buspar | ADHD Information
My 12-year-old ADHD son was recently prescribed Buspar for anxiety. He took a 5 mg tablet 3 nights in a row and complained of dizziness and a light-headed feeling. He also took it one morning and felt bad for about 4 hours. His doc says the side effects will go away, but my son's anxiety is making him so oppositional that he refuses to keep taking it. SSRIs are out because he had a rage reaction to both Prozac and Zoloft. Any ideas for us?
Thanks!
bugz,
Have you ever been through SSRI withdrawal ?
Do you know anyone who has gone through it ?
If the child was taken off the Prozac or Zoloft abruptly and then given Buspar, the moodiness and anxiety could easily be "withdrawal symptoms" from the last SSRI.
Maybe the doctor stopped him or tapered him off too quickly. There should be at least 6 weeks "free" time between the drugs.
This is a perfectly fine combination and transition. My God this these anti-med trolls are annoying and counterproductive to this board.
Why would a troll keep posting and asking why?
go away troll. she answers to herself, not you.
Thanks Morpheus. The dizziness lasted longer than 30 minutes for my son. Because he absolutely refused to take Buspar, his doc switched him to Risperdal today. We need to turn his anxiety and moodiness around quickly because he's school avoidant (12 years old and in 7th grade). Not happy about the Risperdal, but feel we have few options.
Wait a minute...
How much drug free time did he have after the Prozac or Zoloft BEFORE starting Buspar ?
My SSRI survivor friends all claim that they didn't start feeling "normal" for nearly 3 months after they stopped taking the drug.
So, maybe his "moodiness and anxiety" are just withdrawal effects from the SSRIs.
Why would a doctor prescribe an antipsychotic for a child who doesn't want to go to school ?
.
A little dizziness is normal and it usually lasts for about 30 minutes upon taking the dose (personal experience talking). Buspar works for some, not for others and it is considered a very mild med. I don't recall exactly, but it may be sedating so a night time dose may be preferred (or the other way around). It is also easy to wean off of, unlike the SSRIs. Reality/ Balanced, I have been through SSRI withdrawal on a couple of occasions. The fact that I am alive is a testimony to the value of SSRI's, and the withdrawal was well worth it.BTW, buspirone is a serotonin agonist with mild dopiminergic effects. Usually side effects subside over the first two weeks. I love Risperdal for myself, and there are numerous studies documenting it's usefullness in pediatric patients with conditions like ODD and bipolar disorder. If the dose is low (0.25-2mg) the side effects are usually relatively mild. Many children do well on a dose as low as 0.5mg. One caution... risperidone can cause significant weight gain, and that side effect tends to be magnified in children. You may want to consider some preemptive dietary changes to counter that effect.
Shakespeare,
I'm not talking about the "benefits" of SSRI withdrawal. If you're happy with it, whatever...
What I'm trying to point out is that A LOT OF SSRI USERS DO GO THROUGH WITHDRAWALS.
2 OF THE MOST "COMMON" WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS ARE... "MOODINESS AND ANXIETY "
So, if the child just quits taking Zoloft and starts taking Buspar.... THE MOODINESS AND ANXIETY HE FEELS WOULD MORE PROBABLY BE "WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS" FROM THE ZOLOFT !!!!!
Why blame Buspar when the "new side effects" are being caused by the old SSRI drug ???
And now I know about risperdal being prescribed for kids. Can you email me some of those studies regarding Risperdal for ODD and BP in children ?
realityab@yahoo.com
REALITY....
I STILL WANT TO HEAR OF YOUR PERSONAL WITHDRAWLS FROM THE MEDS YOU SPLATTER ON AND ON ABOUT!!!
Email? INFORMATION IS all over the web. do your own damn dirty work.
Trying to get people to email you so you can spam them. Or hunt them down.
Shame on you.
You really prove your a troll now.
see we have a thing called PM.But you can't use that since it gives you away.
Furthermore, prove your case, so far you haven't proved anything except you have internet service and a ID. oh and a mouse with cut and paste.
and to answer YOU. not like I have to...
Not all people have withdrawls from meds.
I NEVER DID FROM ABILIFY OR STRATERRA. So kiss off. Wellbutrin, no withdrawl. Zoloft, No withdrawl.
So I told you mine, now you tell me yours.. oh you can't.
bugzappers38659.7762268518
Morpheus,
You're right about specialists only seeing their piece of the puzzle rather than the whole child. After our son was diagnosed nearly 3 years ago and never having the right doc to oversee his care, we finally turned this summer to a developmental and behavioral pediatrician, who prescribes meds, meets with us to discuss how to better parent our son, meets with our son periodically to check in with him, makes school recommendations, meets with our son's teachers to educate them on how best to teach our son and makes recommendations for other specialists to see as needed. It's been wonderful to have someone else be the case manager for us. It's something you might want to consider.
Liveadhd,
Thanks for sharing your story. I know you understand where I'm coming from. My son's working dx as of Friday after a long talk with the doc: ADHD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS (and oppositional behaviors go along with the territory).
Wow, I never heard of that type of pediatrician. I'm going to look into it. We're in the hinterland, so it is especially difficult. What part of the country are you in? I'm guessing the East Coast since that has been the area that we've found to offer the most extensive resorces.
Morpheus,
Yes, we live in a major metropolitan area on the East Coast. We still see a regular pediatrician for childhood illnesses and yearly physicals. My 10-year-old daughter, who has a mood disorder (no ADHD), sees a psychiatrist for weekly therapy and medication management (and the pdoc also meets with us every other week to share information and coordinate her care). The developmental and behavioral pediatrician my son sees only treats kids with disorders like ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, anxiety, depression, mood disorder, etc. He is a fellow with the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a member of both the Society for Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics and the American Neuropsychiatric Association. You may want to check with those organizations to locate a similar doc in your area (even if it means driving a distance). Good luck!
I have suspected for a while now that my son has anxiety along with ADHD. He is also depressed. Have any of you had any positive results with omegas even if they weren't enough by themselves?
He has improved on the omegas but they don't seem to be as effective as they were. I am increasing the dose but am wondering whether I should be getting him to a psych instead of trying them.
I also wonder if, since he did respond initially to the omegas whether that would mean the anxiety and depression he experiences are primarily the result of the ADHD or more likely to be something comorbid.
Thanks.
Barb,
I will admit up front that I have a bias here because I come from a medical family and have almost always turned to Western medicine. Having said that, I've been reading a lot about omegas and mood disorders, and the prevailing wisdom in the medical community is that omegas can enhance mood but almost always cannot be used as a stand-alone treatment for mood disorders. I personally don't think it matters whether your son's anxiety and depression are a result of his ADHD or existing as co-morbid conditions. The fact of the matter is that depression in a child needs to be taken very seriously because of the long-term ramifications. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but if not treated early and aggressively, children with depression are at risk for major self-esteem issues, low motivation and achievement, relapses of depression throughout life and self-harm. I would strongly encourage you to have your son evaluated by a good child psychiatrist.
Barb,
Check out EmpowerPlus at www.truehope.com.
It has a pretty good track record and of course it's expensive.
But they do list all the ingredients and I've been told by some Heatlh food Store managers that the Vitamin B group works on anxiety. So, maybe the ingredient list will give you some insight on dosages.
Bugz,
I agree -- I think the challenge with many of our children is that they do have co-morbid conditions that feed off of each other and make diagnosis and treatment extremely challenging. So unfortunately, trying one simple drug may not solve the mystery.
On a related note, my son totally gave up on Buspar because he couldn't get past the dizziness side effects, although we know he probably didn't give it long enough. He's also having trouble with Risperdal because he had a day-long headache yesterday and woke up with a full-blown migraine this morning (he already has a dx of migraines for which he is taking prophylactic meds that were working until he started Zoloft a month ago). This med stuff is never easy!
Just a stretch, but maybe there is something else, If one application of levadopa can stop all the problems, you've found the problem. unfortunately that means parkinsons. I would start with simple drugs to try that require one shot.
unfortunately this has nothing to do with your post, but it was just a note that one dose can tell a tale with a few meds, like yours with the ssri and your son.
These dx are so tricky and so dependent on many different areas, it boggles the mind to attempt to try to rationalize a standard symptom dx.
That is probably why so many are anti with it. Because most of this does require trial and error. And they don't get that so many things can affect different areas, and that we are still in the early stages of this dx.
furthermore,,,
I do agree, a doc will only look at his area and be unimpressed with the rest.
We didn't have all this when I was a kid, course in the 1970's things were much different.
bugzappers38661.9656018519 [QUOTE=reality]
So, if the child just quits taking Zoloft and starts taking Buspar.... THE MOODINESS AND ANXIETY HE FEELS WOULD MORE PROBABLY BE "WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS" FROM THE ZOLOFT !!!!!
Why blame Buspar when the "new side effects" are being caused by the old SSRI drug ???[/QUOTE]
This has very little to do with Smallmom's original question. She was asking about Buspar for anxiety and very clearly stated that her son couldn't tolerate Zoloft. The anxiety isnot a result of Zoloft withdrawal; she is attempted to treat anxiety. Buspar is a very good anxiety med, but it does cause some slight lightheadedness for about 30 minutes. That's about it.
I think you should pay more attention to the topic instead of trying to push your agenda. You are not helpful and you are not very accurate in what you profess.
Morpheus38660.8857523148
Morpheus,
"The anxiety isnot a result of Zoloft withdrawal; she is attempted to treat anxiety."
How do you know that ? She hasn't said how long her son was on Zoloft. If he was on it for a few weeks and stopped it abruptly, it is likely that he would have some withdrawal symptoms.
If that's the case, the "moodiness and anxiety" are not caused by the Buspar.
Again, what does it matter if she did tell you?You have NO experience and PUSHING FALSE INFORMATION IS ILLEGAL.
It is called MISREPRESENTATION.
Take this as a last warning before you do wind up in more than you want.
Please stop posting to the boards, your presence is not warranted or needed, and judging from 98% of the responses, NOT WANTED.
Take a hint, I just took your stuff and threw it out the window, you better go get it before it blows away.
someone lock the door.
and no, your not cute, or funny.
Stop pushing od and suicide and other maladies on this board.
People have enough problems without reading questionable material. And NO, YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE. It is all a privilege
[QUOTE=reality]
Morpheus,
"The anxiety isnot a result of Zoloft withdrawal; she is attempted to treat anxiety."
How do you know that ? She hasn't said how long her son was on Zoloft. If he was on it for a few weeks and stopped it abruptly, it is likely that he would have some withdrawal symptoms.
If that's the case, the "moodiness and anxiety" are not caused by the Buspar.
[/QUOTE]Duh. Because the anxiety existed prior to her son's taking Zoloft--that is what she was trying to treat with the Zoloft. The problem she has encountered is not additional anxiety but a refusal to take the Buspar because of a side effect.
You made a connection that wasn't there and you are hijacking this thread as a result.
Morpheus38661.2944907407
I've been avoiding this thread, but I feel compelled to set the record straight. Here's the real story:
My 12-year-old son was dx by a neuropsychologist almost 3 years ago with ADHD and anxiety. His ADHD has been successfully managed by various stimulants, including Concerta and Focalin XR. We attempted to treat his anxiety with two therapists to no avail. Both therapists agreed he would need medication in order to access therapy (very common problem with kids). When he entered middle school (6th grade) in fall 2004, his anxiety skyrocketed as a result of the new larger environment and increased demands. We and his docs worked with him, but he completely shut down last spring, avoiding school and having great difficulty getting homework done (and I might add, he has an IQ in the highly gifted range so these difficulties are not about cognitive ability). He was prescribed Prozac, took one dose and had a major rage reaction in which he trashed his room and broke a window. The prescribing pdoc agreed with us that he should stop taking it. There was no withdrawal because one dose would not cause a buildup of Prozac in his blood stream. My son managed to limp through the rest of 6th grade with no meds, but over the summer we decided the school environment was too large and impersonal so we switched him to a progressive school with small classes and experiential learning. He went to the new school this fall for 7th grade and likes it a lot better, but is still having great difficulty with school avoidance and homework completion. In the meantime, we had switched to a new doc who wanted to give a different SSRI a chance. My son was prescribed Zoloft and took it for 3.5 weeks (titrated very cautiously, starting with 1/4 of a 25 mg tablet). At a dose of 25 mg, he had a major rage reaction in which he trashed the entire house and bruised my husband's ribs when he tried to restrain my son.
There is no question in my mind or our doc's about whether my son can tolerate SSRIs -- he can't! There is also no question that we need to address his underlying anxiety that has probably been there since he was a little boy. Yes, there is increased mood dysregulation following a reaction to an SSRI, but that doesn't mean you ignore it and hope it goes away. In fact, current thinking in the psychiatric community is that you treat the mood dysregulation as if the child has a mood disorder with meds that treat BP (typically a mood stabilizer paired with an atypical antipsychotic like Risperdal). It doesn't mean that the child has BP (in fact, a dx of BP can take as long as 5 years to reach), just that the mood dysregulation merits treatment to settle the child down so that he can attend to the normal activities of childhood (like school!). Our doc chose Risperdal because it works quickly in settling down the rages kids with mood disorders have. In the long term, our doc is expecting to add a med like Depakote, which has greatly helped my 10-year-old daughter who does have a mood disorder. And yes, our doc is being fairly aggressive with my son's treatment because mood disorders are present in our family tree.
Bugzappers, Morpheus and Shakespeare, thank you for your support. Reality, I don't know what your agenda is and I don't even know if you have any kids (but I sincerely doubt it). I do know that if you lived in my house, you wouldn't be so laissez-faire about addressing the major neurological and mental health challenges that my children face. I feel no compulsion to defend myself or my decisions, but I want you to know that my husband and I are thinking parents who seek out the best professional care our major metropolitan area offers. We don't take the advice our docs offer at face value, but rather do our own research and seek out lots of opinions before making educated decisions.
SmallMom38661.3660648148Nice post smallmom and thanks for the additional info. Your household sounds very familiar except that my child is 10. We haven't medicated for the anxiety but instead are trying to get at some of the root causes (we hope) through sensory integration, eye/ear therapy etc. It is like solving a very difficult puzzle without all the pieces and experts always seem to look through their particular specialty's lens--few have the big picture. We too have a son who is highly gifted, but struggling to do well despite tremendous effort on our part to keep everything organized and moving forward.
As I said earlier, Buspar is pretty mild and a good choice. It may not work all that well though so be prepared for that.
You WANT HER TO READ HER STUFF, WHY DON'T YOU READ YOURS, TROLL GO AWAY........ READ IT. there should really be a 6 post limit for you per year.
SmallMom,
Please read the sheet that comes with the prescription. There are warnings in almost every country about abruptly stopping an antidepressant.
There really should be about 6 weeks "free time" between the drugs.
Have YOU ever HAD ONE? I think that is a more appropriate question. NO. You have NO experience and claim to know it all.
Reality,
If you understood ANYTHING about kids, you wouldn't be asking such stupid questions.
Bugs,
Thanks for sticking up for me.
SmallMom38658.8186805556
YOU GO SMALL MOM, LOTS OF SIMULARITIES WE HAVE:
MY SON PICKED UP A COFFEE TABLE TO THROW AT ME....STARTED SHAKING AND SCREAMING....(IT SEEM LIKE IT WOULD NOT END)
OFF TO THE SHRINK WE WENT.
DIAGNOSIS AS OF NOW: ADHD, ODD, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, COULD BE BIPOLAR AND WILL EXCEPT AND TREAT IF NEEDED.
MY SON LOST IT ON TREATMENT WITH A STIMULANT!
THEN WE STARTED TREATMENT OVER
STARTED WITH A MOOD STABILIZER AND THEN
ADDED IN A LOW DOSE STIMULANT AFTER HIS MOOD WAS STABILIZED.
IF WE STILL HAVE PROBLEMS IN THE FUTURE WE CAN ALWAYS DO THE LOW DOSE RISPERIDAL...AS A ADD IN.
