Coming off prozac...mood issues

[lmkmip67]

Ian has been off prozac for about 5 days now. We tapered very slowly. His mood has been worse since coming off of it. Irritable, more melt downs, etc. He is 10 and was on 10 mg. he lashes out a lot and can't seem to help himself. Not typical. But we are at a spot where we had to see how he will do off of it. It didn't seem to do that much, but now I am wondering if the issues he is having are from the coming off the prozac, or if this is what he will be dealing with if he is off of it all the time. If anyone else had their child taper off SSRIs how long did the bad side effects last once coming off? When did they level out again to ground 0, so to speak? We were tapering down over 2 months, so it was very slow.

[JoyBop]

It takes up to 5 weeks to get the last of it out of his system. When did the symptoms pick up? Just after you discontinued? Or were they getting progressively worse as you tapered down. I can't give advice but it sounds to me like the Prozac was helping. Have you made any other changes? My DS was on 10 mg for 5 weeks but it was disastrous for him. He became highly agitated and suicudal. We stopped cold turkey and I would say he was significantly better In One week and returned to his baseline in three weeks even though I know it was in his system for longer. He didn't seem to have any withdrawal other than strange feelings in his head (shrinking) and slight dizziness. He just started Zoloft yesterday, hoping that will work better for him.

What does your doc say ? Are you considering putting him back on? Have you tried Motrin twice a day? My child experienced exactly what you are describing when we stopped Motrin. 3 days was all I could handle and we gave it again and he is much more stable.

[pr40]

have you tried NAC? it functions like a mild SSRI for some people

[JoyBop]

What is NAC?

[NancyD]

Is he on Omega 3? That can help moods. Same with N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC).

 

Have you tested for MTHFR? My DD is homozygous for 677 and the combo of L-Methylfolate / MB12 / B6 helps enormously to even out her moods.

[tpotter]

Also, just curious if you have ruled out mycoP and bartonella. They can cause mood problems/rages, and the prozac may have been masking it.

[LaurenK]

tpotter,I would have to disagree that mycoplasma can flat out be the cause for rages. It may trigger PANDAS or PANS which could result in rages, but that's due to the autoimmune response, not necessarily the bacteria itself. Most people will test positive for mycoplasma in the winter but not have mood issues to go along with it. Also, there's clearly some sort of genetic difference between those children who get tics vs ocd vs rages vs adhd.

[JoyBop]

Lauren, most people on this forum do understand that symptoms they mention are caused by an autoimmune response, not the strep or other possible infection itself. Most of of us don't feel the need to have to reiterate or explain this when everyttime they want to briefly refer to a symptom.

 

I thought it would be I interesting to add that our neurologist explained that the rage and othe mood issues are also common as people recover from brain injuries and severe encephalitis. So in fact it could be part of the healing process which I find fascinating.

[JoyBop]

Sorry...posted twice by mistake. 😀

Edited July 29, 2013 by JoyBop

[LaurenK]

I certainly didn't mean it in a condescending way. I simply think its important to bring the autoimmune aspect to light especially with people who are newly diagnosed. Do excuse me if you felt offended.

Edited July 29, 2013 by LaurenK

[JoyBop]

No I didn't feel offended at all, but thanks for your consideration. I hope I didn't offend you either. Online communication is difficult bc tone can be misinterpreted.

 

Back to the OPs original question, 6 weeks should clear them of any medication left in the system. So you have a ways to go before you know what your baseline will look like.

[LaurenK]

I agree, online communication is very hard sometimes.

[LaurenK]

 

mkmip67, Im curious about the treatments that you have tried other than prozac?

 

[nicklemama]

Keep in mind that many of our children have more than one presentation. My son has tics, OCD, ADHD and rage. I believe it's due to the area of the brain being inflamed rather than genetic in origin.

[lmkmip67]

Hi, sorry. We went on vacation and I tried to leave all of this behind for a while. It didn't work because Ian had a rough time on vacation. He has been off the prozac now for about 2, almost 3 weeks. His OCD is 10 times worse, so are rages, ADHD, etc. I can't tell if it is because of no prozac, still coming off of it, or if he is in a flair.

 

THe treatments we have done are many combos of antibiotics and 9 HD IVIGs, all with no improvement, except antibiotics seem to keep his tics at bay. We say Dr. J for in case of Lyme, but that was negative. I am going to push more with Dr. J because Ian is on two antibiotics now and there is no improvement. Plus the flair or coming off of prozac is horrible. I can't imagine all this is due to coming off of prozac though, could it be? He rages, argues, is SO hyper, impulses are way out the window, tell us to STOP everything (singin, clearing throat, etc) everything bugs him. He is acting more like a 2 year old than anything sometimes, and he is 10. Intrusive thoughts are back big time. I could go on and on.....I am tired. We just got back from vacation so I am calling Dr. J tomorrow to push for something more. He said Ian had been exposed to lyme at some point, but said to say on Dr. B's treatment plan, which is augmentin and azith....but I am not sure that is the right treatment since it seems to do nothing....Sorry to ramble. I can't sleep tonight with worry about him, so I am surfing, trying to find the next step.