SSRI and its effects on height during puberty

[Anonymous]

My DS's psychiatrist suggested putting him on SSRI's rather flippantly. Like, let's add this to the cocktail and see what happens.

I said no, not at this time. This isn't because I'm against SSRIs and definitely not against them for those who need them. But, it just seemed like a lot at the moment. If I had gone along with it and then later found out that the range of side effects could include final height impact, I'd be furious.

[Anonymous]

I have heard this before and my child takes an SSRI but hasn’t reached puberty yet. She’s 10 and has been taking them for 2 years and has been growing normally. With the symptoms she was dealing with before medication, height wasn’t much of a concern for us , though. I don’t think she will be that tall regardless as she’s been at the 15th percentile in height since she was a baby.

[Anonymous]

I had never heard about this. My 13 year old daughter is on an SSRI. She’s growing like a weed/is very healthy. She actually probably eats more now than when she was overly anxious. Even if I’d known about the growth issue, the anxiety was so bad we would have done it anyway.

[Anonymous]

It seems like the studies I had read were with boys as test subjects than with girls. Anecdotally on here, it seems like more females had less of a worrying effect than boys.

[Anonymous]

I think anxiety can reduce height

[Anonymous]

Interesting. My son wasn’t eating enough on just a stimulant. We added SSRI for anxiety and it had the added bonus of increasing appetite and he’s been finally growing a ton this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think anxiety can reduce height

Why do you think that? Do you have anecdotal evidence or have you seen studies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My son wasn’t eating enough on just a stimulant. We added SSRI for anxiety and it had the added bonus of increasing appetite and he’s been finally growing a ton this year.

Weight gain and increased appetite is a well known side effect of SSRIs, there's no controversy about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My son wasn’t eating enough on just a stimulant. We added SSRI for anxiety and it had the added bonus of increasing appetite and he’s been finally growing a ton this year.

How old was your son when he started on SSRI?

[Anonymous]

My son has been on SSRIs since childhood (at high doses, for OCD), and is very tall. He’s an adult now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think anxiety can reduce height

Why do you think that? Do you have anecdotal evidence or have you seen studies?

I believe this too. The bodily dysfunctional that causes anxiety in childhood probably has other physical impacts.

[Anonymous]

SSRIs can have a negative impact on bone density too

[Anonymous]

The studies I read were that it affects height during puberty around specific tanner stages like between 2 and 4 or 3 and 4. It is hard to know if this is what caused my sign to stop growing but he has not started an ssri as a 9th grader.

[Anonymous]

The only study I can find used boys who were also taking risperidone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only study I can find used boys who were also taking risperidone.

And the effect was very small