Re: Son in Shower

[Guest guest]

Hang in there, Kerrie. It will get better. My 10 y.o. son was exactly

like that 4 months ago, the whole house was contaminated and he would

stand in one spot for hours, and sleep with both arms and legs raised in

the air, in the middle of the night, and have constant rages. Thanks

for the encouragement and support of many people here (---thanks a lot

galway and !---), we fought thru it, and it is much better

now. In fact he is reading this post with me now and asked me to reply,

and following are his own words......Bruce

Hi, I'm . I have OCD, and now I still have it. A few months ago, I

wasn't doing anything. I stood there for a long time, doing nothing.

When it was time for school, for the first few days, I would be coming

in late. Then I said to my teacher that I have OCD. She asked me to try

not to be late. and since then, except for a few days, I was at school

on time. The days when I was late, my dad forced me to get to school,

and now, I'm not late for school, and I don't stand there for a whole

day anymore. If your son would like to, he could talk with me on skype.

I didn't know exactly what helped, but I now believe what other people

are saying that it may have to get worse (to the worst) for it to get

better. I was determined to not let dropped from the school and

for the first 2 wks of the semester, we fought every morning for 1~2 hrs

until he was calm enough to walk into the classroom. He now just told

me that those fights were " flood exposures " to him and it was what

helped. I'm relatively new to this OCD thing and if any what I think

may help is to try not to give in to OCD demands as much as possible and

as long as the daily life is still bearable......Again hang in there.

There is hope..........Bruce

>

> Thank you to everyone who responded last week on a way to get my son

out of the shower. It really is helpful to read others experiences and

hear how each of you dealt with it. My cry for help was on Wednesday or

Thursday evening - I can't remember. This past week has been shear

torture for him and for his Dad & I. Friday he went into the garage at

1:30 in the afternoon and was unable to come back into the house until

7:30 that evening. Our house is now contaminated. He was experiencing

extreme anxiety throughout the weekend. Does anyones child have such a

fear of germs that they are actually paralyzed in one spot for 2 to 3

hours? We had many of these episodes this past weekend. My husband and

I considered several times of taking him to the ER. His therapist was

out of town at the time and I turned to the family Dr. for some meds.

The Dr. gave him Xanex today. .5mg once a day. His nights are complete

horror for him. The

> sensation of germs and feeling dirty bring him such distress that I

don't know how much more he can handle mentally. I know Xanex only

takes the edge off. Once bedtime hit it started all over again. OCD set

in and took over. No relief in sight. He went to bed at 9:00 and just

finally was able to fall asleep at 1:30 am. Called the Dr. and said to

give him another .5mg at 11:30pm. He cried and twitched, felt the

germs crawling on him and held his arms straight up in the air for 2

more hours until he fell asleep. He has not attended school since last

Wednesday. I don't know when he will be able to return. He walks with

his arms in the air flapping his hands as to not wash his hands. We are

going to see a psychiatrist this week. Hopefully the meds prescribed by

him will help him function and be happy again! I know those meds take a

while to work and then hopefully we can start back on his weekly

therapy. His OCD has spiraled out of

> control this past couple of weeks. My heart breaks for him...he is in

such pain!

>

> I know several people who have posted on this sight have pulled their

child out of school. How was it? How were they able to return without

a lot of questions? Kids can be so cruel! Once you are faced with

something as horrible as OCD, I don't think there is any room for any

more harassment - especially by his peers.

>

> Please Help!

>

> Kerrie

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kerrie:

I can truly emphasize with you since this sounds a lot like my son who is 13. I

lived your nightmare and still do to a lesser extent. We actually did take him

to the ER and that was a mistake. It took four hours and they could only give

him valium. Told us to take him to the mental hospital, children's ward. So we

did. We did get him medication prescribed quickly there, but the nurses there

were not used to OCD patients. Mostly they see suicidal teens. One nurse took

away all his soap, locked his bathroom, and took up all hand sanitizers. My son

stood in his room all night, feeling " unclean. " No one noticed this . He then

couldn't take his medicine because the whole place was now " unclean. " One

nurse lectured me on how I had to be stricter with him to " cure " his OCD. I told

the attending psychiatrist and he called in the head nurse to tell her they were

making his OCD worse by not letting him clean, but it was too late, my son

wanted out of there, so I signed him out. For weeks he ate one time a day,

after spitting for a long period of time to " clean " his mouth. It's been 2

months and he can go 8 hours now without spitting, his rituals are lessoned and

he lets some things slide that used to bother him. It's been slow, and he still

doesn't want to leave the house, has a long way to go. We're also looking into

PANDAS now as he has symptoms of having that. As to school, he's being home

schooled . We're in Texas, so I don't know if it's the same where you live, but

there is very little help or understanding with kids with certain disabilities.

I tried to keep him there for 7th grade when his OCD wasn't as bad as now, but

discovered the schools were too overwhelmed with a multitude of other problems.

They treated him horribly, teachers, administrators and yes, some kids made fun

of him as certain types of kids will (and adults for that matter). You are doing

right by keeping your son at home. My son is actually learning much more than he

did in school. We're doing a lot of unschooling, in other words letting him lead

the way according to his interests (except for math). You could take him to a

mental hospital if you can't get him in to a psychiatrist soon in order to get

him on a medication right away, but that would be the only reason in my opinion.

This is getting long. If you want to chat more feel free to email me

personally.

Anita in TX

This past week has been shear torture for him and for his Dad & I.  Friday he

went into the garage at 1:30 in the afternoon and was unable to come back into

the house until 7:30 that evening.  Our house is now contaminated.   He was

experiencing extreme anxiety throughout the weekend.  Does anyones child have

such a fear of germs that they are actually paralyzed in one spot for 2 to 3

hours?  We had many of these episodes this past weekend.  My husband and I

considered several times of taking him to the ER. 

[Guest guest]

I'm so sorry your family is having such a difficult time!? I feel awful for your

poor son.? My response is about pulling your son out of school.? I normally

don't suggest people do that but your son is having such a hard time, as a

parent I would really consider it.? The OCD is like an illness and if he were

coughing or vomiting as severly as he is obsessing or compulsing, you would not

feel the least bit uncomfortable pulling him out until he was well again.? He

might need time to heal from his condition. Once he is treated successfully for

the OCD and he can function better, school will be easier.? For now, the goal is

just to get him better and if he is having a hard time with school too, I

wouldn't make him go.? Good luck--Kelley in NV

Son in Shower

Thank you to everyone who responded last week on a?way to get my son out of the

shower.? It really is helpful to read others experiences and hear how each of

you dealt with it.? My cry for help was on Wednesday or Thursday evening?- I

can't remember.? This past week has been shear torture for him and for his Dad &

I.? Friday he went into the garage at 1:30 in the afternoon and was unable to

come back into the house until 7:30 that evening.? Our house is now

contaminated.? ?He was experiencing extreme anxiety throughout the weekend.?

Does anyones child have such a fear of germs that they are actually paralyzed in

one spot for 2 to 3 hours?? We had many of these episodes this past weekend.? My

husband and I considered several times of taking him to the ER.? His therapist

was out of town at the time and I turned to the family Dr. for some meds.? The

Dr. gave him Xanex today.? .5mg once a day.? His nights are complete horror for

him.? The

sensation of germs and feeling dirty bring him such distress that I don't know

how much more he can handle mentally.? I know Xanex only takes the edge off.?

Once bedtime hit it started all over again.?OCD set in and took over. ?No relief

in sight.? He went to bed at 9:00 and just finally was able to fall asleep at

1:30 am.? Called the Dr. and said to give him another .5mg at 11:30pm. ? He

cried and twitched, felt the germs crawling on him and held his arms straight up

in the air for 2 more hours until he fell asleep.? He has not attended school

since last Wednesday.? I don't know when he will be able to return.? He walks

with his arms in the air flapping his hands as to not wash his hands.? We are

going to see a psychiatrist this week.? Hopefully the meds prescribed by him

will help him function and be happy again! I know those meds take a while to

work and then hopefully we can start back on his weekly therapy.? His OCD has

spiraled out of

control this past couple of weeks.? My heart breaks for him...he is in such

pain!

I know several people who have posted on this sight have pulled their child out

of school.? How was it?? How were they able to return without a lot of

questions?? Kids can be so cruel!? Once you are faced with something as horrible

as OCD, I don't think there is any room for any more harassment - especially by

his peers.

Please Help!

Kerrie

[Guest guest]

I am so sorry to read your son is suffering so very much.

My first thought was it the return to school and the stress of

school that triggered the increase anxiety?

My daughter refused to go to school last March and didn't return until this fall

and at a different school.

If your son can manage to get up and go to school for one or two periods calmly

I would opt for that. It is hard to return to

school if you are out completely. My daughter would not return to school because

the longer she was out the more worried she got about

what the kids would say. Our school is not willing to help her

either so they preferred a special ed school for her.

This fall we don't let our daughter

pick classes or the time of day she goes to school because then she is thinking

too much. If she complains we remind her it is

just for the first period and she can call me after that.

This is our strategy this fall and it working at keeping her OCD

in check. We slowly increased the length of

day by one period at a time each week. We are up to lunch.

I don't know if this would have worked last spring. Her anxiety and panic was

too high. She is on zoloft now 50mg but it is not enough

the OCD is still there but not as extreme. Still she can only

manage a partial day and no homework. If we try to do too much

the OCD comes back.

At this point we at least have a peaceful and happy house

even though school is modified (partial day and no homework).

I hope your son is feeling better really soon.

And take care yourself!

Pam

she is.

Sh

>

> Thank you to everyone who responded last week on a way to get my son out of

the shower.  It really is helpful to read others experiences and hear how each

of you dealt with it.  My cry for help was on Wednesday or Thursday evening - I

can't remember.  This past week has been shear torture for him and for his Dad &

I.  Friday he went into the garage at 1:30 in the afternoon and was unable to

come back into the house until 7:30 that evening.  Our house is now

contaminated.   He was experiencing extreme anxiety throughout the weekend. 

Does anyones child have such a fear of germs that they are actually paralyzed in

one spot for 2 to 3 hours?  We had many of these episodes this past weekend.  My

husband and I considered several times of taking him to the ER.  His therapist

was out of town at the time and I turned to the family Dr. for some meds.  The

Dr. gave him Xanex today.  .5mg once a day.  His nights are complete horror for

him.  The

> sensation of germs and feeling dirty bring him such distress that I don't

know how much more he can handle mentally.  I know Xanex only takes the edge

off.  Once bedtime hit it started all over again. OCD set in and took over.  No

relief in sight.  He went to bed at 9:00 and just finally was able to fall

asleep at 1:30 am.  Called the Dr. and said to give him another .5mg at 11:30pm.

  He cried and twitched, felt the germs crawling on him and held his arms

straight up in the air for 2 more hours until he fell asleep.  He has not

attended school since last Wednesday.  I don't know when he will be able to

return.  He walks with his arms in the air flapping his hands as to not wash his

hands.  We are going to see a psychiatrist this week.  Hopefully the meds

prescribed by him will help him function and be happy again! I know those meds

take a while to work and then hopefully we can start back on his weekly

therapy.  His OCD has spiraled out of

> control this past couple of weeks.  My heart breaks for him...he is in such

pain!

>

> I know several people who have posted on this sight have pulled their child

out of school.  How was it?  How were they able to return without a lot of

questions?  Kids can be so cruel!  Once you are faced with something as horrible

as OCD, I don't think there is any room for any more harassment - especially by

his peers.

>

> Please Help!

>

> Kerrie

>

>

>

>

>