turning forward of the pages in exacerbation

[smartyjones]

in thinking over my son's recent exacerbation, i think i realize something strange. he seemed to have almost neat little packages of behaviors for short periods of time. i believe it was caused by a virus not helped by that we changed his treatment regime.

 

initially, i thought he had never had tics. i now realize he could have had some minor ones when pandas first surfaced, about a year ago. he'd been doing really well, most troublesome behaviors subsided but i wouldn't say 100%, getting close to 95%.

 

about 8 weeks ago, the first thing i noticed, was some mild finger movements and a flicking of his fingers against his face. this lasted a few days, probably not more than a week. then he had repeating words, silly rhyming, some impulsiveness, obnoxiousness. then he had resistance to a bath and hair wash. somewhere around this time, he had a short flu. more behaviors came after that, such as separation anxiety, obnoxiousness, potty talk but he was again fine with a bath, not really repeating words. my husband thought he had to have strep b/c of his behavior - he'd rate him close to initial trouble, culture was neg, i thought it was due to virus. around Christmas, the majority of the obnoxiousness were very slight, he began with inappropriate upsets. the past week or so, he has slight inappropriate reactions and upset, not really obnoxious behaviors.

 

as i write this out, it sounds like what people talk about with turning back the pages but i think he was doing quite well and then had a downturn exacerbation not like when people begin a treatment and see turning back the pages but it has been kind of in these little packages. any thoughts?

[MomWithOCDSon]

in thinking over my son's recent exacerbation, i think i realize something strange. he seemed to have almost neat little packages of behaviors for short periods of time. i believe it was caused by a virus not helped by that we changed his treatment regime.

 

initially, i thought he had never had tics. i now realize he could have had some minor ones when pandas first surfaced, about a year ago. he'd been doing really well, most troublesome behaviors subsided but i wouldn't say 100%, getting close to 95%.

 

about 8 weeks ago, the first thing i noticed, was some mild finger movements and a flicking of his fingers against his face. this lasted a few days, probably not more than a week. then he had repeating words, silly rhyming, some impulsiveness, obnoxiousness. then he had resistance to a bath and hair wash. somewhere around this time, he had a short flu. more behaviors came after that, such as separation anxiety, obnoxiousness, potty talk but he was again fine with a bath, not really repeating words. my husband thought he had to have strep b/c of his behavior - he'd rate him close to initial trouble, culture was neg, i thought it was due to virus. around Christmas, the majority of the obnoxiousness were very slight, he began with inappropriate upsets. the past week or so, he has slight inappropriate reactions and upset, not really obnoxious behaviors.

 

as i write this out, it sounds like what people talk about with turning back the pages but i think he was doing quite well and then had a downturn exacerbation not like when people begin a treatment and see turning back the pages but it has been kind of in these little packages. any thoughts?

 

A few days ago, Faith dropped an article reference into a thread about microbes, as opposed to just strep, being a possible agent for some behaviorally-revealed disorders. It was a Scientific American special edition on the brain, and the name of the article is "Infected with Insanity." Is it possible your son's "turning back the pages" could be a reaction to some other agents he's encountering, such as viruses?

 

As for the "shifting" you're describing, where at one point in time the "package of behaviors" includes his not wanting to bathe or wash his hair, but then a new "package" surfaces which includes some of the previous behaviors but exempts that one, we see that constantly in our son. We call it "Whack-a-Mole" because as soon as you "beat" one behavior, something equally distressing or obnoxious will pop up somewhere else! And then, just when you think you've rid your lives of that previous behavior once and for all, IT will come back! Aarrgghh!!!