16 Year Old Daughter On Fluoxetine

[millymonkins]

Hi
I know there are lots of old threads about teenagers taking Fluoxetine but wanted to ask specifically if anyone had advice regarding when the side effects would wear off. My DD is now on day 16 of 20mg Fluoxetine for depression. The first week she was absolutely fine then last week headaches, loss of appetite and nausea kicked in, yesterday and today she is absolutely exhausted and can't stop yawning. Her general mood doesn't appear to be any worse but no benefits yet either. She takes her medication first thing in the morning because she doesn't sleep well but If she is so exhausted is it better to take in the evening. General advice and hopefully positive stories about when we should see the side effects subside and the benefits kick in please.

I'm on citalopram which is the same family as fluoxetine, no good news here, I was extremely nauseous and foggy headed for three months, I lost 14kgs. The only thing that helped was never taking it in the morning, always take it at night before bed and make sure I've eaten. The reduction in symptoms actually coincided with the improvement in my mood.

I hope your daughter's symptoms settle.

My daughter started on 10mg and only moved up to 20mg after a few weeks and 40mg after a few months. This gradual increase was to limit side effects but she still has them for about the first four weeks. In particular exhaustion during the day and sleeplessness at night. The side effects stopped quite suddenly.

Hi op.
My daughter 15 has just started on this. She is on a very low dose because she had awful gastric side effects from Sertraline so we are taking it very slowly at first.
She is on it for severe anxiety but it’s alongside weekly psychologist appointments at Camhs’s.

An adult member of my family was taking this at one time and had to take it at night because it made her feel so tired and it would knock her out at night. I definitely don’t think it would hurt to try it at night it may help her sleep which can only be good.

Many thanks for all your responses. It's only day 18 and the side effects she is experiencing seem very normal. I will see if the tiredness subsides over the next few days and if not switch to taking it in the evening. She takes it in the morning to avoid making the existing insomnia worse but maybe it could help.
Roseau18 - what time of day was your daughter taking her medication?

Thank you

Millymonkins I actually can't remember as it was three years ago and she has alternated between morning and evening but I think at the beginning it was the morning.
As you probably know bother insomnia and sleeping too much can be symptoms of depression. And high levels of anxiety also cause depression.
My daughter thinks fluoxetine helped the anxiety more than the depression. (She was severely depressed and spent three months as an inpatient).
She had poor sleeping patterns anyway before she started fluoxetine. The fluoxetine just made what already existed more extreme if that makes sense. So after about a month she went back to her normal (but still dysfunctional sleeping).
The insomnia was finally improved by taking melatonin for about six months but that didn't happen until she'd been on fluoxetine for about eighteen months.

I should have read this properly before I posted. High levels of anxiety do cause depression but I meant to say also cause insomnia.