Re: My First Post/Spew & Help

December 24, 2004

Hi there, and welcome to the list. I am very short of time but what jumped

out at me was that your daughter is on a very low dose of Zoloft to treat

OCD. Zoloft is less potent than say, Prozac, and in any case none of the

SSRIs equate milligram to milligram. My daughter will be 11 in a few days,

and she takes 150mg Zoloft/day and has for four years now. For three of

those years my child also took a small dose of a second SSRI to potentiate

the effect of the Zoloft. Our daughter was also very impaired by OCD and in

her case, it was crucial to get effective SSRI dose in place, that is what

allowed her to participate and benefit from CBT/ERP.

For quite awhile now her symptoms have been low and manageable, and this is

certainly possible for your child too. I very much suggest making sure her

prescribing pdoc is aware of how much her OCD is still affecting her, and

see if s/he will consider going up on the Zoloft or switching to a different

med, or perhaps consider augmenting the Zoloft with a second SSRI. It's not

your job to figure out which SSRI to add or switch to, a good pdoc will

choose based on your daughter's, and perhaps your, reactions to the various

ones. With any SSRI, " starting low and going slow " is a good way to avoid

side effects.

My daughter is reading over my shoulder and is interested in emailing your

daughter if she would like that. Let me know :0)

Take care,

Kathy R. in Indiana

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

From: " thiin_white_duke " <thiin_white_duke@...

> Hello all,

>

> Man am I glad I found this resource! When I saw Dr. Chamskey

> advises the list, I knew it was the right place! We have her book,

> and I have NEVER EVER read anything on any subject which was so spot

> on as her book on OCD in children. Everything our 11 year-old

> daughter has been through is mentioned - in detail. It's as if she

> lives in our house!

>

> Since this is my first post, I first have to spew what we have

> endured for the last 6 or 7 years first. She's now in CBT and we

> are failing to find the right med to take the edge off so that the

> CBT can get a wedge in her terrible disorder. Of course, our life

> is a living hell too, and we miss our wonderful daughter. She cannot

> see how much life she is missing, and she refuses to try to help

> herself. It's killing her, it's killing us, and it's killing us to

> see her endure this.

>

> She's been diganosed with OCD and a comorbid Oppositional Defiant

> Disorder (ODD). Which is like trying to put out a fire with

> gasoline! Whe she's having an OCD moment and we try to tell her to

> tell the OCD monster to stop controlling her, she flies into a rage

> and yells things like, " I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OCD, JUST TELL ME IF

> SHE'S SICK! " Yes, her fear of germs - and of course, the OCD she

> doesn't care about is exactly what's making her care so much.

>

> Fear of vomiting? How about having such a strong will she would

> make herself vomit everytime we went to a restaraunt - We've past

> that one (phew!), but for two years we hardly ever ate out, and when

> we did, we were always on pins and needles wating for it to come -

> which it always did.

>

> She went through a period of about a year that she insisted on

> checking the expiration date of every thing we ate, and wouldn't

> drink or eat anything if it was a few days away from expiring.

> Now her fear of germs has hit it's peak. She is late

> to classes b/c she goes in the bathroom to " scrub up for surgery "

> between classes. To help, and as a compromise, we have given her

> some hand sanitizer to reduce her time. But I doubt Purell ever

> intended their products to be used as a hair gel, or clothing

> detergent. Yes, if someone sitting around her sneezes or coughs,

> she'll be in the school bathroom, literally bathing herself in hand

> sanitizer. Her teachers know about her issues, and have even told

> us that she comes into class smelling like hand sanitizer.

> The worst part is how she treats her 5 year old sister. Even though

> she's not sick, she treats her like she has the plague.

>

> So now onto HELP!

>

> Two " answerable " problems we have: 1. How do we get her to realize

> how much life she is losing and how good it can be so that she will

> be open to helping herself and wants to care about getting better?

> 2. She's on 50mg of Zoloft, which is about as effective as a sugar

> pill (didn't work for my anxiety issues either). We'd like to ask

> her psych about other meds, but aren't sure which one's to try -

> Luvox? Prozac? Anafranil? Paxil was hell on me so I'm hesitant to

> try it with her. Does anyone know if those that come with potential

> sexual side effects (like Paxil was with me) can hamper sexual

> development in children?

>

> Thanks so much for this group, and bless you all who are cosuffering

> with us!

December 24, 2004

Thanks so much for the replies. Our daughter has been on the 50mg

meds for about 3 months. After a month on 25mg, which her

psychologist said that she's never seen anyone respond to such a low

dose, our psych upped it to 50mg. Having personal experience with

anti-depressants, I know that the doc should only increase the

dosage if there is some sign that the lower dose is working. After

the summer from hell (thanks to her ODD), things did get a bit

better with the ODD. But now we believe firmly that it was because

school started and she was able to divert her attention elsewhere,

and not just spend her time with us turning even the smallest

request to get dressed into a huge argument. The fact that it was

about the same time she started on her meds was merely coincidental.

We are also changing psychiatrists. Her therapist said her current

psych has a reputation for not prescribing meds, which of course is

her entire occupation. Which sounds good, but in some cases, like

ours, it's like seeing a doc for cancer and having them tell you to

try aspirin for a month first... By the time you get to the real

meds, you've missed a few months of potential good time.

I saw that Anafranil is the oldest and most widely used, but I also

saw it has potential cardiac side effects. As many of you know,

when it gets as bad as it gets, you become desparate to try anything

which might promise some hope. So we're eager to get our hands on

anything, but don't want to wind up in the ER at the expense of

psychiatric peace of mind.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

>

> >

> > Hello all,

> >

> > Man am I glad I found this resource! When I saw Dr. Chamskey

> > advises the list, I knew it was the right place! We have her

book,

> > and I have NEVER EVER read anything on any subject which was so

spot

> > on as her book on OCD in children. Everything our 11 year-old

> > daughter has been through is mentioned - in detail. It's as if

she

> > lives in our house!

> >

> > Since this is my first post, I first have to spew what we have

> > endured for the last 6 or 7 years first. She's now in CBT and we

> > are failing to find the right med to take the edge off so that

the

> > CBT can get a wedge in her terrible disorder. Of course, our

life

> > is a living hell too, and we miss our wonderful daughter. She

cannot

> > see how much life she is missing, and she refuses to try to help

> > herself. It's killing her, it's killing us, and it's killing us

to

> > see her endure this.

> >

> > She's been diganosed with OCD and a comorbid Oppositional Defiant

> > Disorder (ODD). Which is like trying to put out a fire with

> > gasoline! Whe she's having an OCD moment and we try to tell her

to

> > tell the OCD monster to stop controlling her, she flies into a

rage

> > and yells things like, " I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OCD, JUST TELL ME

IF

> > SHE'S SICK! " Yes, her fear of germs - and of course, the OCD she

> > doesn't care about is exactly what's making her care so much.

> >

> > Fear of vomiting? How about having such a strong will she would

> > make herself vomit everytime we went to a restaraunt - We've

past

> > that one (phew!), but for two years we hardly ever ate out, and

when

> > we did, we were always on pins and needles wating for it to

come -

> > which it always did.

> >

> > She went through a period of about a year that she insisted on

> > checking the expiration date of every thing we ate, and wouldn't

> > drink or eat anything if it was a few days away from expiring.

> > Now her fear of germs has hit it's peak. She is late

> > to classes b/c she goes in the bathroom to " scrub up for surgery "

> > between classes. To help, and as a compromise, we have given her

> > some hand sanitizer to reduce her time. But I doubt Purell ever

> > intended their products to be used as a hair gel, or clothing

> > detergent. Yes, if someone sitting around her sneezes or coughs,

> > she'll be in the school bathroom, literally bathing herself in

hand

> > sanitizer. Her teachers know about her issues, and have even

told

> > us that she comes into class smelling like hand sanitizer.

> > The worst part is how she treats her 5 year old sister. Even

though

> > she's not sick, she treats her like she has the plague.

> >

> > So now onto HELP!

> >

> > Two " answerable " problems we have: 1. How do we get her to

realize

> > how much life she is losing and how good it can be so that she

will

> > be open to helping herself and wants to care about getting

better?

> > 2. She's on 50mg of Zoloft, which is about as effective as a

sugar

> > pill (didn't work for my anxiety issues either). We'd like to

ask

> > her psych about other meds, but aren't sure which one's to try -

> > Luvox? Prozac? Anafranil? Paxil was hell on me so I'm

hesitant to

> > try it with her. Does anyone know if those that come with

potential

> > sexual side effects (like Paxil was with me) can hamper sexual

> > development in children?

> >

> > Thanks so much for this group, and bless you all who are

cosuffering

> > with us!

> >

> > Our list archives, bookmarks, files, and chat feature may be

accessed

> > at: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group// .

> > Our list advisors are Gail B. , Ed.D., Tamar Chansky, Ph.D.

(

> > http://www.worrywisekids.org ), Dan Geller, M.D.,Aureen Pinto

Wagner,

> > Ph.D., ( http://www.lighthouse-press.com ). Our list

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> >

December 24, 2004