Fluoxetine for teen day 20 and still anxiuoss

[Sonoio]

Helllllppp! Positive stories. I hoped by now I would see a difference.🤪

Can't give you a positive story but as a medical professional I can tell you that antidepressants take on average 6-8 weeks to take any significant effect and should be used in conjunction with CBT to be most effective x hope all goes well and your teenager is feeling better soon

Yes! Sadly,too anxious to engage with therapy,hopefully soon.😩

Sorry to hear that about your child. Can I ask how you got the doctor to prescribe anti depressants.

I have a DD age 18 and we are in the midst of a huge mental health issue and an eating disorder and my doctor STILL will not prescribe them.

Give it another week at least if not 2.
What dose?

Snuggle DD was 15, we saw a private consultant psychiatrist. Does your Dr think they are not needed or that they aren't experienced enough to prescribe them?

It won’t help for anxiety
thats not what SSRIs are for
as someone who has taken fluoxetine before
they only help with depressive symptoms of anxiety

Not necessarily true. It's an antidepressant, yes. But it's also used to treat anxiety. Its not going to have the effects of something like diazepam but overtime it can be very effective at reducing symptoms.

Op, it can take around 6 weeks to see the full effects of Fluoxetine and it won't be a magic wand. It will be gradual progress and you might not even realise the changes at first. If there's been no change after 6 weeks you should request a review of the dosage. Best of luck😊

@Sonoio Any improvement? Best wishes.

What total rubbish. SSRI’s are used for anxiety all the time! Depression and anxiety are opposite sides of the same coin.

In fact Paroxetine is the recommended one for anxiety

We are 7 weeks in - dd retreated to her bedroom, calmer in so many ways - but still low and anxiuoss. Last week she was v active,we thought she had turned a corner,but back to being in bed this week.

She is freaking out about not being able to go to school.

We are 2.5 years since DD's MH fell off a cliff at the start of the pandemic, around 2 years since she was at her worst, and 18 months since she started Fluoxetine.

It isn't a smooth climb back to health, there are lots of ups and downs. I have found that keeping a short one line record of mood / activity has helped me see improvements and helped give me hope. I don't do it all the time but when I do it helps see progress.

Your DD was able to be active last week, that's a good thing. Maybe she overdid it so has retreated this week. Maybe next week or the week after will be better.

My DD is due to college 4 days a week. Last year she managed 75% attendance. This year she hasn't yet done a full 4 days but hopefully we'll get there.

I forget which year your DD is? Is school providing any home tuition at all just to stay in contact.

Little steps: our little steps were things like:
bed all day -> up but in pjs -> up and dressed by lunch -> trip out in car in afternoon -> trip out including a short walk.
Even now at weekends during term time DD can't do much more than the last step, but now she asks to go rather than having to be persuaded.

One of my teens takes 10mg is less violent but it doesn't cure everything. Tried a higher dose which made everything worse. Now back to 10mg.

Maybe the dose needs adjusting.

Mine started on 20mg which had some improvement but not enough. We went up to 40 which made the difference. After around 15 months on 40 we tried cutting down slowly, 20 was still too low so we have settled on 30 for now, and will try to cut down again on another suitable occasion.

Thankyou! She is year 9, hasn't gone in at all this year. Six months since her mental health unravelled. She almost certainly has asd. I thought 2omg of Fluoxetine would help, but she seems more paranoid,agoraphobic,glued to a screen,unpleasant.The school are providing online work from Monday,plus we should get a home tutor for 1 hour a day in mid October. We keep being told the less she does,the less she will want to do. If I knew that in 1or 2 years she will function, I would feel so much better. Is it possible that she will always be like this? Teendivided 75% attendance is fab.! Is she doing a levels or a btec?

She is doing a level 1 animal care btec. Last year she did a level1 portfolio based course, this year is also level 1 but assignment based.
If she stays for a third year she would do level2.

That's good. Did she manage any GCSEs? We are at the beginning of the journey.

She managed assessments at home for 4 and ended with grade 3s.
Still trying to get passes for Eng Lang & maths. The sad thing is I think she'd have passed maths in y10 just before the pandemic before her illness.

DD was glued to screens for quite a few months. They distracted her from her feelings and didn't need energy. It was only when the meds kicked in she started having energy for other things and we slowly built from there.

I think you need to be quite strategic on academics. If she is well by the end of y11 what would she be wanting to do, and what would be the entry requirements? What does she enjoy?

(My DD was always going to do animal care, she has just started at a lower level than we were planning.)

Have you got an EHCP yet?

If DD can’t engage with CBT another type of therapy should be offered. Often DC unable to engage with CBT can engage with indirect therapies.

Medical needs tuition should have been offered before now if DD couldn’t attend school full time last year, even if they only started when they went back after the summer holiday not receiving it until mid October isn’t acceptable. It should begin once it becomes clear the pupil will miss 15 days. If DD is able to manage more it should also be more than 1 hour a day. You should email the Director of Children’s Services.

If you haven’t already you should apply for an EHCNA too. The benefit of his is it can include assessments without sitting on the normal waiting lists. And a EHCP can include therapies and provision that wouldn’t otherwise be available, again without sitting on the normal waiting list. It can last until 25, or 26 in some circumstances too, so if it takes longer to sit exams that doesn’t matter, MH has to be the priority.

My DD (who loves animals) did a year of 'Equine Assisted Therapy' recommended to me by someone on MN. It was counselling in a field of horses, with DD's feelings being related back to how horses act.

After the first sessions she said never again. Second session she went a bit reluctantly. Third session onwards she was positively looking forward to it.

It gently helped her until she was well enough to engage in something more direct.

Wow, equine assisted therapy, I think I need that. Thankyou for all your advice, Cahms have been great,dd missed 2 weeks before the summer holiday and never started this year. Her Cahms therapist insists the general expectation is that she goes back to school with some adaptations,ex reduced timetable. But right now I can't see it. She can barely cope with getting out of bed. Not well enough to do the autism test either, though everyone thinks she has traits. Before she got ill in June, we were told that she would get 9s in all her GCSEs,seems pretty impossible now.She likes art,maybe a btec in art? At a stretch my husband can home educate her for a few GCSEs, unless he goes mad too.

If DD likes art also consider art therapy.

Do apply for an EHCNA. On its own a part time timetable should only be short term (normally considered 6-8 weeks ish) aimed at reintegration, otherwise DD should be in school full time or alternative provision should be made (either as well as part time school or instead of).

At a stretch my husband can home educate her for a few GCSEs

Whatever you do don’t deregister and EHE! By EHE the LA will say you are making suitable alternative arrangements and therefore they are relieved of their duties. Parents often find it easier to get support when DC remain on a school’s roll even if they can’t attend. It’s too easy for others to sweep DC’s needs under the carpet with the are EHE. The LA have a statutory duty to provide DD with a suitable full time education. Applying for an EHCP also opens the door to a full EOTAS package which can include home tuition.

The good thing about Art related BTECs is I think entry can be portfolio based. e.g. www.wiltshire.ac.uk/study/art-design-and-communications-level-3 which needs 4 GCSEs inc English & Maths at grade 4, plus a portfolio.

Would she do art at home if you make sure she has some materials? I wonder if you could find some 'art therapy' for her?

If she was on track for top grades she can 'afford' to miss y9 if that's what it takes, then do a reduced set of GCSEs. She might not come out with 7-9s but she'd get 'enough' to do A levels or Level 3 BTECs. (To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if she could pass Maths right now if well enough on what she's already learned.)

Thankyou so much, the kindness of strangers is wonderful, every little bit if support, even online, boosts my mood and helps me be a better mum. I am sure you know what I mean. Art therapy sounds like a good idea. Dd is at a stage now of not wanting to engage with anything,v scared,etc, but I do see a chink of light. Tbh I am totally in shock,she spent all her life masking her autistic traits, now it seems so obvious.

We bought all the GCSEs revision books, I was a bit surprised at how little content there is, very easy for a neurotypical child. I am not British, so the system was a bit of a mystery to me.

I think that depends where you are coming from.

A bright child can pass GCSEs with reasonable effort. To get top grades they'd have to do very well, and you can't tell from revision guides what's really needed for essay subjects such as English Lit or History. English Language is similarly very tailored to a mark scheme and it isn't in my opinion obvious what is required.

For a less bright child there is a lot of content to be understood and learned and they are a challenge. In the science revision guides every word counts, every little 'for example' needs to be learned. Certainly not 'very easy'.