Guest guest Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 My child finally had an appointment today with a psychiatrist. The psyc. thinks the hand washing, not touching door handles, bugs ect. are just a response to anxiety. He doesn't think it is OCD at this point. He said diagnosis and treatment seems pretty straight forward. He will teach him some anxiety coping skills and do some desensitizing. I am hopeful. I should have went a long time ago. I guess when I realized the hand washing was chapping his hands my first thought was OCD. And when the flys bother him so bad he gets upset stomach.I didn't want a dr. to put him on meds right away as a " cure all. " He had also started occupational therapy as our general practioners freind is a OT and she said she could also help in a sense. (If the brain is not firing properly, and getting the spinal cord to open up so the nerves could fire.)The naturopathic Dr. also tried amino acids and testing him for PANDAS. Not much change with the amino's and he did test positive for strep. So I guess it was just a process/a journey and maybe this psychiatrist said what I wanted to hear so I am hopeful at this point. I guess we will see if it helps and see changes. This doc was not familiar with PANDAS and copied the article that my naturopath sent with me to give to him. So I am also happy to see he was open to reading what the naturopath had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Hi Marie, at least you're at a starting point for treatment now. Past that searching for help and waiting! I guess the desensitizing *may* be a bit like exposure therapy that is used with treating OCD. Let us know how the coping skills for anxiety work. Will say it may be OCD, but even with OCD many use some anxiety type, relaxation, breathing tools. So will be interested to hear an update! If it is PANDAS (and glad they are looking at that) then he may need to end up on antibiotics to help. We have some information on PANDAS in our FILES section in a PANDAS folder if you haven't yet looked there. My son had some fine & gross motor skill problems and some sensory issues and got OT and it helped a lot, sort of a " whole body " thing, not just with his motor skill areas. He went for OT to help with his writing. Keep us updated on the OT success too. Again, glad treatment is beginning! > > My child finally had an appointment today with a psychiatrist. The psyc. thinks the hand washing, not touching door handles, bugs ect. are just a response to anxiety. He doesn't think it is OCD at this point. He said diagnosis and treatment seems pretty straight forward. He will teach him some anxiety coping skills and do some desensitizing. I am hopeful. I should have went a long time ago. I guess when I realized the hand washing was chapping his hands my Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 Hi Marie, I'm not a doc, and I don't have all the facts, but am concerned for you that this psychiatrist may be missing the OCD diagnosis. You might ask how many people with OCD he has diagnosed and treated. Things can be so hidden, or start mildly, so it can be difficult to see the whole picture and diagnose sometimes. Did he use the C-YBOCS to assess for OCD? You can read about this in our files. As says, the " desensitizing " might be like ERP exposures, but I would clarify this too. ERP would have your son delaying and reducing washing hands, and working on touching door handles. There will be anxiety when this is done, but the idea is to " habituate " to the anxiety. This is somewhat different than working with just " plain " anxiety. If it is on the milder side then perhaps this will be fine for now, but sometimes what starts as mild grows. Not meaning to scare you, and hoping that it is as your doc says, just expressing concern. PANDAS is not well known or understood, so you will need to actively pursue this diagnosis and treatment. There are others here who can advise you, and you can find the links to websites in our files. Keep us posted! Warmly, Barb Canada Son, 19, OCD, Autism Spectrum > > My child finally had an appointment today with a psychiatrist. The psyc. thinks the hand washing, not touching door handles, bugs ect. are just a response to anxiety. He doesn't think it is OCD at this point. He said diagnosis and treatment seems pretty straight forward. He will teach him some anxiety coping skills and do some desensitizing. I am hopeful. I should have went a long time ago. I guess when I realized the hand washing was chapping his hands my first thought was OCD. And when the flys bother him so bad he gets upset stomach.I didn't want a dr. to put him on meds right away as a " cure all. " He had also started occupational therapy as our general practioners freind is a OT and she said she could also help in a sense. (If the brain is not firing properly, and getting the spinal cord to open up so the nerves could fire.)The naturopathic Dr. also tried amino acids and testing him for PANDAS. Not much change with the amino's and he did test positive for strep. So I guess it was just a process/a journey and maybe this psychiatrist said what I wanted to hear so I am hopeful at this point. I guess we will see if it helps and see changes. This doc was not familiar with PANDAS and copied the article that my naturopath sent with me to give to him. So I am also happy to see he was open to reading what the naturopath had. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 Thanks so much for your concerns and replies. I wrote down what to ask the psyc. Because I do want to stay on top of this. Now this psych. Bio said he did work with OCD and children. That is why I picked him. Could he not be up on things? Is there a lot of new stuff in recent years? > > > > My child finally had an appointment today with a psychiatrist. The psyc. thinks the hand washing, not touching door handles, bugs ect. are just a response to anxiety. He doesn't think it is OCD at this point. He said diagnosis and treatment seems pretty straight forward. He will teach him some anxiety coping skills and do some desensitizing. I am hopeful. I should have went a long time ago. I guess when I realized the hand washing was chapping his hands my first thought was OCD. And when the flys bother him so bad he gets upset stomach.I didn't want a dr. to put him on meds right away as a " cure all. " He had also started occupational therapy as our general practioners freind is a OT and she said she could also help in a sense. (If the brain is not firing properly, and getting the spinal cord to open up so the nerves could fire.)The naturopathic Dr. also tried amino acids and testing him for PANDAS. Not much change with the amino's and he did test positive for strep. So I guess it was just a process/a journey and maybe this psychiatrist said what I wanted to hear so I am hopeful at this point. I guess we will see if it helps and see changes. This doc was not familiar with PANDAS and copied the article that my naturopath sent with me to give to him. So I am also happy to see he was open to reading what the naturopath had. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Marie, I think once he starts treatment/therapy, you'll be able to see if it looks like it'll help or not (the desensitizing, etc.). What many say when they start with a therapist is to give them 5 visits to get started, see, if it looks like they are going to do the right type treatment for the OCD. (first few could be more talking, getting acquainted, how they will proceed, more than actual exposures) Then they'll start looking for another if it seems it won't help. " Talk therapy " alone won't help OCD. But I do think that desensitizing he mentioned sounds like it'd be like exposure/response prevention (ERP). Keep us updated. The OCD Foundation website has information on therapy for OCD, so look there to get an idea of how it should proceed. And then see where the psychiatrist goes with treatment. Think it's http://ocfoundation.org > > > Thanks so much for your concerns and replies. I wrote down what to ask the psyc. Because I do want to stay on top of this. Now this psych. Bio said he did work with OCD and children. That is why I picked him. Could he not be up on things? Is there a lot of new stuff in recent years? > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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