Posted by djsarah on February 19, 2004, at 20:26:25
In reply to Re: Effexor Seroquel for 12y/o with depression, posted by gr8red on February 17, 2004, at 9:47:06
I encourage you to find out everything you can about the medications that your son is on, as well as about his illness and what other ways there are to fight it (i.e., other than and in addition to medication).
According to the Effexor site, Effexor is not approved for children under the age of 18. Please be very careful! There have been recent studies about antidepressant use in minors linking certain drugs to increased tendencies to self-harm and suicide. I myself was put on Paxil at 16 and I can tell you that these studies explained a few things to me about how I felt at that time (I'm now 19 and am preparing to quit Effexor). Make sure the doctor who is prescribing your son's medication really, really knows what he's doing! (Family doctors don't cut it, as far as I'm concerned, there's too much at stake.)
I know that it's very difficult to know how to deal with depression, especially at such a young age. I'd encourage you to find out as much as you can about how exercise, nutrition, etc, affects depression and start some good habits for your son in that regard. Meanwhile proceed with caution with the meds. They do help, just be really careful.
As for how long it lasts or how long he'll have to be on medication, I think it differs for everyone. Don't worry too much about it for now, because only time will tell.
I gotta jet, but please update about how things are going and what you learn about these meds, I'm very interested because of my own experiences.
Best wishes
-sarah
poster:djsarah
thread:314124
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040218/msgs/315866.html