michiganpandas

that is/was my daughter's BIGGEST all time fear...throwing up. We did Rothman last summer. You will watch a lot of youtube videos....our favorites were the "Family Guy Chowder" video and family on a roller coster having a blast until the mom got sick...you'll see those ones for sure! Exposure is the best help, but it's for sure not easy. The school year after sudden onset of this fear my husband had to meet my daughter at school every day for lunch just to get her through the day and b/c the lunch room is a place where throwing up usually happens. For 4th grade (this year and the year after we did Rothman 3 week) we had to basically force her to go and told her we refused to meet for lunch. She had a back up plan for comfort at school (could go help the librarian with a friend) right after she was done eating. It was not easy, but eventually got better she ended the school year with only missing 3 days of school for totally normal things! Best of luck to you guys...the ocd fears are incredibly difficult to see your child have to suffer!

Next year is my daughter's last year of elementary....all next year and throughout the summer I plan to visit her middle school as often as possible. Maybe this summer you could pop in once per week if it is open and walk the halls...or have a popsicle on a bench outside of the school...or walk around the fields and kick a ball, etc. I plan to do this to make the transition a little easier....maybe you could talk about this with her and come up with a plan.

we have a success story.....my dd was very severe with intense ocd fears.....was non-functional at onset for about 2 months.....then slowly went through the small ups and continued big downs, but never free of the ocd. Finally with time (1 1/2 years)....my daughter started doing a lot better. Attends school (voted President of her school which makes me beyond proud)....She is a now a "normal" child. Now is she completely free of ocd....not entirely, but she understands it and recognizes it and gets past it fairly quickly. She used to do compulsions all day long...maybe 100 x's per day....now it's maybe 5 times per week! which is no big deal...we can handle that! *this is what helped us......5 day steroid burst along with keflex antibiotic 10 days. *rothman center 3 week intensive ocd therapy *treating with antibiotics when ocd returns all day long (have had to do this 2 x's since January...it helped clear it both times) *sadly had to stop an activity that she loved and was really good at, but due to ocd she had too many panic attacks there.....I think this is why some kids need to also end up being homeschooled for the same reason....sometimes it's just too hard to get past the fear of the panic and it's associated at that place *TIME stressful situations....we always have the following with us just in case: rescue remedy drops ibuprofun pepto calming creme

yes,,I forgot...the tampa aquarium is also free if staying at RMH..and my kids loved it....we also went to go see Winter the dolphin, but it was a lot of money and actually more fun seeing the dolphins at the Pier. We also went to the zoo (can't remember which one? ) but, they went on a camel ride and fed the giraffes. We had my daughter work on her 2 main fears....vomiting and eating sugar.....the eating sugar fear was beyond annoying to have because EVERY stinkin day she would come across junk at school (rewards) or at friend's house...and she loves sugar/junk foods.....she would eat it and then totally panic all day with a fear that it was going to make her sick. She still has issues with this one, but it is a lot better. The other biggest one was the vomiting fear....she would ask me at least (no exaggeration) about 100 x's a day if she was going to throw up....and would have a panic attack at least a few times daily...it was HORRIBLE! It is great that you are starting now with exposures....if you have any other questions let me know

my dd went there for the same reason....INTENSE fear of vomiting.....you will watch several videos of vomiting......our personal favorite is the Family Guy chowder scene and also a spanish lady on a roller coster vomitting over and over with her family freaking out....oh, the fun memories! lol....feel free to find those lovely videos on youtube! .....she also had to go to "rate my vomit"....and rate the vomit pics people send in! It did help my daughter.....not pefect at first...but, it has given her skills to refer back to and I would say that they were, by far, the best therapy that we could ever probably get....I thought for sure we would be back there this summer, but so far my daughter is doing so much better compared to where we were last year that I do not feel she needs a refresher at this time You will walk to the RMH because it is right next to it....my kids had fun trying to catch lizards on the walk there. The St. Pete pier is awesome and you can see dolphins each night (usually) around 5:30 We visited St. Pete beach and Clear Water beach. We also drove to Disney on a Wed. after therapy and drove back to the RMH that night (back by around 11:30). All of the things we did were beyond amazing that we even did them.....my dd could not even attend a movie at the theatre without intense fear....so we actually were trying to force fun things with her (again, only a pandas family would understand this)....it was perfect, because we could then go to therapy the next day and discuss what was hard, etc. We had and loved Dr. Rahman! He is pretty much a hero to our family!!! The RMH house was sooooo nice.....meals provided....and friendly. You can go to the Sunken Gardens for free...Dalhi Museum for free....and work out at the YMCA (but, that was too far of a drive...I just ran around St. Pete)

this has worked the best with us so far....I am also trying to treat with this only when symptoms pop back up

steroid burst?

Did she start back to gymnastics? Sadly I think these kids get too much anxiety with even the sports they love. My daughter had taken a break from her sport, but when she returned the anxiety was too much....she ALWAYS begs to keep going to gymnastics and says she LOVES it...which she does...but, I think whenever her heartrate goes up or she has to do something really hard she gets the anxiety back....and it lingers.

Dr. Rahman is great!!!!! (and I am picky!) But, just a suggestion...maybe mention that you do not want your child to have an intern/practicing therapist....we had this a few times a week....one would sit in the session to listen/learn....which I think is great and needed.....then afterwards my daughter would get an extra session right after with the intern.....it could actually be a really great experience....ours was VERY nice....but, I think that the session was better ended on Dr. Rahman's note and not revisiting the same session just for practice. Pros and cons to the situation....and not sure if you have a choice...they didn't really ask us, but I probably could had said no????

Dr. T prescribed us azithromycin 2x per week. I ended up giving it 3x's per week for 2 months and then cut down to 2 x.

I am at work so only read some replies...but, just wanted to mention that w had activation with zoloft at 20mg...and again when they upped it a little it got worse.... but, I decreased it slowly on my own decision based on what I read here....she did better with the decrease HOWEVER, when we got to the point where she was completely off she sadly got worse again, so I put her back up drop by drop and she actually was BEST at only 4 small drops....there is not going to be any doctor or neurologist that will ever start you this low and all will say it's a placebo (it's not because I put it in sierra mist (which is required to mix) and my daughter has never been told if I have gone up or down So, my opinion to anyone getting on zoloft or any psych drug is to allow the prescription to be written for any amount (the higher the better because then you get more of the prescription)...but, then only give a VERY small amount....you can tell them later for the follow up that you started lower and if it worked 4 drops is only .3 ml......it's probably about 4mg As for the study....I had the knowledge of it and I declined at the time when we were in that 6 month period for the same reason you mentioned...spinal tap and also my daughter was SOOOOOO bad with anxiety that we could barely leave the house let alone travel or get all of those tests down BUT, I'll admit...I could kick myself for not doing it....I think it would have helped a lot and it would have been beyond nice to have doctors who are knowledgeable about all of this! good luck in your decision!

I read the books with her...and did ERP on my own with her...it does help a lot......but, I will say that after we went to Rothman in Florida it was even more helpful because she heard it from someone else...and they were able to push her more (rather than me...the mom!) Now after being there I can refer back to what she learned there...or if anything comes up that is fearful for her I will always word it as a positive..."hey, that's good that it happened...you got an exposure". mine is also sensitive to clothes....we learned to refer to "GUTI" there...."get used to it"...(and again, because she learned and was told this by someone else it's easier....me coming up with "get used to it" would never fly)...when I say that now she still has issues, but she usually does get used to it!.........but, I'll admit that we do just avoid a lot of the uncomfortable ones as much as possible.

Love Dr. Rahman....Dali museum is free for 1 visit if staying at RMH..so is sunken gardens. Make sure to try to see dolphins at the Pier around 5:30 each night. We were not cured after our visit...but, gained valuable skills. My daughter was afraid of thowing up (would talk about being scared approx. 100 times a day...I counted!)....never hardly brings it up now...fear is still there, but it's better....but, when other ocd things pop up (now scared of concussions)...all I have to say is..."well, you better get this ocd in check because I don't even want to think about how Dr. Rahman would do exposures for concussions!) We would go back for a refresher, but as of right now it's pretty cool that we don't need to

Your story is the same as ours....It even took me a while to believe the ideas of this group when I found it....(antibiotics, ivig, steroids, no pysch meds, etc.)....Every doctor and specialist in my area either did not hear of it or laughed and said, "well, you know it's a very controversial diagnosis and no one is going to treat it based on what the internet says"...ugh! Just wanted to say that you need to take a deep breath, sit back, and really listen to the plans of Dr. T and ideas here...also, realize that you will probably still have some ups and downs (wax/wane) that will continue. Also, if she has ocd specific fears or can't get back to school you might want to schedule an appointment at the Rothman Center in Florida for Exposure therapy...I would schedule it in August because that will give you some time to get her initially better with Dr. T's suggestions. Also, just to offer hope....my daughter was VERY BAD (could not leave my bedroom, go to school, licked food, tics, screaming of stomach and throat pain, INTENSE fear of throwing up and other very unrealistic things...very ocd)...... She is now back to a straight A student, does activities, has great friends...(is still moody, sigh...might be 9 year old hormones!..)..but, is functioning! She even just recovered from strep this week (beautifully) and only missed 1 day of school....prior to that this year she had perfect attendance. We are not "cured"....and we could get bad again, but I know there are options for treatment and I have seen her recover so I know it's possible again.

Have you tried a different antibiotic? ivig? we just started a bad flare and the tics came right back (on monday)....got on a different antibiotic and they stopped. any allergies?....we did not think there were any allergies at all....but, after testing my dd is allergic to cats (we had one), dust (so i dust a lot now) and a few other things also...we NEVER bring up anything about my dd's tics...(but, her tic is the loud throat clearing/grunt)....if your son's is really loud I can see how you can't ignore it...so sorry you are going through all of this....praying the steroid kicks in!