2nd child

[Guest guest]

This is my first post to the group although I've been reading in for some time.

My 14 year old son was just diagnosed with OCD 2 months ago. He was diagnosed

with ADHD at age 7, and with Tourette's Syndrome at age 9. We believe the OCD

has been going on for a long time now, but we just didn't know it. His symptoms

are less obvious and can be easily confused with the tics from TS. He mostly

has compulsions and not so many obsessions, unless they are obsessive thoughts

at the subconscious level that he's not aware of enough to discuss yet.

However, his compulsive behaviors (counting, evening things in his mind like

number of chews or steps, etc.) take an estimated 3 - 8 hours of his day,

according to his doctors.

My husband and I are recovering from the grief we feel, not only about the

diagnosis but about all those times that we yelled at him or disciplined him for

not following instructions, not being responsible in school, over-reacting to

things at home. We sat down with him recently and apologized to him, explaining

that we had no idea what he'd been dealing with and that we understand he

couldn't help it. It was a very good conversation and I think it's helped us

all focus on the treatment he's getting now, which is a combination of

medication management and CBT.

We also have 2 other children: an 11 year old son who has ADHD and an 8 year

old daughter.

Every now and then, my 11 yr old fakes a tic or an OCD symptom. We think it's

an attention-seeking behavior and have never made a big deal about it. We've

even told him that maybe it's a transient tic, although we don't really believe

the symptoms are real. That said, I don't want to be negligent either and am

wondering if anyone has a suggestion for how to explore the legitimacy of these

symptoms without feeding the attention-seeking unnecessarily ...?

I know OCD is genetic but I honestly haven't seen anything in my 2nd child

that leads me to believe he may really have it. My older son's diagnosis came

after he'd had a couple of nervous breakdowns in school though so I don't want

to ignore my child either. Should I take him to the pediatrician, to a

psychiatrist, to someone else? Thanks for your help.

Stefanie

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