Re: OCD Under Cover

[Guest guest]

Never apologize for your child doing well enough that you feel it is good to not

think about OCD.  Be glad for the break!!  Everyone here understands.  Right

now my daughter's OCD is so much better because of the medication she is on.

 It feels like a huge break, and I am so grateful.  It sounds like you handled

it just the right way!

OCD Under Cover

I don't know how many of you remember me but I'm Beth, mom to Kate who is 9

years old and struggling with mild OCD. She's been doing extremely well since

spring. Occasional flare-ups but, oh, my. Just when I think OCD has left us

alone I find out that it's only gone " under cover. " Ugh!

Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets this scared, on

the verge of tears expression that just tears me apart inside. She explained

that she sometimes makes promises to herself. Her example was, " I promised

myself that if I don't say this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make

myself cry in school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

I told her that this was OCD (which she denied). I explained that OCD wants her

to make these crazy promises20and, since it's an " OCD promise " she doesn't have

to keep it. " But, Mom! That is sinning! God wants us to keep our promises! "

We were able to break the thought this time with a ridiculously logical one . .

.. " If OCD makes you promise to say the tongue-twister correctly or else you have

to stick your head in the toilet would you do it!? " That made her laugh and

realize how ridiculous it is.

But it just breaks my heart that OCD is so active in her thought processes --

she doesn't have the physical rituals too much anymore (some, certainly) but the

" thought OCD " is still alive and well.

So, I'm back for a bit of support. Sorry I keep disappearing but her OCD was so

controlled I was enjoying it being " just a little annoyance " and reading every

post made OCD too " big " or " real " . I know that's silly but that's how it felt

to me so I had to take a break. Hopefully I can be active again for a bit and

offer hope to others who struggle with this insidious condition!

Beth

[Guest guest]

Beth,

Don't feel guilty for taking a break when OCD takes one. Feel grateful for the

chance to catch your breath. I hope you have a really blessed holiday.

Walk by Faith

Tyler

________________________________

To:

Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 1:07:07 AM

Subject: OCD Under Cover

I don't know how many of you remember me but I'm Beth, mom to Kate who is 9

years old and struggling with mild OCD. She's been doing extremely well since

spring. Occasional flare-ups but, oh, my. Just when I think OCD has left us

alone I find out that it's only gone " under cover. " Ugh!

Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets this scared, on

the verge of tears expression that just tears me apart inside. She explained

that she sometimes makes promises to herself. Her example was, " I promised

myself that if I don't say this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make

myself cry in school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

I told her that this was OCD (which she denied). I explained that OCD wants her

to make these crazy promises and, since it's an " OCD promise " she doesn't have

to keep it. " But, Mom! That is sinning! God wants us to keep our promises! "

We were able to break the thought this time with a ridiculously logical one . .

.. " If OCD makes you promise to say the tongue-twister correctly or else you have

to stick your head in the toilet would you do it!? " That made her laugh and

realize how ridiculous it is.

But it just breaks my heart that OCD is so active in her thought processes --

she doesn't have the physical rituals too much anymore (some, certainly) but the

" thought OCD " is still alive and well.

So, I'm back for a bit of support. Sorry I keep disappearing but her OCD was so

controlled I was enjoying it being " just a little annoyance " and reading every

post made OCD too " big " or " real " . I know that's silly but that's how it felt

to me so I had to take a break. Hopefully I can be active again for a bit and

offer hope to others who struggle with this insidious condition!

Beth

[Guest guest]

Kate (((hugs))) went through about the same thing. But his

were promises/swearing to God about things. At least I took it that

all of the promises were that way, made to God. So there was

the " not supposed to swear to God " and then the " how to get out of

the promise " problems. Ugh!

They seemed to me to be just impulsive type promises too. First

found out when he quit eating certain foods/ingredients and the list

just kept getting longer. Scary time, but he managed to get past

that.

There are still a few things he won't do and I wonder if it's due to

a past promise or just his being scrupulous about the Bible or

something. He won't talk about things to me much. For him the

thoughts aren't OCD, the OCD just makes him constantly think them or

something. He can't grasp that OCD is causing them, at least that is

my perspective.

I think you handled it well with the silly comparison. And if Kate

can grasp that it's OCD causing the thoughts, that's GREAT compared

to my 19 yr old!

> Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets

this scared, on the verge of tears expression that just tears me

apart inside. She explained that she sometimes makes promises to

herself. Her example was, " I promised myself that if I don't say

this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make myself cry in

school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

[Guest guest]

Hi Beth-

I am just curious because our daughter also has mild OCD, does your

duaghter takes any meds? Our daughter was dx in Aug. but we suspect

she suffered for awhile before we knew what was going on. Since her

symptoms are mild to moderate it was hard to pinpoint until this

summer when her OCD " exploded " . We were hoping that CBT only would

help and it has been great, but we are starting to feel it's not

enough. This is just such a big decision!

Thanks and peace to all!

-

>

> I don't know how many of you remember me but I'm Beth, mom to Kate

who is 9 years old and struggling with mild OCD. She's been doing

extremely well since spring. Occasional flare-ups but, oh, my. Just

when I think OCD has left us alone I find out that it's only

gone " under cover. " Ugh!

>

> Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets

this scared, on the verge of tears expression that just tears me

apart inside. She explained that she sometimes makes promises to

herself. Her example was, " I promised myself that if I don't say

this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make myself cry in

school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

>

> I told her that this was OCD (which she denied). I explained that

OCD wants her to make these crazy promises and, since it's an " OCD

promise " she doesn't have to keep it. " But, Mom! That is sinning!

God wants us to keep our promises! " We were able to break the

thought this time with a ridiculously logical one . . . " If OCD makes

you promise to say the tongue-twister correctly or else you have to

stick your head in the toilet would you do it!? " That made her laugh

and realize how ridiculous it is.

>

> But it just breaks my heart that OCD is so active in her thought

processes -- she doesn't have the physical rituals too much anymore

(some, certainly) but the " thought OCD " is still alive and well.

>

> So, I'm back for a bit of support. Sorry I keep disappearing but

her OCD was so controlled I was enjoying it being " just a little

annoyance " and reading every post made OCD too " big " or " real " . I

know that's silly but that's how it felt to me so I had to take a

break. Hopefully I can be active again for a bit and offer hope to

others who struggle with this insidious condition!

>

> Beth

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, -

No, we've never had to take the step of medicating Kate for her OCD. We

first suspected something was up in January 2007 but she starte to improve

a lot. Things that had been " serious problems " had been reduced to

" issues " we could deal with by about March so we never pursued it.

In January 2008, though, the exact same problems came back and increased

in intensity. We were really left with no choice but to pursue it! We

just couldn't stand to see our bright and happy-go-lucky reduced to the

ball of fear she had become.

So, it was only about 10 months ago that we first saw the psychologist but

it seems like a lifetime ago! For Kate just realizing that she wasn't

" going crazy " was huge -- when she learned that what she was feeling had a

name and wasn't uncommon she immediately took steps to deal with it. The

therapist did a bit of CBT with her but she was very responsive to us as

parents so the therapist basically taught us to do CBT with her. By about

April she was back to her old/new self and we have been handling OCD

flare-ups as they come. We have not had to medicate and we have not had

to return to the therapist yet (although we all feel this is not the last

he's seen of her).

The one thing that really helped Kate tremendously was a workbook called

" What to do When Your Brain Gets Stuck " . . . it's only about $10 on

Amazon. Kate was 8 at the time and she saw herself in it immediately.

Her psychologist hadn't heard of this particular workbook but said that it

obviously worked wonders for her . . . said to keep it on her headboard!

I don't know how old your daughter is but if she's between 6 and 12 years

old I would definitely recommend this workbook! Well worth 10 times the

cost for us!

Beth

> Hi Beth-

>

> I am just curious because our daughter also has mild OCD, does your

> duaghter takes any meds? Our daughter was dx in Aug. but we suspect

> she suffered for awhile before we knew what was going on. Since her

> symptoms are mild to moderate it was hard to pinpoint until this

> summer when her OCD " exploded " . We were hoping that CBT only would

> help and it has been great, but we are starting to feel it's not

> enough. This is just such a big decision!

>

> Thanks and peace to all!

>

>

> -

>>

>> I don't know how many of you remember me but I'm Beth, mom to Kate

> who is 9 years old and struggling with mild OCD. She's been doing

> extremely well since spring. Occasional flare-ups but, oh, my. Just

> when I think OCD has left us alone I find out that it's only

> gone " under cover. " Ugh!

>>

>> Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets

> this scared, on the verge of tears expression that just tears me

> apart inside. She explained that she sometimes makes promises to

> herself. Her example was, " I promised myself that if I don't say

> this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make myself cry in

> school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

> promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

>>

>> I told her that this was OCD (which she denied). I explained that

> OCD wants her to make these crazy promises and, since it's an " OCD

> promise " she doesn't have to keep it. " But, Mom! That is sinning!

> God wants us to keep our promises! " We were able to break the

> thought this time with a ridiculously logical one . . . " If OCD makes

> you promise to say the tongue-twister correctly or else you have to

> stick your head in the toilet would you do it!? " That made her laugh

> and realize how ridiculous it is.

>>

>> But it just breaks my heart that OCD is so active in her thought

> processes -- she doesn't have the physical rituals too much anymore

> (some, certainly) but the " thought OCD " is still alive and well.

>>

>> So, I'm back for a bit of support. Sorry I keep disappearing but

> her OCD was so controlled I was enjoying it being " just a little

> annoyance " and reading every post made OCD too " big " or " real " . I

> know that's silly but that's how it felt to me so I had to take a

> break. Hopefully I can be active again for a bit and offer hope to

> others who struggle with this insidious condition!

>>

>> Beth

>>

>>

[Guest guest]

Hi Beth-

Thanks so much! We have that book but we actually haven't used it in

awhile. I need to get it out again! My daughter is 10 and she is

feeling quite a bit of anger over this whole OCD issue. Her therapist

sid we are at the really difficult part of OCD and that is dealing

with the issue of her anger. She has a pretty good handle on

recognizing her triggers and she is starting to be able to " boss "

back her OCD. However, we feel it is still a daily issue and her OCD

has robbed her of the girl she once was. Like your daughter she was

the happy-go-lucky, go get 'em kid who didn't want anybody to be sad

and I think she mourns that girl. I see that it is a struggle for her

to be happy, know what I mean? I don't know if this makes sense. I

feel like I am rambling.

The authors of " What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck " also have a

book called " What to Do When Your Temper Flares " . Do you know

anything about that book? Maybe I'll try that book. It definitely

can't hurt!!

Thanks for being there Beth! So glad to hear that your daughter has

been so successful in battling this monster down to a tiny,

insignificant peon. We wish you and your family continued success and

happiness!

> >>

> >> I don't know how many of you remember me but I'm Beth, mom to

Kate

> > who is 9 years old and struggling with mild OCD. She's been doing

> > extremely well since spring. Occasional flare-ups but, oh, my.

Just

> > when I think OCD has left us alone I find out that it's only

> > gone " under cover. " Ugh!

> >>

> >> Kate just came into my office with her " OCD face " on -- she gets

> > this scared, on the verge of tears expression that just tears me

> > apart inside. She explained that she sometimes makes promises to

> > herself. Her example was, " I promised myself that if I don't say

> > this one tongue-twister correctly then I will make myself cry in

> > school. <pause, deep breath> But Mom! I don't WANT to make that

> > promise! I don't think I could even MAKE myself cry at school! "

> >>

> >> I told her that this was OCD (which she denied). I explained

that

> > OCD wants her to make these crazy promises and, since it's an " OCD

> > promise " she doesn't have to keep it. " But, Mom! That is

sinning!

> > God wants us to keep our promises! " We were able to break the

> > thought this time with a ridiculously logical one . . . " If OCD

makes

> > you promise to say the tongue-twister correctly or else you have

to

> > stick your head in the toilet would you do it!? " That made her

laugh

> > and realize how ridiculous it is.

> >>

> >> But it just breaks my heart that OCD is so active in her thought

> > processes -- she doesn't have the physical rituals too much

anymore

> > (some, certainly) but the " thought OCD " is still alive and well.

> >>

> >> So, I'm back for a bit of support. Sorry I keep disappearing but

> > her OCD was so controlled I was enjoying it being " just a little

> > annoyance " and reading every post made OCD too " big " or " real " . I

> > know that's silly but that's how it felt to me so I had to take a

> > break. Hopefully I can be active again for a bit and offer hope

to

> > others who struggle with this insidious condition!

> >>

> >> Beth

> >>

> >>