Lexapro and Concerta

[Guest guest]

I haven't posted for quite awhile. I received a new job just two

weeks before school began. I am teaching Pre-K. I have been out of

the teaching field for the past 12 years. I quit when I got pregnant

with Garrett. So, as you can imagine, I've been very busy trying to

get back into the swing of things. I haven't had a chance to read

the emails or try to post.

Beginning in June, my son's OCD flared up. He has also been very

irritable. He hasn't been himself. Even his body language is

completely different. He has been very mouthy and disrespectful.

After two years of debating the possiblity of ADD, my son's

psychologist decided to request that Garrett begin taking Concerta.

He has been having trouble focusing in class, and the teachers are

beginning to nag him about it. He has also misplaced papers, lost

pencils, etc... His psychologist thought the ADD might be making him

even more irritable. Her reasoning was that he was so stressed

during the day trying to keep up with his classes, focusing, keeping

track of his supplies, etc... that by the time he gets home, he lets

all the stress of the day explode. He began taking the Concerta last

Wednesday. He also takes 20 mg of Lexapro. This was increased a

couple of weeks ago from 10mg. This weekend my parents came down from

Missouri for a visit. We hadn't seen them since Christmas. It was

an emotionally draining and somewhat embarrassing weekend. Garrett

had several complete meltdowns. Garrett had bought a new computer

game. Whenever he had to get off, he would get very angry and

irritable. He yelled at my husband and became very beligerent! He

was doing this without any regard to the fact that he had his

grandparents in the audience. He was saying completely irrational

things too. Although my parents were completely stunned by Garrett's

behavior, they were very supportive and loving towards him. I am

very concerned about him because this is not day to day typical

behavior for him. He will occassionally be disrespectful or mouthy,

but not to the extreme and consistency he has been for the past 3 1/2

months. My parents noted that he seemed like a completely different

child. He isn't Garrett they said. They believe he seems very angry

and depressed. I don't understand, I've taken him to the

pediatrician, psychologist, and psychiatrist. They all believe he is

on the proper medications. He is receiving behavior therapy every

three weeks. I don't know what else I can do????? Can anyone help?

Corinna, TX

[Guest guest]

HI there,

There are two medication-related possibilities for your son's behavior :

the increase in Lexapro or the addition of Concerta. Changing from 10 to 20

mg. of Lexapro at one time is a big jump. It's a very powerful medication. As I

recently posted, a quarter of a table (2.5 mg) is enough to make a difference

in my daughter. She now takes 27.5 mg. because 30mg made her too impulsive and

hyper. So maybe you could try decreasing the Lexapro to 15 mg? (Ask your

doctor for permission of course). Or it could be that the Concerta is making him

irritable. We've been through that too, with Adderall. I'd discuss both

possibilities with your prescribing doctor, and tell him or her what the

grandparents

said : " it's not Garrett " . That's a pretty strong indication that something

is off.

On the other hand, he could be just suffering from his OCD. That will

make any child extremely irritable, especially if you interrupt a compulsion.

Since he is in behavior therapy his therapist should be able to tell whether his

OCD is currently worse and should be addressing that in therapy. I hope he's

doing exposure / response prevention therapy?

The reason I jumped on the medication idea is that your post reminded me

of a horrible experience we had a few years ago. My husband and I went away

together for the first time since we had kids, leaving them with his mom. She is

a saint, but even that saint couldn't handle my daughter's rude, provocative,

belligerent behavior. It wasn't long after that that we realized she was on

way too much Luvox. As soon as we took her off of it, the behavior disappeared.

Luvox gave her behavioral side effects, even though it helped the OCD. She

has never behaved that way since. When she was on the higher dose of Lexapro she

began very hyper and happy and impulsive, but never rude as on Luvox. Your

description of your son reminded so much of the " Luvox Era " in our household.

Adderall made her really irritable, but not provocative - just bad tempered.

Concerta has caused no problems at all and really helps with her ADHD. Every kid

is different!

Good luck on this, and don't give up. Sometimes you have to really insist

that the doctors listen to you.

in NV

[Guest guest]

,

Luvox brought out the devil in my son. He was 16 when he got a very fast

onset of OCD. Before OCDand luvox he was very polite and never swore or was

mean. After taking Luvox he turned into a mean , foul mouth , violent young man.

He is know on Lexapro and is still struggling with OCD but back to his old

swwet self. Dana