I have an 11 year old son with Asperger's Syndrome. Over the last 2-3 years, his ability to control his anger and frutration is getting more and more difficult for him to handle. We went to a psychiatrist because of this and he prescribed Zoloft for our son's anxiety. Has anyone had any experience with this medication in children? What kind of side effects, if any, were noticed? Did it help? Any information would be very useful.

I don't have any experience with Zoloft in children, but wanted to say hello and tell you about the Autism board. There are lots of moms and dads there and could better answer your question. Many of them have children with Asperger's, and there are some adults with Asperger's there. My son is almost 5 and was diagnosed with Autism a little over 2 years ago, but his teacher thinks his diagnosis may be changed to Asperger's. Please join us on the Autism boards, it's great there. Lots of support and understanding. :)

Brandy

Thanks for the info! I will definitely check the autism board out. It helps to have outside input on this roller coaster ride.

I've been on Zoloft when I was 11 and it seemed to help my periods of extreme rage. I would at any point lose control and my dad would take me down with all his weight until I would calm down and I honestly never remembered anything I did or said for hours. The Zoloft seemed to help reduce these issues greatly and I only had an event once or twice after starting the drug. So with that said I'm thinking the docs know what they are doing because my parents begged them to find something for this or they would have had to put me into a hospital so I couldn't hurt myself or them. These are years I would rather not remember but as I can't forget them I might as well try and help in whatever way I can.

Thanks for sharing. I started him on it Yesterday, & I expected to not see any results for several days, but I saw an immediate change. He was very calm and agreeable all day & even as we speak he is playing a video game with a friend who tends to get on his nerves (which she is doing now!) but he is talking to her in a very calm manner (although an annoyed tone). Before this would have had him growling and roaring like a lion! The Dr. said I should watch him closely since some people show increased risk of suicide, & he did have an (ineffective) incindent recently, so I'm just waiting before I breath a big sigh of relief!

Thanks for sharing. I started him on it Yesterday, & I expected to not see any results for several days, but I saw an immediate change. He was very calm and agreeable all day & even as we speak he is playing a video game with a friend who tends to get on his nerves (which she is doing now!) but he is talking to her in a very calm manner (although an annoyed tone). Before this would have had him growling and roaring like a lion! The Dr. said I should watch him closely since some people show increased risk of suicide, & he did have an (ineffective) incindent recently, so I'm just waiting before I breath a big sigh of relief!

Oh yes always watch him on this drug even after months. I had tons and tons of thoughts about killing myself on this drug even years after but I was lucky enough to have enough self control to not act on those thoughts. Also my rage pretty much went away after the 4th day of treatment on this drug and I also got annoyed and still made many many many smart remarks with foul words but again that was better than pure rage. I still felt ticked off all the time but nothing more came of it beyond that.

I have to admit I was one testing, bitchy and pretty much pissed off little kid and even worse as a teenager. My father was smart enough not to give me access to a car though as I might have killed myself with it because a screwed up kid in a rage that is a young driver isn't just like jumping off the skyway bridge. Its very stupid is what it is.

Well, today was another great day. Not one outburst - things that would normally send him through the roof, he just laughed at. I'm glad you mentioned the suicidal thoughts, and as much as I am pleased that he's more calm, I don't know which is more nerve racking: the anger or the possibility of him having those thoughts. One day at a time!

Well, today was another great day. Not one outburst - things that would normally send him through the roof, he just laughed at. I'm glad you mentioned the suicidal thoughts, and as much as I am pleased that he's more calm, I don't know which is more nerve racking: the anger or the possibility of him having those thoughts. One day at a time!

I know this doesn't quite help you and I also know that cases are different so my feelings on myself might turn out differently with someone else. But with that said I can say I would have been worse off without the meds compared to the meds side effects which do include those thoughts. I might have done something very bad without even knowing it so its all how you look at it. Most of my thoughts though by the way had todo with killing myself because I couldn't stand to live with the thought I might do harm to my family without even knowing it or having the ability to stop it. That can really mess with your mind very badly.

That's interesting to know. I don't know that my son has any awareness yet of why he might have had those thoughts. Because of the Asperger's he has a very hard time putting a name to any emotion he is feeling, so we are working on getting that worked out. Maybe as he matures, he can verbalize those feelings as well.

That's interesting to know. I don't know that my son has any awareness yet of why he might have had those thoughts. Because of the Asperger's he has a very hard time putting a name to any emotion he is feeling, so we are working on getting that worked out. Maybe as he matures, he can verbalize those feelings as well.

Sorry but I overlooked the Asperger's issue so with that said I would strongly suggest you keep a closer eye for anything that changes from the norm. So if he is always edgy (even after being on the meds) and suddenly is no longer edgy pay attention to this. For example I had a two week period where my self worth just hit bottom and I didn't care anymore so of course I wasn't edgy anymore as I lost all of my emotion as it didn't matter anymore. My parents noticed this and and put me into the hospital as they couldn't stay home all day with me. I'm not trying to scare you but these issues might occur with many drugs and not just this one and if it even goes this far you will thank yourself for reading this stuff from everyone.

Just focus on anything sudden that is far off from what is normal. So if your child is calm and doesn't really seekout trouble (ie shy) and suddenly becomes edgy and tries to seekout trouble (ie not shy anymore) that is a sign. In most cases it goes from a child being edgy and such to not being this way anymore and most parents think their child is now doing better and they never think otherwise. Its not their faults but we can't help if that is the truth which is why education is so vital.

Again I doubt these things will be an issue with your son but again as I've said its better to be prepared when you need to be most.

Just to let you know that the close monitoring for ANY sudden changes in the normal behavior is very crucial as the SSRI use in children and teens can actually cause a huge list of really awful side effect/behavior responses.this happened when my son started prozac.this med totally and completely changed our normal caring funloving child who really just loved to make people laugh and just loved his dog to death,into this horrible cold uncaring angry angry child who just totally ignored his poor dog.i kept telling his docs that I thought his problems were being caused by his meds but kept on just being told that it wasn't really possible(this was about five years ago by the way).we went thru the year from absolute hell with this til we finally found the right mental health facility with a great knowledgeable phsyc doc who knew without a doubt that our son was indeed being seriously affected by the SSRIs he had been on.god,when they got him off that crap and onto a mood stabilizer,we actually had our normal son back.

all of the new black box warnings that you now see with the Rxing info on this med,was exactly what my son went thru.it was always exactly two weeks after they either upped the dosage of the current SSRI or when they would switch him to yet another one that these anger explosions from hellwould happen.you just never knew what was going to just set him off.this usually ended up with a call to the police just to try and defuse the situation and get him back to the ER.what a flippinnightmare that was.

I am just telling you this from one mom to another,please watch him very very closely,K?and tell his doc about any new changes in his normal personality.this could be crucial down theroad.

i am just kind of suprised they would actually give him an SSRI to try and 'calm" anger when in many cases,in kids,it can actually cause the other extreme.using a good mood stabilizer if the zoloft ends up fizzling out on him or he should start exhibiting more aggressive behavior again,is always a good option.it has worked wonders for our son.its just good to have HIM back again.and his dog is also very very pleased too.good luck with this i hope things continue as they are now.Marcia