Re: New to the group as well, need support...

[Guest guest]

Jeanette: Welcome. I just wrote about my son, but I, too, have a

daughter (14) who exhibited OCD symptoms at very isolated times

(athough much less severe). She kind of got lost in the shuffle

because her symptoms were very diverse until just last year. We also

exhibited mild hoarding behavior and had great separation anxiety at

times. We finally decided to try a very low dose of setraline

(Zoloft), and the change has been transformative. She is a different

person this year (motivated, happy, not anxious). It is sometimes hard

to tell with adolescents because their behavior can be so difficult to

understand. I think that it why it took me so long to address her

issues. I was so caught up with my son, I let her slip through the

cracks a bit. I'm not promoting medication (please know this), but it

has helped us immensely.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jeanette,

Welcome. I am also new to this group. We just recently got the

diagnosis of OCD for our son (17 yrs). He started having anxiety the

beginning of the school year. He would have panic attacks in the

morning getting ready for school. We ended up having to get him into

the school district's homebound program. We are very lucky in that it

has been mostly a very positive experience. The high-school's

personnel have been very supportive. The homebound teacher is

excellent and our son really likes her. The person we have the most

to thank is our son's counselor at school. She has been his advocate

from the beginning.

Our son's obsessions are mostly contamination; both from germs and

from food ingredients (like artificial flavors - which really limits

his diet. Everything has artificial flavors). He is on medication

(still waiting for any improvement). He also has started CBT

(cognitive behavior therapy). Once again very lucky in that we really

like his therapist and he likes her. He feels comfortable talking to

her.

My main regret right now is that we did not recognize the OCD

sooner. After a lot of reading and research on OCD and it's symptoms,

we now know our son has had it since he was 4 or 5 yrs old. It was

very mild back then and was mainly obesessions over order and

exactness. It went away for awhile and reappeared when he was in 5th

grade. Once again his obsessions were order and exactness. He would

get very upset if anyone messed with any of his stuff in his room.

Even if you tried to be very careful and put it back exactly where it

was, he would still notice that it had been moved. We also noticed

him checking his bathroom drawer to make sure nothing in it moved. At

that time I did mention these things to our family doctor. He asked

if he spent a lot of time with the checking. At that time, it was

still very mild so it really only was a few minutes of checking each

morning (that we knew of, anyway). So, our doctor said he didn't

think it was OCD, but to monitor it and let him know if it got worse

or if we noticed anything else. It did not get worse, it eventually

went away on it's own. However, there was another symptom we did not

recognize as OCD, he was doing excessive apologizing at night. Anyway

that also went away on it's own. His symptoms reappeared as

contamination obsessions probably about a year ago; mild at first,

but became worse overtime. The teenage years are the worst time for

OCD because teenagers are so secretive. He hid his symptoms for

months. Plus there is so much other stuff going on during that time

it can make it hard to know what is OCD and what is normal teenage

issues.

Probably the most important thing right now is education. Had our

family doctor and/or we known more about OCD, our son would have got

the help he needed much sooner. Also, I know a lot of people in this

group have mentioned issues with school and discrimination. We have

been very fortunate with the support we have gotten from our school,

but a lot of people are not so fortunate.

Connie

[Guest guest]

nancynina72,

I am having such a hard time trying to figure out what I need to be firm with

dd (16) and what I need to just roll with the punches. She obsesses over

thinking we're angry with her and it can be exhausting. She went off on that

Sunday because we told her she needed to go to lifegroup (small group of girls).

We really felt she needed to go because she usually does better after going.

When I told her to go, she went ballistic. Are you mad at me?.... Hysterical

for 2 hours. Since we're homeschooling and she seems to get upset if she hears

the slightest note of frustration in my voice. (it is very hard not to do this

on occasion because her behavior has her a year behind in school and we keep

trying to catch up) Some days I feel like I'll go nuts trying not to set her

off.

nancynina72 <nancynina72@...> wrote:

Jeanette: Welcome. I just wrote about my son, but I, too, have a

daughter (14) who exhibited OCD symptoms at very isolated times

(athough much less severe). She kind of got lost in the shuffle

because her symptoms were very diverse until just last year. We also

exhibited mild hoarding behavior and had great separation anxiety at

times. We finally decided to try a very low dose of setraline

(Zoloft), and the change has been transformative. She is a different

person this year (motivated, happy, not anxious). It is sometimes hard

to tell with adolescents because their behavior can be so difficult to

understand. I think that it why it took me so long to address her

issues. I was so caught up with my son, I let her slip through the

cracks a bit. I'm not promoting medication (please know this), but it

has helped us immensely.

>

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Welcome, Jeanette. If the group therapy is a group that specializes

in the treatment of OCD, it should help her. Will she be seeing a

qualified therapist, individually, too?

Our son has made a lot of progress since we found a therapist that

REALLY knows what he is doing with OCD. From the first appointment

when we sat down and got to work, it was so different from any other

therapy we had been to in the past. ..And we had been to alot over the

years. He's done a lot of exposure therapy and it's been amazing to

watch things he's dealt with for year, just stop.

Since you say your daughter has mild OCD, she hopefully will respond

quickly and show improvement soon. With your step son, it's a bit

tougher because he is an adult now. I worry about the day our son is

an adult and has to take the care of his OCD on himself. He's fine

with taking the meds, but he's so forgetful that I could totally see

him not remembering to take them and relapsing. Nothing easy about OCD.

Glad you found the group.

BJ

>

> Hi there,

> I'm from London, Ontario..

> I have a step-son who is 22 (Max) who was diagnosed at 18 (he held

> it in)with OCD..it was insane his obsessions, and we finally

> convinced him to go on meds..he did and made a huge

> difference..trouble is, he skips meds, won't go repeat them, off of

> them for a month, goes back on..it's hard to tell him, he's 22..and

> you have to walk on egg shells, so sensitive.

> I also have a beautiful 13 year old daughter, (Stevie) who was just

> diagnosed with mild OCD, picked up on things that were familiar from

> Max. Not on meds. Going to start group therapy..

> Problem..when to say things and when not to. With Stevie, she's

> going through puberty, is it that or is it OCD? So sensitive, both

> of them are hard to ask to do anything, they lose it fast, I cry

> alot, because I want to do the right thing, and I know I'm not.

> Stevie obsesses with her hair, straightening it, but keeps on and

> on, and I say that's enough, it's not, she won't stop for 1/2 hour,

> to me this is OCD, I tell her to stop, she freaks and almost

> crys..or showers, longer and longer.

>

> thanks for listening..please help.

> thanks

> Jeanette

> jay.arts@...

>