What safety measures should you take when your child is using fluoxetine?
This medicine may cause your child to be less alert. Watch your child's activities closely until you see how fluoxetine affects them. You may also have your child avoid tasks that require alertness such as riding a bicycle, rollerblading and contact sports during the start of their treatment with fluoxetine.
Your child can get sunburned more easily. Avoid lots of sun, sunlamps and tanning beds. Use sunscreen, dress your child in protective clothing and encourage them to wear sunglasses.
Do not stop fluoxetine suddenly until you have talked to your child's health-care provider first. The health-care provider may want to slowly decrease the dose of fluoxetine before stopping to prevent withdrawal symptoms (such as nausea, restlessness, trouble sleeping, sweating, dizziness, pins and needles feeling in hands or feet).
Keep your appointments with your child's health-care provider to have your child checked regularly.
There are some medicines that should not be taken together with fluoxetine, or, in some cases, the dose of fluoxetine or the other medicine may need to be adjusted.
It is important that you tell your child's health-care providers, including their pharmacist, if your child takes any other medications (prescription, over the counter or herbal), including:
- other antidepressants or medicines to treat mood disorders (e.g., lithium, amitriptyline, St. John's Wort, tryptophan)
- opioid pain medications (e.g., tramadol, fentanyl, methadone)
- migraine medications (e.g., sumatriptan or rizatriptan)
- heart medications (e.g., amiodarone, flecainide, sotalol)
- antibiotics (e.g., azithromycin, clarithromycin, linezolid)
- anti-fungal medications (e.g., ketoconazole, fluconazole)
- cough and cold medicines containing dextromethorphan
- medications that may affect blood clotting (e.g., warfarin, clopidogrel, apixaban, rivaroxaban, Aspirin, ibuprofen)
