OCD and ADHD - sorry, long -

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I have some questions about treating ADHD and OCD at the same time.

DD is doing pretty well this year - but her ADHD causes homework to

be pretty difficult. This is getting much worse as she gets older

(she is 9 now). Her attention at school is a problem as well - the

teachers say they can handle it behaviorally - but DD is telling us

that she's having a really difficult time focusing. As many of you

may remember - her main OCD fear has been throwing up. We weaned her

off Prozac over the summer - but after the flare up - put her back on

this fall. The prozac really helps the anxiety and worrying. The

prozac makes her very restless (hence, worsens the ADHD) and also

really increases her appetite. Since the prozac works so well on the

anxiety - we're all (DH, the psychiatrist and I) hesitant to change

this but we want to help the ADHD and lessen the side effects of the

prozac. The psychiatrist suggested that we try focalin - she said it

tends to decrease the appetite and help attn issues. I know that

ADHD meds also tend to increase anxiety. We gave DD focalin last Sat

and she worried more than usual. We tried it again today (she has a

big project due this week and has been struggling). It seems to help

her attention. She did come to us saying that she has been having

some " bad thought " OCD lately. She's worried that she will hurt her

guinea pig (even though she knows she never would) or throw an eraser

at the teacher. She has told me about these thoughts before going on

focalin - but I definitely see the increased anxiety on focalin

today. She is pretty good at rationalizing these " bad thoughts " out

(surprising when dealing w/OCD!) - we talk to her about how everyone

has " bad thoughts " and you just don't act on them. However, I'm

concerned that this could get worse. DH thinks we should give the

focalin about a week or so to see if it can really help her. Any

thoughts? Things that helped your children with OCD and ADHD

together? It seems like it's very difficult to treat both. Sorry

this is so long - thanks for reading and any words of advice that you

can offer.

Anne