Re: Hanging on by a thread!

[Guest guest]

Hi :

I'm just thinking how OCD when it's bad can cause some behaviors that seem

psychotic. When anxiety and fear are high, the mind goes into desperation mode -

that's the way I think of it. My son at one point started crying (he was 13) and

asking me to get Sherlock Holmes (he was reading the book at the time) , that

Sherlock Holmes could save him, Sherlock was his only friend, etc. Later, I

asked him if he knew Sherlock wasn't real and he said yes, that he just felt

really scared and alone at the time. He also had bathroom problems (he has the

fear of contamination type OCD). However, even this type of OCD makes no sense,

as my son will admit. He would soil his pants rather than go to the bathroom. He

would never tell me why, but his therapist felt it was because the bathroom was

scary for him, a place where OCD told him to do numerous rituals so he would

avoid it and then the inevitable would happen. He would not change his soiled

underwear for hours sometime, playing video games to distract himself. He is

sooo much better now. During those dark days, this group was my life line

because I had no one else I could talk to about his behavior. It was just too

weird for anyone to relate to. So I'm glad you're here. Most of us have been in

your shoes, or close to it. My son was hospitalized for 2 weeks and they gave

him Abilify right away. They also gave him Klonopin (Klonozopam). Both of these

calmed him enough to take the edge off. Maybe you could your doctor to prescribe

these. The Klonopin can only be taken for a few weeks as it can become addictive

and I was able to wean him off the Abilify after a few months. These were just

to stabilize his anxiety until the Zoloft kicked in. He is like your son, even

at his worst. He could be so himself, which is happy and carefree, and something

would trigger OCD, and he would be depressed and irritable. Now he is mostly

himself, but still working on some triggers with a therapist, even after 3

years. Yesterday I took him to a regular doctor which is one of his big OCD

fears. I praised him, even though to the doctor he seemed sullen and

uncooperative, I knew how he was struggling just to be there. He refused to give

a urine sample (too OCD hard!), did let them do an allergy test on his back

(tested high on molds, and let them take his blood. The doctor wants to try some

enzyme supplements, but my son will have to get a urine sample for this. Anyone

know of an easy way for him to get one, please let me know. He's also going to

take some under the tongue allergy drops to try to get the mold under control.

She thinks that just getting his allergies better could help his immune system

calm down and thus his OCD. His psychiatrist is convinced that all OCD in

children is caused by an over active immune system. Which explains why PANDAS

(which he's been diagnosed with - caused by a strep pneumonia when he was 2)

causes OCD. Just an interesting side point. One more thing, we had to call a

mental health policeman to get my son to go the hospital as he refused to go.

The way the policeman handled it was to gently tell him he needed to go and get

checked out by a doctor, get some medicine to help him. He wanted to leave once

he got checked in, broke my heart to leave him, but with the kind staff and

medication, he gradually began to accept it and mingle with the other kids

there. It was the best I could I done for him.

Take care, and also praying calls soon.

Anita

>

> Thanks, yes it is beyond frustrating with the the 's situation.

While I completely understand the predicament on their end of not knowing exact

discharge dates, I think they need a better system of providing estimations on

admitting dates to parents with kids on the wait list so they can investigate

and secure other treatment options if necessary.

>

> He already takes an array of supplements, including Lysine. I am going to try

Inositol though in the meantime. Like you said, that is my main problem with

everything right now....TIME. Everything, whether it's medication, therapy,

supplements, diagnostics, etc. takes time and trial and error. That's why I feel

it's so critical he gets to 's asap because at least he'll be in a

situation where a team of medical and mental health professionals can observe

and assess him on a daily basis and start putting the pieces of the puzzle

together while I continue researching treatment options, doctors, testing, etc.

on my end.

>

> You asked about any meds that brought a lot of relief. He actually hasn't been

on many different meds because 6 months ago, we weren't anywhere near the point

we are now. He had also been on antibiotics for the Lyme for about 4-5 months,

but other than that he was only taking supplements until about 3 months ago when

he started on meds.

>

> I''m going to talk to his doc again about antibiotics now that God only knows

when he'll get into 's. That's the main reason I was holding off with

reintroducing antibiotics because the doc and I concurred it wouldn't make much

sense to start that now with him going to 's in the next few weeks (or so

we thought!!!).

>

>

>

>

>

>