Mom sparks fierce debate after medicating her son, 7, with powerful antidepressant
In an op-ed, Sydni Ellis said she had spent much of her son's seven years fretting over his persistent worrying over peculiar and mundane things.
Some of his anxious thoughts included: How does home insurance work? If the house burns down, will we still be able to pay for toys? Will a monster get me as I walk across the house to my bedroom? Why does my heart feel broken?
He had been exhibiting signs of anxiety for years, clinging to his mother and father in public places, having trouble sleeping, struggling to focus in class, as well as 'explosive' outbursts and bouts of irritability.
She enrolled her son in biweekly talk therapy - but when that didn't work his doctor suggested Zoloft, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).
'I agreed immediately, never predicting that his reaction to the medicine would shock me as much as it did,' she said.
The ongoing debate about the merits of prescribing SSRIs to children centers around their side effects: numbness, sexual dysfunction and, in rare cases, suicidal thoughts.
A 2015 study by psychiatrists in the UK found the 'impact of SSRIs on the developing adolescent brain, however, remains unclear.'
But those same physicians added that 'overall, SSRIs show clinical benefits that we judge to outweigh the risks to neurodevelopment and are an important therapeutic choice in the treatment of moderate to severe adolescent depression.'
Ellis' son has thrived on the medication, finally regaining the ability to have a normal childhood, she said in Business Insider.
The little boy, one of roughly 10 percent of children who suffer from anxiety, was lighter, sillier, and more engaged with his family.
While SSRIs are a first-line treatment for depression and anxiety, they are typically only prescribed when used alongside some type of talk therapy and her son still continued with his twice-a-month therapy sessions.
Ellis said: 'The weight of the world, which used to seem as permanent as his left arm, simply fell off his shoulders.
'It was like he had been given permission to just be a kid again, and it broke my heart to see how much he must have been suffering before.
'Medicine didn't change him or give him a personality transplant. It simply allowed who he was to float to the surface because waves of anxiety, worries, and fear were no longer dragging him down,' she said.
Medications for mood disorders are exceedingly common.
Around 13 percent of adults have a prescription for antidepressants, such as Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, and Paxil.
And roughly 500,000 children in the US take one of these drugs, which are FDA-approved for use in children as young as six.
Most parents debating the issue see medicating children for severe anxiety as a worthy option.
One parent said on Reddit that her daughter 'has a much easier time at night now - not seeing scary things and no melt downs at night and crying about not wanting to go to school. Her intrusive thoughts were reduced.'
Another said: 'It took awhile to find the right [medicine] but it has been life changing. He doesn't even need most of his IEP [Individualized Education Program] accommodations anymore, and he has his first friend.'
But not every parent – or pediatrician – is convinced.
Another mother on Reddit said: 'We really were leaning toward starting our 6 yr old on one but the [doctor] wasn't sure about starting it so early so we are doing low dose Ritalin [a drug used to treat ADHD] and hoping treating one will help with the other.'
A second posted: 'As we started treating my 6yo's ADHD (stimulants, guanfacine so far) it became clear that anxiety is a significant comorbidity for him.
'But it doesn't seem like there are a ton of good anxiolytic options out there for kids (I am nervous of SSRIs because of the black box warning, which affected me when I took SSRIs as a teen a million years ago).'
A Black Box Warning is the most serious warning the FDA requires drug companies to put on a prescription label, alerting patients of an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, adolescents, and young adults (up to age 24) with major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders.
Children under 18 tend to have a higher risk of suicidality, particularly during the first three months of treatment or after dose changes.
A third mother added: 'I'm nervous for SSRIs as well. I first took them when I was a teen and I'm pretty sure it's permanently screwed up my brain. Also, killed my libido, and even when I got off it never returned. I'd hate for that to happen to my child.'
A 2022 meta-analysis of studies on the topic found that SSRI use was linked to a 28 percent increased risk of suicide attempts. However, completed suicides did not show a statistically significant increase.
The researchers added a major caveat, though: Evidence of SSRIs and suicidality in youth is not entirely clear-cut, despite the observed increased risk of suicide attempts.
Some studies show a significant increase in suicide attempts, while others (especially the gold-standard randomized control trials) find no statistically significant link.
Less severe side effects such as dry mouth, constipation, fatigue, vomiting, decreased appetite and trouble sleeping, can be more common.
But, Ellis was ready to try anything with a proven track record of helping children like her son.
His suffering was ever-present and crushing. His chronic anxiety was robbing him of his right to a vibrant childhood.
She said: 'My stressed-out, always worrying, prone-to-meltdown-having boy felt lighter. It was like he was made of helium, floating through the house, giggling, playing with our family dog, letting his little brothers go first.
'For the first time in years, he is a carefree kid, and I couldn't be happier for him.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr to remove preservative thimerosal from all US vaccines
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, will formally require vaccine makers to remove thimerosal from vaccines. The ingredient has been the target of anti-vaccine campaigns and misinformation for decades. Arguments against the preservative culminated in June, when a key federal vaccine advisory panel, remade with Kennedy's ideological allies, recommended against the preservative. The recommendation goes into force upon Kennedy's signature. There is no evidence thimerosal has caused harm, despite decades of use. The ethylmercury-based preservative was used in only about 5% adult influenza vaccines in the US, helping prevent contamination in multi-dose vials. 'After more than two decades of delay, this action fulfills a long-overdue promise to protect our most vulnerable populations from unnecessary mercury exposure,' Kennedy said in a statement announcing the decision. 'Injecting any amount of mercury into children when safe, mercury-free alternatives exist defies common sense and public health responsibility. Today, we put safety first,' said Kennedy. Thimerosal is an ethylmercury-based preservative – different from the kind of mercury found in seafood, called methylmercury. Ethylmercury has a shorter half-life in the body. The amount of ethylmercury contained in a flu vaccine (25 micrograms) is about half of that contained in a 3oz serving of canned tuna fish (40 micrograms). The preservative has been used in vaccines since before the second world war. It was controversially phased out of most childhood vaccines in 1999, physicians associations said as a precautionary measure, and was contained in only a very small number of adult vaccines. Phasing out the preservative in the early 2000s was criticized by experts who argued scientific evidence did not support its removal, that it sent mixed messages and that it provided a talking point for anti-vaccine campaigners. Indeed, the preservative was targeted for years to come. That criticism came to a head in June, after Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) advisory committee on immunization practices, a federal panel that was a critical link in the vaccine distribution pipeline. Kennedy replaced the experts with eight hand-picked allies, including one directly from the anti-vaccine movement. Eventually, one appointee dropped out after a conflict of interest review. The vaccine advisory panel voted in favor of removing thimerosal on a 5-1 vote (with one abstention) after a controversial presentation from Lyn Redwood, a former leader of World Mercury Project, the predecessor to Kennedy's group Children's Health Defense, itself a prolific anti-vaccine campaign group. Redwood's presentation had to be updated after it was found to contain a link to a study that did not exist. One of Kennedy's vaccine advisers said during the meeting that a presentation from career scientists at the CDC, which laid out thimerosal's safety, was pulled by the secretary's office. The director of the CDC is required to sign off on the vaccine advisory committee's recommendations. Because there is not presently a Senate-confirmed CDC director, Kennedy acts as head of the CDC. The decision to remove thimerosal from all vaccines in the US will also probably complicate the global picture for vaccine makers. 'With the US now removing mercury from all vaccines, we urge global health authorities to follow this prudent example for the protection of children worldwide,' Kennedy said.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Doctors dismissed woman's common symptoms for months... until they discovered she had a deadly colon cancer
A Pennsylvania woman was diagnosed with deadly cancer after being dismissed by doctors. Rylie Toomey, 27, was in the midst of planning her wedding and training for a half marathon when she was struck with unbearable abdominal pain in October 2024. She rushed to the hospital, where doctors performed a CT scan and insisted she was just constipated before sending her home. Doctors told her the same thing when she returned every few months for testing, until she ended up in the emergency department screaming in pain this past April. She was also suffering from a fever. She said: 'In my head I was like, I think I'm going to die - that's how much pain I was in. 'I felt like I was being stabbed, and my belly was super bloated, too. It felt like I was just going to explode.' Toomey had suffered a perforated bowel, meaning there was a hole in her intestinal wall. During that hospital visit, another CT scan detected stage four colon cancer that had spread to her liver and lungs - and she became one of the thousands of young Americans who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer despite living healthy lives. Toomey told 'When you hear, "You have cancer," you're just like, that can't be right. That can't be me because leading up to this, I was so healthy. 'To hear that I had colon cancer just didn't make sense, just because you feel like colon cancer is linked to unhealthy people or people who eat unhealthy or the elderly. 'I just was not expecting that at all.' The American Cancer Society estimates over 154,000 Americans will be stuck by colorectal cancer this year, including about 20,000 under 50. While this is roughly in line with two decades ago, the disease is rising sharply in younger groups. From 1999 to 2018, the rate of colorectal cancer in the under-50 population rose from 8.6 cases per 100,000 people to 13 cases per 100,000 people. Colorectal cancer diagnoses in 20- to 34-year-olds is set to increase by 90 percent between 2010 and 2030, and rates for teenagers have surged 500 percent since the early 2000s. Lifestyle factors like diet, lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle have all been blamed, though these causes fail to explain why physically fit people like Toomey have increasingly been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The latest evidence, published in April, also suggests childhood exposure to a toxin released by E. coli bacteria could increase the risk of colorectal cancer by triggering inflammation and altering the balance of the gut microbiome. Marijuana was also linked to colorectal cancer in a recent study, as it is thought to block tumor-suppressing cells. Toomey told that she regularly plays lacrosse, runs and cycles and sticks to a healthy diet. She also has no family history of colon cancer. About one in five colorectal cancer patients are diagnosed like Toomey, after a bowel-related emergency often caused by the tumor growing, recent research shows. Toomey is now receiving chemotherapy every two weeks and regular immunotherapy infusions, with eight treatments left. Treatment forced her to push back her wedding, which was supposed to take place last month, and schedule it for June 2026. She said: 'It's definitely something that keeps me going right now. It's kind of hard to stay positive in situations like this, but this is something that's bringing me joy and keeping me going.' Friends have set up a GoFundMe page for medical expenses. Toomey is also urging other young people with symptoms to get checked out immediately and push for answers, even if doctors are dismissive. She said: 'I just don't want anybody to ever go through something like this. I think this happened for a reason so I can help others.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Common virus that affects 124million Americans may contribute to debilitating multiple sclerosis
About one in two adults is infected with a virus that can cause cold sores, fever and blisters in the mouth. But now, researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) suggest that oral herpes, caused by herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), could also raise the risk of suffering from the life-altering condition multiple sclerosis. In a new study, scientists gene-edited mice not to produce a protein called optineurin, which plays a role in defending the body against herpes infections, and then infected the mice with the virus. The infection led to the rapid degradation of the myelin sheath, a protective coating on nerve fibers. This caused mice to suffer MS-like symptoms, such as muscle weakness, loss of movement and the ability to coordinate muscles. This mirrors the process observed in individuals with multiple sclerosis, where the myelin sheath also degrades because the immune system misfires and starts to attack the area. The scientists say their findings could indicate a link between HSV-1, which is different from the HSV-2 virus that causes genital herpes, and MS. Dr Deepak Shukla, a professor of molecular virology at UIC and the study's lead, said: 'Our findings enhance our understanding of how viruses develop and offer potential avenues for mitigating viral-induced [nerve cell] damage. 'If you are infected, then your immune system is constantly locked in battle with the virus. And if for any reason you become immunocompromised, the virus can escape and damage your brain.' Oral herpes is an extremely common condition that infects about 47 percent of adults, according to the CDC, or 124million people. The virus is spread via sexual contact, such as kissing and oral sex, and is incurable, normally lying dormant and triggering occasional flare-ups of sores on and around the mouth and lips. In cells, it is controlled by the protein optineurin, which stops an infection from spreading and protects against any potential myelin sheath damage. Scientists have previously established that one of the biggest risk factors for MS is an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a virus that has infected 95 percent of adults and which is estimated to raise the risk of MS by 30 percent. And other herpes viruses, like the ones that cause chickenpox, shingles, and human herpes virus 6, have also been linked to the onset and worsening of MS, which affects 1 million Americans. And MS is a debilitating, incurable autoimmune condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and leaves people with mobility issues, memory loss and fatigue. In earlier studies, Dr Shukla's team found that HSV-1 triggered a strong immune response in the brains of mice, causing memory problems, poor coordination, and anxiety. They also discovered that the protein optineurin helps fight the virus by slowing its growth and spread. In the latest study, researchers infected mice that could not produce the protein with the oral herpes virus in their eyes. As seen in earlier cell tests, mice without optineurin had higher infection rates after four days. The researchers also found that a protein called MLKL, or Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like protein, which is made by the body during cell death, boosted HSV-1 infections in the absence of optineurin. Researchers said the protein facilitated the transportation of the virus into a cell's nucleus, speeding an infection, and optineurin controlled HSV-1 infection by triggering the deterioration of MLKL. Imaging studies revealed extensive clumping, or aggregation, of MLKL in the brains of optineurin-lacking mice, but not in control mice, in response to HSV-1 infection. Also, these clumps appeared to trigger the death of myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, or cells that create armor, or the myelin sheath, around neurons. Without the sheath, the nervous system was left vulnerable to damage. The resulting damage disrupts the communication between the brain and the rest of the body, leading to the various symptoms associated with MS, such as weakness in the legs, fatigue, coordination problems, cognitive changes, and pain. Identifying this protein offers a new target for multiple sclerosis therapies. Already, Shukla's lab has demonstrated that necrosulfonamide, which inhibits optineurin, can preserve nerve function in animal models. Studies like these provide hope for the future of MS, and bring about the potential to enable earlier intervention or a possible cure.
