Week Days vs. Weekends

[cdklyn]

I'm noticing my daughters (4 yrs) movements/compulsions tend to occur most often on weekdays after school. She seems to have fewer on the weekends. I assume this is because her stimulation and arousal is less when she's at home and with mom and dad on the weekends. Just curious if this is common for other kids? We're very new to all of this and just now starting to see patterns and recognize triggers.

[BoyIowa]

We see the same thing ourselves. I think ours is due to two things.

1) During the week at school I think he tries to control his obsessions and compulsions for fear of kids seeing. Then, when he gets home he just lets it all loose from struggling all day.

2) No schedule. No being told what to learn/do. Less stress. Less peer worries at home on weekends.

 

Thus, homework after school at home is a chore!

[MomWithOCDSon]

We had a great IEP caseworker the first year my DS's PANDAS became severe. When it came to DS's ability to manage his anxiety during the school day and at home, he offered the following analogy. Every situation or event that induces anxiety puts a drop of water in DS's "glass," until that point at which it can't help but overflow. Now, early in treatment, the glass got full very early in the day because everything made him anxious. As time and treatment wore on, his glass reached the full point later and later into the day because he was managing his anxiety much better.

 

But some of the things that used to cause him anxiety were changes in schedule, the "unknown" in general, spontaneous events, etc., so after school and on weekends, the glass would fill at a much faster rate. School is great for kids who respond to schedule and routine, but depending on lifestyle and home sensibilities, the outside world can be much more anxiety-producing, I think.

 

So I agree with BoyIowa . . . by afternoon or evening, and on weekends in which the schedule shifts or is altogether abandoned, some kids have trouble managing it.

[Familyof5]

Don't rule out the possibility that the school your child is attending may be "moldy" causing his symptoms to be worse during school week than on weekends at home.

[beeskneesmommy]

When my son was in the earlier, really bad stage of PANDAS, we often saw this. The teachers would say he dis OK but when he would get in the car at pick up, his tics would be shocking to me in their prevalence. After returning home and having some juice, relaxing and just having lower stress for a little while, he would start to look better. I ma firm beliver that stress and poor sleep are big exacerbators of symptoms. Poor babies!