Re: Hi - newbie here with some questions

November 13, 2005

Hi Kristi,

I think medication depends on where your dd is. If life is unbearable for

her, then in the short term, medication may need to be looked at.

My daughter has OCD, TS and SID (we think, we're still learning more), but

none of it is so bad that she can't function ok. So we are trying

everything we can before trying meds. In the hopes that you aren't at a

desparate point, here are a few ideas.

You can look at nutrition. There has been some recent talk (it's in the

archives, in the last few weeks) about magnesium, fish oil, vitamins, etc.

We are eliminating all chemical food dyes, preservatives and additives from

my daughter's diet. We are getting rid of all processed fats (really, all

processed food).

Have you tried decreasing (I mean really decreasing) sugar, especially

processed sugar? And getting rid of all imitation/chemical foods

(preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, etc.)?

Through the care of a homeopathic doctor and an osteopath, we are using

supplements, detoxing, and homeopathy.

Through the care of a therapist, we are trying to have more routines,

especially at bedtime, so that it is a calm, positive time (with 2 little

kids, that can be hard!).

We are also trying to just keep her life calmer. I've read that a very calm

environment can help. No (or little) tv, computer and video games, fewer

toys (as few as possible) and those that they do have in order and put away

every day, a calm room (we no longer have much on the walls and even put

curtains over an open bookshelf). Also, very calm (that doesn't mean

lenient!) parenting. We keep moving in this direction with my kids, and

they do seem calmer. My son, who is 4, is extremely active, and probably

would be labeled ADHD if he were in school (we homeschool, so it won't be an

issue for us).

Basically, the idea is that some kids can't handle input as well, so when

you lower the input, they do better. And here input means any

stimuli--noise, mess, etc.

We got rid of a lot of toys. All broken, junky, unused or multiples were

given away or thrown away. I don't mean like only one car, but my son had 4

train sets, and we kept the Brio set (and the compatible pieces) and gave

away all the other sets. I think it does help the kids, and I know it helps

me.

The calm parenting thing is hard, but I find as I calmy uphold rules, no

matter how upset and un-calm the kids get, it does lead to more calm in the

long run.

I'm still working on all this, but I do believe that kids these days have

too much stimuli.

All that said, if your child is in crises mode, medication might be needed.

While I currently have time to try many new alternative things, if my

daughter were in crises mode, I would be willing to look at medication.

I'm not sure this was exactly what you were looking for, but my daughter is

falling asleep more easily, and I think some of the sleep issues were due to

OCD. We also put a twin bed next to our bed, and she can come in during the

night if she wants, which she often does (although she goes to sleep in her

own bed). But it's helped the night fear.

Good luck.

-- E.

Hi - newbie here with some questions

> Hello.

>

> I'm new to this board and to understanding OCD. Suppose a quick

> introduction would be in order.

>

> My family consists of myself - 36 yrs old, DH-36 yrs old, DD 4.5 yrs

> old and DS 2.5 years old. Our son was diagnosed with autism in

> September, though we've been pretty sure about it since last

> december and began dietary and therapy interventions last winter.

> Our daughter was just diagnosed (by a very reputable child

> psychiatrist) with OCD, severe anxiety disorder and separation

> issues. We were quite familiar with her symptomology, but thought

> we were dealing with Asperger's. Both our kids have high IQ's -

> DD's is substantially so. Again, we attributed her symptoms to

> something like that, along with sensory integration issues. The

> psych feels that her IQ is worsening her symptoms, but not the

> underlying cause. Our family backgrounds are quite unstable

> psychologically - on both sides, though DH and I come across pretty

> well adjusted ;-D It looks like genetics may have provided DD with a

> double-whammy!

>

> While I wanted to join this forum for the support of other parents

> dealing with this (I'm guessing most of us are half-bald from

> tearing our hair out at the irrationality of our kiddo's behavior!),

> I also have a specific question at this point.

>

> Our psych is fairly strongly recommending we consider medicating our

> daughter because her anxiety and OCD symptoms are affecting her

> sleep so substantially. It's been a LONG time since she's had a

> decent nights sleep (which also means it's been a long time for

> us). She wakes up screaming in anger or fear or panic from most of

> her naps and in the middle of the night multiple times (but doesn't

> seem to have nightmares or night terrors). Other than the tension

> and stress of DS being autistic, we've kept her life very calm,

> structured and stable. I am at home with the kids and there just

> haven't been any major events in her life to explain this. She's

> been a fearful, routine-oriented child from the beginning.

>

> But I'm really on the fence about this medication thing. She's so

> young, yet it breaks my heart that she's so on edge all the time.

> For the last several months, she's been shedding hair all over the

> place and my first gut-instinct said " she must be terribly stressed

> out " but how could a kid have that much flight-or-fright going on in

> such a loving environment? So, if meds will help her, we're

> definitely wiling to try them. But are we going to be damaging her

> for life? Will this screw with her development - physical or brain

> chemistry? If it's begun now, does it mean she will need them for

> life? I'm so scared of making the wrong decision now, but I don't

> want her to suffer unnecessarily.

>

> Have any of you used medications with ones so young? Can you offer

> any voices of experience on this?

>

> Thanks in advance!

>

> -Kristi

>

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November 13, 2005

I wish I could go back to when my son was so young and save him from

the years of anxiety he endured - when he began with lexapro his

anxiety melted away, and once the initial side effects wore off he is

left with zero side effects.

It is always possible to reach a good dose level and then after some

time start trying to reduce it to see if so much is really needed.

I believe that there is time lost when the child is so anxious - and

if you can bring the anxiety level down then the child can get to

work on being a child and experiencing life and growing without the

fears and worries.

I wish I could go back.

>

> Hello.

>

> I'm new to this board and to understanding OCD. Suppose a quick

> introduction would be in order.

>

> My family consists of myself - 36 yrs old, DH-36 yrs old, DD 4.5

yrs