any suggestions for anxiety?

[michiganpandas]

my daughter has been getting slowly better each week...(starting with 2 cases of strep in march and pandas diagnosis)....her only remaining problem is anxiety....she is very afraid of getting sick again and this causes her to get very scared in situations that are not even stressful...especially scared away from me. (basically if i'm with her and tell her she is safe then she calms down right away). 2 weeks ago we got her back to school for 1/2 a day w/o me and will work next week to the whole day (which is the last week of school).....Does anyone have any suggestions for supplements, vitamins, etc. that might help anxiety....or type of therapy....(currently she is going to a therapist and is on 20 mg. of zoloft). We tried azitromycin for 6 days last week and did not see any kind of improvement. Should I try the ivig? or is she not severe enough for that? hypnosis? chiropractor? or do I just need to be patient. I totally hate seeing my normally happy,fun, relaxed daughter be a so scared and filled with anxiety. I keep thinking that there is maybe just one more thing I need to try.

[smartyjones]

as far as therapy type help -- i have found the most help from anxietybc.com. more so than from a behavioral therapist, psychologist and psychiatrist. there are suggestions on discussing it with her and charts and plans. i also e-mailed them with requests for help -- at the time, my son had severe school phobia -- and they were quite responsive.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can be very helpful for anxiety; you need to know going in, however, that it's not a "quick fix." It's more about giving your daughter (and to some extent, you, also) some life-long tools for successfully addressing her anxiety if and when it should crop up again, as well as helping her now.

 

Supplements that have helped our DS's anxiety level have included NAC and Valerian root, both available over the counter. Once again, though, the NAC takes time because it is a glutamatergic agent that helps quell the impact of excitatory proteins (like glutamate) in the brain. So it's assistance grows over time with the supplement and is not typically immediate. The Valerian root, meanwhile, can help more immediately; we used to give our DS one in the morning with breakfast, before school, and that seemed to help him walk through the school doors.

 

And finally, if you're not categorically against considering "psych meds," some of our kids have been helped through the worst of their anxiety with low-dose selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). I know many families don't want to go this route, but when your kid is so anxious that they're having trouble being functional, one weighs the pros and the cons. My DS takes low-dose Zoloft, and I know some other kids here also find that low-dose Zoloft, Prozac, etc. can "take the edge off" their anxiety. If you decide to go that route, though, make sure the dosage is very low to begin with, since too high a dose (even if it's within the range of "normal" for a kid of a certain age, per a typical doctor or psych) can be too much and activate our kids.

 

Good luck! Hang in there!

Edited June 9, 2011 by MomWithOCDSon

[dcmom]

michigan pandas-

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any solutions for you- just commiseration.

 

My normally outgoing, anxiety-free, enthusiastic nine year old has the same issue. She was diagnosed with mild pandas about 1.5 years ago. In January 2010, she had a major debilitating episode. Among other things, during this time she would not go to school, and would rarely leave my side. She also was not eating, so thankfully we were able to get her in for PEX. After the procedure, she went right back to her normal life, and within a month was 100%.

 

Fast forward to this year. We moved over the summer, and she started a new school (also middle school), with no anxiety, making tons of friends, trying out for school play, and joining many activities. In December she was sick and had an overnight onset (again) of pandas. Lots of issues (including school refusal, refusal to leave the house, hiding her face, major depression, not eating, etc). While pex was out of our reach, we had to do something, so she had iv steroids. This made a HUGE impact. Every issue was just about back to normal- except school.

 

What my daughter has is school refusal due to ocd. She is afraid that she will vomit (and be embarrased) in school. She says she is nervous the entire time. We have had her on a combination of homebound and school instruction. We do the homebound, to keep her up to date with her classes. But we have been working since January to get her back to school. We started with lunch only, and then built out from there, one class at a time. As a parent, it feels slow as molasses. Mondays are typically slight setbacks, and after vacations the same. She was almost back full time, and feeling pretty good, when in mid April she had strep. This put us right back where we started, and we are trying to muddle out from there- she is back up to 3/4 day, but not feeling good.

 

It kills me. She says she hates school now. She is nervous all the time, while there. I wonder how, even if there, she can focus on the work, if she is anxious the entire time. This is a kid who auditioned for a ballet company, and performed with a professional ballet in the nutcracker.

 

She is on antibiotics- which I am not sure do anything for us daily.

 

She is on 12 mg of zoloft. We did not notice any ocd help, but have kept her on it because it may have helped mood. We plan to take her off this summer, to figure out if it is doing anything.

 

She is so great in almost every other way. She is not severe enough for pex, and I am not ready to do IVIG- but she does need help.

 

We are planning to take her to the ocd intensive with Dr Storch in FL this summer, because we need help.

 

I think I may order valerian root now

[michiganpandas]

dcmom...your daughter sounds EXACTLY like mine....my daughter is a competitive ice skater and loves being on stage(also dances and missed her first dance recital this year b/c she missed so much)......i just know this is going to slowly take away all of her self esteem....

 

Also, getting sick at school and her fear of throwing up there (and also fear of a panic attack there)....is also exactly the same thing my daughter keeps saying she is afraid of.......it causes her SEVERE anxiety...unless i'm there with her to tell her she is safe. Right now she is trying her first full day w/o me since this started with strep in march and the panda's symptoms started in April.....i only visited her today for an hour at lunch.....but, I really think she is able to go now b/c she knows she it's almost summer....i am so worried about next school year.

 

i think i'll try the valerien root, too....thanks for the suggestion.

 

have you tried hypnosis? i know it sounds crazy, but for some reason i think it might be helpful for my daughter?

[dcmom]

Michigan pandas-

 

I live in fear of the self esteem stuff every day- it makes me a CRAZY lady.

 

My daughter wanted to be a prof ballerina (I know, she was only 9- I wasn't counting on it), and was in an audition only very serious program, AND she was one of the best in the class.

 

Well- she quit. She did finally go back for a summer intensive- which was great because she could do it- but she no longer dances. I think even though she got over the major anxiety, pandas/ocd robbed her of the JOY it used to bring her.

 

I think ERP is SO important, and wish we could have focused on dance, but at the time she wasn't eating or going to school- so we had to let it go.

 

Now she has quit piano due to ocd(since Dec). She has agreed to play for the summer- but again- I think the joy is gone.

 

It makes me so sad, not that I thought she would be a pianist or a ballerina- but both took hard work and practice, and resulted in successes and triumphs- which I felt were so healthy.

 

KEEP her in those recitals/ competitions- dont let her miss ONE if possible....

[bws]

You can try Liver Balance from Pure Body Institute of Ventura. www.pbiv.com. I saw fantastic results with it.