be 14 next month...he's been on zoloft for about 5 years in addition to focahlin and one other thing....I can't recall right now. In November the doctor took him down from 100 mg to 50mg on the zoloft..he's had vomiting & diarrhea every morning with the zoloft...anyway, he stopped it completely last Friday...and the last couple of days he doen't want to come out of his room at times, is very fearful and afraid to go to sleep fearing he wont wake up again - having lots of abdominal pain and says "he feels like someone is scratching inside of his intestines". She did get him to school today and although looking at breakfast made him ill, he said he was able to eat lunch. anyway...does anyone have any ideas if there is a better way for him to get off the Zoloft...and if there is anything he can do for the nausea and abdominal pain?? The doctor gave them no instructions other than he can now stop the zoloft. Janis
Posted by HappyGirl on February 9, 2004, at 23:58:17
In reply to 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft, posted by Janis on February 9, 2004, at 15:26:37
Hi:
The son of your friend, at age 14 was placed on Zoloft, ... because of depression? In that case, he needs another Anti-depressant before his discontinuation of the Zoloft.
Otherwise, sounds to me like he starting to suffer from depression along with withdrawal symptoms about which you mentioned.
In my knowledge, Zoloft is one of potent anti-depressants, then on his discontinuation from Zoloft,.... firstoff, he needs to go 'VERY SLOWLY' to stop Zoloft.
Also, there is 'issue'(actually a BIG ISSUE) of prescribing SSRIs for children under age 18. Then, his psychiatrist tried to discontinue Zoloft on your friend's son?
Either way, there must be quite hard to get off the med., Zoloft without any replacement/another anti-depressant on his condition.
H.G.
Posted by cubbybear on February 10, 2004, at 1:08:31
In reply to 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft, posted by Janis on February 9, 2004, at 15:26:37
This sounds like a clear case of malpractice to me--first, that the doctor was prescribing this medication to someone of that age, and worse yet, took him off the medication too rapidly. Mom should switch to another doctor immediately. My suggestion is to put him back on the original dose and let the boy gradually taper off it. Do not give him another AD until the Zoloft is out of his system. I feel pretty sure that if they do things this way, he'll be able to manage the phaseout with minimal discomfort.
Posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 6:50:25
In reply to Re: 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft » Janis, posted by cubbybear on February 10, 2004, at 1:08:31
Thank you both for your responses...as far as I know, this young boy has been on Zoloft for about 5 years...and he WAS hospitalized and on suicide watch when he first began taking it. I think it is all the press about Zoloft being bad for children that made the doctor finally take him off...yes..it was for depression. His Mom has been told only to keep an eye on him for a month...not sure what that means...I believe she has moved a mattress into their bedroom so he won't have to sleep alone at night. Pretty sad. Janis
Posted by linkadge on February 10, 2004, at 9:00:53
In reply to Re: 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft » Janis, posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 6:50:25
I have nothing but the deepest sypmathy.
I have gone off 20 mg of Celexa, at age 20 and the withdrawl was absolute hell, to say the least. I cannot imagine what this is like at age 14, when you are just beginning to get an idea of what the world is like. If at 14 he has been on it for 5 years I am sorry to say but he needs to stay on it for a much longer.
Any withdrawl this boy goes through has to be done much, much, much slower. 100 mg is no dose to laugh at. I can only recomend reinstitution of at least 50 mg, and taper off over the uptoming 5 years. You do not just do this to a child.
Linkadge
Posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 13:42:31
In reply to Re: 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft, posted by linkadge on February 10, 2004, at 9:00:53
he is also on resperidol (sp?) which I guess is why they think it's okay to get off the zoloft now..to me, it's sad they give this stuff to kids...Janis
Posted by HappyGirl on February 10, 2004, at 16:46:31
In reply to Re: 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft, posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 13:42:31
Hi:
Risperdal is one of potent Anti-Psycho. meds. using for Shizophrenia and Bipolar. In Bipolar, Riperdal controls/helps mood-swings and enormous irritability/rage working with mood-stabilizer, such as Lithium, Depakote and other mood-stabilizers to name. Then, in my guess, the son of your friend's diagnose sounds to me like NOT traditional(regular form) depression, ... more likely Bipolar Disorder(old name is 'manic depression.) In that case, this AP med., Risperdal helps control manic side along with small property of anti-depressant. However, he still needs some form of anti-depressant, because as I said the above, Risperdal has rather manic side effect, ... with little effect to the depressive side of his Bipolar(guessing he has Bipolar in looking at his med., anti-psycho. med. Risperdal). As your concern/worry about Risperdal, normally most of pdocs. might NOT rx this form of powerful med. to the children, esp. under 18, ... but probably, he has started to develop Bipolar after a long use of Zoloft, ... or his pdoc. suspecting on this. However, if his pdoc. is fairly a good pdoc. on whom the 14 yr old has relied for awhile, then it might be just 'case by case.'
However, on the otherhand, his withdrawal along with a lack of anti-dep. in his system is quite bothersome/worrisome, as you mentioned here, above.
In my suggestion, tell your friend that her son, the 14 yr old. needs to visit his pdoc. and talk his developing/withdrawal situation face to face. From there, hopefully your friend and her son would find a good solution to get him well.
H.G.
Posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 19:06:21
In reply to Re: 14 yr old boy withdrawals from Zoloft, posted by Janis on February 10, 2004, at 13:42:31
thanks for your response, HG
This is the end of the thread.
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