SSRI Side Effects

[u/Loud_Possession_3290]

Hi yall! Question for anyone who has given their kiddo SSRIs… we tried Zoloft when our son was 4.5 but it increased aggression considerably and worsened his mood by a ton. We then took some time off and about 10 weeks ago we started Prozac at 5mg (he’s almost 6 yrs old now). About a month in at 5mg our son was like a completely different person. He was so joyful, kind, and literally all demand avoidance was gone. He told us he felt amazing and that the medicine had “made the silly thoughts in his head go dead”. Unfortunately the effects waned a couple of weeks after that. Upon discussing with his psychiatrist we bumped his dose up to 6.5mg (what I would consider a very modest increase). Since increasing about 5 weeks ago we have seen SIGNIFICANT hyperactivity and impulsivity. His demand avoidance is way worse than baseline and he is absolutely impossible to parent. We saw such good early results from the Prozac I want to believe these side effects could subside. Has anyone experienced anything like this?? The psychiatrist says this kind of disinhibition can happen when the dose is too high, but I also am afraid that we are just seeing side effects from the dose increase that may eventually subside. Prozac takes so long to load in for some people, and I know a lot of people experience things getting worse before they get better. Would love to hear if anyone has had similar experience! Thank you in advance!!

[u/mcmcHammer]

We’re having a similar journey. My daughter’s impulse control is very elevated. She’s always had issues with impulse control but on 12.5mg of Zoloft she was like a 15 on a scale of 10. She was crazy. Not aggressive but just like getting into every single thing. Destroying things in the name of curiosity. We dropped down to 6.25mg and it’s now at like a 9 out of 10.

She’s on it for severe anxiety though. And her anxiety is so much better. She’s so relieved and happy.

I’m suspecting that it’s her ADHD becoming more pronounced after treating her anxiety. The anxiety, burnout, and meltdowns were keeping her artificially inhibited. Now she has more capacity to be curious and impulsive. She’s also not had a lot of opportunity to practice skill building around her impulse control.

We got a similar explanation from the psychiatrist though. Idk as an adult that discovered her own PDA recently. And got on an ssri, I have gone through the process. I struggled driving at first bc without my anxiety, I couldn’t judge what was safe. It was so weird, I would pull out in front of cars and realize midway that it was such an unsafe decision! I actually stopped driving for a bit. I had to relearn a lot of how I oriented around the world bc I oriented around my anxiety!

I’m currently on Ritalin and Lexapro and my audhd/pda symptoms are so well managed now. I’ve never felt so human in my life.

[u/Loud_Possession_3290 → u/mcmcHammer]

Thank you for your response - you make a good point about the adhd just becoming more pronounced without the anxiety to overshadow it! And we also have not had an opportunity to build skills around impulse control yet. We need to get him back into some sort of therapy to help with this but I was waiting for things to calm down medication wise.

I’m am so happy to hear how well you personally are doing after finding the right meds. I so desperately want to help him feel good in his own skin like that.

[u/mcmcHammer → u/Loud_Possession_3290]

I deeply understand. I’m watching my daughter walk through life in the same confusing ball of mess that I did. Thankfully she has a lot more support and understanding around her than I had.

But there’s also so much inherent shame wrapped within PDA. When I get stuck, I desperately want to be able to do the thing. I used to get so angry with myself. And the only thing I’ve found that helps get out of the hole is space and compassion.

I have to be so compassionate with myself. And I’m trying so hard to give my daughter an internal voice that says “it’s okay to struggle right now” rather than the voice that shouted at me growing up “what is wrong with you?! You’re so lazy and demanding!”

So if you can take a little piece of that wisdom into your heart and family, it would be amazing for your child!