Re: Update Sudden OCD (Pure O) Bad Thought OCD. Need to Vent.

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My suggestion...try and find a behavioral therapist in your area...

My daughter issues stems alot of verbal/mental rather than physical

OCD issues (right now at least) - PERSONALLY, I would reject any sort

of medication for a 5 year old unless they were at a point that they

are a harm to themselves or others...

I don't see how exposure theraphy would work for mindset OCD,

either...

We were able to find a Behavioral Theripist in our area (through our

counties mental health department) and she has been working with my

daughter...My husband and I went in and met with her and explained

the issues we were having with our daughter...we then ranked them in

order of most problematic to least...she has been working with my

daughter to help my daughter understand that SHE (my daughter) has

the control over her thoughts and we are using a form of congnitive

behavior theraphy to try to control her issues. For example right

now she has an issue where she feels like she has to be perfect so

when you ask her to do something she will say " I know that

already...you don't need to tell me " - over and over and over

again...likewise if you point out an error on her part she gets

extremely upset and starts raising her voice and repeating " I know

that...I know that " so we are working with her to let her know that

it is OK if you don't know something or make a mistake and that when

she feels like she HAS to say " I know that already... " (which lately

it has become an automatic response to everything...she will ask a

question and when you give her the answer she goes off on her " I know

that tangent " ) she needs to try and say " Thank you for reminding me "

and drop it...

Personally seeing a psychiatrist or a physchologist who has no

background in OCD or axienty disorders in young children isn't going

to be helpful to you. The Therapist we are seeing , while she hadn't

dealt with OCD in children before - she has dealt with ADD, ADHD and

general anxienty in children - so she has been using her knowledge

with that in conjunction with my daughter - she has also taken it

upon herself to bring herself up to speed with the latest information

regarding OCD and children (she bought Dr. Wagners book after our

first session and read it cover to cover before our 2nd session) and

different treatment options.

Jenni

>

> Hello Everyone,

>

> Wanted to thank everyone for all of your support, and the good

> information that you have supplied.

>

> I have the 5 yr old daughter, who on July 14th of this year, had an

> overnight oncome of all types of OCD behaviors. About 3 days later

> she developed a severe sore throat, and a fever. Took her to ped

> doc, and he mentioned strep, but did not test. He gave

antibiotics,

> and referred her to a psychologist. Before the appointment I had

> time to research, and discovered PANDAS. We have been through 3

> blood tests, and an MRI. I skipped the psychologist, and went

> straight to a child psychiatrist. By this time the explosion of

all

> types of behaviors had started to lesson. I still knew it was OCD,

> but I wasn't sure what started it, and if it had any comorbid

> illnesses along with it.

>

> We saw the psychiatrist, and he was a very nice man, but he is from

> Indonesia, and has a very bad accent. My daughter could not

> understand him, and this made her even more upset. He prelim dx'd

> with OCD, ADHD, and scheduled an appointment with his partner, who

> is a psychologist that specializes in ADHD. Again, I am still

> researching, and discovered that the type of OCD she has is called

> PURE " O " or Pure Obsessions (bad thought OCD).

>

> We went to the psychologist, and again, a very nice older man, but

> maybe to old to be still practicing. He is very forgetful, and

> doesn't seem to hear very well. He talked to me, and then to her.

> He did a few tests (questions, and drawing.) He had little

> knowledge of PANDAS, or OCD for that matter. He told me he saw no

> signs of OCD, or ADHD at this point and wanted to do an hour of

> testing to evaluate her. After leaving, I didn't have much

> confidence in his abilities, and I called Riley's Children

> Hospital. I was lucky, and they got us in with the head

> psychiatrist in their OCD/AUTISM clinic within 4 days. It is a 4

> hour drive for us, but I wanted someone experienced with OCD.

After

> talking with Dr. Walsh she immediately dx'd Pure " O " OCD, and

> suggested exposure therapy, and that medication would probably be

> needed. She said that she wasn't going to dx with ADHD, because

> many children with OCD are very anxious and fidgety. With her

> having the bad thought type OCD, and no rituals, she said she stays

> moving and busy to help not have the thoughts. She has no one to

> refer me to in the area that we live, so no matter the direction,

we

> are traveling a least 100 miles once a week. She wanted us to keep

> the appointment with the psychologist we had, and send her his

> findings. She felt as I do that he really didn't need to be

> treating my daughter, because of the lack of knowledge, and the old

> school mindset. She also thought it was probably PANDAS related,

> but because of how her ped doc handled things we won't be sure

> unless she gets strep again, and an explosion of behaviors.

>

> We go to the appointment, and he does his testing. He schedules a

> 30 minute session with us to discuss the findings. He says at this

> point she doesn't have OCD, but I think she is ADHD. We go to the

> session, and he explains the tests given, and what he thinks based

> on the scores. She doesn't show any signs of OCD. I tell of

course

> not because she doesn't have rituals, and unless he asked about her

> bad thoughts, he wouldn't know. He says she does have ADHD. I

tell

> him I think that the ADHD behaviors are a symtom of the OCD. He

> then says that he thinks I was right about the PANDAS theory I

> talked about in our first meeting. Then asks me how it is treated?

> Wow, didn't you just say she didn't have OCD? He then says we

> should treat the ADHD first, and that would probably relieve the

> OCD. Is it just me or is this backwards thinking?

>

> So, here we are, and I don't know what to do next. Her behaviors

> are at a leveling off point. She still has horrible thoughts, and

> she still won't say certain words. Should I drive the 4 hours

> everyday to try the exposure therapy? (I'm not sure how exposure

> therapy is going to work on the bad thoughts, especially given her

> age.) Do I try and talk to the psychiatrist here, and hopefully he

> can do something? Do I try the herbal remedies before starting her

> on medications? I just want her to have some relief. I still

> believe that it was PANDAS related, but now I'm just wanting to

find

> some help.

>

> If anyone out there knows anything about bad thought OCD please

> respond. I really need some guidance at this point.

>

> Thank for listening. My best to you all.

> Leah

>