Re: Happy New Year and Abilify update

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/1/2007 12:59:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

ocdisordermom@... writes:

She can't possibly take this stuff

forever............................................... But for now, we'll take

what we've got and relax a bit as she

gets the benefit of being freed, however temporarily, from some of her

rituals.

WOW. You are us in a nutshell. Not all the same obsessions &

compulsions.... not the same meds, but all the same results & concerns. I *SO*

know how

you feel. What a bizarre & sometimes horrible position to be in, huh?

Getting such wonderful results from meds, beginning to feel like things are

going

to be ok again.... and then, in the back of your mind you know that you can't

keep her on the meds because what she REALLY needs is the therapy to learn to

deal with it herself... and yet... she can't get it while she's on the meds

because they work SO well...... and if you take her off so she can do the

therapy, your lives come crashing down again.

UGH. I feel your pain.

LT

[Guest guest]

That is such wonderful news! Thanks for sharing, we all need to hear

the good stuff. Best to you and your family in 2007.

Kim M

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Happy New Year!

I'm so glad to hear things are going better for you!

I just wanted to mention that my son(5) is on abilify and he was extremely tired

the first 3 weeks, and than the tiredness wore off. My dd (10) was on it it a

few months back , and the same for her. Soon ,your dd won't be as tired!

Hugs to you

Judy

[Guest guest]

Oh it is so nice to hear good news! I know we all rejoice in each others

success. Enjoy the moment with your family. Finally, you can take a little

breather and recoup. Congratulations!!!

in TN

Kim <missmeowza@...> wrote:

That is such wonderful news! Thanks for sharing, we all need to hear

the good stuff. Best to you and your family in 2007.

Kim M

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so glad you can enjoy a bit of stability and closeness with your

daughter. You're a lot like me though, always thinking about what is to come

next. Take just one day off from the worry, you disserve it.

_____

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of McRobie

Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 12:51 PM

Subject: Happy New Year and Abilify update

Here's to a peaceful and hopeful new year! I am grateful to this group for

being here, for sharing the highs and the lows, the uncertainties and the

fears, for your candor about the sheer intensity of the experiences and for

your wealth of information. And for the sincere, generous, human support.

Thank you, one and all.

I felt as if I went into the holiday season holding my breath. It was last

year at this time that , then 10, pretty much lost control of her OCD

and starting staying up late at night ritualizing and out of desperation we

sought out medication. So I was fearful of how the holidays would be this

year. Since she lost the benefits of Zoloft suddenly in late August, after

about five months of pretty good response, and didn't respond to trials of

Lexapro or Anafranil this fall, I figured we would have another Christmas

like last year's. She had been taking 20 minutes to walk through a room at

home, at least 10 minutes to get out of the car, and on and on. So I didn't

get tickets for anything like the Nutcracker - I figured we'd never make it

to the theater in time!

And what happened (huge exhale!) has been Abilify, She worked up to 6 mg

about a week ago. Now can spontaneously leave the house, goes to bed

because she's tired, hasn't had a shouting match in a week, takes shorter

showers, walks through the house without incident! She's still tapping

things, still has repetitive behaviors, but BOY what a change! The most

interesting change is that she's letting me talk to her just a little about

OCD. She has NEVER been forthcoming about what she feels, what's going on in

her thoughts, etc. Now, when I coax her a bit, she'll actually say something

that confirms that she knows she has this disorder. Not a lot, but it's a

start. It must be the Abilify. She's also a little more zombie-like than I

want her to be, but we need to see what difference this makes when she goes

back to school next week.

I fear for her, of course. She can't possibly take this stuff forever -

first, it's just plain too expensive. Second, she probably wants to do

" normal " stuff like having kids, and you can't take all of these chemicals

when pregnant (I know, she's only 11, but I have to think about her

future!). I want so badly to have her in ERP, which of course may not be

compatible with Abilify (no strong compulsions to work with while

medicated). But for now, we'll take what we've got and relax a bit as she

gets the benefit of being freed, however temporarily, from some of her

rituals.

Without this group, I never would have known about the kids who have gotten

benefits from Abilify (the psychiatrist wanted to try Seroquel next and it

might have worked, who knows?). I asked for it because many of you had

shared positive experiences. So my thanks to you. And we'll see what

happens.

Again, a Happy New Year as we work to make our kids' futures brighter.

Cheers,

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

, glad the Abilify is helping so much! Hopefully more & more of

her OCD will benefit in the weeks to come since she's begun having

such great improvement already!! Sit back and enjoy it!

>

> Here's to a peaceful and hopeful new year! I am grateful to this

group for being here, for sharing the highs and the lows, the

uncertainties and the fears, for your candor about the sheer intensity

of the experiences and for your wealth of information. And for the

sincere, generous, human support. Thank you, one and all.

>

> I felt as if I went into the holiday season holding my breath. It

was last year at this time that , then 10, pretty much lost