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Teen scared of taking Fluoxetine

Imogen

Hello my autistic 16 year old son has recently been diagnosed with GAD and PTSD. It’s been a difficult journey to get support - he’s been too anxious to engage with therapy and been off school for some time and missed the whole of year 11.  The hope is that the meds might help him enough to start to engage in life again and eventually access the therapy he needs. 
However, having read about the side effects he is just terrified of how he might feel if he takes the meds. He has lots of sensory issues around feeling nauseous had some general issues with his body and feeling uncomfortable. Although rationally he can understand that he might feel better he’d rather just stick with how he is than risk being the person who gets all the side effects. He is happy to take other medication such as painkillers and antibiotics but feels very different about this. 
I’ve told him he doesn’t have to take them and to think about it/wait until he’s ready. But I can’t help feeling frustrated.

Has anyone else experienced this or got any advice on how he might be encouraged to try the meds? 

Thank you Blush

Parents

  • Not medical advice as I am not qualified but I think he is right to be wary of this. Autistic people do often have different reactions to meds, and I have read multiple times on this forum that we often react badly to antidepressants. Not always, but enough that I am glad I never tried them!

    However, I have read we seem to have better results from anti-anxiety meds. I am surprised he has been prescribed an anti-depressant rather than those as his symptoms seem to be anxiety rather than depression! If I were you, I would look into that, find out why they preferred antidepressants to anti-anxiety (they might just be cheaper...) and whether it is possible for your son to have anti-anxiety meds instead. Sorry, I do not recall the names of any of these meds, you could search the threads, or hope someone with actual experience says something.

Reply

  • Not medical advice as I am not qualified but I think he is right to be wary of this. Autistic people do often have different reactions to meds, and I have read multiple times on this forum that we often react badly to antidepressants. Not always, but enough that I am glad I never tried them!

    However, I have read we seem to have better results from anti-anxiety meds. I am surprised he has been prescribed an anti-depressant rather than those as his symptoms seem to be anxiety rather than depression! If I were you, I would look into that, find out why they preferred antidepressants to anti-anxiety (they might just be cheaper...) and whether it is possible for your son to have anti-anxiety meds instead. Sorry, I do not recall the names of any of these meds, you could search the threads, or hope someone with actual experience says something.

Children
  • in reply to AuTriker

    It might technically be an antidepressant, but SSRIs are generally the first option for anxiety disorders as they can help a lot with that.