Re: 60 mg Prozac dosage

March 21, 2007

In a message dated 3/21/2007 1:17:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

rexstephanie@... writes:

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Tebby

My dd has been on Prozac (generic form) for just over a year. She isn't

quite as small as your child - I think maybe 110 or so at the time we

started...

HOWEVER, what I will share with you is that our psychiatrist made a huge

deal about Prozac being ramped up VERY slowly. She wouldn't allow my daughter

to go more than a 10mg per increase with 6-8 weeks in between each increase.

Quite frankly, it was well worth the wait. The Prozac has worked miracles

for her. She really stressed that it must be done slowly.

Now, in all fairness, I have heard of folks starting out at higher than

10mg/day right off if they were switching from another med.... I guess it had

something to do with how the meds worked together or something - I really don't

recall.

My dd ended up on 50mg/day & her pdoc assured me that was still considered a

low dose for kids... that many go to 60 - 80/day.

All this information is based only on our experience & what our doctor told

us. The results we experienced were phenomenal - no side effects, no raging,

no unusual behavior.... just good results kept coming our way. Each month,

with each increase, things just got better & better. So I have no reason to

doubt that our doctor did right by us.

When it comes to your kids - get 2nd, 3rd & 4th opinions if necessary. You

can also send a question out to Dr. Geller - who will answer any question you

post here regarding meds. Just type in your subject line: QUESTION FOR DR.

GELLER. You should receive a response soon.

Good luck

LT

************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.

Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

March 21, 2007

Hi Tebby. I believe your pdoc is correct for OCD and that your local doc

just doesn't have experience with OCD and the doses necessary for it. That said,

I will tell you that my daughter did become manic on Prozac. We are still

dealing with the effects of that today, 4 months later. She has definitely

manifested Bipolar Disorder symptoms and we had not seen evidence of that prior

to starting the Prozac. She had though had depressive episodes in the past. She

still cycles and is now on Lactimal, Geodon and Paxil and we are hoping we

will get some control soon. When she was switched from Prozac to Paxil she

continued to have manic episodes. She did not have those on 200 mg of Zoloft.

Good luck. I hope it goes smoothly for your child. Kim

In a message dated 3/21/2007 1:19:10 P.M. Central Daylight Time,

rexstephanie@... writes:

Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

Prozac has such a long half-life.

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Thanks, Tebby

************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.

Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

March 21, 2007

My son is on 60mg of Prozac, and can go as high as 80mg if necessary.

He is 8, weighs 55lbs. Top doctor in Toronto Ontario, perscribed this.

We are treating OCD, not depression. A lower dose would help a person with

depression but would be in effective for OCD. My son is doing well at 60mg.

Just make sure he has a big breakfast, then give him his meds, or he will get

wooshy, (light headed). Also when in the midst of increasing his meds, he seems

a little more active, but falls asleep at bedtime quickly.

Let me know how you make out.

candice

tebbykitten1967 <rexstephanie@...> wrote:

Our 12 year old son has suffered with OCD for the last four years.

The past 18 months have been very difficult. The local doctors have

not been able to help him despite trying a variety of SSRIs and

CBT/ERP. We went to the University of Michigan for a consultation

earlier this month. We met with Dr. Mobilio and Dr. Hanna

(the head of the childlhood OCD clinic). They said our son has not

been on SSRIs at nearly a high enough dose. They put our him on

Prozac, and we'll be increasing the dosage by 10 mg a day until we

reach 60mg.

Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

Prozac has such a long half-life.

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Thanks, Tebby

---------------------------------

Share your photos with the people who matter at Canada Photos

March 21, 2007

My son is on 60mg of Prozac, and can go as high as 80mg if necessary.

He is 8, weighs 55lbs. Top doctor in Toronto Ontario, perscribed this.

We are treating OCD, not depression. A lower dose would help a person with

depression but would be in effective for OCD. My son is doing well at 60mg.

Just make sure he has a big breakfast, then give him his meds, or he will get

wooshy, (light headed). Also when in the midst of increasing his meds, he seems

a little more active, but falls asleep at bedtime quickly.

Let me know how you make out.

candice

tebbykitten1967 <rexstephanie@...> wrote:

Our 12 year old son has suffered with OCD for the last four years.

The past 18 months have been very difficult. The local doctors have

not been able to help him despite trying a variety of SSRIs and

CBT/ERP. We went to the University of Michigan for a consultation

earlier this month. We met with Dr. Mobilio and Dr. Hanna

(the head of the childlhood OCD clinic). They said our son has not

been on SSRIs at nearly a high enough dose. They put our him on

Prozac, and we'll be increasing the dosage by 10 mg a day until we

reach 60mg.

Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

Prozac has such a long half-life.

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Thanks, Tebby

---------------------------------

Make free worldwide PC-to-PC calls. Try the new Canada Messenger with

Voice

March 21, 2007

My 12 yo dd's pdoc also was reluctant to go up too high on the prozac for fear

of mania. In fact, I think she hospitalized my dd because she thought she was

manic (I didn't). However, as a pharmacist, I know that for OCD in adults and

children, one has to give a considerably higher dose of the SSRIs than are used

for depression. A Prozac dose of 60 to 80 mg in an adult is not at all

unreasonable. My dd is adult sized, (100 pounds) and part of my beef with her

being hospitalized for OCD symptoms (which I believe were eroneously labeled as

manic and psychotic) was that we never did get her on an OCD level of Prozac.

She was only at 40mg.

Myself, I'm bipolar, so I can't go much higher than 150mg on Luvox, or I will

never sleep. I mean NEVER! The lights are on, but nobody's home. I can close

my eyes and be exhausted, but I will never sleep. A decade ago I think I went

like 30 days getting only 2 hours of sleep a day because I was so afraid my pdoc

would take me off the drug that I didn't want to tell her. My OCD symptoms had

improved so much! An adult OCD dose of Luvox is 300mg.

My partially educated opinion is that you got better advice from the OCD

specialists.

Laurie

tebbykitten1967 <rexstephanie@...> wrote:

Our 12 year old son has suffered with OCD for the last four years.

The past 18 months have been very difficult. The local doctors have

not been able to help him despite trying a variety of SSRIs and

CBT/ERP. We went to the University of Michigan for a consultation

earlier this month. We met with Dr. Mobilio and Dr. Hanna

(the head of the childlhood OCD clinic). They said our son has not

been on SSRIs at nearly a high enough dose. They put our him on

Prozac, and we'll be increasing the dosage by 10 mg a day until we

reach 60mg.

Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

Prozac has such a long half-life.

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Thanks, Tebby

Our list archives, bookmarks, files, and chat feature may be accessed at:

/ .

Our list advisors are Gail B. , Ed.D., Tamar Chansky, Ph.D.(

http://www.worrywisekids.org ), Dan Geller, M.D.,Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D., (

http://www.lighthouse-press.com ). Our list moderators are Birkhan, Chris

Castle, Kathy Hammes, Joye, Kathy Mac, Gail Pesses, and Kathy

. Subscription issues or suggestions may be addressed to Louis Harkins,

list owner, at louisharkins@... , louisharkins@... ,

louisharkins@... .

March 21, 2007

My daughter will be 12 in a couple of weeks. She is currently on 70 mg of Prozac

daily. She started it almost 3 years ago at 30 mg, if I remember correctly and

while we saw almost immediate improvement, the " real L " didn't start to reappear

until 50 mg. It has gradually increased over the past couple of years as she has

grown and/or symptoms reappeared (probably the same thing!). We were told that

children with OCD often need a higher dosage, due in part to their " clean " (ie,

more efficient) metabolism rates.

P.

tebbykitten1967 <rexstephanie@...> wrote:

Our 12 year old son has suffered with OCD for the last four years.

The past 18 months have been very difficult. The local doctors have

not been able to help him despite trying a variety of SSRIs and

CBT/ERP. We went to the University of Michigan for a consultation

earlier this month. We met with Dr. Mobilio and Dr. Hanna

(the head of the childlhood OCD clinic). They said our son has not

been on SSRIs at nearly a high enough dose. They put our him on

Prozac, and we'll be increasing the dosage by 10 mg a day until we

reach 60mg.

Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

Prozac has such a long half-life.

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Thanks, Tebby

---------------------------------

Get your own web address.

Have a HUGE year through Small Business.

March 21, 2007

IMHO, your local Dr. is not up to speed on psychiatric drugs used to

treat OCD. And it's not his specialty, he's more of an all around Dr.,

your psychiatric team are the specialists in this area of your son's

life. My DD is 12 and is currently on 60 mgs. of Prozac. It worked

great for about a year, but since a decline we've had to try other meds.

to try and supplement in addition to the 60 mgs. of Prozac. Also, he

may not have to go up all the way to 60, you can go 10 mgs. at a time

and wait and see how he does. Our pdoc said 80 mgs. is sometimes used.

I'm sorry you got conflicting advice. Also, my DD first went on Prozac

at age 8 and had a LOT of HIGH anxiety getting on it the first 6 weeks.

We ramped slowly up to 30 mgs. and then sat and waited to see the

effect. After 6 weeks we saw continual improvement until around the

12th week mark the anxiety/OCD/bad thoughts were entirely gone! It was

miraculous. We have had to increase it to 60 mgs. since then and have

had to supplement with a second med. occasionally, but she's done very

well in general. So, what I'm saying is not to make a quick decision

based on those first few weeks. Unless there are side effects that are

intolerable, I believe 12 weeks at a full therapeutic dose constitutes

an adequate trial. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Hopefully he will get some relief soon!

Dina

March 21, 2007

Ten mgs increase a day seems like a fast increase. I'm no expert

though.

I can share our experience with you. Since our son's relapse, he had

to go back on meds. He is bigger and older than your child though.

He is 15 and weighs around 200 pounds (thanks to his last time on

meds, where he ate us out of house and home).

We started with 20 mg of Celexa for a week, then went to 30 for a

couple of weeks, now we are up to 40 and have been there for 3 weeks.

He was having some manic episodes that lasted about 10-20 minutes

about 3-4 hours after taking the meds, but it seems to have calmed

down some as we've sat at this dosage. We are sitting here before we

raise it more to give them a chance to work, even though he is still

suffering somewhat.

Forty mgs worked for him last time, and we are hoping they will this

time too. We do not have any qualified psychiatrists in our area, so

his regular doc is prescribing the meds. She also said it is not

uncommon for higher doses to be needed for kids with OCD.

My feeling is, since it take 4-6 weeks to reach it's peak, I'm in no

hurry to over medicate him. Sitting at this dosage, which has

improved things, but not made them go away, is fine with me for a

while. In the mean time, I'm still on my relentless search for a

psychologist that knows what they are doing treating kids with OCD.

BJ

>

> Our 12 year old son has suffered with OCD for the last four years.

> The past 18 months have been very difficult. The local doctors have

> not been able to help him despite trying a variety of SSRIs and

> CBT/ERP. We went to the University of Michigan for a consultation

> earlier this month. We met with Dr. Mobilio and Dr. Hanna

> (the head of the childlhood OCD clinic). They said our son has not

> been on SSRIs at nearly a high enough dose. They put our him on

> Prozac, and we'll be increasing the dosage by 10 mg a day until we

> reach 60mg.

>

> Today we met with our local doc and he said what we are doing is

> dangerous and irresponsible. Our son should be on no more than 15mg

> because of his weight (90lbs). He also said we are asking for

> trouble and that our son is almost guaranteed to have a dangerous

> manic episode and we will be able to do nothing about it because

> Prozac has such a long half-life.

>

> Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

> Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

> experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

>

> Thanks, Tebby

>

March 21, 2007

Yes, my daughter's pdoc also wanted to go up very slowly. That's a good idea

for adults too!

Laurie

jtlt@... wrote:

In a message dated 3/21/2007 1:17:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

rexstephanie@... writes:

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Tebby

My dd has been on Prozac (generic form) for just over a year. She isn't

quite as small as your child - I think maybe 110 or so at the time we started...

HOWEVER, what I will share with you is that our psychiatrist made a huge

deal about Prozac being ramped up VERY slowly. She wouldn't allow my daughter

to go more than a 10mg per increase with 6-8 weeks in between each increase.

Quite frankly, it was well worth the wait. The Prozac has worked miracles

for her. She really stressed that it must be done slowly.

Now, in all fairness, I have heard of folks starting out at higher than

10mg/day right off if they were switching from another med.... I guess it had

something to do with how the meds worked together or something - I really don't

recall.

My dd ended up on 50mg/day & her pdoc assured me that was still considered a

low dose for kids... that many go to 60 - 80/day.

All this information is based only on our experience & what our doctor told

us. The results we experienced were phenomenal - no side effects, no raging,

no unusual behavior.... just good results kept coming our way. Each month,

with each increase, things just got better & better. So I have no reason to

doubt that our doctor did right by us.

When it comes to your kids - get 2nd, 3rd & 4th opinions if necessary. You

can also send a question out to Dr. Geller - who will answer any question you

post here regarding meds. Just type in your subject line: QUESTION FOR DR.

GELLER. You should receive a response soon.

Good luck

LT

************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.

Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

March 21, 2007

Yes, my daughter's pdoc also wanted to go up very slowly. That's a good idea

for adults too!

Laurie

jtlt@... wrote:

In a message dated 3/21/2007 1:17:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

rexstephanie@... writes:

Does anyone have experience with an approx. 90 lb child on 60 mg of

Prozac? Which doctor am I supposed to trust? Does anyone have

experience with Dr. Hanna at the University of Michigan?

Tebby

My dd has been on Prozac (generic form) for just over a year. She isn't

quite as small as your child - I think maybe 110 or so at the time we started...

HOWEVER, what I will share with you is that our psychiatrist made a huge

deal about Prozac being ramped up VERY slowly. She wouldn't allow my daughter

to go more than a 10mg per increase with 6-8 weeks in between each increase.

Quite frankly, it was well worth the wait. The Prozac has worked miracles

for her. She really stressed that it must be done slowly.

Now, in all fairness, I have heard of folks starting out at higher than

10mg/day right off if they were switching from another med.... I guess it had

something to do with how the meds worked together or something - I really don't

recall.

My dd ended up on 50mg/day & her pdoc assured me that was still considered a

low dose for kids... that many go to 60 - 80/day.

All this information is based only on our experience & what our doctor told

us. The results we experienced were phenomenal - no side effects, no raging,

no unusual behavior.... just good results kept coming our way. Each month,

with each increase, things just got better & better. So I have no reason to

doubt that our doctor did right by us.

When it comes to your kids - get 2nd, 3rd & 4th opinions if necessary. You

can also send a question out to Dr. Geller - who will answer any question you

post here regarding meds. Just type in your subject line: QUESTION FOR DR.

GELLER. You should receive a response soon.

Good luck

LT

************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.

Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

March 21, 2007

My dh and I have heard that starting SSRIs in children can actually cause an

early onset bipolar. We were pretty upset when my youngest step-son was put on

Prozac because he already exhibits signs of bipolar (my dh has Bipolar type 1).

My dd has bipolar on both sides of the family, but I was less worried about

starting her on it because there was a legitimate need for it for OCD.

My step-son's pdoc was picked out by his mom, and my dh and her do not get

along, so changing his pdoc would probably require (literally) a court order.

His pdoc doesn't believe in childhood bipolar, and says my step-son is just

ADHD. But this kid rages, has threatened to kill everyone in the house, draws

pictures of himself killing his mom, and his mom was afraid to go to sleep at

home.

Meanwhile, my dd's pdoc is so afraid of precipitating bipolar in my child that

she was afraid to go up too far on my dd's Prozac.

End result...,my step-son, who should, in my opinion, really be on a mood

stabilizer like lithium, trileptal, Lamictal, Depakote, is on a ton of ADHD

meds...Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera, and then Prozac. And my dd is on lithium

and seroquel with very little changes or improvements in her symptoms, and has a

diagnosis of bipolar now.

Laurie

mnmomof1@... wrote: