Re: happy new (to ocd) year

[Guest guest]

Dear Curiousmum,

It's not too early for Paxil to be affecting him. This " activation "

may pass in a few days as his body adjusts, or else it won't - in which case

you need to talk to the prescribing doctor about lowering the dosage. Some

kids react this way to some anti-depressants but not others, some never

experience this. My daughter has always gotten very " speedy " on every new

med, but has settled down after a few days, except for when we tried Luvox.

That one she couldn't tolerate.

I hope this helps him. " Autotattletaleia " is a great name, but can't

be much fun for the poor little guy. My daughter had a friend years ago who

also has OCD (we didn't know it until after we had moved away and they were

both diagnosed). She used to ALWAYS tell me when she thought she had done

something wrong. " Is it o.k. that I spilled a drop of milk? " " I'm sorry, I

bumped into your cat, " etc. I just thought she was the most sweet, polite

kid in the world.

Best wishes with all of this. Your son will soon be better- and not

admitting to real boogers on the wall!!

in Nevada

[Guest guest]

Hi and welcome!

Well, sounds like you certainly have your hands full with a very

bright child and very active!

We have some parents in this group whose kids are diagnosed with both

OCD and ADHD so I'm sure they can offer great guidance in that area.

I am thinking that they've said that the SSRIs like Paxil can

sometimes make the ADHD part a little worse. It might be can

individual thing, as each child reacts differently to the same

medication. Also I guess it takes a few days adjusting for the body

to get used to the medication/dosage, etc. Is it possible to begin

with a smaller dose if this extra " hyperness " keeps up? I know some

parents have said kids can be extremely sensitive and have cut pills,

etc., or begin with a liquid SSRI to more easily start with a lower

dosage.

I have an almost 14 yr old son with OCD, he's been diagnosed 2

years. His OCD has been more of a " have to do this to keep something

bad from happening to me " type compulsions and a " have to keep it up

until I get a just right feeling. " He was pretty much 24/7 with his

OCD 2 years ago, and I'm HAPPY to say now that his OCD is so mild now

that I don't even notice it some days/weeks!! Things CAN get better!

You seem to be handling everything so well! Have you been able to

locate an experienced therapist to work with Preston yet?

> Hello to all,

>

> My 6 yr old son, Preston, was diagnosed yesterday with OCD and

ADHD. What a

> difference a day makes. My husband and I realized on Christmas eve

that we

> were definitely dealing with OCD. Classic textbook stuff.

Preston's obsessions

> are " naughty " words, saying them, thinking them. He's also

preoccupied with

> boogers and " slobber. " His compulsion is checking with us to make

sure he's not

> in trouble for thinking and saying the words repetitively. And

apologizing for

> getting boogers on everything (or so his tired little brain

believes) He also has

> various fears and a fast growing interest in the perfect stacking

of a few

> pokemon cards he carries all over. I almost forgot, add sock

trauma to the mix

> as well. Before we figured out for ourselves his checking was ocd,

we were

> calling it " autotattletaleia " to try to bring some humor to the

whole thing.

>

> We started him on 5 mg of Paxil last night because I have used

paxil successfully

> for depression in the past. Is it too soon for him to be bouncing

off the walls

> already? We just returned home from dinner and he is like a monkey

on speed!

> He's trying to cope and of course is apologizing every fifteen

seconds for his

> manic watoosie and he's also trying to make us laugh with jokes and

slapstick

> that have us leaping out of our seats to grab, shush, quiet and

redirect him.

>

> I'm so glad to find this site. Any words of wisdom about paxil.

Can it effect his

> little system this quickly (24hrs)? He's always been our " wild

child " but today

> seems to be off the charts.

>

> Yours with every last nerve jangling,

> curiousmum2002

[Guest guest]

> Hello to all,

>

We just returned home from dinner and he is like a monkey on

speed!

> He's trying to cope and of course is apologizing every fifteen

seconds for his

> manic watoosie and he's also trying to make us laugh with jokes

and slapstick

> that have us leaping out of our seats to grab, shush, quiet and

redirect him.

>

> I'm so glad to find this site. Any words of wisdom about paxil.

Can it effect his

> little system this quickly (24hrs)? He's always been our " wild

child " but today

> seems to be off the charts.

>

Glad you found this site, it has been so helpful to me and a wealth

of information. I posted just before about my son, 5 yo, also being

diagnosed with ocd and adhd, having, among other things, the same

effect on paxil. After 4 weeks he was no better, only worse (got

calls from school, had to almost pull car over because he was " out

of control " oh, and forget the pokemon cards but also yugeo

cards!). Then his dose was cut in half (from 10 to 5mg) and i

waited 1 week with no change. I did take him off it. I took him

off because of the weight gain though. I am no expert, by any means

and can only speak for my son, but if it wasn't for a 10 lb weight

gain (being 90 lbs at 5 yo is not fun) in 1 month, i would have

tried to " stick it out " . From reading the posts here, I have been

told that these symptoms may go away ... but they may not. Paxil

was our 3rd medication for , and probably tomorrow we will

probably start our 4th medication.

Hang in their and Good luck.

, LI, NY

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much for responding. It's amazingly comforting to hear from you

and to the other members who have responded. I think we'll call the dr.

tomorrow and see about switching off paxil. It's amazing how you watch and

watch and wait and watch your child until your eyes cross trying to determine if

a behavior is normal or a symptom or blah, blah, blah. We took Preston to see

a psychiatrist/therapist yesterday who works with children. She's actually the

dr. who prescribes my prozac (all in the family!). I probably should post a

request for referrals in the atlanta area. I sent for the list from ocf just

tonight, too. I'm not really sure how to judge our current therapist's

credentials

in treating children. She's a mom w/ two small children of her own and seems

very well versed in having treated other children w/ocd-adhd and she saw us

immediately when i called. If you have other advice about determining the best

therapist for a child....I'd love to hear it.

it's 11:30 pm and I think I've been reading about ocd for 7 days straight!

It's so

nice to just have a place like this group to explore and question and let my

frazzled hair down.

c. in atlanta

> > Hello to all,

> >

> > My 6 yr old son, Preston, was diagnosed yesterday with OCD and

> ADHD. What a

> > difference a day makes. My husband and I realized on Christmas eve

> that we

> > were definitely dealing with OCD. Classic textbook stuff.

> Preston's obsessions

> > are " naughty " words, saying them, thinking them. He's also

> preoccupied with

> > boogers and " slobber. " His compulsion is checking with us to make

> sure he's not

> > in trouble for thinking and saying the words repetitively. And

> apologizing for

> > getting boogers on everything (or so his tired little brain

> believes) He also has

> > various fears and a fast growing interest in the perfect stacking

> of a few

> > pokemon cards he carries all over. I almost forgot, add sock

> trauma to the mix

> > as well. Before we figured out for ourselves his checking was ocd,

> we were

> > calling it " autotattletaleia " to try to bring some humor to the

> whole thing.

> >

> > We started him on 5 mg of Paxil last night because I have used

> paxil successfully

> > for depression in the past. Is it too soon for him to be bouncing

> off the walls

> > already? We just returned home from dinner and he is like a monkey

> on speed!

> > He's trying to cope and of course is apologizing every fifteen

> seconds for his

> > manic watoosie and he's also trying to make us laugh with jokes and

> slapstick

> > that have us leaping out of our seats to grab, shush, quiet and

> redirect him.

> >

> > I'm so glad to find this site. Any words of wisdom about paxil.

> Can it effect his

> > little system this quickly (24hrs)? He's always been our " wild

> child " but today

> > seems to be off the charts.

> >

> > Yours with every last nerve jangling,

> > curiousmum2002

[Guest guest]

> > Hello to all,

> >

> We just returned home from dinner and he is like a monkey on

> speed!

> > He's trying to cope and of course is apologizing every fifteen

> seconds for his

> > manic watoosie and he's also trying to make us laugh with jokes

> and slapstick

> > that have us leaping out of our seats to grab, shush, quiet and

> redirect him.

> >

> > I'm so glad to find this site. Any words of wisdom about paxil.

> Can it effect his

> > little system this quickly (24hrs)? He's always been our " wild

> child " but today

> > seems to be off the charts.

> >

>

>

> Glad you found this site, it has been so helpful to me and a wealth

> of information. I posted just before about my son, 5 yo, also being

> diagnosed with ocd and adhd, having, among other things, the same

> effect on paxil. After 4 weeks he was no better, only worse (got

> calls from school, had to almost pull car over because he was " out

> of control " oh, and forget the pokemon cards but also yugeo

> cards!). Then his dose was cut in half (from 10 to 5mg) and i

> waited 1 week with no change. I did take him off it. I took him

> off because of the weight gain though. I am no expert, by any means

> and can only speak for my son, but if it wasn't for a 10 lb weight

> gain (being 90 lbs at 5 yo is not fun) in 1 month, i would have

> tried to " stick it out " . From reading the posts here, I have been

> told that these symptoms may go away ... but they may not. Paxil

> was our 3rd medication for , and probably tomorrow we will

> probably start our 4th medication.

>

> Hang in their and Good luck.

>

> , LI, NY

Hi ,

Thanks so much for writing back. This is an amazing rollercoaster ride and it

definitely feels like we've just crested the first hill. I'm not encouraged

by his

first day on paxil...but I know it can take a while to see how things shake out.

What I cannot figure out is how long do you give it before you try something

else...or change the time you give it. There are so many variables and the mad

scientist in me is trying to figure out which ones to keep constant and which

ones to change. Ugh. it's exhausting. How long ago was your son diagnosed.

And

don't you find it challenging trying to talk to such a young child about this

without scaring them, or drawing more attention to it than they can stand.

c.

[Guest guest]

Hi there curious, jumping in here...you wrote:

>It's amazing how you watch and

watch and wait and watch your child until your eyes cross trying to determine if

a behavior is normal or a symptom or blah, blah, blah

What I finally ended up doing is 1. familiarize myself with the list of common

obsessions and compulsions and 2. watch for my own reaction to my daughter's

behavior such as irritation, annoyance, etc. If something appeared on the OCD

list **and** I felt annoyed or irritated by it, chances were good that OCD was

involved in the behavior. If asking my daughter to stop or change whatever she

was doing caused distress, anxiety, tears, etc., then I could be sure. I'd then

jot it down on a note to mention to her psych. at next visit. This growing list

also became the foundation of her ERP hierarchy.

The other bit of advice I have is to jot quick notes on your daughter's behavior

and etc. when adding or changing meds...I found this invaluable when

communicating with the pdoc. I just scrawled something quickly across the

squares of my calendar, it wasn't anything deep or involved but it helped jog my

memory plus give me a longer-term perspective of how things were going. I tend

to live in the moment and one tough day tends to make me forget the three pretty

good ones that came before.

It's always smart to make med changes slowly and only change/add one thing at a

time if possible. That way you can narrow down the culprit if unwanted side

effects pop up.

Kathy R. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

Thanks so much for responding. It's amazingly comforting to hear from you

and to the other members who have responded. I think we'll call the dr.

tomorrow and see about switching off paxil. It's amazing how you watch and

watch and wait and watch your child until your eyes cross trying to determine

if

a behavior is normal or a symptom or blah, blah, blah. We took Preston to

see

a psychiatrist/therapist yesterday who works with children. She's actually

the

dr. who prescribes my prozac (all in the family!). I probably should post a

request for referrals in the atlanta area. I sent for the list from ocf just

tonight, too. I'm not really sure how to judge our current therapist's

credentials

in treating children. She's a mom w/ two small children of her own and seems

very well versed in having treated other children w/ocd-adhd and she saw us

immediately when i called. If you have other advice about determining the

best

therapist for a child....I'd love to hear it.

it's 11:30 pm and I think I've been reading about ocd for 7 days straight!

It's so

nice to just have a place like this group to explore and question and let my

frazzled hair down.

c. in atlanta

[Guest guest]

Dear Curlin,

I have a just turned seven year old son. I can exactly imagine what

he would say if I suggested he say " flowers " . ohmygosh.

What your son will probably be asked to do eventually, is to limit

the number of times he repeats things GRADUALLY. And limit the number of

times he apologizes, again gradually. With all the new members here suddenly,

I've already forgotten whether you have or haven't found a therapist who can

do cognitive behavioral therapy with him. (sorry!) If you haven't, you might

look at the book by March and Mulle called " OCD in Children and Adolescents :

A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Manual. " It explains in wonderful, clear

detail how CBT should be done with children, and some parents have used it

themselves until they found a therapist.

In your shoes I would try to explain to his brother in pretty simple

terms what OCD is and explain that he REALLY can't help it (but that he will

learn to). Perhaps you could suggest that his brother leave the room without

any killer comments or nasty faces? (Ha - like my 10 yr. old would do that

for her brother without a parting shot!!!) There are many good books

available that explain OCD to kids - they are available from the OCFoundation

website.

Chances are, other people DO just see your son as ultra-polite. Many

kids can hide their symptoms quite effectively away from home. Your family is

getting to explain your son's OCD in all its glory!

Thanks for the cyberhug!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Consider yourself cyber-hugged. Messages like this feel like a lifeline right

now.

Called the dr. this am. and she suggested we 1/4 the dose and continue at night

for at least a week. I understand the wait and see approach. I hope other

parents think he's ultra polite. His own parents are bleary-with constant

reassuring as I'm sure you've experienced. Tell me this, when he's driving his

10

year old brother crazy with his repetitions...and i know he cannot stop...whatya

do? don't want to send him to his room, don't want to let him keep going and

ruin

his brother's time. It's such a catch-22. Today I suggested that instead of

saying " cr-p, cr-p, cr-p " he switch to " hotwheels " or " flowers " You should've

seen his reaction. Even in his addle-pated frame of mine he knew no

self-respecting 6 yr old boy would sit around saying " flowers! " Too funny. He

put the cabash on that one instantly and I had to laugh!

enough of my curiousmum2002 handle.....thanks so much,

Curlin

> Dear Curiousmum,

> It's not too early for Paxil to be affecting him. This " activation "

> may pass in a few days as his body adjusts, or else it won't - in which case

> you need to talk to the prescribing doctor about lowering the dosage. Some

> kids react this way to some anti-depressants but not others, some never

> experience this. My daughter has always gotten very " speedy " on every new

> med, but has settled down after a few days, except for when we tried Luvox.

> That one she couldn't tolerate.

> I hope this helps him. " Autotattletaleia " is a great name, but can't

> be much fun for the poor little guy. My daughter had a friend years ago who

> also has OCD (we didn't know it until after we had moved away and they were

> both diagnosed). She used to ALWAYS tell me when she thought she had done

> something wrong. " Is it o.k. that I spilled a drop of milk? " " I'm sorry, I

> bumped into your cat, " etc. I just thought she was the most sweet, polite

> kid in the world.

> Best wishes with all of this. Your son will soon be better- and not

> admitting to real boogers on the wall!!

> in Nevada

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

--- Thanks so much, . I'm printing your letter for my husband to read.

When was your son diagnosed? And if you haven't told me already, what is he

coping with? I hope in a reasonable amount of time, I'll be able to remember

things again. Right now it is a mindswirl of epic proportions. Hard to

believe a 6

weeks ago everything was just normal as pie. curlin

In , xslav@a... wrote:

> Dear Curlin,

> I have a just turned seven year old son. I can exactly imagine what

> he would say if I suggested he say " flowers " . ohmygosh.

> What your son will probably be asked to do eventually, is to limit

> the number of times he repeats things GRADUALLY. And limit the number of

> times he apologizes, again gradually. With all the new members here suddenly,

> I've already forgotten whether you have or haven't found a therapist who can

> do cognitive behavioral therapy with him. (sorry!) If you haven't, you might

> look at the book by March and Mulle called " OCD in Children and Adolescents :

> A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Manual. " It explains in wonderful, clear

> detail how CBT should be done with children, and some parents have used it

> themselves until they found a therapist.

> In your shoes I would try to explain to his brother in pretty simple

> terms what OCD is and explain that he REALLY can't help it (but that he will

> learn to). Perhaps you could suggest that his brother leave the room without

> any killer comments or nasty faces? (Ha - like my 10 yr. old would do that

> for her brother without a parting shot!!!) There are many good books

> available that explain OCD to kids - they are available from the OCFoundation

> website.

> Chances are, other people DO just see your son as ultra-polite. Many

> kids can hide their symptoms quite effectively away from home. Your family is

> getting to explain your son's OCD in all its glory!

> Thanks for the cyberhug!

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Curlin,

My son is the " normal " child in the family. My ten year old daughter

is the one with all the issues. She has OCD/ADHD/tics and, currently,

depression. She was diagnosed about three years ago, but was in bad shape for

three years before that. We just couldn't get a correct diagnosis from a

myriad of pediatricians, neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. She

was born anxious, but the OCD and ADHD appeared after a viral illness when

she was four.

Does your son go back to school on Monday? My kids do. I'm dreading

it, since the last month before vacation was a nightmare for my daughter.

She's really struggling and I am not looking forward to watching that again.

Take care,

[Guest guest]

:

Hi! Luke suffers from the type of symptoms that you described in Anne's

friend - the constant checking and reassurance. Have you kept in touch with

this family enough to know if they have been successful with any type of

therapy for this particular form of OCD? I know that ERP is what everyone

suggests, but I'm not sure how that is applied to these type of symptoms.

I'm still searching for a therapist for Luke.

We begin with a new psychiatrist next Friday. I'm really anxious to see

someone else. As you might recall, our last doc would merely glance at Luke

and refill his script. It was so frustrating and I never felt better when

we left. She always kind of gave a me a general answer to my questions, and

always stood up first to get us out the door. Argh.... I'm going to ask

about the new ADD med at our upcoming appointment. When do you anticipate

getting Anne on this new med?

Take care.

Warmly,

in Missouri (Luke's mom)

Re: happy new (to ocd) year

> Dear Curiousmum,

> It's not too early for Paxil to be affecting him. This

" activation "

> may pass in a few days as his body adjusts, or else it won't - in which

case

> you need to talk to the prescribing doctor about lowering the dosage. Some

> kids react this way to some anti-depressants but not others, some never

> experience this. My daughter has always gotten very " speedy " on every new

> med, but has settled down after a few days, except for when we tried

Luvox.

> That one she couldn't tolerate.

> I hope this helps him. " Autotattletaleia " is a great name, but

can't

> be much fun for the poor little guy. My daughter had a friend years ago

who

> also has OCD (we didn't know it until after we had moved away and they

were

> both diagnosed). She used to ALWAYS tell me when she thought she had done

> something wrong. " Is it o.k. that I spilled a drop of milk? " " I'm sorry, I

> bumped into your cat, " etc. I just thought she was the most sweet, polite

> kid in the world.

> Best wishes with all of this. Your son will soon be better- and

not

> admitting to real boogers on the wall!!

> in Nevada

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> Dear Curlin,

> My son is the " normal " child in the family. My ten year old daughter

> is the one with all the issues. She has OCD/ADHD/tics and, currently,

> depression. She was diagnosed about three years ago, but was in bad shape for

> three years before that. We just couldn't get a correct diagnosis from a

> myriad of pediatricians, neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. She

> was born anxious, but the OCD and ADHD appeared after a viral illness when

> she was four.

> Does your son go back to school on Monday? My kids do. I'm dreading

> it, since the last month before vacation was a nightmare for my daughter.

> She's really struggling and I am not looking forward to watching that again.

> Take care,

>

>

Hi hi,

We go back to school on tues. I cannot tell if school was unraveling for him

before break or not. I think part of the stress trigger for him might have been

the notion that if he was " naughty " Santa Clause would out him on Christmas

morning by leaving a big fat nothing under the tree. I honestly wonder if

Christmas is a trigger for sudden onset ocd in lots and lots of children under

7-8...children who might've been prone or managing, but are just overwhelmed

with the " he knows when you've been sleeping, he knows when you're awake...he

knows if you've been bad or good... " concept. Not to sound scroogey or

anything,

but it does make me wonder. I don't know what to tell the school. I don't

quite

know what to tell other mothers of children Preston plays with. They know he's

always been a sparkplug, but now he's a sparkplug who says " butt, butt, butt "

and then appologizes profusely. It's so weird it's almost funny. My husband

and

I have realized if we don't laugh at some of this we'll just disintegrate soon.

How is your daughter's relationship with classmates. Do you find kids are sort

of

oblivious or by 10 v. concious of another child's differences. I'll be

thinking of

you monday. do you join in the chats on sunday. never done one myself. curlin

>

>

[Guest guest]

No it is not too early for him to be bouncing off the walls. My son's p-doc

would not put him on Paxil for the reasons that it seems to have the

" off-the-wall " side effect if OCD and ADHD are involved. Definitely call the

doc and get going in a different direction. There are a lot of SSRIs on the

market that can treat OCD/ADHD combination. Which one to try? Every kid reacts

differently so it's usually done by trial and error.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Tamra

Omaha, NE

happy new (to ocd) year

Hello to all,

My 6 yr old son, Preston, was diagnosed yesterday with OCD and ADHD. What a

difference a day makes. My husband and I realized on Christmas eve that we

were definitely dealing with OCD. Classic textbook stuff. Preston's

obsessions

are " naughty " words, saying them, thinking them. He's also preoccupied with

boogers and " slobber. " His compulsion is checking with us to make sure he's

not

in trouble for thinking and saying the words repetitively. And apologizing

for

getting boogers on everything (or so his tired little brain believes) He

also has

various fears and a fast growing interest in the perfect stacking of a few

pokemon cards he carries all over. I almost forgot, add sock trauma to the

mix

as well. Before we figured out for ourselves his checking was ocd, we were

calling it " autotattletaleia " to try to bring some humor to the whole thing.

We started him on 5 mg of Paxil last night because I have used paxil

successfully

for depression in the past. Is it too soon for him to be bouncing off the

walls

already? We just returned home from dinner and he is like a monkey on speed!

He's trying to cope and of course is apologizing every fifteen seconds for his

manic watoosie and he's also trying to make us laugh with jokes and slapstick

that have us leaping out of our seats to grab, shush, quiet and redirect him.

I'm so glad to find this site. Any words of wisdom about paxil. Can it

effect his

little system this quickly (24hrs)? He's always been our " wild child " but

today

seems to be off the charts.

Yours with every last nerve jangling,

curiousmum2002