Depression in Children Support Group

Hi
Both my daughters are on zoloft. My oldest has been on it since she was 11 and she is now 21. She has OCD. We have tried other antidepressants during the last 10 years when we thought the zoloft wasn't helping with her OCD but always went back to zoloft. It has worked the best. The only side effect she has had was her hands shake a bit. The bad thing with that is she is in an Art college and does alot of drawing. So she has been splitting up her dose and that helps. She is on 150 mg. My other daughter has OCD and depression. It has helped her some but we have somewhat recently discovered in the past year she is having these problems so we are working on the right dose. So far we have tried Luvox, paxil, prozak, abilify, cymbalta, None has worked as well as zoloft. Hope this helps. I know it is scary, I hate my girls on meds. But a very wise friend told me that if they were diabetic they would be on medicine, so try to think if it like that.
hugs
Amy

Thank you so much for your reply. Like you I hated having to have him on meds, especially since he JUST turned 7. I have to say though, aside from restless sleeping things have been pretty good *knock on wood* He has been on this dose for almost a week and I know they say it takes a couple of weeks to notice any sort of change, I can already see some improvement. Maybe just talking about how he was feeling and knowing that he is going to be feeling better, helped a little. Thanks again for sharing your experience with me. I hope things work out well for your daughters! ~shannon

We will be trying Zoloft soon . We tried Abilify and Cymbalta and together they were a disaster but my son suffers from Bipolar/Depression and he absolutely needs an antidepressant. Tomorrow is his 12th birthday and he told me today that he wishes he never had a birthday..that he had never been born. He is really suffering. I pray that the Zoloft helps. I HATE giving him meds too. He is already on Risperadone. But without the help of modern meds, he may not live to be an adult. It is life or death. It would be easier if this disease wasn't so hard to see. If it was, like cancer or diabetes, we would use meds in a heartbeat!

My heart goes out to you and I pray that the Zoloft works for your son. It has made such a huge difference in my son and everyday he seems a little better. I haven't told a lot of people that he is on medication because I don't want to have to defend my decision, but my best friend told me the same thing you said. I am a diabetic and she said to me "If you stop taking your insulin you will die, why is this any different?" She is right. I will keep your son in my prayers and please let me know how things go when you make the switch. Remember you are a great Mom and things will get better!!