Re: Tic question and more -- confused

February 17, 2010

Hi, Leanne. OCD is often accompanied by other disorders, like a tic

disorder or adhd. My daughter has mild ocd (at this point), with a

tic disorder. It is often hard to distinguish where one stops and

the other begins. Different medications treat the two, as well as

different types of therapy. My daughter takes zoloft for the ocd and

tenex for the tics. They have both been very helpful. She has also

done therapy for the ocd. You should probably have your pediatrician

give you a referral for a psychiatrist, unless he is experienced in

dealing with ocd kids. I felt that we didn't get the correct

treatment, until we sought a more specialized doctor. Our

psychiatrist had several therapists he worked with in his practice,

and he then referred us to the therapist, to work on all aspects of

the issues. My daughter is not a PANDAS child, so I don't know a lot

about that. Obviously, that is not always the case with everyone,

but it couldn't hurt to look into it. My daughter has always had

issues, even as a young child. She had the clothing issues like you

mentioned, as well as separation anxiety. She is also 12 and is only

recently started spending the night with friends. We also have a

strong family history of anxiety disorders, with both my husband and

sister having ocd. Does anyone in your family have similar symptoms?

My daughter's ocd began when she was young, maybe around 4 or 5, and

she doesn't have contamination issues. But, my sister has severe

contamination ocd, and hers seemed to come on fairly suddenly, also

around the age of 12. I think that is a common time for these things

to show themselves, as there are so many chemical and hormonal

changes going on in the body, as well as social anxiety. So, my

advice would be to talk openly to your pediatrician about what is

going on, regardless of how well you know him. If he is unable or

unwilling to help, get in to see a psychiatrist and a therapist as

soon as possible. It sounds to me like there is definitely a tic

disorder here also, and medication can help lessen that drastically,

at least it did for us. Contamination ocd is really hard, as I

learned from growing up watching my little sister go through it. She

is 36 years old now, and still washes her hands constantly, and has

issues with taking hand me downs from my daughter for her kids, or

certain stores, etc. just like you mentioned. I think she would be a

much healthier person mentally, if she had had the proper therapy as

a child, when this first started. My parents tried, and they took

her to doctors, but this was the ealry 80's and little was known

about ocd, much less the therapies to help it. I've read that the

early the therapy can begin, the better the outcome. This kind of

came out in a jumble, but hopefully, some of it was helpful to you.

You and your son are not alone! All the things you have written

sound so familiar to me. It can get better. You just need to get

the proper diagnosis, and the proper treatment. Good luck!

>

> My 12 year old son with " regular OCD " contamination type, also

> grimaces or thrusts his jaw when anxiety levels are high like the

> end of a school day. I'm reading and getting more confused. Is a

> tic associated with PANDAS and not regular OCD, or can it accompany

> regular OCD, and if it does is it a seperate disorder? I'm meeting

> with a new pediatrician because our physician retired, and I have

> no idea what he's like or what he's willing to listen to. I don't

> know if I should bring up PANDAS...? My son is not having trouble

> with math or handwriting, he's a straight A student right now. Had

> clothing tag issues all his life, had terrible seperation anxiety

> issues when he was younger, but not now, has occassional bed-

> wetting but it always seems to happen when he's played video games

> or computer too long and too close to bedtime. Not our imagination

> - it's happened many times over several years. As far as sudden

> onset...? He had tolerable issues with bugs and things for awhile,

> and then before christmas started changing clothes after school,

> then showering and changing clothes after school. Mid January it

> escalated to where he didn't know anymore what was clean and what

> was dirty and he said, " I'm going insane. " That's when the hand

> washing started, although he uses avoidance more. Issues with

> public places and the things that come from stores started, etc. It

> seemed sudden at the time because when it decided to rear it's ugly

> head it took off, but not 24 hrs. ??? Help. Information and advice

> please, especially regarding the tic. Thanks. Leanne

>

February 17, 2010

Thanks . We are seeing a psychologist who has OCD contamination type

herself and is very familiar with CBT/ERT. My sons second appt with her

is Friday. He saw a pediatrician for the typical physical and blood work and I

mentioned the OCD like behavior but she was leaving it up to the psychologist.

I'm switching to her collegue who is at a clinic closer to our home and will

meet him next week for the first time. He ordered the zoloft over the phone at

an appropriate dose without consulting the psychologist which makes me believe

he's treated OCD before, anyway. I may bring up PANDAS just to do the strep

test and get it out of the way. Boy that would complicate things to have any of

it come back positive, but I'd like to be sure. The PANDAS symptoms sound more

like him as a young child. Treating the tic is voluntary, correct? If it

doesn't bother the child and doesn't interfere with anything it ok to let it

be? He did

some eye blinking last year and that went away on its own. This started after

school started and I'm betting it will go away this summer. Thanks again for

responding. Take care, Leanne