Had our appt with the psychiatrist...

[Guest guest]

....and he confirmed the diagnosis of OCD for my 5 year old daughter. Apparently,

it is

unusual to have OCD this young. He said therapy will not be effective at this

age, and our

daughter would be on the wait list for the preschool-aged therapy too long to

qualify any

longer. Darn! I was originally turned away a couple of times when I asked for

help, because

my daughter had been too young for *any* therapy (she has been exhibiting OCD

behaviour since she was 2.5 years old!) and now she's too old for preschool

therapy?

So, the dr is giving us the option of starting medication.

We've chosen not to medicate at this point. Her OCD is not showing up at school

yet, and

until it does we can deal with the OCD at home. She has issues with completing

rituals and

making decisions, so we do remove some of the stressors to make things easier.

She

doesn't like to go to the bathroom because she needs to wipe forever, and dry

her hands

forever. Well, she has to wipe so we give her the time she needs. With washing

hands,

however, we're letting her use hand cleaner so that she doesn't have to wash

with water,

thus doesn't need to dry her hands. I let her take soft toys/items that make her

hands feel

good to school, and in the car. We've also instituted a check-mark system for

earning

rewards, and she has responded well to it. Finally, she seems to be coming down

from the

peak of her OCD behaviour that started with beginning school...her anxieties are

easing a

bit.

Next step will be trying an elimination diet. Because she has chronic eczema and

allergies,

it's worth it for us to try to eliminate any potential allergenic foods. The

whole family will

also be trying the GFCF diet for a while. Each of us has health issues that

could potentially

be helped with a change in diet, so we'll see what happens. Perhaps we'll see an

improvement in my daughter's anxiety level as well as improved skin reactions.

Another step will be exploring my diagnosis of EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome).

I've got an

appointment with the geneticist next month...from there we'll see if the kids

are affected

as well. I'm looking forward to this process. I've read that there may be a

genetic

connection between EDS and anxiety disorders...don't know if there is treatment

to help,

but at least we may have some answers. All three of my kids have

sensitivies/anxiety

issues that manifest in different ways, as do I.