my problem

[Guest guest]

Hi, Kerrie,

Yes, my son has had all of these issues, too, except he has never been

hospitalized. When his OCD was bad he kept thinking he had all these

diseases, once he had me convinced his appendix had burst in the middle

of the night and I took him to the ER only to find out that he only

thought maybe he had appendicitis. He was afraid of contamination

everywhere. No one in our house could touch or look at or go near his

food, and he would only eat microwaveable single serving things like

Dinty beef stew. He acted like he had no reasoning ability at

all, and acted so weird and paranoid that he lost all his friends. For

a while he said I was his only friend, and even I was a contamination

threat. He had a triple diagnosis of OCD, depression, and

Schizophrenia. For a good 6-8 months he was virtually paralyzed, as he

couldn't leave his safe zone which was his bed. He thought it had a

force field around it protecting him from the germs and zombies that

were trying to harm him. (He was almost 15 at the time, now is almost 16.)

Fortunately, medication has helped him a lot, without major side

effects. He has also recently determined in himself to fight OCD (but

that took a long time for him to do, and until he was stable he wouldn't

even admit that OCD was something that needed to be fought against --

thought it was there as his friend and protector). He has not had

formal CBT or ERP therapy, as no one here does that.

What medications have you tried? It's too bad you have had bad results

with the ones you did try. My son is on a combination of Zoloft and

Risperdal. He has had some weight gain, but is slimming down again and

is growing taller, so it's spreading out. Is he under a doctor's care?

Maybe if you keep track of his symptoms and share it with his doctor

that will help the doctor evaluate what's going on. If your current

doctor is not helping maybe you can look elsewhere for a second

opinion. We went to a good teaching hospital about 5-6 hours from here

and had a thorough evaluation done. Is that something you could do?

Was the hospital stay beneficial? Could you do that again and try

different meds and therapy?

I sure hope you can find some help. I would be happy to hear of him

finding relief from his anxiety, as I know you would. Keep us posted.

Kim in IA ( almost 16, OCD)

Kerrie Barbour wrote:

> Hi,

> Haven't been on the group for a long time. Things have been pretty bad

> here. My 17 year old son was in hospital last August with severe

> OCD.He has basically been at home ever since. He tried two jobs but

> gave them away because of the stress.His OCD involves that he has

> diseases. He thinks he had cancer and now it is Aids. Also he is now

> starting to check all food and drinks. He is washing his hands an

> awful lot. He is also getting suspicious of people. I am beginning to

> wonder if he has schitzophrenia. I am at my wits end. I try and reason

> with him but it is like hitting my head on a brick wall. He is not on

> any meds as he had a severe reaction to 3 of them. Valium helps but he

> has been getting aggressive when the worries get too much. He says he

> is sick of worrying all the time and he can't see a future for

> himself. Has anyone else got these problems

>

>

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Hi Kerrie,

Is he (or has he been) in therapy or seeing anyone?

What are the suspicions about people? (germ related or something

else)

Yeah, we all know reasoning with OCD doesn't work, even when the

sufferer knows the illogic of it themselves. I know I used to talk

with my son early on about how " NOT logical " OCD was, just to make

sure that he saw it that way too. Also though, he's just a logic

type person, so I tried that angle of working up some motivation

against OCD.

I hate that he's not seeing a future right now. Does he ever try to

work against his OC's, come up with any strategies/homework, e.g.,

try to hold off washing or try to not wash his hands, etc.?

Here's a web page with some articles that might help, give you or

him some new ideas and understanding. One article is even on OCD &

AIDS: http://westsuffolkpsych.homestead.com/Articles.html

Keep us updated on how things are going!

> Hi,

> Haven't been on the group for a long time. Things have been pretty

bad

> here. My 17 year old son was in hospital last August with severe

> OCD.He has basically been at home ever since. He tried two jobs

but

[Guest guest]

Group im not sure of what to do Last night i put on a Durgesic patch

woke up this morning patch is gone. I put it on my back upper shoulder.

My patch is gone i cant find it. i been looking. even if i find it I

have no way of reapplying it. Should i call my doctor? imj gone be 3

days short when it time for refill any suggestions. and do i put

another one on. Mike group owner