AArrgh!

[Guest guest]

It's one of those nights, again. K has been doing her bedtime

rituals for almost an hour and a half, and still hasn't gotten her

pajamas on. My husband and I don't know what to do. We are about

to take away the privledge of her nightly showers (she takes them in

the morning before school also), but are worried what that will do

to an already horrible situation.

She doesn't understand why we don't trust her when she says

to " leave her alone " and that " she knows she needs to be done by a

certain time " only to have her run over the allotted time by hours

(not minutes). We try to explain that she needs to earn our trust,

and that her OCD is becoming a monster that is getting bigger and

bigger the more she feeds it by letting her rituals get out of hand,

but she will have no part of it. I wonder if it is just us, or if

she has a mood disorder (bipolar?) as she will sing the Beatles in

the bathroom although we have just knocked on the door for the 20th

time to tell her she needs to get done so her brother can take his

shower.

I feel so lost, as if my daughter has turned into a stranger. We

hardly recognize her anymore, which makes it all the more painful

when the real shines through for a brief moment. Is all this

helplessness normal? Does it ever get better? We are finally going

to take her to a therapist who specializes in kids with OCD this

weekend, but I am worried that she will not respond and will be

unwilling to even listen to what the therapist has to say. I read

the entries each day, and know that this is a disease that doesn't

have any rules, and takes away our kids -- and I hate it! I am so

glad I stumbled upon this site, so I can take time on a night like

this to vent and know that I am not alone.

Theresa in CO