Help- need a recommendation for a Dr. to help 8 year old with OCD morbid obsessive intrusive thoughts!
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Anonymous
| In Montgomery County- 8.5 year old started 2 weeks ago with bizarre, frightening intrusive thoughts. Has previous Asperger and anxiety diagnosis. We need a psychologist or a psychiatrist or a therapist who is very experienced in this particular field and who would be gentle and not overreact with immediate medication. Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Since onset was sudden, could this be PANDAS from a strep infection? |
Anonymous
|
He had what looked like perianal strep a couple months ago, and he went on I think 10 days of antibiotic. The throat swab culture at the time was negative for strep, and the perianal swab was quick-swab negative, but they never cultured it. He went on antibiotic anyway.... the rest of the family is just now getting over a bad cold but I don't think there is any strep involved. Interestingly, he was the only one not to get the cold in his head, and only got intestinal pain and diarrhea. I have no idea if this is related or not.
Should I take him for a swab if he has no symptoms? Has anyone been to Center for anxiety and behavioral change in Rockville? I just found them by googling, and wondered who in that group would be recommended by this board. |
Anonymous
| I have a child with ASD with anxiety who descended into OCD-like behaviors very quickly. We think it was triggered by puberty hormones. I know you are trying to avoid medications but Prozac really helped almost immediately. We weaned him off it after about a year and so far so good. |
Anonymous
| OP here- my son has early onset puberty. Since he is almost 9, the doctors at Children's have decided not to put him on Lupron. Might this be from a surge in hormones?? What am I supposed to do? Put him on anti anxiety meds for his entire extra-long puberty? I don't think a regular psychologist is equipped for this, nor is his endocrinologist, but maybe I am wrong, since I am neither! Just really worried... |
Anonymous
We have been there. Do not recommend. Try Georgia deGangi in Kensington. |
Anonymous
Do you have a psychiatrist? I think the psychiatrist and the endo need to talk. And if you don't have one now, you won't get in at Childrens unless the endo can get you in. We were told a year long waiting list. My daughter has this also and it sounds horribly scary but it is anxiety/OCD and very treatable. There are lots of good articles out there. http://www.worrywisekids.org/node/120 |
Anonymous
| For therapy, Alvord Baker or Rathbone and Assoc. |
Anonymous
+1 and it doesn't have to be a positive strep test, can just be from body fighting strep exposure. My DD had sudden onset of OCD/intrusive thoughts and anxiety and it was PANDAS for her. |
Anonymous
For ocd therapy works (exposure and response prevention specifically!) very well but sometimes, particularly in the beginning, medication is an important part of the plan. As you probably know the intrusive thoughts can be incredibly disturbing and the therapy for OC D is HARD-sometimes taking meds at first allow a person to be able to tolerate/participate in therapy. (Of course many people don't need medication and therapy alone works, I just wanted to reassure you in case he ends up needing it it's not necessarily going to be for years.) GL |
Anonymous
+2 The doctor should do ASO and anti-DNASE strep titers as it looks like his possible strep would not be detectable by throat swab. My DS, classic PANDAS, always came down with OCD within two weeks of getting strep, but it could be a month or so. Very sudden, very severe. If the titers are positive, your DS really should be on antibiotics. You also would be helped by a therapist who specializes in exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, a variant of CBT. Very effective, often within a surprisingly few sessions. It is tough, so medications like SSRIs are sometimes given to take the initial edge off. Tenex is another possibility. We did without owing to side effects. Used Behavior Therapy Center of Silver Spring, which is very good. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
Yes, if he needs them. |
Anonymous
| For those whose kids developed sudden OCD related to PANDAS - was there any history of anxiety prior? Or was it truly out of the blue? |
Anonymous
| NIH has referral lists for OCD. |