I am writing to you about my friend Anna-Marie , and her son Adam.
We would be grateful if you could help us and give us some advice on where to turn to for help and advice. Also if you know anyone who could take on Adams case or give advice.
Adam has become very ill recently, he has developed a severe case of ocd to the extent he has been hospitalised, where they are doing some tests on him.
He has had an MRI and a ECG and some blood tests have been done, these have all come back clear, we are still waiting for the more complex results for his blood tests. As far as I know the hospital doctor thinks Adam has a Mental Illness, the hospital psychiatrist thinks it may be a virus or a psychosis. Adam is in the Adolescents ward at the Coventry and Warwickshire hospital in Coventry.
A brief history of the illness so far.
Adam is eleven years old, a good friend of my sons, they have been friends for a couple of years now, Adam has always been a good boy at home and at school, he is in the top sets at school and he is very good at art. He has a younger brother aged 2.5 and 6 month old twin sisters, he lives with his mum and stepdad who has taken on the role of Adams Dad, and they are a happy family. Adam has lots of friends at school and has never shown any cause for concern before.
His mum noticed Adam acting a little strange two day before he went on a scout camping week on 23rd August, but not enough to do anything, it was put down to maybe being a bit nervous about going away for a week with the scouts. The Scout leader noticed Adam was acting in an OCD manor whilst away but he still functioned pretty much as normal. When Adam got back he was doing some things that concerned his family he started a new comprehensive school on the 1st September he was only there for a few of days when his face became covered with impetigo (Diagnosed by his GP), so he had some time off school he tried to go back but he was unable to function and his behaviour became severe to the point of doing rituals to get through doors, wash etc, he was finding life very difficult, his GP referred him to the local mental health unit, but in the mean time he was taken into hospital, because of his severe behaviour, for tests to be carried out.
Adam has been in hospital for around a week now and every day his behaviour and ability to function is getting worse, he is only able to get up from his bed after a ritual of around 15 minutes, and then he has a ritual to get through the room door and can only seem to make it up the corridor whilst backtracking and doing strange rituals on the way. He has also developed ticks and things like sticking his tongue out, and rocking his head. He also says inappropriate, sometimes sexual things, it is not the Adam from a few weeks ago. He was a happy child with lots of friends, now he is unable to even get out of his bed without a big ritual and effort, it is very difficult for him to do anything, and he is not eating properly and loosing weight.
As this has come on so quickly, it is obviously very distressing to Adams family and friends and we would like to find out as much as we can to help him.
Please if you can help to Adams mum, or give us some help lines to contact we would be very grateful. It would help if we could get a diagnosis, we are not experts, but after looking things up on the internet is looks like a possibility that Adams condition may have been caused from a virus, linked to his impetigo outbreak, he seems to have all the symptoms of Pandas Disease, rather than a mental illness, as he has changed from a “normal” boy into a boy with excessive ocd behaviour in such a matter of weeks.
Please any information would be appreciated
