Introduction and first Pdoc appt question

September 5, 2009

Hi,

I'm and my 9yo daughter Talin has (so far) undiagnosed OCD. It started

last fall when she was 8 (3rd grade-we homeschool). I noticed her tapping

things. And sometimes she would walk out of a room, go back, tap once and then

continue on her original path. I asked her what's going on and she said she

liked to make things even. I got some books recommended by other moms of kids

fighting OCD, but haven't started " What to do when your brain gets stuck " with

Talin yet. After I removed some stress from our school day (relaxed on some new

rigidity I had just started last fall) she seemed more at ease and the " evens "

slowed or went away for a few weeks at a time.

I just negotiated a price break (we are on State healthcare-little help with

cost of mental health visits) at a Psychiatrists office who wrote an article in

our local paper (East Central Illinois) on OCD. This Thursday Talin will meet

with the counselor who works with him and she will help us set up a

diagnosis/treatment plan. We are committed to 3 visits (at 1/2 price) and then

we'll see where we need to go next. At the first visit the counselor will be

giving 3 questionaires to us, one each for my husband and myself and one for a

teacher, I'll give it to her Sunday School teacher.

On a PANDAS related note, she is very sick this week (fever, mild sore thoat,

severe cough) and the 72 hr strep test showed immediate results of " not strep " .

She usually gets real sick like this for about a week during the summer. I'm

wondering if, since her OCD has waxed and waned (with no compulsions I'm aware

of other than " evens " ), if I should ask if we can rule out PANDAS.

Just a little more info. Talin has always been my cautious child. She wouldn't

go up a ladder at the playground as a preschooler unless she KNEW that she could

get all the way over safely. That turned into a fear of heights-open

staircases. She and I have been working on CBT (not knowing that is what we

were doing) and she has made progress and had some instances of truely

overcoming it. Recently on a visit to the Indianapolis Zoo shark exhibit, she

was really concerned that I wanted to pet the sharks (dog sharks with only molar

like teeth-safe enough in my book). I asked her if she wanted to pet them, she

vehemently said " NO! " and then told me she didn't want me to either. I told her

that there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity (I've pet whales and

dolphins, but sharks? Thats, cool!) and I made her take my picture. Her

anxiety in the past (I've not known exactly what she'd been anxious about) has

led her to pick/tear her finger and toe nails. With awareness, we would

overcome it and then when some new major stressor would come around (moving 2000

mi from home/family) she'd start in again. The spring she was 7, she picked at

her toes so bad she got a major infection and we had to go see a specialist.

But this month she has decided to " spare " her nails and actually has almost an

1/8th inch of white nail on every finger. We are letting her know how proud we

are and rewarding her with a manicure (I am so not into doing this for young

girls, but the victory is one I want to celebrate).

Thanks for reading my ramble. If there's anything you recommend asking the

counselor this week, please speak up.

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September 5, 2009

,

So much I can relate to in your post...my dd peels her fingernails and all the

skin around it and the whole tip until bleeding...now she's started on toenails.

BUT, what I really wanted to say is that we just finished a whole round of

neuropsych tests, occupational and language assessments, and Aspergers

questionnaires. My daughter was definitely diagnosed with OCD and GAD, with

sensory integration disorder as well. BUT although both us parents scored her

" very likely " on the Aspergers assessment, her teacher did not...she just acts

SO extremely different at school and even on play dates away from home then she

does at home with us. So she instead was " diagnosed " with lack of social skills

and immaturity. Like you, we suspect it is harder for her to handle OCD moments

because of the Asperger-type tendencies.

I just wanted to mention this because of the striking difference between school

and home, it can really be remarkable.

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