OP, your child may have generalized anxiety disorder. It can sometimes show up only in certain high pressure situations such as you describe. If your psychiatrist thinks it's GAD, they would likely prescribe an SSRI.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Discuss trying low-dose Inderal with the psychiatrist.

You can't take inderal for sports, it lowers the heart rate too much

We've found that in the low doses used for anxiety, it hasn't been an issue. My DD and I both take it, and I am a runner who has not experienced any ill effects. Also, I have low blood pressure to begin with and it's still totally fine. Not to say, it wouldn't be for someone else, but it may be worth a shot since it works very quickly and you can easily stop taking it if you don't like it.

Anonymous wrote:Discuss trying low-dose Inderal with the psychiatrist.

You can't take inderal for sports, it lowers the heart rate too much

Discuss trying low-dose Inderal with the psychiatrist.

yes - our son has generalized anxiety that often comes out during performance situations like testing, reading out loud etc. we do zoloft in addition to cbt.

OP, since your kid has intense anxiety during tests as well this may not be the right resource for you, but I googled "sports psychology DC" and several names/centers popped up.

"Performance anxiety" is most certainly a "thing" both children and adults get treated for. That's a huge part of what sports psychologists do, though I don't know what their level of expertise is generally with kids who are having anxiety related meltdowns. They may be more familiar with kids who just "freeze". But the underlying anxiety is the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there so many trolls on Special Needs?

Many high performance athletes have performance anxiety and it's well known in the sports world. Why are you giving this mom such a hard time? WTF?????

Because he is 10. And most of us wouldn't escalate a sport for a 10 yo (tryouts, which means travel team at that age) if it's literally making your kid ill.

You are putting the cart before the horse. Anxiety does not suddenly appear in adulthood, either for elite athletes or for other anxious folk. Is this mother supposed to ban sports for her child? Ban all activities that cause him anxiety? She's looking for solutions, not escalating him into a sport. Stop blaming her for his symptoms. The sport is not making him ill, his symptoms are. GET OFF THE SPECIAL NEEDS FORUM. NOW.

Sorry for the trolly responses OP. My son also sounds similar to yours. He's older now but has generalized anxiety disorder (and social anxiety disorder) that manifested in perfectionism and in sports as a younger kid. As he got older and school got more challenging, it completely overwhelmed him.

Your psychiatrist will give you good advice I'm sure. There are beta blockers that can be used for specific anxious situations. I'm not sure how often or if they are used in kids. Ours has not recommended them because by the time we got to a psychiatrist, it was clear there was generalized anxiety, so he was treated with an SSRI, which made a huge difference. The therapy may be more effective when his overall anxiety is lessened as well. They don't give things like Xanax to kids.

You are doing a great job reading your son's signs of distress. In our case, we did not and thought he would grow out of it. It wasn't until his life was completely derailed by anxiety that we realized how much intensive help he needed. (And teens are much less receptive to therapy than a 10 year old, so it's great that you already have that going.)

There seems to be one or maybe two really judgy jerks on this post. Sorry OP. I don't have experience with this, but I would to read more books about anxiety and then speak with another therapist in DC. I bet there are school counselors who can recommend some options.

OP, my son has GAD and plays baseball and I totally get it. Though he didn't melt down as much as your son, if he didn't play well he would be miserable. I started having anxiety whenever he played. We also suggested he give it up, but he, also, lived and breathed baseball. He fought through the anxiety and battled and played, sometimes well sometimes not. The bottom line is we let him make the decision about playing. He did CBT which helped some. He is now in college and started on meds as the anxiety increased a bit. Oh, and he's playing baseball in college and loves it. I think his ability to purposely put himself in anxiety provoking situations and battle through them has taught him some great life lessons and will serve him well.

Anonymous wrote:You must be a troll. "Performance anxiety" isn't in the DSM. Good luck finding a child psychiatrist who's taking new patients or one that's willing to loose his/her license for prescribing drugs in this situation.

Part of competing is being able to compete. Maybe he should try a different sport or just play recreationally. This is a life lesson that we don't always get what we want. If you're not a troll, then you can practice meditation and relaxation techniques with your kid.

No but perfectionism is and it absolutely affects kids. Elite musicians, Navy fighter pilots and anyone else who knows better takes beta blockers for this kind of situation. I am also someone whose nerves absolutely get the best of me in peak performance moments like this and it is real, hormonal, biological moment. You don't know what you are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:Why are there so many trolls on Special Needs?

Many high performance athletes have performance anxiety and it's well known in the sports world. Why are you giving this mom such a hard time? WTF?????

Because he is 10. And most of us wouldn't escalate a sport for a 10 yo (tryouts, which means travel team at that age) if it's literally making your kid ill.

Why are there so many trolls on Special Needs?

Many high performance athletes have performance anxiety and it's well known in the sports world. Why are you giving this mom such a hard time? WTF?????

Increase the number of games/competitions/tests that the kid plays/takes. This will make them routine. Also having failures allows the kid to develop coping mechanisms and realize that, even when he completely fails, nothing bad really happens as a result.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not normal for a kid who "lives and breathes" baseball to have so much anxiety around it - I'd stop the sport immediately. It can't be good for him if he anxiety is real. Why haven't you done this already?

Because I suck as a parent?
Because he has some good games interspersed between some hard ones? Because I keep hoping he will mature out of it and get better? Because he looks forward to these games all week long?
Because it's really sad that my kid can't handle doing the one thing he really loves.
Also, because it's not behavior that's limited to baseball. He approaches some tests, new situations, anything anxiety-producing the same way.

As he has no diagnosis he can't avoid the stress of test taking, as he's a human he can't avoid the stress of new situations, but as a child he can surely avoid baseball if it is so anxiety provoking that you'd like kid Zanex or something for him. If it's the "only thing he loves" then he isn't actually stressed as true cruppeling anxiety would result in an avoidance of the trigger.