Advice please! :)

[karin]

Hello there,
I am writing this to get some advice or feedback for my son. He is twelve years old and he has developed some serious OCD. He always used to like his room tidy and would trace over words he had already written when doing homework... but now it is much worse. Today he was crying and said he could not stop pushing things over and over again. He will do something with one hand and then have to do it with his other. He said he hates his life and wants this to stop. He also had some strange thoughts that he told me about. I keep telling him this is not his fault, he is not crazy, it is his brain that is making too much or little of some chemical. I had some OCD behavior around his age, but it was mild. However, I do understand NOT wanting to think something and then you think it even more. So... what I am wondering is if anyone reading this has taken the medication Risperidone? He takes 1 mg a day and has for almost two weeks. It makes him tired and hungry (which is good in his case) but so far I have not seen any results for the OCD. I am hoping we just need to give it more time. His behavior today though (about three hours of crying, screaming and doing odd things) made me wonder if the meds were making it worse? All I want is for him to be happy. I wish the same for all of you that read this. What do you think?

 

[agoraphobickatie]

aww :: i don't really have many OCD symptoms, but i wanted to reply because you're a concerned mom and i just had to put something in, haha.. it sounds like you're helping him the best way you know how, and it's so great of you to be of such support to him right now, that's something a lot of us lack..

i know medications these days are extremely helpful in a lot of different cases, but all medications used to help anxiety/depression/ocd/bipolar issues say that the meds work best in conjunction with some type of therapy. from my own experience with my anxiety/agoraphobia issues, and from other people i know, therapy is a huge help. especially when he is confused himself about what may be wrong with him.. maybe you should take him to some type of doctor or counselor/therapist with OCD experience.. they can really help him get to the root of his problem, help him understand what's going on in his head, and help him work through overcoming it using several different techniques.. which is all a good bonus along with medication.

best wishes to you and your son!

 

[2isthesquarerootof4]

I am so sorry to hear about how upset your Son is

I have suffered from OCD since I was in elementary school, I remember when I heard about a study they were doing on the radio in 2nd or 3rd grade and I explained to my Mom that those were the things I had been trying to tell her about all along. Back then OCD wasn't really known and my Mom just looked a little worried and tried to comfort me. Fast forward to the present...we now realize quite a few people on my Dad's side of the family, including himself suffer from OCD.

I have taken Risperdone and it was terrible. I couldn't really function and work and I can't imagine having to go to school on it. I have taken Prozac, Celexa, Luvox, Zoloft, Risperdone, and something like risperdone but I cant recall the name just now. Out of all of them, the one that worked best for my OCD was Prozac plain and simple, and I still felt like myself for the most part, but everyone is different.

Its interesting you mention that your Son traces over letters, I do that sometimes if I think my letter looks "off" but I remember at about his age and maybe a little younger I would spell out words that my teacher would say 4 times each, after a while it became quite overwhelming and that is probably the same sense of being overwhelmed that he is feeling.

I also have to touch things with both hands, and it can get really annoying especially because you know it is ridiculous but you do it anyway. You should ask him why he does it. Does he fear that something bad will happen if he doesnt?

I would really consider a different medication, I always thought risperdone was given as an anti-psychotic but I could be wrong. I had a friend who's daughter took it and she would catch her raiding the pantry at night.

Hope that helps some, tell him to hang in there, he doesn't hate his life, he just doesn't like the OCD, but that can be worked on, meds and cognitive-behavioral therapy together seem to work best.

One trick I started doing to try and combat the whole "symmetrical" touching things with both hands or an even number of times thing is whenever my "mind" would tell me to touch something 4 times or else something bad would happen. I tell myself (in my head) "That's not going to happen" "Thats not going to Happen", I have conditioned myself to believe (for the most part) that if I say that little mantra it will counteract the compulsion and nothing will happen. This helps me functional normally in public.