Jump to content
ACN Latitudes Forums

OCD can present MANY ways


Recommended Posts

I can relate. We missed my DS's ocd during his first major exacerbation. I thought ocd was washing your hands frequently, checking, pulling out your hair. My son was hoarding sticks. It was fall, the willow tree was losing limbs. He hoarded so many sticks they filled a 4'x 8's 3' high wooden play structure. He would climb up the ladder and fill his "fort" full of sticks. Then, he started cleaning. I knew that was ocd. When things are not good, he counts everything. He constantly adds numbers. He does that what we call weird talk like you mentioned "Are there any cracks water can't get through". He comes up w/ all kinds of similar type questions. He builds things w/ Legos and then won't allow them to be taken apart. His list of obsessions and compulsions was lengthy at its worst. He's also got a compulsion to tell me how much he loves me. He also tells me he needs me to tell him I love him or he needs me to hug him. I'll stop here. There's so many, I have to write them down to remember them all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can relate to the asking questions and telling you you're wrong - get that one all the time. My favorite is "Don't say that!!" He'll ask a seemingly harmless question, like "why is that building blue?" And if I say "I don't know, they just wanted a blue building". I get a screaming "Don't say I don't know!!!" but if I leave out the I don't know and just say "they wanted a blue building" we're a okay. There are some others, but "I don't know" is a biggie.

 

He'll say things like "mommy, when I say banana, you say abracadabra, and then I'll say shoe, okay??...Banana" Me: "abracadabra" Him - shrieking "NOOOOOOO not like that" and then the meltdown. Sometimes I can get it right, but not always. And always seemingly unrelated nonsensical phrases, half of which he says so fast I have no idea what I'm supposed to say. If I don't say it with EXACTLY the right tone of voice it's no good. This is the fun game we like to play a lot in the car on the way home from school. It's my favorite (note the sarcasm!)

 

We've had some hoarding, although it's mostly his trains, having to all be together at all times (there are a TON of them, so if he moves one, he HAS to move them all) and he keeps them in "Tidmouth Sheds" (a Thomas reference) which is usually in a corner of his bed. When we pull the covers back, we've found a myriad of other intersting things, like wrappers, trash, leaves, half eaten donuts, etc...it seems to be his magical hoarding corner. (Since the half eaten donut discovery, I check it several times daily)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, it can look like many things. My son has "intrusive thought OCD" triggered by me (sometimes Dad too) swallowing things (including saliva!) or any noise made with mouth - cough, sniffle, smacking lips..

 

One day he said - "mom you don't understand - when you do that, that image stays in my head for like 20 minutes and I can't think of anything else".

Interestingly, Dr K put him in the " food issues" category, although he eats fine - he has issues with me eating and swallowing. Most kids have issues with themselves eating and swallowing.

 

I also read something on line just before pandas dx - a pandas mom describing her son as needing her close by at all time, while simultaneously being repulsed by her. And that was my son too. The psychiatrist that dx'd him said - a lot of kids have the disgust part of OCD (germs, or certain textures patterns) but don't get the ritual part of OCD (washing hands, or touching things a certain number of times...evening up - so the idea of germs disgusts them, so they perform a ritual to rid themselves of it - washing hands for 50 seconds, or 3 times in a row.or touching somehting..) so it harder to see that its OCD, but it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is very interesting. First, I want to quote something Dr. Leckman (who is an OCD guru) said in an e-mail to me (well, sort of quote, but can look it up if anyone wants...), but he said that basically ALL kids are ocd sometime around age 2-3. Someone posted the other day about their child only wearing green. I too would have seen that as a phase, if there weren't any other major "phases" going on at the same time.

 

ALL 4 of my kids have some degree of ocd, and I'm not sure if we ALL don't. The big thing is if it is interfering with daily life and functioning. That is the "d" of ocd. So 3 of my kids even up...I see them touch things with one hand then the other. One has told me when she scratches on arm, she has to scratch the other. I think I even may do it sometimes. I personally can not stand my shoes to be tied unevenly. My other kid asks questions a lot. He asks things I know he knows the answer to, and I get frustrated with him. But he's happy and functioning. Two of my kids cant' get rid of anything...and I hear this from other friends too. My mom is the same way. One of my kids saved wrappers. One of my kids collected dinosaurs, then football items....One of my kids gets really angry if I don't do her hair just right.

 

Right now, I only focus on my pandas child...as her oc(d) seems to affect her more. She is a germaphobe, but doesn't wash hands, etc...or clean...maybe not yet, or maybe just won't.

 

I guess my point is that it's important to watch how much it is interfering with functioning, development, general happiness. I know I have heard that it can "grow" and get worse, etc...so something to keep an eye on. At risk of getting more rotten tomatoes thrown my way...and truly I can't believe I am even going to say this, as I have been bitten because of writing too many things off as "just a phase"...but I do believe kids are quirky in general, and have personality quirks to some degree, and that we pandas parents are a bit more on high alert to some of these things....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tampicc--you are one of the people I am interested in hearing about how the IVIG helps...my dd7 has MANY tics, not just one or two. She of course has the "ocd-ish" issues, hyper, decreased drawing, etc...but I have heard they aren't even accepting kids in the IVIG study who's major symptom is tics due to negative results in prior studies? Does your ds have many tics? Thanks for sharing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tampicc---also wanted to add...we did go see Dr. Charles Mansueto at the Behavior Therapy Center in Silver Spring, MD. You can google it. He is a well-known behavior therapist who specializes in kids with tics and ocd, and even what he calls "Tourettic OCD." Also, for someone else on the forum who's child has trich...that's another specialty area...just fyi if you're reading...

anyhow, it was very, very helpful to see him and get his opinion on things. WE ended up NOT bringing dd7...my husband was afraid it would make her worse, etc....so we just ended up surprising him for the 2 hour apt. with just dh and myself. He brings to light many things we hadn't thought about, and different ways to think about them. While I thought "we need to get her to therapy NOW" and my husband thought "she's fine, she's happy, she'll outgrow it...", Dr. Mansueto felt we could watch for 3 months...he gave us some guidelines to go by during this time in order to help know when it's "time" to get professional help.

Anyhow, it might help to just meet with a good behavior therapist who specializes in OCD, and explain your child to them. Let a professional weed it all out...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is very interesting. First, I want to quote something Dr. Leckman (who is an OCD guru) said in an e-mail to me (well, sort of quote, but can look it up if anyone wants...), but he said that basically ALL kids are ocd sometime around age 2-3.

 

This is exactly why we waited over 6 months to get help - we thought our son was just going through an age appropriate phase combined with the "terrible twos". Fortunately we had a very astute day care provider and pediatrician that helped us realize that what was happening was WAY beyond normal. But I think this is the reason many children aren't dx early, because at what point is it normal, age appropriate behavior vs. something bigger? As someone who lived it, it's not an easy answer to come by until the problem is so big it literally smacks you up side the head!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is very interesting. First, I want to quote something Dr. Leckman (who is an OCD guru) said in an e-mail to me (well, sort of quote, but can look it up if anyone wants...), but he said that basically ALL kids are ocd sometime around age 2-3.

 

This is exactly why we waited over 6 months to get help - we thought our son was just going through an age appropriate phase combined with the "terrible twos". Fortunately we had a very astute day care provider and pediatrician that helped us realize that what was happening was WAY beyond normal. But I think this is the reason many children aren't dx early, because at what point is it normal, age appropriate behavior vs. something bigger? As someone who lived it, it's not an easy answer to come by until the problem is so big it literally smacks you up side the head!!

Also, its hard for docs to really get a handle on how bad it is unless they actually see it- we, as parents, teach our kids to behave especially well outside the home. So even if they show some of it elsewhere because they just can't help it, its never as bad as what we see happening at home.

Edited by peglem
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say that I am always a little spooked out when I read posts and realize that there are so many others out there with similar situations. I always think we have to be the only ones with string, Izze caps, duct tape, and old card collections laying EVERYWHERE around the house. I finally went to target and bought containers for all of these little collections. Now we have containers everywhere. What happened to my nice little organized life??:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...