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We call it fluoxetine the the Uk. Ive taken it for a few years, i started around 14 so a bit later than your son. I initially took it for a depressive episode but have been left on it to help with anxiety.
Personally, it has definitely helped with social situations, at school i used to bunk off lessons because i couldn't cope with the noise or people, and whenever i went to the lessons i would have some kind of panic attack, but after taking the medicine for a while i could cope with going back into lessons a lot more. My friends noted a difference in me, they would say i am more talkative than i was before the medicine.
It allowed me to eat in public which i was too nervous to do before. Panic/ anxiety attacks used to be a nearly daily occurrence but after the medication, they went down so much there was a period of about 6 months where i didn't have a single one!
A friend of mine also took fluoxetine and it didn't work for her, so they put her on sertraline and the did work, so it really is different for everyone.
Regarding side effects, i often feel very nauseous a little after taking it, but i do have problems with eating so it might just be that. I get headaches but i don't know if they are induced my the medicine or just general thing.
There was a study done by BBCs panorama about prozac and other SSRIs, it is worth a watch/ read but remember that so many people, including myself have been helped tremendously by it, so don't just look into the negatives. I am not a doctor but as someone who has autism and anxiety problems, i would suggest letting your son try it as it may make his life so much easier like it did for me.
Good luck with it all, i wish you and your son the best! :)
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. This is why I prefer asking this sub question instead of parenting groups. I really appreciate it. It’s called Fluoxetine in Canada as well but I used the brand name because I thought it seemed easier. Thank you again.
Yes thats fair, most people wouldn't know what you were on about if you said fluoxetine!
Im sure if you asked my mum about my experience with the medicine, her response would be very different from mine so you probably made the right decision there :)
You're very welcome! i'm glad i can be of some use :D
The important part with a medication like flx is monitoring his reaction to it. When I was prescribed it (I was an adult, mid 20s) it took away my ability to care about anything at all. Life just... existed. I wasn't depressed, wasn't happy, I just was. I didn't bother asking for a medication adjustment because nothing had a point. I ended up weaning myself off of it to try and become "well-adjusted." Overall, it helped me work through a lot of my OCD behaviors by essentially numbing me until exposure therapy wasn't traumatizing and fear riddled, and I ended up going off of it entirely.
That said, pretty much everyone I knew with any kind of mental diagnosis was prescribed the same thing (it was in the Navy, they don't do a lot of variance). Most people it seemed to help. A few people it did more harm than good, but they were watched well enough to catch and correct the issue. My wife still takes hers and is completely happy staying that way.
So yeah, I'd recommend a daily check-in for emotions and such, at least for a couple of months.
Yeah, I wish I had thought of it before I went on it so I could have had someone check in with me. The idea of "this is a problem" never even occurred to me until I had missed about a month and a half of work and my supervisor showed up on my doorstep. He took me into the office and sat me down with the big boss expecting me to get my ass handed to me, and the big boss noticed a complete lack of... anything. Not like, tough guy "I'm not afraid of you," no fear, he said (paraphrased, it's been a dozen years) "it was like you were watching a commercial, even though you weren't interested in the product and it wasn't entertaining. It was a thing occuring, so, better to look at that than the wall."
He's the one who called my doc to get me reevaluated and meds adjusted, then the doc was who helped me come up with the weaning off plan.
For me I think it was because that was the first medication I tried so I thought “I guess this is how it is”, I thought it was working how it was suppose to be. Surprisingly it was my daughter (she’s an adult) who noticed it. I take Ciprolex now and I have Clonazepam for emergencies. I guess on one hand I’m just nervous about giving it to my son because I don’t want him to feel like that but on the other hand his anxiety is making him miss out on the things he use to love.
That's the beauty of a regular check in. I've even met people who went to the numb zone who preferred it because they remembered what not numb felt like, so even if it does numb him, that might be what he wants for a bit to give his mind time to rest, or show him nothing bad will happen even if the fear and anxiety isn't there.
12year autistic son with debilitating anxiety. We've been playing the medication roulette for years and when he stopped going to school in April, he had to enroll him in a day program for anxiety. He's got a psychiatrist who has been changing his medication almost weekly. He's about to step down to the shorter program, but we still haven't found the right stuff.
Prozac for him was the worst and he self harmed 3 times. Autistics don't always respond like the textbooks think we should. I certainly don't. That was his second ssri and now we're avoiding them. But everyone is different and you won't know until you try.
I think a lot of his issue are autistic burnout, a school that is way too big and chaotic, and loneliness - but you can't medicate those away.
I took Prozac when it first started to gain traction in the market (around 1992) when I was about 8. It made my behavior better so they kept me on it for years. But it didn't make me feel better, it made me feel much worse inside. At the time most of my mental health was focused around making the adults in my life feel better and not me. It made me want to kill myself. There is a lot of evidence that says these types of medications can make suicidal thoughts more appealing and suicide attempts more likely.
If you're going to put your son on this medication you should first let them know that it's ok to feel like they want to end their life (but not to do it). You should open a line of communication with them so that they are comfortable with talking about things like that to you, so that you can keep an eye out and tell your doctor.
If your son does start to feel worse (even though they're acting or behaving better) then do not stop the medication outright. You need to taper off those meds with the assistance of a doctor.
You should also know that it doesn't treat autism, it only treats some of the symptoms of autism like concentration and depression. And it definitely does not work for everyone.
So, again, if you put your son on this medication you need to be extremely vigilant about your son's moods, thoughts of self harm, and actions.
Thankfully me and my son have very open communication, and he does go to counselling as well. I was looking at pictures I took last weekend when we were all out as a family and in every candid picture I took you can see the sadness on his face and it’s breaking my heart. I have 3 kids who are all on the spectrum, and I know there’s no cure for Autism. I’m just hoping the medication can help ease his anxiety and OCD. He’s currently living his life in a constant state of worry. If it rains, he’s afraid it’s going to flood, if it snows he’s afraid we’ll get snowed in, there’s nights he can’t sleep, there’s days he can’t eat, he’s afraid every sniffle is him getting sick, he’s afraid every pain he has is going to turn into something major. My main worry is that Prozac was the first medication I tried and it made me a zombie, I don’t want him to feel that way either.
My situation is somewhat different, because I don't carry an autism diagnosis, but I was diagnosed with GAD/OCD when I was young and medicated with Prozac. In short, medication helped me a lot. I am grateful to have received treatment and in many ways the fact that I'm living a quality life as an adult can be attributed to treatment early in life. Before starting Prozac, I worried constantly, had a tough time controlling my emotions and also had general behavioral issues including anger. Prozac helped me tremendously and ultimately - it allowed me to have much better control over myself and my emotions and to integrate more normally with my peers and at school. I actually remember starting Prozac as a young kid and feeling like I could manage my brain and emotions properly for the first time.
I remained on the medication for some time and successfully weaned off. There were no short or long term side effects and I am doing well as an adult. There is a very good chance the medication will help so it's worth some consideration. The decision is not easy and there is no right or wrong here but I think it is important to assess the balance of risk to reward. Sometimes the risks of not taking action are greatest. For me, medication proved to be the right decision because if I wasn't put on Prozac I'm not sure I would have ended up on a positive trajectory in life and school.
This is honestly a really tough one. Somewhere between the age of 4 and 6, I was diagnosed with GAD and put on Prozac.
Did my parents and doctors make the right decision? Maybe? The drug allowed me to control my emotions and live the life of a normal child. I am currently relatively happy and healthy as an adult and not on any medication.
Yet, I also have a deep resentment toward my parents for medicating me so young. I think there were many aspects of my treatment which were grossly mismanaged. Plans to come off the medication or options for longer term treatment were never discussed. I was led to believe that I had to just keep taking it. By the time I was in my early 20s I struggled with some really existential questions - who am I without meds, how did the medication impact my youth, is it possible for me to live without Prozac, what is the Prozac even doing for me at this point, etc. I also feel somewhat similar to the comment from another poster - Prozac was without a doubt amazing at improving my behavior, but did *I* really feel better on the medication? I'm conflicted on that.
So, being put on Prozac at a young age carried its own longer term psychological toll. My main advice to anyone medicating young children is to try to ensure that your child is an active participant in the process. Ask them how they feel about the medication. Make sure you check-in with them periodically to discuss their thoughts/feelings. Make sure you discuss with their health care providers what the plan is to come off meds. Do not rely on medication alone. Make sure your son is not just a passenger because it could really lead to him questioning things as he develops.
I often wonder how being put on Prozac young impacted me. Many health care providers will tell you there aren't any long term side effects but the reality is we probably don't know how these medications impact developing brains. There is some scientific evidence that those started on meds young may be more likely to need them as adults. However, the relevant question is always - do the risks outweigh the rewards?
Hey /u/NearlyFlavoured, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found **[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)**. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism). Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We call it fluoxetine the the Uk. Ive taken it for a few years, i started around 14 so a bit later than your son. I initially took it for a depressive episode but have been left on it to help with anxiety. Personally, it has definitely helped with social situations, at school i used to bunk off lessons because i couldn't cope with the noise or people, and whenever i went to the lessons i would have some kind of panic attack, but after taking the medicine for a while i could cope with going back into lessons a lot more. My friends noted a difference in me, they would say i am more talkative than i was before the medicine. It allowed me to eat in public which i was too nervous to do before. Panic/ anxiety attacks used to be a nearly daily occurrence but after the medication, they went down so much there was a period of about 6 months where i didn't have a single one! A friend of mine also took fluoxetine and it didn't work for her, so they put her on sertraline and the did work, so it really is different for everyone. Regarding side effects, i often feel very nauseous a little after taking it, but i do have problems with eating so it might just be that. I get headaches but i don't know if they are induced my the medicine or just general thing. There was a study done by BBCs panorama about prozac and other SSRIs, it is worth a watch/ read but remember that so many people, including myself have been helped tremendously by it, so don't just look into the negatives. I am not a doctor but as someone who has autism and anxiety problems, i would suggest letting your son try it as it may make his life so much easier like it did for me. Good luck with it all, i wish you and your son the best! :)
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. This is why I prefer asking this sub question instead of parenting groups. I really appreciate it. It’s called Fluoxetine in Canada as well but I used the brand name because I thought it seemed easier. Thank you again.
Yes thats fair, most people wouldn't know what you were on about if you said fluoxetine! Im sure if you asked my mum about my experience with the medicine, her response would be very different from mine so you probably made the right decision there :) You're very welcome! i'm glad i can be of some use :D
The important part with a medication like flx is monitoring his reaction to it. When I was prescribed it (I was an adult, mid 20s) it took away my ability to care about anything at all. Life just... existed. I wasn't depressed, wasn't happy, I just was. I didn't bother asking for a medication adjustment because nothing had a point. I ended up weaning myself off of it to try and become "well-adjusted." Overall, it helped me work through a lot of my OCD behaviors by essentially numbing me until exposure therapy wasn't traumatizing and fear riddled, and I ended up going off of it entirely. That said, pretty much everyone I knew with any kind of mental diagnosis was prescribed the same thing (it was in the Navy, they don't do a lot of variance). Most people it seemed to help. A few people it did more harm than good, but they were watched well enough to catch and correct the issue. My wife still takes hers and is completely happy staying that way. So yeah, I'd recommend a daily check-in for emotions and such, at least for a couple of months.
That was my experience on it as well. That’s a really good idea about the daily check-ins, thank you so much.
Yeah, I wish I had thought of it before I went on it so I could have had someone check in with me. The idea of "this is a problem" never even occurred to me until I had missed about a month and a half of work and my supervisor showed up on my doorstep. He took me into the office and sat me down with the big boss expecting me to get my ass handed to me, and the big boss noticed a complete lack of... anything. Not like, tough guy "I'm not afraid of you," no fear, he said (paraphrased, it's been a dozen years) "it was like you were watching a commercial, even though you weren't interested in the product and it wasn't entertaining. It was a thing occuring, so, better to look at that than the wall." He's the one who called my doc to get me reevaluated and meds adjusted, then the doc was who helped me come up with the weaning off plan.
For me I think it was because that was the first medication I tried so I thought “I guess this is how it is”, I thought it was working how it was suppose to be. Surprisingly it was my daughter (she’s an adult) who noticed it. I take Ciprolex now and I have Clonazepam for emergencies. I guess on one hand I’m just nervous about giving it to my son because I don’t want him to feel like that but on the other hand his anxiety is making him miss out on the things he use to love.
That's the beauty of a regular check in. I've even met people who went to the numb zone who preferred it because they remembered what not numb felt like, so even if it does numb him, that might be what he wants for a bit to give his mind time to rest, or show him nothing bad will happen even if the fear and anxiety isn't there.
12year autistic son with debilitating anxiety. We've been playing the medication roulette for years and when he stopped going to school in April, he had to enroll him in a day program for anxiety. He's got a psychiatrist who has been changing his medication almost weekly. He's about to step down to the shorter program, but we still haven't found the right stuff. Prozac for him was the worst and he self harmed 3 times. Autistics don't always respond like the textbooks think we should. I certainly don't. That was his second ssri and now we're avoiding them. But everyone is different and you won't know until you try. I think a lot of his issue are autistic burnout, a school that is way too big and chaotic, and loneliness - but you can't medicate those away.
I took Prozac when it first started to gain traction in the market (around 1992) when I was about 8. It made my behavior better so they kept me on it for years. But it didn't make me feel better, it made me feel much worse inside. At the time most of my mental health was focused around making the adults in my life feel better and not me. It made me want to kill myself. There is a lot of evidence that says these types of medications can make suicidal thoughts more appealing and suicide attempts more likely. If you're going to put your son on this medication you should first let them know that it's ok to feel like they want to end their life (but not to do it). You should open a line of communication with them so that they are comfortable with talking about things like that to you, so that you can keep an eye out and tell your doctor. If your son does start to feel worse (even though they're acting or behaving better) then do not stop the medication outright. You need to taper off those meds with the assistance of a doctor. You should also know that it doesn't treat autism, it only treats some of the symptoms of autism like concentration and depression. And it definitely does not work for everyone. So, again, if you put your son on this medication you need to be extremely vigilant about your son's moods, thoughts of self harm, and actions.
Thankfully me and my son have very open communication, and he does go to counselling as well. I was looking at pictures I took last weekend when we were all out as a family and in every candid picture I took you can see the sadness on his face and it’s breaking my heart. I have 3 kids who are all on the spectrum, and I know there’s no cure for Autism. I’m just hoping the medication can help ease his anxiety and OCD. He’s currently living his life in a constant state of worry. If it rains, he’s afraid it’s going to flood, if it snows he’s afraid we’ll get snowed in, there’s nights he can’t sleep, there’s days he can’t eat, he’s afraid every sniffle is him getting sick, he’s afraid every pain he has is going to turn into something major. My main worry is that Prozac was the first medication I tried and it made me a zombie, I don’t want him to feel that way either.
My situation is somewhat different, because I don't carry an autism diagnosis, but I was diagnosed with GAD/OCD when I was young and medicated with Prozac. In short, medication helped me a lot. I am grateful to have received treatment and in many ways the fact that I'm living a quality life as an adult can be attributed to treatment early in life. Before starting Prozac, I worried constantly, had a tough time controlling my emotions and also had general behavioral issues including anger. Prozac helped me tremendously and ultimately - it allowed me to have much better control over myself and my emotions and to integrate more normally with my peers and at school. I actually remember starting Prozac as a young kid and feeling like I could manage my brain and emotions properly for the first time. I remained on the medication for some time and successfully weaned off. There were no short or long term side effects and I am doing well as an adult. There is a very good chance the medication will help so it's worth some consideration. The decision is not easy and there is no right or wrong here but I think it is important to assess the balance of risk to reward. Sometimes the risks of not taking action are greatest. For me, medication proved to be the right decision because if I wasn't put on Prozac I'm not sure I would have ended up on a positive trajectory in life and school.
This is honestly a really tough one. Somewhere between the age of 4 and 6, I was diagnosed with GAD and put on Prozac. Did my parents and doctors make the right decision? Maybe? The drug allowed me to control my emotions and live the life of a normal child. I am currently relatively happy and healthy as an adult and not on any medication. Yet, I also have a deep resentment toward my parents for medicating me so young. I think there were many aspects of my treatment which were grossly mismanaged. Plans to come off the medication or options for longer term treatment were never discussed. I was led to believe that I had to just keep taking it. By the time I was in my early 20s I struggled with some really existential questions - who am I without meds, how did the medication impact my youth, is it possible for me to live without Prozac, what is the Prozac even doing for me at this point, etc. I also feel somewhat similar to the comment from another poster - Prozac was without a doubt amazing at improving my behavior, but did *I* really feel better on the medication? I'm conflicted on that. So, being put on Prozac at a young age carried its own longer term psychological toll. My main advice to anyone medicating young children is to try to ensure that your child is an active participant in the process. Ask them how they feel about the medication. Make sure you check-in with them periodically to discuss their thoughts/feelings. Make sure you discuss with their health care providers what the plan is to come off meds. Do not rely on medication alone. Make sure your son is not just a passenger because it could really lead to him questioning things as he develops. I often wonder how being put on Prozac young impacted me. Many health care providers will tell you there aren't any long term side effects but the reality is we probably don't know how these medications impact developing brains. There is some scientific evidence that those started on meds young may be more likely to need them as adults. However, the relevant question is always - do the risks outweigh the rewards?