Does anyone have experience of teenagers on Sertraline?

[NoraLuka]

DD2, 16, has just been prescribed sertraline and I was wondering about other people’s experiences with this.

She’s depressed and literally doesn’t want to do anything, ever, apart from sit in her room doing nothing. She has only missed a couple of days of school and finished her exams - we are not in the UK so exams etc. are different but she has another year of school to go. I’ve had to force her into school some days which I hated doing but I didn’t think letting her stay in her room even more would be good for her.

She’s had nearly a year of counselling, and finally the appointment with the consultant was today after months and months of waiting. He kept saying how well she’d done to keep going to school and that it must have been difficult for her, and I thought he was going to say she was doing okay as she was (I don’t think she is) then after talking to her/me for nearly an hour, offered sertraline.

Has anyone got any positive stories? I’m not against medication at all, but it’s not something I know anything about and I don’t want to google side effects.

My (autistic) dd started on it as a teen and it was life changing. Admittedly it was more for OCD and anxiety and it helped so much with intrusive thoughts, she can function now as opposed to just existing. She still gets low but is so much better than before, she didn't see any point in living :-(

The only side effect she had was weight gain. It isn't the medication itself, but as a result of the anxiety decreasing and she can now eat again.

My AuDHD DD is nearly 16 and has been on it for about 2 years. It hasn't 'fixed' her but it's certainly helped with her overall mood and put her in a better place to access other therapies. Only side effect for us was increased nosebleeds but she was already prone to them.

My 18yo autistic DD has been on it since 15 for low mood, it was a revelation and changed her life. It definitely helps with the PMDD she gets too, although it hasn't eliminated it and those are her worst days in the month. I would say the worst experience of it is when she has accidentally missed a dose, on those rare occasions she has felt physically awful for a couple of days afterwards.

My DD started on Sertraline at 18 and four years later is just beginning to taper off it as she feels she's in a much better place mentally.

It took the edge of the lows for her but it also took the edge off the highs so at times her mood has felt really flat though obviously it was an improvement over the days of crying and the chronic anxiety. What worked best for her has been counselling though she had a long wait to access that.

The only side affect she had has been weight gain which she's coped with.

I think whatever helps your DD get through how she's feeling now would be a big help. How does she feel about it?

My DS2 went on it at 16 and it saved his life I think. He has ASD and OCD and was in a terrible place mentally.
He's still on it ten years later and I think, will probably always need to take it, at a high dose. It took a couple of weeks to take effect and he felt a bit queasy at first but after that, fine.

Thank you for your messages, it seems like it worked for your DC - I hope they all continue to do well.

@WhatHaveIFound DD doesn’t really care about the Sertraline or about anything else, that’s part of the problem. It’s become very difficult to talk to her, although the counsellor seems to be able to get her talking a bit. This is the second counsellor, we had to change because she wouldn’t speak to the first one at all.

I’m going to (gently!) encourage her to try the sertraline, she can’t stay as she is. Plus she’s always been on the first centile for weight so if she gains weight a bit it won’t matter too much!

My son (22, so not a teenager) takes it to give him a mood boost because he is also on strong antipsychotics which make him tired. He says it helps.

Yes. My DD started after a year or so of CBT. It didn't work so she had to keep upping dose. I'm still not convinced it did work.

But I have known other kids for whom it worked brilliantly and quickly.

My DD struggled on and went back on it a few years later (when she couldn't get out of bed), this time it did work but she says it numbed her. Stopped her from feeling anything. She stayed on it a year and came off and has been good since.

I don't know if it's possible to stop worrying about kids who have been depressed but my dd seems good for now.

Ps re above "since" is 6 months. She's been off it 6 months.

I've taken it and I would let me teen take it.

However I would not do so on the strength of having just gathered opinions from MN. You do need to inform yourself fully of the side effects to weigh up if you feel it's in her interests. I suppose at 16 it is technically her job, not yours, but a lot of 16yos will be relying on their parent for guidance.

One side effect that is the reason a lot of people give it up is it can prevent orgasm, which can be frustrating over months or years. I have no idea if this is common or not in teens, but it is an example of an issue teens might have with it but not share with their parents.

I had a few of mine on it as teenagers and still on as adults. It agrees with them, no issues.

@Kyros I did ask the doctor questions, but I’m afraid to google in case I find lots of awful stuff. I think at this point I’d rather not know, and hope for the best.

DD can’t stay as she is, if nothing is done she will literally spend the whole summer in her room which can’t be good for her physically or mentally. She doesn’t have any friends anymore and doesn’t do anything, she’s not scrolling TikTok or whatever, just sitting doing nothing most of the time - this is according to DD1, who is the only person DD2 ever has proper conversations with. She won’t even go and sit in the garden to get some fresh air. Although she does seem aware of current events so she must be looking at the news on the internet, I guess that’s a positive sign.

We can agree to differ. I have a child on antidepressants and for us there was a higher level of research needed when making the decision for the child, than for ourselves.

@Kyros Depends what the research is though and how robust it is, and how relevant it is to that individual patient in their individual circumstance. I’ve had many people tell me the biggest load of bulldust ever gained through their ‘research’. Some people have a clue, others read all sorts of tripe and take it as gospel.

God send for my 18yo, undiagnosed ADHD.
Some days you can almost live with her now..

Yes. It's been an absolute game changer for my DD. Long standing depression 8 hospital admissions with anorexia, 9.5 months on a psych ward. She's now back at school doing A levels and is currently away at a uni summer school. Has a job and a social life. She tried to cut out the sertraline for a week and ended up crying in Lidl carpark. She had previously tried fluoxetine which left her emotionally numb and increased her urges to self-harm (although I know it can be helpful for many. N.B. It didn't work for her at lower doses, but 100 mg has been miraculous.

Same here but now 17.5 and no side effects. Still no school or college but is more open to doing stuff sometimes and not in bed 100% and has a vagueish routine of being up some of the day and in bed some of the night. Also on melatonin and ADHD meds as and when.

I could do research and I’d like to think I can tell a reliable source from an unreliable one, but I’m deliberately choosing not to on this occasion because this medication has been recommended by the consultant who has been to medical school for 8 (?) years. I’m not saying doctors never get things wrong, but I think I have to trust that it’s the best option right now. Also, I don’t think it will reassure me to have a bit of knowledge which is all I would have, even if I did spend all weekend reading articles.

Plus if I didn’t want her to take it, what would we do instead?

Can I ask pp how your daughter got on with it over the summer? 16yo dd been prescribed this today and nervous to see what happens. Praying for a huge change so she can get back out into the world again.

@EMary12345 DD started taking the meds on 1st August, after refusing for a few weeks. She felt a bit sick and headachy for the first few days, then again when the dose increased. She was on 25mg for a week to get used to it, then 50mg which is the lowest proper dose. She’s been taking it for about 5 weeks now and has no side effects.

She did miss a few days - I’ve been having to check every day that’s she’s taken the tablet. At one point I thought I could stop checking and she immediately stopped taking it, luckily I realised quickly.

There hasn’t been a huge improvement yet but I think it’s too early for that, plus school has started again which is a massive source of stress for her. One thing I noticed is that she is talking better - for ages she literally wouldn’t say anything except “no” or “I don’t know” but for the last week or so she’s been more chatty and yesterday we managed to have an actual conversation so I’ll take that as a win! DD herself doesn’t feel any different though.

Her dose has just been increased to 75mg but she’s going to start that at the weekend in case she feels sick again. She immediately agreed to the increased dose when the doctor suggested it, which I think is also a good sign. It will mean 2 tablets a day, and a few months ago she would have refused point blank and been impossible to talk to about it.

So basically there have been small changes but nothing major, but I’m hoping she will continue to get better, I hope your DD does too. Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Edit: Well done if you managed to read my essay of a post!

DD has been on Sertraline for 2 months now so I thought I’d update in case anyone is ever looking for information on this.

I have noticed a definite improvement, although she is not “well” as such. If an average teenager suddenly started behaving like DD is now their parents would be very concerned, but for DD it’s an improvement and that’s what I’m focusing on.

She is talking a lot more and we have proper conversations most days. I hope this will mean she talks to her therapist more too. She has been to a few shops (with me) to get stuff she needed. She actually told me she needed these things, and not at the very last minute. She is eating breakfast and tea every day, although still refuses to eat at school at lunchtime. She has been on a school trip, admittedly it only lasted one afternoon and was in the next town, but she went and actually quite liked it, even though she did worry about it beforehand.

There are ups and downs, which the doctor warned about. She is exhausted a lot of the time because she doesn’t sleep very well and doesn’t eat at lunchtimes. I collect her from school every day so she gets home earlier and has more time to rest and do homework. I keep thinking how lucky it is that I am self employed and can do this!

Latest update - I am using this thread as a kind of journal to help me keep track and if someone reads it maybe it will help them.

3.5 months, it’s still ups and downs, but mostly a kind of plateau I think.

On the positive side: DD agreed to see a careers advisor and on the back of that, agreed to go to university open days. She refused this completely before. She went to a conference type thing with school. It was held in a different building across town which she had to find her own way to, which she would normally have said she couldn’t do but this time she just went and said it was quite interesting.

More positives: She is still eating all her meals alone in her room BUT brings her plates and cutlery down and puts it in the dishwasher without me needing to say anything. It’s just started to get cold here and she took the initiative of searching for her scarf and gloves after seeing the weather forecast. She is responsible for feeding the cat every morning and does this without fail. She will talk to me, that hasn’t changed since last month. I think she talks to people at school a bit more but she doesn’t want to tell me about that. She is still taking her medication.

On the negative side: I get the impression that she’s doing all these things because she feels she has to, not because she wants to and that’s such a big negative I feel it outweighs all the rest. She says that if she could choose, she’d stay in her room all the time and I know that she really would because it’s what she did over the summer. She is finding it difficult to concentrate at school and doesn’t study enough. I have told her to just do her best, but she won’t accept any help from anyone which is a shame.

I know it could be worse and that I’m doing all I can but it doesn’t feel anything like enough. Mostly I am heartbroken that her life is like this at 17.

@NoraLuka thank you for posting and updating. Our DD (15.5) has just been prescribed sertraline 25mg by a GP for severe anxiety. We have self referred to a private clinic to see a consultant psychiatrist and the referral has been accepted, but there remains an 8-13 week wait and enough was enough. She has been in such a bad state recently and this morning I had to draw the line and insist we go to the GP to see if there was anything they could do while we are waiting for the private appointment.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your posts and for coming back and updating. It’s been helpful to be able to read your DDs experience. I wish her and you all the best. Thank you 🌸

@mumoflittlemice I’m sorry your DD is going through this too. I hope the medication helps her, and I’m glad my posts were helpful. It’s so hard seeing them like this 💐