Teens on Meds: Antidepressants

Both my children take prescription medication on a regular basis. There, I said it. I’m not proud nor ashamed of this fact; it is what it is. I resisted it for a long time—not sure if I was in denial that they needed drugs for their issues or if I was afraid of the consequences or outside objections—but what I do know is that my girls have benefited greatly and I don’t regret it.

My younger daughter, as I’ve outlined in this blog, has a history of problems that have seemingly stemmed from a chemical imbalance. As a tot, she was hyper—to the point where I was exhausted. She couldn’t sit still, stop talking, stay close by, or control her impulses. I kept a journal of her behaviors and, when she was four years old, took it to the pediatrician to discuss. During the visit, my daughter climbed on all the furniture, pulled on the doctor’s stethoscope, took supplies out of the drawer…and it was clear we had an issue.

The doctor prescribed Adderall, even though my child was so young. It was almost painful to see how rambunctious she was and how people reacted to her. I was reluctant at first, but agreed to try it. It had a terrible effect on her. She went from active and happy to sedentary and grumpy. It was horrible.

I took her off the meds after two weeks—enough was enough. She also had an issue with her tonsils—they were so enlarged they were touching each other. She had a tonsillectomy, and I swear on her life, she was a different child afterwards. She calmed down, slept well, and seemed totally normal.

It wasn’t until she started her period that her issues with depression surfaced. Poor girl isolated herself and was always so moody and unhappy, more than average. I took her to see a child psychiatrist who confirmed that she was clinically depressed, and she put my daughter on Zoloft at age 12. Oy, that was tough. It initially helped, but she put on a lot of weight and that exacerbated her negative feelings about herself. She stayed on the Zoloft for a few months, but we had to get her off this drug—it wasn’t really effective and I was terrified of all the warnings about children and teens being on antidepressants.

Over the years, we tried so many things: natural supplements, talking therapy, sports camp, living with her father. Nothing helped until age 16. I asked her doctor to put her on my medication, Pristiq. Within weeks, she was noticeably happier, calmer, and clear headed. Unbelievable. She’s been on it for about a year now and she’s been doing so well. It’s been during this time that she has been sobering up and now has two jobs.