Irrational fear or OCD?

[AmySLP]

My daughter has been in an exacerbation for a few weeks...she sees ENT today and dr. Trifletti next week. I am tired if using the abx. Bandaids for her. Last night she was saying as she was coming out of the bath...I can't breathe. The air is dirty, it smells dirty in here. Then as I am wondering if she just smells something and says the same thing happened as school. My first thought was physical, like asthma, but she has not shortness if breath symptoms or wheezing. No illness. Now I'm wondering if you'd call this OCD and /or an irrational fear. Has anyone ever had this in their children? It's been years since she had irrational fears as a symptom (then it was fear of me getting hit by a car, going down the drain after the tub etc.). Thinking this may be the case. Good thing we are going to the ENT today...so she can be examined to rule out physical problems.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Yes, unfortunately it does sound like an OCD fear. We've never had that exact one, but "contamination fears," i.e., fears that something is "dirty" and therefore unacceptable, are pretty common.

 

Other than smelling something less than appealing that triggered this idea/fear for her, perhaps she caught sight of some dust motes in the air when some sunlight streamed through a window. Or perhaps the steam from her bath made the air feel thick and heavy to her, and the sight of the steam itself reminded her of "air pollution" she may have been introduced to at school, and/or the heaviness of the air made it harder for her to breathe, and so she equated all of that with the air being dirty.

 

That being said, sometimes OCD fears have a real world, rational basis, and other times they don't and come purely from an imaginative mind that's short-circuited in a not-so-great way.

[momcap]

Sounds like it could definitely be OCD, and that would be my guess because of the "dirty" comments. But it might be worth also looking into babesia infection. Babesia is a parasite, somewhat similar to malaria and it causes air hunger (the feeling that you are not getting a full breath).

[Pandasmex]

Yes it sounds like an OCD fear to me and very similar to my son. Smells too.

 

He started to use one doctor mask then he was using up to seven masks. For them is real contamination.