Anxiety Disorders in Children Support Group

Childhood","This community is for parents and caregivers of children who exhibit signs of anxiety. Anxiety refers to a complex combination of negative emotions that includes fear, apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and/or shortness of breath."

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Children's Mental Health
/ Anxiety Disorders in Children Support Group

anxiety meds and insomnia and appetite

darcye
darcye
My daughter is 10 and has been dealing with anxiety for 2 years now. We have been trying different meds on and off trying to get the right mix. Right now she is on Prozac 10mg, Wellbutrin long acting 100mg twice a day and .5mg of Intuniv for OCD symptoms and insomnia. My problem is, she is wonderful on Prozac... BUT... it increases her appetite pretty severely. She is over weight to begin with or I just wouldn't worry about it. The pediatric psychiatrist we saw increased and changed her wellbutrin to a higher dose and long acting hoping to counter act this. Does anyone else have any issues with this? Also, she has been dealing with insomnia for the last month or so. I have tried meletonin and other natural sleep aids, but they just don't do much. I have given her a small dose of over the counter sleep aid and she is able to sleep sooooo much better I worry about her getting dependent on this, but i kinda feel like the pros outweigh the cons right now. Any suggestions? Experiences?
Rochelle43
Rochelle43
My daughter had TERRIBLE insomnia in the beginning of her anxiety venture. I resorted to Benadryl, because I was so exhausted and needed some sleep! The problem is that it wore off ans she would still get up in the night. Melatonin didn't work for us either, by the way. Anyway, we finally had to ask for something for it, because it was SO bad. She is on trazodone right now, which the psych doc told us was not addicting..................so I'm counting on it not being. Supposedly she can take it just once in a while or every night. She takes it every night. It has mad a huge difference for us, although some of the insomnia is coming back. She tends to have problems 1-2 times per week. Most of the time it is when she has a busy week and just can't get it out of her mind. She also has a hard time when she knows she won't have much free time because of so much going on. So...............yes, the trazodone has helped us, but we do still have occasional issues. I will still take this over what I dealt with before, though. I couldn't even function it was so bad:( And she couldn't either!

I don't have experience with the weight issue. My daughter did gain some weight on the Wellbutrin. That's what she is still on. Then again, she was pretty much a rail before, because of so gosh darn much anxiety and us not knowing at the time what was going on. She had lost a ton of weight so we were happy she gained. Hopefully someone will be able to help you more with this part of your question! If my daughter's weight gain continues I think I will be concerned like you as well.

Please keep us posted. I hope you find your answers.