New Member. Daughter just officially diagnosed

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HI,

I am , mom to a sweet little girl, named Gabby. Gabby was a surprise

baby, born just 13 months after her sister. She has not had it easy. She was

hospitalized at 2 weeks, and 3 months, for RSV, 6 months for bowel obstruction,

7 months for Prolonged Apnea. At 4 months she had a severe vaccine reaction,

that almost put her in the hospital.

She started walking at 7 months,( crazy crazy early) and was very brave.

Getting injured often, and having stitches more times that i can remember. It is

as if she doesnt feel pain.

Starting at about a year, i started noticing some things were off with her. She

would line up toys and dvd's end to end across the house. everything HAD to be

lined up. By 18 months she was color coding everything, and sorting by shape and

size. Her toys were always perfect.

She had horrible fears by the time she was about 2.5 years. She couldnt be left

without me, ever. Not even with her dad. At 3 to 4 she started having horrible

angry outbursts. she is a violent little girl when she gets stressed. She didnt

talk, and only had a handful of words. She never wanted to play with anyone. she

was content to fix up her own world. when she was 4, we started seeking help for

her. after many visits with a psychiatrist, he said she had aspergers, and

possible OCD and bi-polar disorder. She never slept, and that was a big concern

of ours, so the doc prescribed a medication to help her sleep. She was only on

it for a short period of time ( i never even refilled it) and i decided not to

medicate her anymore.

Over the next 4 years, things have been hard on her. We have had 2 stillborn

babies, and 2 late term miscarriages. We are losing our home, and have been very

tight financially. When she notices things going different, she freaks out. She

starts cleaning, a lot. She needs everything in her life perfect. She organizes

her dresser, every day, at least once. takes everything out and starts over. Her

shoes are lined up with all the left on the left, and right on the right, and

color coded. She cleans her super clean room all the time,a nd it is all she

thinks about. She doesnt sleep, because she thinks she needs to clean.

Over the last few months, things have been getting progressively worse with her

behaviors. Her obsessive thoughts of something happening to me prevent her from

relaxing, even if i just go to the store. If I try to get a night out with my

husband, she is out of control with worry.

We started seeing a psychologist at the local children hospital, and after

several visits, yesterday, he pulled out a lot of information about OCD for me.

He is recommending cognitive behavior therapy and exposure and response

prevention. He asked me to read the book, " Talking back to OCD " . I am sure i was

sitting there with a blank stare on my face. I think i always knew this would be

the case with her, it just is hard to face the reality.

He is also recommending we see a psychiatrist, to evaluate and possibly medicate

her. I am not sure how i feel about that. I always thought she might need

medication, but i thought it would wait for puberty. I called today, and she has

an appointment in october.

Now i dont know what to think. I am researching and i know that ASD and OCD

often go hand in hand. I want to help her the best i can, and she wants to be

helped. She told me today, that she wants to stop thinking about cleaning her

room all the time, but it is scary. I am trying to research to find out if

treating medication will help her if she is not infact true OCD, but if she has

OCPD, or just ASD that has a focus of organizing.

I also made an appointment with a pediatrician for next week. She has been

getting very nausiated lately. I am not sure if it is because she is feeling

stressed or if there is something with the OCD that is causing her physical

illness. I am hoping the doc will run some bloodwork or so some test, that might

help me made a decision as far as medicating her.

Anyway. WOW that was LONG. i am sorry for that. There is so much running thru my

head in the last 24 hours.

I wil be reading a lot of past messages on this board, and i hope to find some

insight.

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any random advice or information

you might have.

Mom to 9, Dyslexia, Gabby, 8, Aspergers, OCD, Emma, 6, Diesel 14

months Cerebral Palsey