Hi,
This is a great question that I am looking into, and wanted to provide some of my preliminary findings from the medical literature. I will include the references I use, so you can continue with the research as well.
I am also interested to learn what your daughter's doctor has mentioned as far as long-term consequences of taking SSRI's in children under the age of 18. How many doctors is your daughter seeing currently? You mentioned she is receiving CBT, cognitive behavior therapy.
So far, the adverse effects of SSRIs that I have read include short-term effects only, including "suicidal ideation, conduct problems, aggression". Depending on the study, this increased effect was minimal (2%-5% in children) and up to 25% of children in any specific study.
The other concern in the literature is the "high placebo rate of SSRIs" (for depression), and I am looking to see if the same is true for OCD patients as well. (high placebo rates mean that patients responded equally as well when taking the medication, compared with taking a placebo or inactive medication).
I have not yet found any adverse effects in children that include your concerns (long-term effects on growth and development), but will keep searching and post again later today, along with all of the article references.
In the meantime, can you tell us what your daughter's doctor(s) have said regarding possible treatment effects?
Also, did your daughter's doctor indicate how long she would be taking this medication? The only "long-term" study I have found (to this point) is related to the "long-term treatment" of one particular SSRI, and "long-term use" was defined as 52 weeks. This study was looking at remission rates (not adverse effects), and found children had greater remission rates of OCD after treatment (compared to adolescents).
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Hi,
This is a great question that I am looking into, and wanted to provide some of my preliminary findings from the medical literature. I will include the references I use, so you can continue with the research as well.
I am also interested to learn what your daughter's doctor has mentioned as far as long-term consequences of taking SSRI's in children under the age of 18. How many doctors is your daughter seeing currently? You mentioned she is receiving CBT, cognitive behavior therapy.
So far, the adverse effects of SSRIs that I have read include short-term effects only, including "suicidal ideation, conduct problems, aggression". Depending on the study, this increased effect was minimal (2%-5% in children) and up to 25% of children in any specific study.
The other concern in the literature is the "high placebo rate of SSRIs" (for depression), and I am looking to see if the same is true for OCD patients as well. (high placebo rates mean that patients responded equally as well when taking the medication, compared with taking a placebo or inactive medication).
I have not yet found any adverse effects in children that include your concerns (long-term effects on growth and development), but will keep searching and post again later today, along with all of the article references.
In the meantime, can you tell us what your daughter's doctor(s) have said regarding possible treatment effects?
Also, did your daughter's doctor indicate how long she would be taking this medication? The only "long-term" study I have found (to this point) is related to the "long-term treatment" of one particular SSRI, and "long-term use" was defined as 52 weeks. This study was looking at remission rates (not adverse effects), and found children had greater remission rates of OCD after treatment (compared to adolescents).
July 18, 2010 - 6:29amThis Comment
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