We failed!

[airial95]

It's been a while since I updated, but I feel like we've been underseige lately. One or the other of the kids have been sick constantly it seems.

 

Our little panda had been doing very well, we were even considering lowering his abs dosage again when his best friend got strep and it's been up and down ever since. I know sawtooth is the name of the game, but it seems more like a really bad roller coaster - you know, the kind when you finally get off you have a terrible headache and want to thow up?

 

Anyway, we've been hunting for a behavior therapist to help him work through his ocd and hitting a brick wall every step of the way. We applied to get an assessment from the Early Steps program at USF and it took forever to get in! We wanted to try to get in their program because they're in the same dept/college as Dr Murphy so we figured we wouldn't be facing the "there's no such thing as PANDAS" run around.

 

After 6 weeks of waiting, we finally had our assessment yesterday! He tested WAY above average verbally, cognitively and developmentally, but failed the hypersensitivity and ADHD tests with flying colors!!! We were immediately accepted into the program and he'll start behavior therapy in the next week or so.

 

We're really hoping that the therapy, combined with the improvement we've been seeing with the azith we'll get a handle on this. But, if there's one thing I've learned on our adventure is just when you think you're in control, you reminded very harshly just how wrong you are!!!!

 

Has anyone else had success with behavior therapy to help with the ocd????

[MomWithOCDSon]

Has anyone else had success with behavior therapy to help with the ocd????

Congratulations on getting into the program and yes, absolutely, behavior therapy can help with the OCD, especially once your kid is not so anxiety-ridden that they can't face the various exercises; it seems the azith has helped you sufficiently there. Just stick with it at home as well as within the bounds of the program, and you will see results, almost guaranteed!

[faith]

arial,

Is behavioral therapy the same as ERP therapy? I think they call it cognitive behavior therapy too, or at least ERP is a part of it.

 

I can vouch for ERP therapy, we had done it a few months ago, and my son did very well. I think its important tht the child starts to understand they actually do have a problem and 'want' to get help, for ERP (exposure and response) does need the cooperation and dedication of the patient. My son's ocd was retracing letters, and it really bothered him, it was getting in the way of his moving along and finishing work, he had upset and irritablity over it, procrastination. He took to this well and at first it was hard, kind of uncomfortable, but he stuck with it and it showed him that nothing terrible would come of it if he did not do the ocd.....he is currently released and is in control right now, so thankfully the domino effect of the ocd has lessened a great deal.

 

Thanks to Megs mom for guiding me and giving me support on how to go about this. I've been meaning to give a thumbs up for ERP therapy as a tool for ocd and encourage others to seek it out. It really helps the child to be in better control..... so thanks again.......

 

 

Faith

[simplygina]

We've done therapy pretty consistently since DS was diagnosed with OCD 2 1/2 years ago. It definitely has helped. He has worked on some specific issues and over come them. I think the best benefit though has been him learning what it takes to do that. There have been several things lately that he has tackled on his own using the steps he learned. I think regardless of whether it is PANDAS induced OCD or just regular OCD, the steps to overcoming it are the same and CBT and ERP do work if the child is willing to do the work it requires.

[thereishope]

When my then 5 year old had residual OCD, CBT didn't work, but ERP helped.

 

Meg's mom did a posting of books before. Here's the link to it.

 

 

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...616&hl=book

[Megs_Mom]

I guess it would be a little repetitive for me to say "yes, ERP is a very helpful tool" - with the comment that medical treatment is an essential part of the treatment! Although we did use very intense ERP during undiagnosed & untreated episodes, and it did let us get through the day - but not very happily. I would guess her severity was around a 7 or an 8 out of 10 (so not severe anorexia, for example, but very debilitated, and with OCD hijacking every single part of her day, every day. She was pretty severely agoraphobic as well, and had eating issues in relation to her contamination fears). After medical treatment, the ERP tools that we had practiced so much, suddenly became pretty easy to use to knock out residual stuff.

 

We are huge fans of ERP therapy, and feel that for many kids, especially those that were undiagnosed for a while, or may have have mild underlying OCD that is then reinforced dramatically by PANDAS, that ERP is so critical. Best starter book "What to do if your brain gets stuck" - it's on Amazon.

 

We had a minor episode back in January that felt frightening for about 2 weeks total. But between adding a second abx and focusing on ERP - it was short lived, and was a much bigger deal to me than to her. Who knows if this was a blib, or if the medical & ERP combo really helped keep it short & mild. The only way we can really "test" this is for her to get really sick again, so I don't wish for that! Right now, she is at 100%, other than her natural intense energy level.

 

We have always kept the attitude that we wanted to TREAT the CAUSE, but that we also want to give her tools so that an episode is not so frightening to her. I have no idea what will come her way in life, but am hopeful that she will be able to deal with it.

 

Please do keep in mind that ERP is the therapy - CBT covers a wide range of therapy types. Asking a therapist if they do CBT will not guarantee that they know how to really do ERP.

 

Good luck!