please someone help with odd/Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)/adhd tourettes

[susan1187]

My daughter is 5 and was born am unhappy baby. We thought we would die from lack of sleep the first year, we are still exhausted.

She it's a sweet girl was a sweet baby until she would get mad and boy we thought she would literally have a stroke when she melted down.

At 3 she had to have 11 teeth capped which they put her to sleep but i believe this traumatized her greatly because i found out later she fought them terribly before and after sedation. She was also quite such from the anesthesia and had some scary bouts of throwing up that seemed to really scare her.

Since she has developed tics and compulsions and a lot of anger, my guess her anxiety comes from them yanking her out of my arms in the room before her teeth were done. I also suspect several held her down and I'm still mad about that myself.

She has a counselor but she isn't helping much. My daughter barks, clears her throat, tugs at clothes and sometimes squirms as if she had ants in her pants but she doesn't seem aware of this.

The most troubling thing she does is she has started touching things and licking her hands and i stupidly asked her not to because of obvious germs and possible poisons she could get her hands on. This has increased my own anxiety and i can't decide if it's a tic or if it's to make me madmad because sometimes she makes a point of showing me what she's doing by licking her fingers knowing i don't like it!! She is going to end up hurting herself and there it's no way to explain this to her. I can ignore the other tics but I'm at s loss with this. Help please!!

 

[InsaneCdn]

Hi, Susan, and welcome.

You have your hands full!
Has your daughter ever had a comprehensive evaluation, perhaps by a neuropsychologist or a child developmental/behavioral team?
It sounds like there could be a number of different things going on...

 

[buddy]

Hi there. my son has a different diagnosis but has some similar behaviors. I had just written in another thread of mine that it is hard when the biological/medical stuff gets mixed up with the behavioral stuff because we can't let them think it is ok to be disrespectful so it is a fine line.

The germ thing is hard to get over. And I found out the hard way that if you point it out you can end up with other behaviors due to the anxiety over the germs. My son puts everything in his mouth. I KNOW it was not on purpose because he would panic over the germs asking if he was going to die after. BUT still the school would constantly say :but it is a safety issue. I get it. Still, he is sixteen and has never choked when he put these things in his mouth. We have to weigh the dangers and pick the lowest possibility.

That is not always easy.

The most successful strategies for us have involved giving him things to do that were not compatable with doing the behavior. So if he was putting things in his mouth we got his hands busy in something that was either ok to eat or was something that was fixed so he couldn't get it up there. Often chewing gum also kept his mouth busy so he didn't desire it. He also used "chewies" which are non toxic plastic things like teethers but not baby looking that he could chew on.

My son also does repetitive behaviors that seem just to be to irritate people. He has a current knocking tick. Weird, I know. he knocks on everything as he passes. Walls, counters, desks, etc. So, it starts out of his control but he knows it bothers me and others so yes, he looks and gets the secondary benefit of attention and control when he does it. Again, we generally just move on as fast as possible. If it is ignored then it tends to be little knocks as he passes. I really dont think they do it to tick us off. BUT I do think they can learn that it has that extra benefit.

My son also pokes people. This has drastically reduced as overall anxiety has reduced. He just did it yesterday for a short time and admitted he had no clue why. He loves the person he was doing it to. There was no conflict or anything (until she wanted to get away from his doing that).

He also swears and yells. He has made noises too but all of that is lessened lately. Not gone, unfortunately, but lessened.

He is not diagnosed with Tourette's because in the DSM it says if there is a known medical cause they can't have that label and he has had a brain injury. Still, the psychiatrist and neurologist said to just tell people that is what it is because it is essentially the same. I will say much of the more annoying things have gone down with the Zyprexa he is on. He tried two other AP medications when little and they were a disaster. But this one helped. I feel that other medications he has been on made his issues worse too, but at the time we had little choice because he was so impulsive we had to curb the truly dangerous (Jumping thru window type) behaviors.

I know it is hard but you may just need to back off of correcting the behavior. Have non toxic finger paints, goo, playdough, etc. ready to distract her if she can't get away from it easily.

NOt sure that will help, but it might (sorry if you have been down that road)

Kids who are sensory seekers also do this kind of thing. Have you ever had a sensory integration evaluation with an occupational therapist? It might be another option.

I agree a full evaluation, if not already done, with a neuropsychologist could be really helpful too since you are approaching the school years. If not clearly spelled out that she has special needs, she could be treated as a child choosing to behave badly rather than a child who needs accommodations.

many many hugs.....it is a long long road. Glad you found us, there are others here who have kids with Tourettes and probably have much better ideas than I. Keep posting!

 

[BusynMember]

Hi, Susan, and welcome.

You have your hands full!
Has your daughter ever had a comprehensive evaluation, perhaps by a neuropsychologist or a child developmental/behavioral team?
It sounds like there could be a number of different things going on...

I agree with this. We try to help, but we're not experts. I recommend a neuropsychologist evaluation.

Tourettes is known for causing tics and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) behavior, but it also sometimes goes hand in hand with mental health issues, such as bipolar. I'd make sure that she has somebody very familiar with Tourettes keeping a constant eye on her. And do the evaulation.