ocd daughter

[Guest guest]

In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone nor

is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy. My

son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist refused

to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion was that

I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband and I

decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but then

he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look for

outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts our

insurance who is more compassionate.

Sherrie

[Guest guest]

Sherrie,

Something that we've been using for our 10yr old daughter is Fish Oil. It's a

natural supplement that helps in evening things out and helps to level out

moods. A brand that was recommended by a therapist is Omega Bright (I think

that's the name). We use the Nature Valley brand from WalMart and within a week

or two we did see a noticable difference. We were actually told about Fish Oil

by a friend who has a daughter w/Tourette's & a son w/severe seperation & social

anxiety. She has used it for years w/great success.

We have recently had to add additional medication to help her with her severe

anxiety (she jumped out of a moving vehicle because of school anxiety) and is

improving greatly. After 9 years of trying to figure out what was going on with

her and trial and error we found a pediatrician that saw OCD tendancies and a

therapist that has been a God send.

Good luck and many prayers as you seek the best way to handle this situation. I

know how hard it is to find the best path for your family in this struggle with

OCD/anxiety.

Praying for you,

Penny

Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T

ocd daughter

In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone nor

is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy. My

son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist refused

to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion was that

I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband and I

decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but then

he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look for

outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts our

insurance who is more compassionate.

Sherrie

[Guest guest]

Hi Sherrie,

My daughter as well can't take meds. We tried a few so called, " trained in OCD "

therapists who frankly thought they were better than they were and had no

success. At that point my daughter did not want to try therapy again because it

didn't work. I had to resort to bribery to get her to try again. This time I

didn't depend on the therapist telling me how good they were, I called the

University of Pennsylvania OCD unit and they recommended someone who actually

knew what they were doing. Mom's know their kids. If a therapist isn't making an

improvement it's time to switch, but please don't give up. my daughter's OCD is

95% better, no drugs. She made 3 new friends yesterday. We have hope in our

lives.

Try the OCD organizations to find a good psychiatrist in your area. In June we

started. By August we were hugely better with 3 appointments a week. You need to

do more than 1 or two to make progress. ERP therapy is the only one I've heard

that works.

We did try Inositol btw and it did take the edge off, but for a 145 lb it took

1 1/2 tablespoons per day to make a dent.

Best wishes for you and your family,

>

> In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone

nor is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

> I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

> I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy.

My son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist

refused to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion

was that I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband

and I decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but

then he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

> But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look

for outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts

our insurance who is more compassionate.

> Sherrie

>

[Guest guest]

> >

> > In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone

nor is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

> > I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

> > I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy.

My son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist

refused to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion

was that I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband

and I decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but

then he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

> > But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look

for outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts

our insurance who is more compassionate.

> > Sherrie

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sherrie. I totally understand your reluctance with meds. I felt the same

way. And I reacted to antidepressants badly too. Not only did they make my

heart freak out, while already having a heart that wants to do that, but they

also made me feel like I was losing my sanity. And with one of the meds

(Paxil), I got horrible suicidal thoughts. I was terrified to put our son on

anything, worrying he might have the same experience. But, our son got to the

point that he couldn't leave the house, then it escalated into him not being

able to leave the bathroom, sometimes for hours. He was up until the early

morning hours, most nights. He was not functioning anymore, so out of

desperation, we tried Celexa. He was 12 at the time, and I hid and cried the

whole first week, worrying about what it would do to him. But, within a week,

he showed improvement, with no horrible side effects. That was the first time

he went on meds.

I'm not advocating drugs, but just saying in our situation, he did/does well on

the meds, despite my not doing well on them. And for us, they were a huge help

in getting him well.

There are also some natural things that some have tried that helped them, rather

than meds. One is inositol.

Yet, ERP (exposure and response therapy) should be tried first, and can be as

effective as drugs. It can make positive, permanent changes to the brain, as it

retrains the brain. Finding a good ERP therapist was the best thing we did for

our son. It changed his life. He got his life back. It gave him the tools to

know how to fight this monster, called OCD. Tools for life. So even though the

OCD/anxiety can wax and wane, he knows what to do if it even starts to rear it's

ugly head. . Recognize it for OCD, then confront it immediately, before it has a

chance to grow. Fighting OCD can be a lifelong battle, so being armed with the

correct tools can make a world of difference.

It can be hard to find someone who knows ERP, but there are also some good books

out there that can walk you through it. If you think they might be helpful for

you, here are the names. . .

What to do when your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Aureen

Pinto Wagner Ph.D.

Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Tamar E. Chansky

Helping Your Child With Ocd: A Workbook for Parents of Children With

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Lee Fitzgibbons and Cherry Pedrick

Talking Back to OCD by March

The last two are workbooks that walk you through CBT and ERP

Best of luck to you. )

BJ

>

> In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone

nor is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

> I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

> I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy.

My son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist

refused to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion

was that I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband

and I decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but

then he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

> But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look

for outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts

our insurance who is more compassionate.

> Sherrie

>

[Guest guest]

So glad to hear the right therapist made such a difference for your daughter,

. That is great news. We had to weed out the bad to get to the good too.

It was frustrating, but worth the effort.

Yay, to the 3 new friends too. )

BJ

> >

> > In response to and Barbara, my daughter is not currently seeing anyone

nor is she on any medication. I have reservations about drugs, especially for

children. Being through a nervous breakdown myself about six years ago, I was

prescribed an antidepressant and an anxiety drug. The anxiety drug did nothing

except make me sleepy but one Zoloft landed me in the emergency room feeling the

worst I've ever felt in my life- at the edge of my sanity. No panic attack ever

felt that bad. Couldn't sleep for the next two days. It was torture! My

doctor told me to keep taking the medication and I tossed them in the toliet. I

decided then that drugs weren't the road to recovery I wanted to take. Lots of

rest, prayer, vitamins, and support got me back to normal a year or so later.

Having such a bad drug reaction, I would be too frightened to test anything out

of that nature on my child.

> > I've begun vitamins, and a B complex supplement and am waiting to see if

anything changes. It's been a week and so far nothing. But I don't expect

overnight cures. My husband, an extremely patient man bless his heart! is now

helping with the shower. She has a time limit with three warnings that we are

enforcing all week. Tonight was the first time she finished without screaming

that she didn't have enough time. We are giving her 20 minutes and planning to

slowly decrease it to 10. There are other issues besides the shower but we can,

and probably only she can, deal with one at a time.

> > I am stubborn and am probably going to exhaust myself before I try therapy.

My son went to therapy for an anxiety issue three years ago. The therapist

refused to work with him after three visits and was very rude. Her conclusion

was that I was spoiling him and that was the cause of his problems. My husband

and I decided school was a big problem and now home school. It took a year, but

then he started to act like himself again. He doesn't even know why he acted so

horrible back then. He laughs about it now. I thank God he is back- it was

very scary.

> > But if she gets worse or shows no improvement, I have no choice but to look

for outside help or I'll go nutty too! I just hope to find someone who accepts

our insurance who is more compassionate.

> > Sherrie

> >

>