19 yr old son with OCD exacerbation

June 11, 2012

Introduction, even tho I was here 5 years ago when my son was first diagnosed.

At that time he had been refusing to take anything by mouth, including meds, for

fear it would kill him. He also couldn't leave the house without opening and

closing the door a certain number of times in a certain sequence, could not take

a walk without getting stuck redoing his steps at some point. He was admitted to

an inpt adolescent psych unit where there were able to get him to take his meds

and he progressed rapidly from that point. On discharge he was on zoloft and

resperidone.

He saw a psychiatrist and a therapist post-d/c and eventually got up to 200mg of

zoloft but the resperidone was d/c'd. His therapist was amazed by his

progressed and has always told me what a hard worker J is.

I see it now as a 4 year honeymoon. During this time I put OCD on the back

burner. He had overcome it. Even tho he had some little compulsions that we

could live with, life was good. He went to community college and did well.

Until he got to ALG which he could not pass. He tried and even with the help of

a tutor could not pass.

Then in Mar of last year his Dad and I separated and he became depressed and the

OCD compulsions increased. I had appts with his therapist who recommended a new

psychiatrist (the original had moved). J likes his therapist a lot and also

likes the new psych.

J had gotten to the point that he was staying up all night on the computer,

sleeping all day. Missed classes (he's not even in school now), didn't see

anyone other than me because he didn't leave the house for days. His

compulsions are not as noticeable now but they are there. Drinking a glass of

water is done with a certain # of sips, turning off faucets has a number, he

taps doors after closing them, he's in the shower for at least an hour, before

putting on his shoes he picks them up a certain # of times.

His zoloft is being decreased because his affect has been so flat.

So in a nutshell, I have a 19 yr old who does not go to school, does not have a

job, does complete chores around the house(with reminders), goes to therapy of

his own volition, takes his meds of his own volition, can't make himself go to

bed at night, needs to be awakened and forced to get up in the morning and stays

in his room a lot.

There's more (isn't there always more?) but I'm tired and need support. We are

going to the IOCDF Conf in July! And he wants to go, so that is a bright spot.

I feel better just sharing this because J is very protective about his privacy

around the OCD. I have shared minimally with close friends but no one knows the

whole story.

Thanks for letting me share.

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