ADHD/ANXIETY/Meds

[BercotP]

My 11 yr old son does suffer from anxiety. He is currently seeing a therapist and a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. We have not tried stimulants due to his anxiety (only non stimulants which dropped his blood pressure too low so we stopped those) we have him on 10mg ‘s of Prozac which just takes the edge off. We have tried to increase but it was not a good outcome. He is still struggling in school with non stop talking and not staying focused.

Question: has anyone tried their child on Prozac with a stimulant for their ADHD? If so, could you share the outcome?

I’m not sure my sons doctor would agree to go this route but I am thinking about asking.

Thank you!

[Pennywink]

Hopefully someone else can give a more knowledgeable answer specifically about Prozac w/ stimulants, however it is fairly common practice to pair stimulants with another medication - either to treat comorbidities or to balance out stimulant side effects.

Who is your prescribing physician?

[BercotP in reply to Pennywink]

Thank you for your response. Our insurance is with Kaiser; the prescribing doctor is in Child Psychology.

[Pennywink in reply to BercotP]

Awesome - many people here recommend a psychiatrist over a pediatrician if medication is getting tricky.

Stimulants will usually yield the best results in treating ADHD symptoms, and some studies report that some children see a decrease of anxiety issues on stimulants, as the stimulant helps them to control it. My son has Tourette and minor Anxiety, so we also tried non-stimulants first, but without much luck. Now he is on 20 mg of Metadate CD, and his ADHD is much improved, without worsening his tics or anxiety.

Strattera seemed to do the most for my son's anxiety, but he became very mean-spirited, so we stopped it. We also tried guanfacine alone, which calmed his body, but flattened his personality a little and didn't help with focus at all. As guanfacine is also a first line treatment for kids with tic disorders, I suspect we will one day combine a stimulant with guanfacine to get the best of both world's & hopefully balance each other's side effects.

Best of luck!

[Cjkchamp]

They wanted to put my son on Prozac in combination with Focalin. I opted not to and went with the psychiatrists other recommendation of broad spectrum micronutrients. If you have the means to pay for them I highly suggest their consideration. They take a while to work as the psychiatrist starts them off low and increases. We didn’t see the difference until my son hit a half dose.

[Sframe1]

My 14 yr old son takes 20mg Prozac and 20mg Vyvanse. His anxiety has definitely improved, but his inattentive adhd is still somewhat of a struggle. He does fine in the morning, but in the afternoon the wheels come off.

[BercotP in reply to Sframe1]

Is Vyvanse a stimulant?

[Sframe1 in reply to BercotP]

Yes

[Hidden]

My son is on a non-stim plus anxiety med. He doesn't function well on stimulant meds but the non-stim works well. The combo has worked well for him up till now..

His anxiety however is getting worse, so I have a call into the doctor about increasing his dosage or changing his med. The anxiety is causing major issues.

[BercotP in reply to Hidden]

That’s where we are at as well. We have tried several non-stimulants with no luck. His anxiety is becoming an issue at school as well as his focus and the non stop talking. I think his teacher is about to go bananas! May I ask what anxiety meds your son is on? My son has had such a difficult week, I feel so bad for him. I need to help him so he feels good and can enjoy school again.

[Hidden in reply to BercotP]

Son is doing zoloft for anxiety. We see dr next week and I am hoping for either an increase or maybe a new anxiety med. Current situation isn't quite right yet.

The med game is so much more complex than most people realize. We have never encountered the zombie effect and have struggled for years to find right combo. Then within months of the right balance, it falls out of whack. Doesn't help my kids have food allergies/intolerances that extends into med.

[Kyla_09]

I am 15 and been recently diagnosed with adhd, I understand the struggle with the meds. I’m on vyvance 50mg and I’ve noticed my adhd is a lot more handable but anxiety worse, I’m being put on antidepressants in a couple days for my anxiety, if you find the best adhd medicine you can work better with the anxiety because it will be different with the adhd meds. I hope I was able to put some input

[BercotP in reply to Kyla_09]

Hi Kyla_09,

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This is very helpful and I appreciate your insight. My son is 11, he is currently taking Prozac for his anxiety, which helps take the edge off. We talked to his doctor about trying a stimulant as a non-stimulant dropped his blood pressure way too low. He is struggling in class more so as of late. So, doctor gave us Adderall, but my son is aware of possible side effects and has told us he does not want to try it :/ He’s sacred. Any advice on how we can encourage him to try just 1 day without him feeling like we are pushing????

[Kyla_09 in reply to BercotP]

I have to say, let him read this,

I understand you don’t like meds or see all the side affects, but most of those wear off after a week. The first day there isn’t much sign of side affects, it may feel off but your normal feeling isn’t the “normal” to regular people, with me I had it the side affects start after day 3 if you don’t want the med that’s totally okay, but testing it out and still saying you don’t like it that’s the best way! And it’s great if you like the meds! ( p.s. sometimes there’s a score of ice cream for snacks)

[BercotP in reply to Kyla_09]

Thank you so much for your help! He finally agreed to try it this morning. He’s feeling pretty tired. We did go to Knotts Berry Farm yesterday so he may be tired from that. Will see how he’s doing tomorrow 😃😉👍🏻

[Pennywink in reply to BercotP]

My son was also tired his first few weeks on stimulants. Nothing extreme or worrisome. After a few weeks, his body adjusted.

[Schmoopy15]

I am on it right now and things are going great so far.