K

Kjs

Guest
It's been a while, we have been on vacation. During the vacation some issues came up that are new and I am not quite sure how to handle it.

Anxiety level really shoots through the roof. He admitted he doesn't like feeling scared all the time. Tried talking to him, but doesn't help his fears.
- We have a 3 bedroom cottage on the Bay. After we got there, unloaded, he decided he doesn't want to stay there. (he saw spiders outside) he was afraid there might be spiders inside. We ended up driving back to town and staying at my sisters house.
- He has been afraid to go into Lakes, Ponds, the Bay..in fear that a fish might bite him!! He did step into the water to get into his boat. I have been swimming in that water my entire life. It bothers me that he is afraid of it.

He started this thing where he blinks his eyes very often, very deliberate looking. when I ask him why he is doing that he doesn't realize he is doing it. Very obvious to someone talking to him. Also started with a mouth thing. Like he is going to smile..real fast movement. husband says it is nothing, just a nervous twitch..I am not so sure. Am I reading to much into this?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
in my opinion, I'd want him tested for seizuers or tics first off. I definitely wouldn't assume it's nothing or a "nervous" twitch. I know that kids with Tourettes Syndrome often have co-morbid psychiatric problems--I wouldn't leave this stone unturned. Good luck!
 

mum2JK&TH

New Member
Kjs - I would have him tested for tics. difficult child does both of those at times and he has Tourettes. It could be brought on by the new anxiety he is experiening. Stress and anxiety are real triggers for tics.
 

Steely

Active Member
I would tell psychiatrist about it - I would be also worried that one of the medications is causing this.
 

OpenWindow

Active Member
My difficult child did the eye blinking thing AND the mouth tic when he was on Zoloft. They switched him to Lexapro and everything was fine. He had been on zoloft for more than a year when it started.

Linda
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I'd bring these up to his doctor. Hard to tell if it's a side effect or tics caused by other neuro issues and or Tourettes.

About the anxiety..... has doctor mentioned any sort of behavior therapy to address these issues? Driving back to town to sleep somewhere else because difficult child was afraid of spiders seems a bit drastic to me. And I'll admit, I wouldn't have done it. But it also made me wonder if difficult child is being taught to face some of his more minor anxiety issues and learn to cope with them?

Hope you had a nice vacation! :smile:
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Tics or stims - either. With a number of possible causes. I'm still thinking Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) in some form, especially with the anxiety.

With my boys, anxiety makes this sort of problem worse. difficult child 3 has a noise he makes in his throat, like he's clearing his throat all the time. It's much worse when he's anxious.

We had difficult child 3 to a clinical psychologist specialising in cognitive behaviour therapy. She was able to help him begin to recognise when he was having trouble with anxiety, and to practice his breathing. It's not fully successful, we're still working on it, but he is becoming much more aware that a lot of the time when he's feeling sick, anxiety is the cause.

Where possible we help him face his fears, but in small doses. With fish fear - I would be taking him to an aquarium where they're all behind glass. Or a fishmongers, where they're all dead. let him feel and look at a dead fish - touch its scales, its eyes, open its mouth and feel the teeth.
Then visit a friend with goldfish and show him how you can hand-feed them and let them nuzzle your fingers.

The fear of the unknown in the Bay is a different thing, in terms of scale - we live near water, difficult child 1 hates having to catch the boat because he says he can feel the depth of the water beneath and he knows sharks live there. But he still catches the boat. He had to, in high school - along with all the other high school kids. Twice a day, there and back. But he will avoid coming to the beach with us, although he's a good swimmer.
husband hated the feel of sand against his skin, as a toddler. he's still not keen on it.

The fears are real and potentially crippling. He needs to know that his fears are serious, and that they need to be addressed. And those tics or whatever - it could be his way of coping, subconsciously (which would make them stims). It can be medication-related, or simply something he's doing. Don't stop him or correct him, just observe and report.

Marg
 
M

ML

Guest
I can relate to the anxiety. My son is suffocating me by his separation anxiety lately. I thought we had made much progress but he's totally fallen back into some old patterns. We have a tri-level and when I go to another level he yells for me to come back. I'm trying to ease him into just taking it one,two,three minutes at a time but dang he is stubborn. He was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Separation and Social anxiety along with ADHD. I still strongly suspect he's on the spectrum despite the research hospital saying "no". We tried SSRIs but he became more aggressive and his ODD became worse. I suspect a possible BiPolar (BP) factor now and I'm not sure what to do.

Also, I think those of us with only kids do more than what we should sometimes in terms of catering to them. I've tried to work on that myself because I feel like I've contributed to his fears but not telling him to ":censored2: it up" more. I would also have gone back to the sisters house. Guilty here as well.

Hugs,

MicheleL
 

Sara PA

New Member
Not likely that it's seizures with the Lamictal and the Topamax, both good anticonvulsants.

on the other hand, anxiety is a common side effect for both Topamax and Lamictal. I retrospect I'd have to say that Lamictal probably contributed to my son's anxiety problems.
 
K

Kjs

Guest
His anxiety is just so high. As far as the fish..he goes fishing. He is fine with that. Just doesn't want to go into the water where they live. We were all out swimming..he was floating in his boat, and he said something about "what if a shark came up". My brother in law is an oceanographer. He explained to him that those type of fish only can survive in salt water, such as oceans, and where they are located, and even in the ocean the slight chance of any attacking. Didn't help.
My sister is a teacher. She is 59 years old, has been teaching kindergarden her entire life. I talked to her about the possibility of difficult child being on the Autistic spectrum. She said absolutely not. She has taken classes (required) because she has many autistic children that have been mainstreamed in her class. We have butted heads many times about school issues, so I am not always in agreement with what she says. She is a big supporter of medication. I was totally against it for so many years. Still, even with the medication, I would still try all other routes prior to the medication. The way she comes across is..if they misbehave...medicate. Not always needed in my opinion.

As far as psychiatrist, and anxiety. He doesn't want to try anything because of the reaction we had last year when we added Lexapro.

difficult child has had a prescription for Ativan. He has had it for over a year and would never take it. When we were up north, I gave him one along with his other medications. He didn't even question it until later. Don't know if it helped or not. It was later in the night and we were already in town at my sisters. Going into town was not a big deal, only 20 minutes away. Then after I gave him the medication...I had an anxiety attack. Kept thinking, OMG..gave him a medication he never had before and we are 200 miles away from home. But he went to sleep.
 
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