Introducing myself

[Guest guest]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you all for the wonderful and

warm welcome!! You have made me feel right at home and " part of the

family " . I look forward to getting to know you all better in the

coming months.

Jen

Who thinks she stumbled onto the best list group on the entire web!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Just wanted to add my welcome. I got a chuckle from your post when you

mentioned your tendency for run on narratives. I share your tendency so you are

in good company here. OCD can overwhelm your life and when you go to talk about

it, it can just bubble over in all directions, I find.

" quite a bit of stress due to DS's OCDs and reactions, and our reactions to

that. Sometimes seems like a vicious circle " . Well, again I relate. You pretty

much encapsulate the whole experience of it really. The more you can pull out

of reaction mode yourself the better, but nearly impossible depending what all

you are dealing with.

Since you mention bipolar and ADD as well, you are dealing with a lot!!! And

reactivity I would imagine as the order of the day.... And 14, teen, well this

may be the most difficult piece to work with in all this.

Ours is almost 18. His severe onset was at 15, while " stuff " was always there,

or brewing, since birth really. We have bipolar genetics on board, but no

diagnosis, but have found this an influence with medications, and a seasonal

fluctuation with light. I am on the spectrum.

Ours lost two years of school, so I understand your concerns around this. Now

he goes to an alternative school half days, and is making progress, but it is

slow. His attendance is up and down, sometimes legitimate due to OCD, but other

times just slacking off. We mostly let him run his own show these days, but

point out that he is only dragging out something that he wants to get over with.

Ours has LD, and school is not easy for him, so we " feel his pain " , but give him

a push now and then and tell him we expect better. He has committed to no more

missed days, we'll see....

At 14, yours needs much more guidance on all this of course. The getting lost

in video games seems to be pretty common. Good distraction from the OCD for

one, but also much more satisfying than schoolwork I'm sure. Hard to get

through to them at this age, since they generally can't see past the pizza they

are planning on for dinner. Best line I heard lately, they lack a fully formed

pre- frontal lobe and need us to be that for them. So, keep nagging, cajoling,

enticing, consequencing, whatever. They often ignore, or seem to have no

response, but it's going in there, to come out at some future date as a

responsible, decent citizen - have to believe!

Ok, so you bear witness to my run on narrative! I'll end now. But welcome

again, this is a great supportive bunch with great ideas on how to get through

the day living with this crazy disorder called OCD.

Warmly,

Barb

Canada

>

> Hi, everyone,

> I'm and I just found this group today. DH and I are parents to one

14 year old boy with Bipolar & OC Disorders, as well as ADD.

> DS has been under treatment for BP and OCD for three years, and had had

them for at least a year before we first got treatment. He had a meltdown and

started talking about wanting to die (he was ten or eleven at the time). We took

him to the ER at a local hospital and they admitted him to a psych ward for

about a week. That's when we found out about the BP & OCD. He began treatment

and counseling and improved. Over the intervening time we've adjusted meds and

tried to work on coping skills. We home school. B/c of the disorders we are

behind three years in grade level. DS is a very smart kid, so the fact that

we've lost so much time due to the OCDs is extremely frustrating to us parents.

DS doesn't seem to care about school, whether he does it or not. He'd rather

play online games than work on his education. We're trying to get him to see

that if he wants to become a chef like he's said for several years, he NEEDs to

focus on the foundation of education. Arg.

> I'm sorry. This is really disjointed. I just kind of leapt in here and

started writing. :-)

> I'll just say that I am really glad to have found this group and I hope

that I (and DH) can learn some things that will benefit our son and our family,

and our lives, which at present are under quite a bit of stress due to DS's OCDs

and reactions, and our reactions to that. Sometimes seems like a vicious circle.

> Thanks for bearing with me, all. I will say that I have a habit of filling

the bill for " resident ditz " -so, heads up. I'm off to a running start with this

post, a 'run-on " narrative.

> -

>

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

I must admit that I have been benefiting from the extensive knowledge and

support this group shares with each other for some time now. I feel honored to

" know " you! It has taken me a while to get my head on straight and be able to

begin to focus on my goal of seriously getting my private practice going. Even

now, I imagine things won't really get off the ground until the new year...but

again, I am grateful for all I am learning here.

My name is and I have been working in perinatal support and education

for several years now. I believe I came into this work as a cathartic response

to the challenging birth and subsequent adjustment after the arrival of my first

daughter. I feel fulfilled in so many ways and really take pleasure in being

able to help new moms prepare and adjust to the life change of new parenthood.

My experience with my second daughter's birth was much calmer and we all

adjusted very well, even as I was studying hard preparing for the IBCLC exam.

Currently, I work at a local hospital teaching, facilitating support groups and

as an inpatient LC or on the outpatient warmline several days a month. I have

seen a few private practice clients in their homes and really feel that this is

an ideal way for me to make the most of my skills and offer support in the ways

I know best. As I mentioned above, I hope to really focus on more private

clients in the new year and as such am working on marketing materials, etc. when

I can. I tend not to be a prolific yahoo group poster, but do read those that

come my way with great respect.

I never intended for this introduction to be so long winded. Perhaps my desire

to continue to learn and grow with such a clearly helpful community has prompted

me to share paragraphs...I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend of

gratitude.

Warmly,

Suffin, IBCLC - San Francisco, CA