Re: PANDAS and bladder urgency, thyroid...

[Guest guest]

Hi. This (bathroom issues) can be an OCD problem, period!

Our son went through constipation problems that caused him to develop

encopresis. We were told, for boys, the way the anatomy is, the

stretched out bowel can cause urinary problems (feeling they need to

go, having trouble emptying the bladder all the way, etc). Our son

was on laxatives for a year, yet the urinary stuff would not clear up.

We had no idea that OCD had taken over and was running rampant. He

spent hours in the bathroom,. .Literal hours. He would stand until

his legs couldn't take it anymore, then sit down until his legs would

go numb. He'd come out for 5 minutes and be right back in, for hours

again. It was awful. He could not leave the house at all. We had to

buy a porta-potty, for the car, to get him out of the house at all.

He never used it, but just having it there, helped. Doctors didn't

know what was going on. They checked for bladder infections, which is

always a good idea, but found nothing. They wanted to do more

invasive tests, but something didn't seem right, so we opted out.

Eventually, through reading, I found that it can be OCD related. I'm

not entirely sure it needs something physical, like we went through,

to get it going though, since others have had this problem without the

physical stuff that we dealt with. For us, at that time, we chose to

try medication, and within a week, it calmed down considerably.

Within two weeks, (after years of dealing with it) it was like the

problem never existed.

We never did any ERP for this, because by the time our son started

doing ERP, that was long in the past.

Does your daughter seen a therapist using CBT/ERP (cognitive

behavioral therapy/exposure and response prevention)? If so, I would

see what exposure they could suggest to nip it in the bud, before it

has the potential to worsen. In the mean time, having a urine test to

rule out urinary tract or bladder infection, is not a bad idea.

Ruling out the physical potential problems is always needed.

In all the reading I've done, I've never read about a link between

hypothyroidism and OCD. Maybe someone else might know otherwise

though.

It sure sounds like she is dealing with more than one " intrusive

thought " . If she is seeing a therapist, are they having her work on

it, with talking back to it?

We've found that sometimes health stuff can exacerbate OCD, but other

times OCD is just doing what OCD does, which is wax and wane. It's

the nature of the disorder.

So sorry to hear your little one is suffering so. <:o/

BJ

>

> My 5 year-old daughter has been exhibiting OCD behaviors the last few

> weeks. She has been having various " bad thoughts " , feels the need to

> ask forgiveness for every little thing, worries about wiping on

> things, etc... The last few days she has been preoccupied with going

> to the bathroom. She keeps asking me if I think she needs to go

> potty. And when she is on the toilet, she asks me to tell her how

> long she has been sitting on it. She is definitely making more trips

> to the bathroom, but often does not actually go pee. I was thinking

> it could be a bladder infection (could that be from strep?) but it

> may just be another compulsion she has developed. Does anyone have

> any experience with bladder infections causing the onset of OCD? I

> have been reading about PANDAS and various things about OCD. SHe did

> not have an obvious bout of strep in the last month--just a little

> stuff that I usually attribute to allergies. I guess I just don't

> know the various ways strep can manifest.

>

> Also, I recently found out that I might have hyperthyroidism. This

> makes me wonder if she could too. Is there any relationship between

> OCD and hyperthyroidism?

>

> Thanks so much for you time!

>

[Guest guest]

Oops. . should have explained, he was on laxatives to keep the

constipation cleared up, allowing the stretched out bowel to go back

to it's normal size, therefore stopping the interference that was

suspected to be causing the urinary problems.

BJ

> >

> > My 5 year-old daughter has been exhibiting OCD behaviors the last few

> > weeks. She has been having various " bad thoughts " , feels the need to

> > ask forgiveness for every little thing, worries about wiping on

> > things, etc... The last few days she has been preoccupied with going

> > to the bathroom. She keeps asking me if I think she needs to go

> > potty. And when she is on the toilet, she asks me to tell her how

> > long she has been sitting on it. She is definitely making more trips

> > to the bathroom, but often does not actually go pee. I was thinking

> > it could be a bladder infection (could that be from strep?) but it

> > may just be another compulsion she has developed. Does anyone have

> > any experience with bladder infections causing the onset of OCD? I

> > have been reading about PANDAS and various things about OCD. SHe did

> > not have an obvious bout of strep in the last month--just a little

> > stuff that I usually attribute to allergies. I guess I just don't

> > know the various ways strep can manifest.

> >

> > Also, I recently found out that I might have hyperthyroidism. This

> > makes me wonder if she could too. Is there any relationship between

> > OCD and hyperthyroidism?

> >

> > Thanks so much for you time!

> >

>