Re: Help with making the decision to add medication...

[Guest guest]

I know there are good arguments for both sides of this, but I'll share my

experience. My son was diagnosed OCD two years ago. Prior to that he carried

a diagnosis of TS. He was literally a prisoner of his own fears. For us,

CBT/ERT therapy was not even a considertion until medication was instituted and

a good part of the overall anxiety removed. We're still working on the

right medication so far, but have made some progress. While I do believe CBT

to

be extremely helpful, I think there are those that need medication and

stabilization before they can gain any anticipated relief through CBT. Some

have

mild OCD and quality of life issues aren't all that compelling to start

medication, but then there are others who virtually live behind a great big OCD

wall with no relief in sight. I think medication has tremendous benefit in

this

case.

In a message dated 2/28/2006 9:04:38 AM Central Standard Time,

dupay@... writes:

I just don't want to waste a

lot of time " trying " CBT if it is going to take medication for CBT

to even be effective.

Thanks for any input.

Crystal

[Guest guest]

Hi Crystal, I also would like to tell you my story or " experience " .

Bre was diagnosed when she was 12, now is almost 15. She came to me

because she was having " bad thoughts " and it scared her. Her

thoughts involved killing herself, me, family, etc. She thought she

was going crazy and an evil person, though she said she loved me and

would never hurt me. She was placed on meds right away and it was a

year later that she started therapy. We were with Kaiser at the time

and the p-doc didn't mention therapy. When we switched insurance

companies, then I found out about therapy from the new p-doc. We

found a good therapist who specializes in ocd and even then it took

a year of therapy, (going once a week for 6 months), for Bre to

master erp and get on top of ocd so to speak. Bre tells me to this

day, ocd is with her 24/7, but she has learned to not let it bother

her as much. She still struggles, but lives a normal life. She is

still on meds and wants to be. She told me she couldn't of even

attempted cbt, erp, without being on meds. Bad thought ocd brings

alot of anxiety and until they learn to habituate to it, I feel meds

are helpful and like I said, Bre does not want to go off at this

point in her life. Things are relatively calm right now and for that

I am thankful.

Sandy

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> My eight year old daughter has been having OCD symptoms for about

18

> months now and they have been gradually getting worse. Her

symptoms

> have been all over the board...scrupulosity, " bad thoughts " ,

urinary

> issues, horrible germ fears, constant fear of becoming ill, and a

> host of others.

>

> We started therapy about 5 weeks ago with a qualified therapist

who

> we feel comfortable with and have been dealing with the issue

using

> CBT. It seemed as though things were going well but I continued to

> feel that my daughter (Meg) was not really revealing everything

that

> she was dealing with in her mind.

>

> Last week the therapist made a chart that would reward my daughter

> every time she told me when OCD was bothering her and allow me to

> coach her in bossing back. Meg was very motivated by this to tell

me

> each time but it very quickly became apparent that OCD is

bothering

> her CONSTANTLY. It also became apparent that she can boss back the

> bathroom issue every time but all the other issues she simply

cannot

> boss back and really doesn't seem to want to because she

says, " OCD

> is right. "

>

> She also revealed that she can't be in a room alone because " bad

> things " come into the room and try to talk to her. This terrified

me

> because she said that these " bad things " weren't OCD. Of course,

> schizophrenia immediately came to my mind.

>

> My question for you experienced OCD parents is when do you think

it

> is time to add medication? We have an appointment with the

therapist

> later this afternoon and I want to bring it up with her. I just

> would like to have opinions on whether or not I have given CBT

> enough of a chance to work on its own? I just don't want to waste

a

> lot of time " trying " CBT if it is going to take medication for CBT

> to even be effective.

>

> Thanks for any input.

>

> Crystal

>

[Guest guest]

>I have to ditto the message below. My daughter was 8 and basically

incapacitated due to OCD. Until we found the right combination of

meds, she was unable to accept therapy. Now she is 95% free of OCD

and we are planning to begin weaning off the meds once school is

over. 2 years ago I never would have dreamed I would have my girl

back, now 11 and sassy as ever, it is like a miracle, and totally not

possible without the meds before the intense therapy she has

received. We are finally down to only once a week with the therapy,

and mostly with the family issues from her being so ill the past 3

years.

>

> I know there are good arguments for both sides of this, but I'll

share my

> experience. My son was diagnosed OCD two years ago. Prior to that

he carried

> a diagnosis of TS. He was literally a prisoner of his own fears.

For us,

> CBT/ERT therapy was not even a considertion until medication was

instituted and

> a good part of the overall anxiety removed. We're still working

on the

> right medication so far, but have made some progress. While I do

believe CBT to

> be extremely helpful, I think there are those that need medication

and

> stabilization before they can gain any anticipated relief through

CBT. Some have

> mild OCD and quality of life issues aren't all that compelling to

start

> medication, but then there are others who virtually live behind a

great big OCD

> wall with no relief in sight. I think medication has tremendous

benefit in this

> case.

>

>

>

> In a message dated 2/28/2006 9:04:38 AM Central Standard Time,

> dupay@... writes:

>

> I just don't want to waste a

> lot of time " trying " CBT if it is going to take medication for CBT

> to even be effective.

>

> Thanks for any input.

>

> Crystal

>

>

>

>

>

>

>