How did your child's ocd manifest itself?

[Guest guest]

Hi, Mandy. I think of OCD as being like a " scratch and sniff " in that the

smell is there but you have to scratch the surface to really make it stink! I

have two daughters with OCD and with one of them, it was obvious from the start

that she had something going on. She was a very anxious, screaming child who

had separation anxiety at birth. There have been several times in her life

when she has really gone off the deep end and they were all following an

accident, illness, or traumatic event. Sometimes there is a delay of about four

weeks but it's been very consistent. She had medical tests, repeated ear

infections, and exams for crossed eyes beginning at eighteen months, a broken

leg at

two, and a broken arm at seven. She was diagnosed with OCD about a month and

a half after she broke her arm. She also had a very bad reaction to her

sister's emergency appendectomy that same year. The delayed reaction has

something

to do with the chemicals in one part of the brain changing because of the

stress and those chemicals in turn affecting other parts of the brain. 's

older sister, Hannah, was pretty normal until her onset at ten, following the

appendectomy. Her onset was about four weeks after the surgery. She hid the

symptoms from me for a year but we were able to go back to when it began.

Looking back, we can see some signs that she was pre-disposed to OCD as well but

she has always been very aware of the things that " weren't quite right " and

kept them to herself. She recently told me that it used to bother her when I

made her bed a certain way and that she was unable to sleep well because of it

and that driving down certain streets used to upset her. We had no idea. Funny

thing is, both kids have a delay of about four weeks when something happens

and both kids take about nine weeks to get the full benefit of medication.

Talk about being a family thing! I'm interested in reading about other onsets.

Kelley in NV

[Guest guest]

Our theripist says ocd is in your genes, but usually it takes trauma

of some sort or loss to bring it out sometimes, and if you felt like

sharing, I was wondering when did you notice your child had ocd, and

how long ago was it, and what happened to bring it on, that is of

course if you want to share,

My daughter (6) was diagnosed 3 months ago, but we have been

living with the symptoms for over two years, not realizing what was

going on, First she was handwashing, then she became afraid of

electricty, ( due to my 18 yr old brother being electrocuted in 02')

then she started repeating questions and having unreasonable fears of

death from anything, like if someone took medicine and was standing

across the room, she would swear up and down it got in her mouth, We

lost like 5 people in a matter of 2 years so dr says that is what

probably brought it out, my daughter was very close to my brother, as

was I, he was like my first child, I helped raise him, so they were

very close, and he died suddenly and tragically and it was more than

her little mind could handle, I guess,

take care,

Mandy in Knoxville

[Guest guest]

HI,

I haven't posted in a while, but wanted to answer your question

since your daughter's fears of death sounded like what my daughter

has experienced. She too was convinced that medicine would literally

fly across the room and she'd inhale it, swallow it, etc. and die.

But to answer you question about how it all came to be. Our daughter

was a huge worrier, had been for years. Very " by the book " , made no

mistakes, lots and lots of concerns, very emotional, very clean

hands, hugely responsible due to her exactness and perfection, etc.,

but I attributed her high emotional state to her high

intelligence.....I thougth she was just " aware " of more. None the

less, these worries were big, but as we learned to accomodate her,

we lost site of how large the worries were and frankly, they did not

yet interfer with her life.

Then, one day day I left her home with my Mom (her Nana) while I was

shopping. She was 9 and her brother, 3. Together they played croquet

outside and her brother accidentally got off a tremendous shot, but

its powerful aim was at her head! She was knocked out and had a big

bump. Nothing serious, but my over anxious mother called an

ambulance. A few months later we tried leaving the kids again.

Again, with my mother. Our daughter was so, so scared something

would happen. Anyhow, sure enough she had a full blown panick attack

that night and my mother called an ambulance AGAIN thinking, this

time, it was a true asthma attack causing her to not be able to

breath. She never imagined it was " just " panic. Somehow, the first

trauma of the croquet ball had left my daughterconvinced her life

could be shattered easily. Then, after she ruminated over it for

months and worried herself to pieces about my leaving

her " unprotected " (what if another croquet ball got her?)she had

herself in real OCD mode. By then she virtually ate nothing over

those months for fear the food was contaminated, and had real, full

blown symptoms that I hadn't put together. I didn't realize what was

wrong......I knew it was something, but honestly thought maybe I

had " made " her a worrier since I have some OCD too. But what clued

us in was the ER doc on the second trip. He heard the stories of her

incessant worring, recognized it was panic not asthma, heard she

wouldn't really eat and was 63 pounds at 10, and thanks to

him....told us to get her help asap. It was an insanely fast

downward spiral from that second ambulance ride and we were just

begging for help to get her a diagnosis from that point on. It was

about 4 weeks before we got real affirmation on the OCD and some

solid medication help, but it was the worst 4 weeks of our lives...

My poor daughter. She can actually chuckle that a croquet ball

started it all; but we know it is soooooo much deeper than that. The

incident just affirmed, for her, that life was scarey and fragile

and well worth investing even more time worrying about. Anyhow,

that's our story and I hope it helps.

Larissa in MA

In , " mandy " <mld37917@y...> wrote:

> Our theripist says ocd is in your genes, but usually it takes

trauma

> of some sort or loss to bring it out sometimes, and if you felt

like

> sharing, I was wondering when did you notice your child had ocd,

and

> how long ago was it, and what happened to bring it on, that is of

> course if you want to share,

>

> My daughter (6) was diagnosed 3 months ago, but we have

been

> living with the symptoms for over two years, not realizing what

was

> going on, First she was handwashing, then she became afraid of

> electricty, ( due to my 18 yr old brother being electrocuted in

02')

> then she started repeating questions and having unreasonable fears

of

> death from anything, like if someone took medicine and was

standing

> across the room, she would swear up and down it got in her mouth,

We

> lost like 5 people in a matter of 2 years so dr says that is what

> probably brought it out, my daughter was very close to my brother,

as

> was I, he was like my first child, I helped raise him, so they

were

> very close, and he died suddenly and tragically and it was more

than

> her little mind could handle, I guess,

>

> take care,

> Mandy in Knoxville

[Guest guest]

My now 5 yod, started with symptoms when she was 4 after we lost 2

people in our family within 3 weeks. She had rages and was out of

control. Some handwashing and lots of anxiety and other obsessions

and compulsions. It came on very sudden. Although, now looking back

I can see a few sight compulsions now before that. She has surgery

when she was 2, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or

not.

She has been in therapy now for a year and is doing much better. So

far without meds. She was sick this week however and the OCD has

flared up some more. Hopefully it will not last too long.