Re: Still getting worse

[Guest guest]

Wow - 250 mg. of zoloft sounds like a lot to have no effect. I thought the

max dose was 200. My daughter was on Zoloft for about 2 years and it pooped

out. They brought it up to 200 mg., and all it really did in the end was to

increase her ticcing. There are a lot of different meds out there. I can

say that the anti-psychotic has been helpful. is on 200 mg. of seroquel

-- we are about to switch her to abilify.

[Guest guest]

(((hugs))) ! How long has she been on the 250mg Zoloft?? Did

it ever help at all? If she's been on 250mg for a while with no

positive change at all, I think I'd try another SSRI before adding

another medication to it. Just my thoughts, we've only tried/used

Celexa.

So she doesn't seem anxious at all. But she will get upset if her

routine gets messed up. Does she ever have it not " feel right " and

have to start over and get frustrated?

My son (now 17) had some similar compulsions/rituals. But he would

get so frustrated/upset if it went on & on & on and he just couldn't

get through it.

One thing that did help him slightly is that he worked on trying to

get " through " things faster, not to stay " stuck " so long. He managed

to do that for some things (get finished faster). This was all

during that first terrible year too. OCD was changing a lot those

first months also.

A couple thoughts. Don't try to change her a.m. routine now or her

bedtime. You want to get out for work/school ASAP so " go with it "

for now. And bedtime, you all want sleep so, again " go with it. "

Maybe work on things the *other* times of the day, weekends when

there's no " time deadline. " Just to begin with for trying to work on

things. Then it should carry over, after some positive efforts,

towards working on the a.m. or bedtime rituals/compulsions. For

example, after school/evening she might work on trying to lessen the

number of times she turns the faucets on/off and to use less force.

That might even be the *only* thing she will try for now (since OCD

is so much still in control). Or maybe before retracing steps she

needs to stop and *wait*, see how long she can hold out before

complying/retracing or the same with opening/closing doors. Just

pick 1 or 2 things to try for now.

I talked with about all this before he attempted it. OK,

well, his psychologist did the " trying to speed things up " part, and

I talked with about the other things to work on and got his

agreement. If I heard him in the bathroom, I'd be standing outside

so I'd be there when he came out so he could try to turn the light

switch off " without repeating " or I'd knock and open the door for the

faucet part, that sort of thing (he didn't mind my being there). I

sort of tried to be there more as a " cheerleader, " a

cheerfully " let's try! " then as the " mom standing there to see if you

do it!! " type thing. (though we all know I lost my cool at times

over OCD too, being fed up with it!!)

However, if your daughter isn't yet willing, maybe she'd try if she

was " earning " something?? And remember that " effort " counts towards

rewards. That said, wouldn't " earn " anything, he said he

couldn't be bribed (bribing was " bad " - and now he has scrupulosity

issues he's dealing with this senior year! that was back in 6th and

7th grades)

On a hopeful side, maybe weaning of the Anafranil is still having

some effect and will wear off and things will calm down!

Keep us updated. Believe it or not, this " worsening " part of OCD

will some day be behind you, things will get better!

single mom, 3 sons

, 17, with OCD, dysgraphia and Aspergers(mild)

>

> My darling 11-year-old on 250 mg of Zoloft and just starting

inositol (we're up to 4 g/day), recently weaned off of Anafrinil ...

is just getting worse and worse and worse. She can't walk through

our house, get out of the car, go to bed without endless retracings

of steps, opening and closing of doors, turning faucets on and off

with a great deal of force. Lots and lots of repetitive stuff. It's

taking so much time that she is missing most of her first class every

day. As you all probably sympathize, we can't make her do anything

[Guest guest]

I'm told NO even when I'm trying to help

I eventually had to " back off " of too. I made things worse

at times too! Especially bedtime when *I* wanted to go to bed.

Can't recall, might have been going on...8 or 10 months after this

all began, maybe longer (this was all through middle school), I had

to back off and let him just work at his own pace, his own way. And

at that point, it worked better for him.

Of course there seemed weeks at a time he didn't seem to be working

on anything at all. I'd complain (here and to him) that he just

seemed to be letting OCD take him wherever it wanted to. SIGH! He

put me in my place once when I complained. Tears began rolling down

his face and he asked me how did I think *he* felt, that he *was*

trying.

And I realized how he lives with OCD bossing him around all day and

that meant he was putting up with it and fighting it in his own way

*all day*, even when listening to " it " , he didn't like doing all this

stuff all the time, all these months. So I thought about how he had

to put up with it at school all day, and had to hold back on it at

school (can't let others see) and that he had to be pretty

tired/pooped out by evening. And those tears showed me how miserable

he really was. Oh it was heartbreaking! Boy did I apologize!

[Guest guest]

, that was good!!

Yes I felt like a " nag " and was a nag, LOL. But when " cheering " I

guess it was more like " let's try! " with a smile or my " yes you CAN

get through this, you've always gotten thru them, it's just taking

longer this time... " for those rituals that seemed to go on

endlessly.

I do recall once with either the light switch or the

faucet...anyway, had said he *could* just do it once, he

didn't *have* to do it more than once etc. He was a bit mad I

guess, taking it " personally " or something. Anyway, so I was

standing there and he did it just " once. " I said something

like, " but you want to do it again don't you? " and got a " no! "

Anyway, he left without repeating. Oh he still repeated (I can hear

it) at other times but not always (it did seem less after that), and

I think his being mad or irritated at me helped actually, he had

something he had to *prove* to me. I dunno, it was a bit amusing to

me at that time, interesting that he said that and fought back at

*me* about it and not *OCD*. But, no, being mad at mom & trying to

prove something didn't fall over to all the other OCD stuff he was

constantly doing. As I said in another post, I did eventually have

to let him do it " his way " as it was the right thing for **

at that time (i.e., his way being working on it without my

commenting or asking about it or nagging, etc.).

Gotta go!

>

> We have had a problem with my son perceiving our " cheerleading " him

> through ERP as an insult to him personally and he feels a great

deal of

> failure or like we don't think he is trying when we say to try

harder to

> fight it. I finally broke through it the other night with an

[Guest guest]

Eileen, I have to admit that for me sometimes it depends on *my* need

at the time - am I in a hurry, have to get somewhere, would

have to be somewhere, etc., or are we staying home and there's time to

put up with any meltdown.

You and she might agree on 1 or 2 things for her to work on speeding

up, trying to get through faster, let the others wait for therapy (is

that anytime soon, sorry, forgotten previous posts!)? Another thought

is to let her fight it/speed it up *her* way; my suggestions on " how "

didn't always meet with 's approval either and he wouldn't

share *his* way with me, so just had to trust in him. Luckily he *is*

one that doesn't really lie so if he says he's working on something,

then he is; if I get a noncomittal type answer, then I know he's not.

>

> and others - if they can stop but just need to take forever -

> should I let her until we start therapy - it's when i get involved

and

> make her " fight " my way I guess - that meltdowns occur - if she's

> there forever it seeems but not " stuck " do you get involved???

> eileen

>