Which anti depressant is your child taking?

[Imsuchamess]

My sister 13 is a self harmer my mother has tried all other options and now wishes to try anti depressants. So can I ask which one your child takes? How they find it?

if she is 13, your mum needs to go with her to the GP, and ask for a referral to Child and Adolescent mental health services, and get an assessment by a specialist psychologist. They are very busy so there might be a wait,

If the experts think anti depressants will help, a psychiatrist will prescribe any medication. For teenagers its really important that any medication is only prescribed in this way and alongside the medication there is a regular talking therapy.

Only certain anti depressants are recommended for under 18s and there would be lots of information and discussion before it can be prescribed. Sometimes it helps young people feel well enough to start benefitting from talking therapy so they may stay on medication just for a few months or longer if necessary.

My DD had a couple of types of medication at 14, which helped when she was really low, but learning other ways to cope and talking therapies helped the most and she is doing really well now.

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My sister is under cahms and has had talking therapy for a while now none of which is helping as her sh is escalating.

My DD is 17 and has been SHing for over a year. She is under the care of CAMHS who initially prescribed her fluoxetine.

This didn't work so the prescription was changed to Sertraline (we were told that prescribing this for children was quite rare). She started on 50mg which has gradually increased to 100mg daily. The medication has helped her overall moods and she is certainly happier in herself BUT she still SHs - TBH the self harming is as normal to her as a Saturday night glass of wine is to me.

Hi my 18 year old son has been taking citalopram since 15 when he was suffering really badly with depression and ocd and other mental health issues. The specialists around were very angry that I had given my son a quarter of my dose as I'm on it too. Within 3 days things really got better for him and his seratonin levels were really helped and although not perfect we all could see an amazing difference. Obviously I went to the Drs and explained what I had done and although done out of desperation to help my son (he wouldn't respond to talking therapy as he was too anxious to talk to people he didn't know, or concentrate on what was said to him)she was more understanding than I thought she would be as she asked my son how he felt on the tablets.

He didn't usually say much but because he knew I might get into trouble for giving him some of my tablets broken in quarters when they weren't prescribed for him. But she accepted that he was helped immensely and I said I know I wasn't right to but my son was having terrible meltdowns and panic attacks and knew my intentions were honourable (not trying to kill my son)..anyway to cut a long story short, my son is now 18 and is on 20 mg of the tablet as it went steadily up from 5 mg with age. He's learning to drive and is so being helped by them. He still has lots of issues and gets upset but the meltdowns have been reduced and his depression has lessened and he no longer wants to kill himself. So I'm so thankful that having dealt with one older son with autistic spectrum disorder and he's on anti depressants too that I was sensible and helped my youngest son before he took his own life. Although of course I went with my mother's intuition it's not for everyone to give non prescribed medications to their children. But that son too had suffered all his life with anxiety since around 3 when we saw him have regular night terrors all night long. Hope this helps with someone's issues. X

Might I also add that when my son was going to cognitive therapy and psychiatrists etc and we were asking for medication to help my son, each one said there was no medications they could give him. Bearing in mind his meltdowns resulted in self harm because he broke knuckles and damaged his fists and fingers punching walls and floors etc. So to say the specialists will always give any medications needed hasn't been the case with us. They didn't listen at cahms when I had to explain his problems and because at that point I was his advocate as he was mostly selected mute. He was too anxious to speak to other people he didn't know. But they wouldn't take that on board and just discharged him. That's what we went through hell and back and we were so very disappointed with the attitude of Nhs child psychology and psychiatry that we felt we had no choice and that our son might die if we just left him with no anti depressants. So if you experience something so much better then that's great. Regards.VL

My son is suffering from anorexia and also has moderate depression. He has had six sessions of CBT and is under a psychiatrist. His depression and anorexic thoughts seem to be getting worse. The psychiatrist has suggested that he takes Prozac (fluoxetine). He is keen to take this. I have read about the side effects and that it can cause suicidal thoughts and make a teenager worse (he already has suicidal thoughts). I am very very nervous about trying this medication. Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences in this type of thing please?

Mother Melissa. those of us who have agreed to medication for our children do so without knowing if its the right thing. If he is seeing a psychiatrist and things re getting worse, fluoxetine is one of the few anti depressants recommended for teens. You are right about the potential side effects but it can also help with extreme thoughts and the idea in my DDs case was to help these suicidal thoughts and engage with therapy. She wason this and then sertraline for about a year. coming off the meds was harder with withdrawal symptoms, but she has not taken any for several years now. Just make sure they monitor him extra well and ask him to let you know if he feels worse and worse. I have adult friends who seem to find it helps. best of luck to you both.

Anthropology- many thanks for your message. My son has been taking the fluxeotine for almost 4 weeks now and he is a lot better and no side effects which is great. Thank you for your reply and am glad things are going well for your daughter.