Intro (Sorry, a little long)

[Guest guest]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself. My daughter,

Billie was diagnosed with OCD in August. Although I am a clinical social

worker, I have very little professional experience with OCD. I am really

looking forward to being a part of this group and all that I can learn from

all of you.

Until last Oct. Billie was a fairly healthy kid who was maybe slightly more

anxious than other kids but not excessively. In Oct. she became seriously

ill with several different medical problems. She developed very severe

asthma and allergies and we made multiple trips to the emergency room and

took a couple of ambulance rides last fall and winter due to life

threatening asthma attacks. Around the same time, she developed really bad

migraines which she had about once per week and lasted 2-3 days at a time.

She has always had GI problems which consist of chronic constipation,

chronic abdominal pain, and gastroesophageal reflux (up to 100 x per day!)

and these symptoms had been manageable but got much worse during that time.

She was only in school about 2 days a week from Dec.-Mar. As one can

imagine, her anxiety level increased significantly with all of this going

on. (So did mine )

In the spring her medical problems all improved and her anxiety decreased.

Then in late May I began to notice that she was developing 1 or 2

repetative behaviors and her anxiety began to increase. She was already

seeing a great cognitive behavioral therapist thru the Pediatric Pain

Treatment center. The psychologist has helped her alot in terms of pain

management techniques. We talked about the possibility of OCD but decided

to watch a while to be sure. Then in August her anxiety kept increasing

and she began to have more (and more frequent) compulsive behaviors. At

that point it was very clear that we were dealing with OCD, Her therapist

has begun exposure and response prevention which is going well. Already a

couple of compulsions have disappeared and others are decreasing in

frequency.

Some of her symptoms include

1. contamination fears (the dishes to be loaded into the dishwasher have

" bacteria " which might kill her).

2. She can step on only the outer edge of the oriental carpet or only on

the blue flagstones in the patio or " something BAD will happen " .

3. pulling out small clumps of hair (Trichotillomania)

4. rubbing her fingers of first one hand then the other up and down the

side of her nose or across her teeth a certain number of times or

" something BAD will happen " .

5. Extreme slowness in the morning. Not doing lengthy rituals but worrying

that she won't pick the " right " clothes, breakfast, lunch, etc. (Makes me

want to scream and occaisionally I do!)

6. needing frequent reassurance about the most minor sore throat, bumped

knee, etc. (in addition to very real medical problems, some hypochondria as

well.)

7. Major bedtime anxiety ( " what if a burglar breaks into the house and

kills us? I'm thinking of all the ways someone could murder me. What if

you're not really my mom and you're really a bad guy in disguise who's here

to kill me when I go to sleep? " and last week, " What if an airplane

crashes into the house and kills us while we're sleeping? " Now, I wonder

where THAT came from!)

8. Despite the fact that she is very bright and excels in Math, reading,

spelling, etc. the girl can't write. We are just beginning to understand

that this is also part of the OCD picture.

9. Evenness/symetry issues. If certain things aren't even...you probably

guessed, " something BAD will happen " .

One of our biggest challenges has been finding a psychiatrist to do a

really good psychopharm eval. She is already on about 12 meds for her

various medical problems. We aren't sure if some combinations of her meds

could be making her anxiety and/or OCD worse. I'm not sure yet if I want

to put her on the SSRI drugs. If she continues to improve with ERP therapy

we may not need to. On the other hand, migraines and some GI problems are

Serotonin mediated so SSRI's might help with some of her medical problems

as well. The problem has been that we can't find a child psychiatrist who

takes our insurance and who is willing to have her continue with her same

therapist. Anyone in the Boston area want to make a suggestion? I know

about Dan Geller but he's not on our insurance list. If we don't have luck

finding someone soon, the insurance mught be willing to let us see him " out

of network. " I have a call in to his office this morning to see what could

be worked out.

From Billie's perspective, she very much wants to meet other kids with OCD

as she says, " I know lots of kids with asthma and migraines but I don't

know anyone who has THIS " . We look forward to going to the monthly kids OCD

support group at McLean's Hosp. for the first time next week. Anyone out

there from the Boston area with a 9-12 year old girl? She is also having

some problems socially at school as she is unable to suppress all of her

compulsions at school and other kids notice.

I'm sorry this has gotten so long. I guess I've been " starved " to talk

with others who will understand. I look forward to talking with you all.

Kathy in Boston

--

Kathy Mac, LICSW

email: macdonald@...