Rachelle

Well, we're seeing a lot of OCD now. I guess it was just a happy morning blip. Ugh. I am happy to share the results. Thank you for replying. Right before my son came down with these OCD symptoms I believe he had a virus. He had a rash that came at the time things got really bad OCD wise but after the initial OCD onset. The pediatrician said it was a viral rash. His twin had a low grade fever, fatigue, and joint pain at the same time OCD kid presented with the rash. About three weeks after those symptoms the twin came down with the same rash. So I'm assuming those initial symptoms were the virus and then the rash follows a few weeks later. That would mean my son possibly coincided the OCD onset with that virus. He definitely got worse during the virus. In that case it did ramp up over a period of weeks. It did not go completely away though. Dr. T did not order an IgM of coxsackie--only the IgG. All the IgG's were high (A7, A9,A16, A24) and Dr. T specifically said past infection. So I didn't know enough to ask but it seems, given he only tested IgG and he mentioned trying anti-virals, that he believes past infection could trigger? I think you probably know more than I do on that! I didn't see any things about that virus particularly in searching here or elsewhere.

My son responded to NAC well (improved OCD by a huge amount, stopped repeating his words, much better emotional control). We were and are doing 600 mg twice a day. He's 8 and 40 pounds. Then he got a pretty nasty cold and went back to the severe OCD/repeating words/extreme emotional mess. He was as bad or worse than before we started the NAC. Do you see such variability with viruses? I'm trying to figure out if it might be that the cold was interfering with sleep and the OCD is worse at night so he wakes and then the OCD takes over. Maybe also the lack of sleep would make daytime symptoms so much worse too along with the emotional stuff. I can't figure out the repeating words variability. He's on the autism spectrum but he hadn't been doing that before the OCD started...go to the park, park, park sort of thing--it doesn't seem to be OCD but more of a stim. We didn't have any big indicators of PANDAS/PITANDS so I'm wondering if OCD just normally varies like that. Or does OCD just sort of swing in terms of symptom severity from week to week anyway? It was very discouraging to think the NAC was helping and then see him get so bad again. I don't know what to think.

I started NAC with my son and after a few days we saw marked improvement. Not only did his OCD improve but he had started repeating his words and that stopped too. His emotional mess of a disposition since this all began went back to his normal. He was/is taking 600 mg. twice a day. He's 8 and 40 pounds. That lasted a bit over a week. Then he got a cold and we went back to the severe OCD/repeating words/extreme lack of emotional control. That's been a little under two weeks. Never mind: it's still here..I got excited because we finally had a night of sleep and a decent morning OCD-wise. I still see the OCD now. Would a person normally see such variability with viruses in PITANDS/PANDAS or would that be more consistent with regular OCD perhaps? His labs weren't at all a slam dunk for PITANDS/PANDAS. We're going to start an antibiotic in case my son is a "low strep responder" per Dr.T because of some lowish IgG numbers. If that doesn't help in 10 days we'll do an anti-viral because his labs were positive for hand/foot/mouth...I can't remember the name of the virus. But this might not be PANDAS/PITANDS for him. I just can't understand the huge swing in symptoms. That's how it all began too. Normal kid, OCD kid for a week or so, extremely severe OCD/repeating his words/emotional mess suddenly. I do believe that initial onset may have been with a viral infection...I know he had a virus when the worsening initially happened. But it wasn't hand/foot/mouth blisters and he had the flu this winter with no OCD or problems at all. I don't know what to think.

Thank you for your reply. I think we do need to try just to see if there is response. Dr. T said give it 10 days. I'm just wondering if we hit a dead end and it's discouraging to think this is forever. He's really severe.

I don't know what to think. My son had some sort of low markers on IgG (IgG2 was 182 and IgG4 was 52...which are flagged red but I'm looking and those seem to still be in the normal range). Dr. T mentioned low strep responder as a possibility and is prescribing Augmenten. He said to give it 10 days and if no response we'll try an anti-viral because he had coxsackie positives/high indicating past infection markers on the labs. He has gotten worse as he got a cold but that could be that it is interfering with his sleep and the OCD then kicks in at night so less sleep and it's resulting in more OCD? I don't know. This is my old post. http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=18187 I don't know what to think. Does it seem like maybe this is just inherited OCD given the family history of OCD? This kid carries c. diff and tends toward nasty GI bugs so I'm worried about the antibiotic effects. I asked Dr. T if it might be regular OCD and he said it needs to be a diagnosis of exclusion...meaning we rule out low strep responder and viral before we assume it's "regular" OCD. He did mention he could prescribe something for that like luvox if it ends up he doesn't respond to treatment. Can anyone help me with their thoughts? Does this seem like it's not PITANDS/PANDAS really? Would you just try the treatments and see if you get response so you know you've ruled infectious causes out?

How can I tell if what is happening to my son is just the onset of OCD or I should be concerned about more. This has been going on for about 7 weeks. I am concerned. I just don't know if I should be. I'm sorry for the length. I would so appreciate it if anyone can give an opinion. 1. He's 8 ADHD and mildly autistic with an onset of OCD symptoms about 7 weeks ago. It got worse in the past two weeks. At this point it's constant much of the time in the day many days (is poison in his mouth, spitting/wiping out poison, asking me if he's breathing, checking his breathing, begging me to call a doctor, and on.) Worse even are some of the nights. He isn't sleeping much at all on the bad nights--waking us constantly to ask if there might be poison in his mouth or to tell us he might not be breathing, staying awake so he doesn't die, and on. 2. We have moved. The onset was two weeks prior to the move. So there was stress. 3. There is a family history of OCD and in fact I have it myself. I feel I would recognize it in my children and, while I've seen anxiety in this child, I've never seen OCD in him. 4. He's had a spitting/wiping his face habit for quite a long time. He never indicated a fear of poison or reason for the wiping. But that was there prior to talking about poison. My son is very clear that he just started worrying about dying/poison/OCD stuff two weeks before we moved (that's when I saw it too). He says he never worried about that stuff before then. 5. I want to mention that my son seemed to suddenly develop ADHD right after his 6th birthday. It was so dramatic a change I consulted his pediatrician. I did not see OCD at that time. I think I remember a short phase where he was afraid he might get run over or a car might hit the house. He also has times when he pees very large amounts of clear urine frequently (like every 15 to 30 minutes) during the day but never at night. This might go on for a days or a week and then go back to normal. This has been going on periodically for that long as well. 6. The OCD started and two weeks later we moved. At that time he started repeating his last words (go to the park...park...park) which is strange and not normal for him but, again, he's spectrumy. I thought maybe because we lapsed on probiotics during the move or stress of it. The emotional melt down (irrational and extreme but not OCD related) got worse and more pervasive. Again, I assumed it was the move and it could have been. 7. He had some vomiting two weeks ago and this week a very strange rash. In the last two weeks the OCD has gotten extremely severe. He's constantly asking about poison (in his food, on his mouth, etc.) wiping his face/spitting the poison, melting down begging me to call a doctor to save his life, checking to see if he's breathing, and on. Worse even is it's affecting his sleep many nights. He's afraid he'll die in his sleep. He wakes us constantly. I'm just beside myself. I will say I still see my son. Outside of the OCD he's still his old self. Is this the way pediatric OCD looks at onset or does it sound like more?