Friday, January 19, 2007
A shining moment
I just had to mention a couple of good things that have happened in the past day or two.
Last night after dinner we were getting the kids ready for their bath and they were both in a pretty good mood. C had been jumping off the furniture all evening, driving me crazy. Well, I decided to chase him around a little bit before the bath and of course K had to get into it too. They both loved it! Soon I was catching and tugging on C, while K was tugging on the other end of him trying to rescue him. All was screaming and laughter, trying to get away from mommy. Next C was tugging on K trying to rescue her from mommy. It's been weeks that C hasn't been able to touch K and during this game they were running all over the house together, with no freaking out or licking. They even took a bath together. I cried. Later on the couch during books C's sensitivities to K returned and he was licking and cleaning again, but we gave him a clock to fidget with and that seemed to distract him in a good way. I'll be trying that again.
While I don't expect this to go away overnight (or maybe even ever), I am so relieved because now C knows that he can touch K and have fun with her without getting sick and dying. Maybe now he can recognize that the problem is his worrying and not K.
We were able to go see a pediatric neurologist on Wednesday for a consultation. He looked C over and pronounced him a healthy little boy. And after hearing my description of what was going on looked at me and asked me how I wanted to treat him. In other words, would I like a prescription for Zoloft right now? Eeeek! I'm not ready to give my 5-year-old medication yet. Especially when there are behavioral therapies that can help and give him the tools he needs later in life if and when the problem recurs. It was scary having someone offer me this type of medication for C, based solely on my assessment of his behavior at home. But I guess doctors don't make housecalls anymore. (Interestingly though, this neurologist said he too had OCD, as well as his own mother and daughter.) Now we are looking for a good psychologist in the area.
One hopeful test the doctor sent us to the lab for was a strep titer. C was a brave little guy getting his blood taken for the first time. (It was not a fun day for him: he missed two birthday celebrations at school for a doctor appt., had blood taken, and later in gymnastics split his chin on one of the parallel bars and had to go to the doctor's again to get it glued. Poor guy!) We are waiting to see if there is any remaining evidence of a strep infection in his blood. Research has found that sometimes strep infections will magnify OCD symptoms in children that may already be prone to it. A good dose of antibiotics knocks it out and makes the symptoms either go away or get much better. I'm curious to see what the test results are because C has strep earlier this fall and I remember a lot of handwashing right around that time.
Secret blog pal: I got your email message. Thank you for your encouragement. I will write more later.
Last night after dinner we were getting the kids ready for their bath and they were both in a pretty good mood. C had been jumping off the furniture all evening, driving me crazy. Well, I decided to chase him around a little bit before the bath and of course K had to get into it too. They both loved it! Soon I was catching and tugging on C, while K was tugging on the other end of him trying to rescue him. All was screaming and laughter, trying to get away from mommy. Next C was tugging on K trying to rescue her from mommy. It's been weeks that C hasn't been able to touch K and during this game they were running all over the house together, with no freaking out or licking. They even took a bath together. I cried. Later on the couch during books C's sensitivities to K returned and he was licking and cleaning again, but we gave him a clock to fidget with and that seemed to distract him in a good way. I'll be trying that again.
While I don't expect this to go away overnight (or maybe even ever), I am so relieved because now C knows that he can touch K and have fun with her without getting sick and dying. Maybe now he can recognize that the problem is his worrying and not K.
We were able to go see a pediatric neurologist on Wednesday for a consultation. He looked C over and pronounced him a healthy little boy. And after hearing my description of what was going on looked at me and asked me how I wanted to treat him. In other words, would I like a prescription for Zoloft right now? Eeeek! I'm not ready to give my 5-year-old medication yet. Especially when there are behavioral therapies that can help and give him the tools he needs later in life if and when the problem recurs. It was scary having someone offer me this type of medication for C, based solely on my assessment of his behavior at home. But I guess doctors don't make housecalls anymore. (Interestingly though, this neurologist said he too had OCD, as well as his own mother and daughter.) Now we are looking for a good psychologist in the area.
One hopeful test the doctor sent us to the lab for was a strep titer. C was a brave little guy getting his blood taken for the first time. (It was not a fun day for him: he missed two birthday celebrations at school for a doctor appt., had blood taken, and later in gymnastics split his chin on one of the parallel bars and had to go to the doctor's again to get it glued. Poor guy!) We are waiting to see if there is any remaining evidence of a strep infection in his blood. Research has found that sometimes strep infections will magnify OCD symptoms in children that may already be prone to it. A good dose of antibiotics knocks it out and makes the symptoms either go away or get much better. I'm curious to see what the test results are because C has strep earlier this fall and I remember a lot of handwashing right around that time.
Secret blog pal: I got your email message. Thank you for your encouragement. I will write more later.
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6 comments:
So glad to hear about your sons progress. Personally I think professionals are all to quick to label and medicate kids these days. I think you are doing the right thing in continuing with the testing, but avoiding the drugs. And of course a little therapy never hurt anyone! But remember kids handle things differently than adults, he may just need some greif time. Glad you to my email!
glad you all had a good night. thinking of you...
So glad to hear there has been a little improvement and that the kids played together. I'm sure both the kids enjoyed that.
I'm glad he had some fun with his sister and didn't worry. Those moments will help a lot. I'm with you -- I'd try other interventions before jumping to meds. I think meds have a place and a need, but if something can be resolved (or controlled) without the use of meds that's always the better option.
Interesting about strep exacerbating OCD symptoms. I've never heard that before.
I'm glad you are getting somewhere on helping him. I agree on the medication situation. So sorry to hear about his rough day with doctor's visits. Hopefully the strep test will show something.
Sorry to hear about his gymnastics bust. Pbars are tough on boys, like the balance beam is tough on girls.
I am so sorry to hear about all of your troubles with your son. I am hoping that it is temporary and that it is maybe just a reaction to your grandmothers death- which has also been hard for you! Perhaps more experiences with touching and nothing bad happening to him will help. I am also sorry that you didn't meet your daughter in Russia. You have been going through a hard time. Praying for you.
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