Warning: take the warnings about SSRI with teens seriously

[Anonymous]

That was a big change in dose from 50 to 100. Just curious whether there was nothing in between. I know how hard it is trying to get the right medicine/right dose for your child who is struggling. For those who don't have kids with issues that are physiological, but that many view as psychological, it's easy for them to say you shouldn't have your child on meds. You have to do what's best for your child and no one on this board knows her. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

[Anonymous]

I think the posting of this article was good as long as folks read more than just the original post. Someone mentioned that Effexor caused manic behavior. I was diagnosed with a terminal illness at 31, whose only cure was a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. I was lucky enough to have a match, and had that transplant. Two years later we had a daugher, and it was at that point that I started having massive anxiety, and panic attacks. I was put on SSRIs for the management of that instead of taking daily xanax. It took me almost 7 years to find an SSRI that didn't have unbearable side effects. For me that was viibrd. But what I learned in the process is that:
a) Those FDA warnings should be there for people of any age, not just teenagers. SSRIs are very important in the treatment of what is a very serious illness in clinical depression (my wife has this and is on Effexor for it). But all of them have side effects, and those vary significantly by person.
b) One person's Effexor, that can cause manic behavior or depressed behavior, is another person's savior. I slowly became hypo-manic and headed towards full mania from Lexapro, not from Effexor. Any of them can cause this (or the opposite - severe depression), and if they do it's important to switch to a different med. I was taken off the Lexapro and immediately put on Zoloft even though we knew Zoloft gave me other side effects I didn't like. Then we slowly tried different meds until viibryd worked for me. It still has some unpleasant side effects, but not as bad as the others.

My point is that it's not a specific brand of SSRI in my experience, or the age, that can cause sudden, severe depression, or sudden or gradual severe mania - it's any of them, and which one depends on the person. Its still pretty rare, but it does happen, and does happen to adults too (I was 37 when I became hypo-manic from Lexapro, and eventually almost manic - was lucky my psychiatrist at the time recognized what it was when I walked in one day and said "I feel better than I've ever felt before".

So SSRIs are a very necessary set of drugs for treating both clinical depression and severe general anxiety disorder, but they absolutely should be monitored regularly not just by parents, but also my a trained psychiatrist who knows what to look for in terms of early signs of severe depression beyond the regular clinical depression, or early signs of mania. If those are detected, my experience is switching to a different SSRI immediately is better than lowering the dose and adding something else. Adding something else may well be a great idea, but given how differently each of these drugs affects different people, switching is also potentially key. Most of all find a good psychiatrist - ask them what they would look for sign wise to determine if the SSRIs could be causing signs of severe depression or hypo-mania (a stage that feels great, but leads to full mania).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At the hospital, they quickly got her stabilized on a much lower dose of the SSRI (25) and added another med

WTF? She tried to kill herself because of the medicine your doctors recommended, then the doctors say "ooops, guess we'll reduce the dose and add another crazy drug" and you're like "awesome, thanks doc!"

When a drug causes you to attempt suicide, never take that drug again seems like an obvious course of action.

"But the doctors said..." yeah the same idiots who just almost killed her?

OP here. You can't just stop the SSRI's; you need to taper off. She is down to 1/4th the prior max dose. We were warned at the get go that psychiatric drugs are largely trial and error -- there is no objective blood test to figure out which will work.

WTF is wrong with you? There is a reason why we had to start the drugs in the first place. Or are you of the tom cruz crazy mode.

OP-- It is so obvious that poster is an ignoramus.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand this...

Your daughter has had depression for what sounds like a long time. Her depression worsens, so they up Zoloft. Clearly her depression continues to get worse and she tries to commit suicide. Why are you blaming the drug for what is clinically wrong with your daughter? She's depressed and isn't getting better. I just don't see that its a problem with Zoloft. Perhaps stop blaming the drugs and get her help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

+1,000,000
My father, who suffered from depression all his life, committed suicide when he was 60. He had never been treated for depression and was taking no medicine. I started taking Prozac in my 20's, after recognizing depression in myself. It literally has changed my life. I will happily take it for the rest of my life, and only wish I had been diagnosed with depression as a teen so I could have taken it earlier.

Both of my children are now on Prozac - diagnosed with depression in their teens. Depression is a real disease and can be successfully treated with SSRIs. I only wish my dad had taken them. His life might have been so different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

Listen, the FDA does not put a black box warning on drugs because the *population* taking the drugs is at higher risk for some negative outcome. Cholesterol drugs don't say "you're going to get heart disease". This is not about predisposition. Your post is uninformed, dangerous, and naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

When multiple people in your life kill themselves taking SSRI’s it’s less likely to be just ‘anecdotal stories’ .
We know a kid who hung himself, a dad who jumped off a bridge and a mom who shot herself - all after recently starting ssri's.
These things happen very very quickly and ‘watching them’ would not have helped. The dad left for work and jumped off a bridge - was the wife supposed to be watching him somehow? The kids mom was in the next room - the dog barked, but it was too late.
These side effects should be discussed more often, not less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

+1,000,000
My father, who suffered from depression all his life, committed suicide when he was 60. He had never been treated for depression and was taking no medicine. I started taking Prozac in my 20's, after recognizing depression in myself. It literally has changed my life. I will happily take it for the rest of my life, and only wish I had been diagnosed with depression as a teen so I could have taken it earlier.

Both of my children are now on Prozac - diagnosed with depression in their teens. Depression is a real disease and can be successfully treated with SSRIs. I only wish my dad had taken them. His life might have been so different.

A sample size of 3 doesn't allow drawing this conclusion. The FDA didn't ask around the neighborhood before putting on these warnings. They halp many people. They also cause suicidal behavior in others. Both are true. Your experience is great, but cannot be used to gloss over these problems, which are real. By dismissing these concerns you are doing people a disservice.

Look up Study 329. It was the original Paxil study and a reanalysis was performed in the original data. They found serious errors. Remember Paxil was marketed as being especially suited for teens -- found it was not safe and not effective for teens. Think about that: it was literally found to be not safe and to have no measurable benefit. But it is still on the market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well and I'm very sorry for what you've been through with your DD but I hate it when people like you post these anecdotal stories. You don't know that it was the SSRI that worsened your DDs depression and led her to attempt suicide. As you stated, your DD was on an SSRI for a reason and she already had a history of self-harming. Every person with anxiety/depression, especially one like your DD, is at increased risk for suicide and the risk increases if not treated. All your 'warning' is doing is reinforcing the idea that SSRIs are too dangerous and make people less likely to accept that medication is an effective treatment for anxiety/depression.

Nothing is without risk including ibuprofen (heart attack/stroke), acetaminophen (liver damage/kidney disease/heart attack/stroke) and every other thing that enters the body. Whether your DD was on an SSRI or not, she was at increased risk of suicide and you should have been watching her. While shocking, this should not have been a surprise.

I say this as someone whose father and two brothers killed themselves and they were not on SSRIs. I also have 2 boys that have been on SSRIs since ES and my DH has taken them for 20 years.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799109/

+1,000,000
My father, who suffered from depression all his life, committed suicide when he was 60. He had never been treated for depression and was taking no medicine. I started taking Prozac in my 20's, after recognizing depression in myself. It literally has changed my life. I will happily take it for the rest of my life, and only wish I had been diagnosed with depression as a teen so I could have taken it earlier.

Both of my children are now on Prozac - diagnosed with depression in their teens. Depression is a real disease and can be successfully treated with SSRIs. I only wish my dad had taken them. His life might have been so different.

DH had pretty severe depression in his teens and he’s not and never was on SSRI’s. He did talk therapy for years and it helped him.
Nowadays everyone pops a pill. Sure, people who did not improve should have the option of meds and maybe multiple meds but the immediate medication is not appropriate for everyone.
There are actually life changing side effects on a lot of these drugs too.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Let me clarify a few things. First and foremost, I have been on an SSRI for 20 years. I am not against them. I am saying the warning is there for a reason.

My understanding is depression / anxiety is complex. In DD's case, I am betting that what we saw with the higher dose was a reduction of anxiety. She was much calmer. But, apparently, it did not help the depression. She was not fearful of the results, but she felt bad. And she hit a very short term deeper depression -- she wanted the pain to stop. So, she tried to stop it.

I thought the zoloft was working, because we were not seeing the anxiety outbursts. But it just took care of the anxiety, and not the depression.

She is down to a minor dose of zoloft, and will probably be off it within a week. Something will replace it. She is also on Ability (very low dose) to help those really short term deep depressions.

And she is in an IOP multiple days a week, to try do get her better coping strategies.

I could have lost my daughter because of a documented side effect. I wish I knew how it was manifesting in her before it got critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me clarify a few things. First and foremost, I have been on an SSRI for 20 years. I am not against them. I am saying the warning is there for a reason.

My understanding is depression / anxiety is complex. In DD's case, I am betting that what we saw with the higher dose was a reduction of anxiety. She was much calmer. But, apparently, it did not help the depression. She was not fearful of the results, but she felt bad. And she hit a very short term deeper depression -- she wanted the pain to stop. So, she tried to stop it.

I thought the zoloft was working, because we were not seeing the anxiety outbursts. But it just took care of the anxiety, and not the depression.

She is down to a minor dose of zoloft, and will probably be off it within a week. Something will replace it. She is also on Ability (very low dose) to help those really short term deep depressions.

And she is in an IOP multiple days a week, to try do get her better coping strategies.

I could have lost my daughter because of a documented side effect. I wish I knew how it was manifesting in her before it got critical.

What "side effect" are you claiming lead to this?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting! It must've been incredibly hard to do so. Hugs to you and your DD! I've posted many times about side effects of SSRI's on Special Needs forum. Thank you for spreading awareness in this difficulties for your family! As another mom of teen who was on that medicine, I can only send you thoughts of love and hopes for better times.

[Anonymous]

There is a blood test to determine which AD will work best:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170329145732.htm

It's new and a big deal. Similar test for painkillers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this...

Your daughter has had depression for what sounds like a long time. Her depression worsens, so they up Zoloft. Clearly her depression continues to get worse and she tries to commit suicide. Why are you blaming the drug for what is clinically wrong with your daughter? She's depressed and isn't getting better. I just don't see that its a problem with Zoloft. Perhaps stop blaming the drugs and get her help?

OP is right to blame the drug. Similar happened to many other kids, I have personal experience of even young children attempting imitations of suicide while on SSRIs. These meds are personality changing and while they might help many people, they might increase suicidal thoughts and actions.