Re: Zoloft and Tenex use

[Guest guest]

What is Dr. Cabrera's number? and where is he located??

To: List 's <deniseslist >Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:15:47 AMSubject: Zoloft and Tenex use

If you have any feedback, good or bad, on the use of Zoloft and Tenex, please let me know. My son had been on Risperdal for about 4 years. The doctor recommended taking him off and we put him on Tenex. That didn't go over too well and he was extremely hyper, constantly jibber-jabbering video dialogue and becoming somewhat aggressive. Doctor referred us to a psychiatrist and we chose Dr. Cabrera after researching the posts on 's List. He recommended starting him on the lowest dose of Zoloft and eventually weaning him off of Tenex. He recommended giving him the Zoloft in the evening. Things were okay for the first 2 weeks, then the nightmare began. He was not sleeping. One day/night he was up for 26 hours before he went to sleep and that was with giving him melatonin and a drop of Risperdal. We called the doctor and he said to give it to him in the morning instead and also to give him some Benedryl if he wakes up. It

worked for the first 3 days and now again he is up all night. I am not an advocate of medication and do not want to be giving him Benedryl everynight. Even if I do give him the Benedryl he only sleeps about 3 hours. If no Benedryl, he doesn't fall asleep at all. Last night he was up until 3AM. I finally gave him the Bendryl (because I was at my wits end!) and he fell asleep somewhere between 4AM-5AM and he was up again at 8AM. Another thing he started doing is getting up and leaving his room and running around the house at all hours of the night because he is not asleep. I will be calling the doctor again tomorrow hopefully to make some changes. Has anyone else had this experience? Thanks in advance for your responses. RM

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My daughter used Zoloft for 2 years when she was 5. It calmed her down but effects wore off. She has been on Risperdone since she is 6 and she is now 10. There is nothing out there that will take its place of Risperdal but you need an anti-depressant to go with it.

My daughter is also on Chlomiprimine and Vyvanse and together works great.

Thanks

To: List 's <deniseslist >Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:15:47 AMSubject: Zoloft and Tenex use

If you have any feedback, good or bad, on the use of Zoloft and Tenex, please let me know. My son had been on Risperdal for about 4 years. The doctor recommended taking him off and we put him on Tenex. That didn't go over too well and he was extremely hyper, constantly jibber-jabbering video dialogue and becoming somewhat aggressive. Doctor referred us to a psychiatrist and we chose Dr. Cabrera after researching the posts on 's List. He recommended starting him on the lowest dose of Zoloft and eventually weaning him off of Tenex. He recommended giving him the Zoloft in the evening. Things were okay for the first 2 weeks, then the nightmare began. He was not sleeping. One day/night he was up for 26 hours before he went to sleep and that was with giving him melatonin and a drop of Risperdal. We called the doctor and he said to give it to him in the morning instead and also to give him some Benedryl if he wakes up. It

worked for the first 3 days and now again he is up all night. I am not an advocate of medication and do not want to be giving him Benedryl everynight. Even if I do give him the Benedryl he only sleeps about 3 hours. If no Benedryl, he doesn't fall asleep at all. Last night he was up until 3AM. I finally gave him the Bendryl (because I was at my wits end!) and he fell asleep somewhere between 4AM-5AM and he was up again at 8AM. Another thing he started doing is getting up and leaving his room and running around the house at all hours of the night because he is not asleep. I will be calling the doctor again tomorrow hopefully to make some changes. Has anyone else had this experience? Thanks in advance for your responses. RM

[Guest guest]

He works for both Community Mental Health and The Chrysalis Center. You can google Chrysalis as I cannot recall number right now.

From: Ana Esparza

Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:22 PM

To: sList

Subject: Re: Zoloft and Tenex use

What is Dr. Cabrera's number? and where is he located??

From: RM <tova1125>To: List 's <deniseslist >Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:15:47 AMSubject: Zoloft and Tenex use

If you have any feedback, good or bad, on the use of Zoloft and Tenex, please let me know. My son had been on Risperdal for about 4 years. The doctor recommended taking him off and we put him on Tenex. That didn't go over too well and he was extremely hyper, constantly jibber-jabbering video dialogue and becoming somewhat aggressive. Doctor referred us to a psychiatrist and we chose Dr. Cabrera after researching the posts on 's List. He recommended starting him on the lowest dose of Zoloft and eventually weaning him off of Tenex. He recommended giving him the Zoloft in the evening. Things were okay for the first 2 weeks, then the nightmare began. He was not sleeping. One day/night he was up for 26 hours before he went to sleep and that was with giving him melatonin and a drop of Risperdal. We called the doctor and he said to give it to him in the morning instead and also to give him some Benedryl if he wakes up. It worked for the first 3 days and now again he is up all night. I am not an advocate of medication and do not want to be giving him Benedryl everynight. Even if I do give him the Benedryl he only sleeps about 3 hours. If no Benedryl, he doesn't fall asleep at all. Last night he was up until 3AM. I finally gave him the Bendryl (because I was at my wits end!) and he fell asleep somewhere between 4AM-5AM and he was up again at 8AM. Another thing he started doing is getting up and leaving his room and running around the house at all hours of the night because he is not asleep. I will be calling the doctor again tomorrow hopefully to make some changes. Has anyone else had this experience? Thanks in advance for your responses. RM

[Guest guest]

I was lucky enough to not have to give my son medication, until he turned 8. We had to start him on Zoloft, because he started developing a serious OCD problem (Obssesive Compulsive Disorder).

The Dr, started him on a very low dose..1 ml per day (that's like half a teaspoon) and I have been increasing the dose since then (he is now almost 10 years old). He is currently on 7 ml per day. It has helped him a lot, and I like what the dr. said, that this medications has been in the market for a long time and is the safest. I truly truly hated the idea of giving him meds, but there was just on option...Thankfully his sleep has not been afected, I always give it to him around 2:30 pm., which is the time he gets off from school. I came up with this time because I noticed that if I give it to him in the early morning, it made him a little sleepy during school hours. When I gave him the med before bed, it would affect his sleep...he would go to sleep, but woke up in the middle of the night...So 2:30 is late enough in the morning, and early enough not to affect his sleep.

I hope this helps you somehow...but you have to consider that this is the ONLY med I give him...so, when there is another med involved, it gets complicated because they can interact with each other...

Subject: Re: Zoloft and Tenex useTo: sList Date: Sunday, August 23, 2009, 1:22 PM

What is Dr. Cabrera's number? and where is he located??

From: RM <tova1125yahoo (DOT) com>To: List 's <deniseslist@ yahoogroups. com>Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:15:47 AMSubject: Zoloft and Tenex use

If you have any feedback, good or bad, on the use of Zoloft and Tenex, please let me know. My son had been on Risperdal for about 4 years. The doctor recommended taking him off and we put him on Tenex. That didn't go over too well and he was extremely hyper, constantly jibber-jabbering video dialogue and becoming somewhat aggressive. Doctor referred us to a psychiatrist and we chose Dr. Cabrera after researching the posts on 's List. He recommended starting him on the lowest dose of Zoloft and eventually weaning him off of Tenex. He recommended giving him the Zoloft in the evening. Things were okay for the first 2 weeks, then the nightmare began. He was not sleeping. One day/night he was up for 26 hours before he went to sleep and that was with giving him melatonin and a drop of Risperdal. We called the doctor and he said to give it to him in the morning instead and also to give him some Benedryl if he wakes up. It

worked for the first 3 days and now again he is up all night. I am not an advocate of medication and do not want to be giving him Benedryl everynight. Even if I do give him the Benedryl he only sleeps about 3 hours. If no Benedryl, he doesn't fall asleep at all. Last night he was up until 3AM. I finally gave him the Bendryl (because I was at my wits end!) and he fell asleep somewhere between 4AM-5AM and he was up again at 8AM. Another thing he started doing is getting up and leaving his room and running around the house at all hours of the night because he is not asleep. I will be calling the doctor again tomorrow hopefully to make some changes. Has anyone else had this experience? Thanks in advance for your responses. RM

[Guest guest]

I have to disagree. Risperdal is *not* an antidepressant, nor does it

need to be used with one.

it is an antipsychotic, an atypical one. Haldol, thorazine, Geodon,

and Abilify are also antipsychotics and can be substituted for

Risperdal. Seroquel is commonly used because a side effect is sedation.

These are the medications they give schizophrenics. They have

recently been used to " stabilize mood " for bipolars and, even more off

label, for autistics. Like all interventions for our kids, there is

varying success. The implied story from big pharma is that the newer

(Risperdal, Ablilify and Geodon) are safer than the older (Haldol and

Thorazine). They are not. Studies say they are newer and cost more,

but work no better and are no safer than the older drugs. But they do

have a special side effect profile--they can cause syndrome X.

Diabetes, high cholesterol, and all it implies. Sometimes this

reverses if the medication is stopped, sometimes not. It is 5 years

since Risperdal was stopped in my son, Abilify is now fairly low dose,

and his triglycerides are still ridiculous. His weight is somewhat

decreased and there are fewer symptoms of glucose problems, but 5

years later he is not back to normal yet.

As far as adding an antipsychotic to an antidepressant: the

antipsychotics may or may not be used to boost the effect of an

antidepressant (see the tv commercials for Abilify in depression).

They do not need to be used with an antidepressant. But they are used

to treat aggression in autistics, and the thinking is that sometimes

aggression is a sign of pediatric bipolar rages, so antidepressants

are sometimes used. The antipsychotics are added to a depression

regimine because bipolars often come in with a diagnosis of

depression. When people are manic, they do not complain of feeling

bad mostly. They feel good. The rest of us don't, dealing with

them. When they crash, they seek help. If the manic episodes start

destroying their lives, they may seek help, but most bipolars miss the

high.

The theory is, if an antidepressant isn't working, maybe you are

seeing the bottom end of a bipolar. Try an antipsychotic in case they

are bipolar and you are missing it.

As far as adding an antidepressant to an antipsychotic,

antidepressants are very risky in bipolars. The first line of

treatment is mood stabilization. Antidepressants are a last resort

because they can make bipolar swings more frequent and more severe.

I have heard one estimate that over 25% of autistic kids also are

bipolar. It used to be considered a rare co-morbidity, it is now

recognized as fairly common.

We do not know what that will do for children induced to a lifetime of

cardiac risk, but for some kids, if we do not take that risk, they

will die from their psychosis long before any cardiac thing threatens

them.

There are other side effects too. My son lost the ability to track a

line of print, and developed some neurologic symptoms that might have

been permanent (some are) even though the meds are stopped.

The thing about Benadryl is that it can actually excite about 1/2

the kids, and has a very long hangover (t lasts hours after they are

supposed to wake up) The National Transportation Safety Board rates

Benadryl as sedating as alcohol, and lasts longer, well into the next

day.

SSRI's(a class of antidepressants like Zoloft) can lead to aggression

in children. Some are worse than others-for instance, Paxil is more

commonly disastrous in kids, especially in teens. Zoloft is a little

better tolerated. But each kid's chemistry is different.

You can ask your doc if they will try things like fish oils, SAM-e,

for depression, 5-HTP for sleep. The way I got my kid off most of

these meds (including depakote, lithium, Strattera, abilify (or

risperdal) all at the same time, was by trying things like low dose

naltrexone, pushing the doses of things like SAM-e, etc.

He has also been on Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, Adderall, clonidine,

seroquel, and others. He is on a ridiculous number of supplements

with the most expensive urine in town, but he is off almost all

prescription meds, and is clearer, with fewer side effects. The

tremor is almost gone, the drooling, the nighttime accidents, the

spacy look, the sedation, the confusion... the list of former symptoms

goes on.