Re: Hi I am new.. Need help

[Guest guest]

I can not help with anything here as I am only new to this as well.... but just

wanted to say HI and am sure someone will be able to offer more info soon. It is

a wonderful site, and even though I don't contribute much I have learnt so much.

{{HUGS}} Jaxx (New Zealand)

[Guest guest]

,

I never dealt with the " poison " , but I 'm sure some others here may have.

I know how you feel about being a single mom to an ocd child though. You have

to use every ounce of energy in your body every second of the day. They just

suck the life right out of you!(lol)

Sometimes hospitalization is not such a bad thing. I know it is hard, but when

your child is acting paranoid, it might be time for you to consider it. He will

hopefully get the help he needs.They can stabilize him, get him the the correct

meds and dosage and start him on the therapy he needs.

hugs

Judy

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I really feel for you. I wish I could offer advice, but I have little

experience - my son was diagnosed

with OCD just a few days ago. It must be incredibly painful to know that

you are part of your son's fear, and awful for your son to feel unsafe in

his own home, the one place where he should feel safe. Is your son seeing a

psychiatrist who specializes in pediatric anxiety disorders? With such

debilitating, life-encompassing fears, there must be more that can be done

to help him besides regular talk-therapy and medication. I would look

around for the best, most qualified pediatric psychiatrist in your area.

Take special care of yourself too. Hang in there.

Tamara

[Guest guest]

Susie

You poor thing! I can't even begin to imagine how hard your days must be.

You mention your son is in therapy, but nothing 'specialized'. Have you

tried to find a doc who works specifically with OCD patients? That is what you

really need to do.

Have you checked out the OCFoundation website? There is some great

information on there. They can also offer you a list of doctors that treat OCD

in

your area. Can I ask where you're located? There are some websites that have

directories to search for doctors in your area too... I'm going to send a few

links in a separate email.

Regarding your doc wanting to hospitalize your son -- I must say, knowing

what I do know & have read about OCD treatment, I would only hesitate if the

doctor he's seeing is not truly, specifically qualified to treat OCD. So many

doctors misunderstand this disorder if they don't have the proper training to

deal with it. Again - this is just my opinion.

You mention your son doesn't shower at home & mostly won't eat at home

either.... where does he go to do these things? You must have some very

understanding neighbors/friends!

LT

[Guest guest]

Hi . Welcome to the boards! I have been away for a while with just family

stuff so I have not met you yet.

I too have an issue with poison in my home. My middle child, Reese, thinks

that she is going to get poisoned by a lot of things. Clorox wipes, Laundry

detergent, Dishwasher detergant, just to name a couple. It is an ordeal to

spray the house for ants (we live in the deep south where ants are a major

problem when it rains, shines, is too hot or too cold...see my problem?!).

She also will not touch her meds if someone else touched them and therefore I

have a routine of pouring her pills into the cap of the bottle and then placing

it on a paper towel. She will either pick it up with her tongue or her hand

depending on the day.

This is a major milestone for her because it took her knowing that she could

trust me. If she was unhappy with the way I did something, I would do it how

she wanted me to. For example, once after I had given her her meds (I poured it

into my hand and passed it to her) and she refused to take it cause I might have

touched something, I said how do you want me to do this and and we came up with

our system, when she left (feeling secure) I placed the pill back into the

bottle cause I knew there was nothing wrong with it.

When she would ask me to wash my hands, I would. Now, she rarely has an issue

with how I do things cause she learned I was a safe person.

You need to work on this issue because YOU are the person that should be able

to reassure that the child is all right. I know that you are not trying to

poison him and He KNOWS in his heart that you are not trying to poison him and

luckily the docs know that you are not trying to poison him, so it may take time

and a lot of deep breaths from you but he will come around.

BTW - If he wont bathe and brush teeth at home, where is he going to do so? I

mean, I have a 7 year old son and YUCK, he has to take a bath!!

susan cook <susie@...> wrote:

I am a single mom with a 10 year old son that was diagnosed with OCD

in November. His bad thoughts started with the fear of throwing up

and have increased now to a huge fear that I am trying to poison

him. He refuses to eat anything in our house most of the time.

Sometimes he will eat something out of a can, if he is having a good

day. If I pat him on the head he thinks I am putting poisonous

spiders on him. He is also afraid of the water in our home. He

feels like I may have been able to poison it somehow. He will not

bathe at home or brush his teeth. One of our biggest problems is that

he also thinks his medicine is poison (what a vicious cycle) and

therefore he doesn't take it consistantly. His psychiatrist has

changed him from Zoloft to Prozac Weekly in a blister pack in order

to try to make it easier. I even started taking the exact same

medicine with him in order to try to reassure him but after we take

it he won't let me out of his sight for fear that I may be going to

throw it up or take the " anidote " . His prescription has been

increased to two pills (180mg weekly), but he has only been able to

take one so far. His complusions appear to just be avoidance and

reassurance, but there could be some mental ones. His goes to

counseling every week but they are not really doing any kind of

special treatment with him and have talked about putting him in the

hospital. I am afraid and don't know what to do to help him. It is

really hard being the one that seems to be the source of the fear. My

son says that in his heart he knows that I wouldn't hurt him but that

his heart isn't in control...his mind is.

Is there anyone else that has had a similiar problem dealing with

poison?

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[Guest guest]

Hi , well I'm certainly thankful blister packs were invented!

At least your son does realize how ridiculous the thought is and

that his mind is in control (or whether OCD).

My son recently had an eating problem and I know how scary that was

for me! His had to do with scrupulosity/religion though, silly

promises he'd made to not eat things, which began to cover a lot of

food groups/ingredients/liquids! Luckily he's mostly past that but

still dealing with things.

If his health is being affected, I can see what the doctor is

wondering about hospitalization. BUT if the medication hasn't even

been given consistently or long enough to " kick in " then I would opt

to wait for that first certainly!

I wonder if his counselor/therapist is experienced with treating

OCD?

If it's *you* with the poison - how is he at someone else's home

eating, etc.? School/cafeteria?

I wish I had some useful ideas for you but am coming up " blank. " I

really think that once his medication kicks in, then you two can

begin to work on some of his fears, choosing 1 or 2 or 3 things to

work on first.

Please let us know how things are going!

>

> I am a single mom with a 10 year old son that was diagnosed with

OCD

> in November. His bad thoughts started with the fear of throwing up

> and have increased now to a huge fear that I am trying to poison

> him. He refuses to eat anything in our house most of the time.

> Sometimes he will eat something out of a can, if he is having a

good

[Guest guest]

---

Hi Thanks for your reply...We are going to continue to try to

get my son to take the correct dosage. The blister pack has helped but

he still thinks there is a way the medicine could be poisoned. He will

sometimes eat at a friend's house if he feels comfortable and does eat

at school, but anywhere that he thinks I might be able to call and

convince them to do something with his food he will not eat. This does

include fastfood and restaurants. When we go out to eat he has to

choose the place and nobody can know where we are going. It is very

sad. I am going to try to find a different therapist for him that has

more experience with OCD. The one he is seeing keeps saying that he

thinks my son has OCD but feels that a lot of his behavior is

manipulation. Hope your son is doing better with his eating.

>

> >

[Guest guest]

>

> My son's eating is fine now (YAY!!!) though he still has some

> hesitations about some things and will avoid a thing or two he

> didn't used to.

Hey--that's great! Such a relief!

Dina

[Guest guest]

>Judy, Thank you for the reply. My son is extremely paranoid, but

the " hospital thing just scares me " . His psychiatrist even said that

she felt my son would have trouble being hospitalized because he was

so dependent on me. I am just taking it one day at a time and praying

that the medicine will help. I would like to try some behavior

therapy but I don't know how to find someone who specializes in OCD.

Hugs

> ,

> I never dealt with the " poison " , but I 'm sure some others here

may have.

> I know how you feel about being a single mom to an ocd child

though. You have to use every ounce of energy in your body every

second of the day. They just suck the life right out of you!(lol)

> Sometimes hospitalization is not such a bad thing. I know it is

hard, but when your child is acting paranoid, it might be time for

you to consider it. He will hopefully get the help he needs.They can

stabilize him, get him the the correct meds and dosage and start him

on the therapy he needs.

>

> hugs

> Judy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>Judy, Thank you for the reply. My son is extremely paranoid, but

the " hospital thing just scares me " . His psychiatrist even said that

she felt my son would have trouble being hospitalized because he was

so dependent on me. I am just taking it one day at a time and praying

that the medicine will help. I would like to try some behavior

therapy but I don't know how to find someone who specializes in OCD.

Hugs

> ,

> I never dealt with the " poison " , but I 'm sure some others here

may have.

> I know how you feel about being a single mom to an ocd child

though. You have to use every ounce of energy in your body every

second of the day. They just suck the life right out of you!(lol)

> Sometimes hospitalization is not such a bad thing. I know it is

hard, but when your child is acting paranoid, it might be time for

you to consider it. He will hopefully get the help he needs.They can

stabilize him, get him the the correct meds and dosage and start him

on the therapy he needs.

>

> hugs

> Judy

>

>

>