mindinggaps Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Hello all, I posted a while back ago about my daughter who was diagnosed with OCD and anxiety and was facing extreme struggles in her ability to cope with day to day life. I wanted to share a brief update for those who have followed along our journey in case anyone dealing with similar issues has questions or finds it helpful. At the time her diagnosis, her OCD was pretty debilitating. She had an extreme fear of dirt, germs, bacteria and was petrified to touch many surfaces. This was coupled with compulsive hand washing to the point she would rub them raw. She was obsessed with order and neatness and had meltdowns whenever toys or objects were not in their "ideal" place. She would count and rearrange things a certain number of times before using them. She was endlessly worried about terrible things happening and needed constant reassurance. We tried therapy, but despite this she had pretty regular and severe meltdowns to the point that it interfered with her ability to develop solid social connections and perform at school. About 6 months ago, we made the decision to medicate with Prozac which proved to be essential. She responded quickly and optimally and experienced a dramatic reduction in her symptoms after a couple weeks. We've had a few adjustments over the months, but she's continued improve and lives largely free of OCD symptoms. She's doing well in school, making friends and generally living a positive life. In parallel, we've tried therapy with less astounding results. The focus has been ERP therapy and despite effort on her end, it hasn't been quite as effective as desired. Hopefully as she grows this will improve, but for now the efficacy seems limited. My husband was initially very against the medication and fearful she would need it for life. He himself has engaged in therapy for this anxiety and has calmed down a lot. He understands that the medication is helping and sees that at least for now, it is mandatory. We don't worry so much about the longer term prognosis and accept the reality that she may need medication for life. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 I'm so happy for all of you! What a relief it must be that she's doing so well! ❤️ ❤️ Thank you for such a wonderful update. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindinggaps Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 @Kassia Massive relief! It's been up and down and I know there will continue to be struggles but I'm feeling confident that with appropriate treatment she can live a happy life. The fact that my husband has worked through his issues and accepts the realities of the situation is a major help as well. Right now our hope is that the therapy will offer more benefits since she is pretty reliant on the meds right now, but all in all, these are minor issues in the large scheme of things. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 23 minutes ago, mindinggaps said: @Kassia Massive relief! It's been up and down and I know there will continue to be struggles but I'm feeling confident that with appropriate treatment she can live a happy life. The fact that my husband has worked through his issues and accepts the realities of the situation is a major help as well. Right now our hope is that the therapy will offer more benefits since she is pretty reliant on the meds right now, but all in all, these are minor issues in the large scheme of things. I am so encouraged that your dh did therapy and that he's calmed down. That can only help dd. Yes, just focus on right now. I am so happy for your dd. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindinggaps Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 18 minutes ago, freesia said: I am so encouraged that your dh did therapy and that he's calmed down. That can only help dd. Yes, just focus on right now. I am so happy for your dd. DH's calmer, more balanced attitude has been instrumental in helping everyone move forward here. For quite a while we were stuck in the throes of debating whether or not the medication was the right choice and this was hindering all progress. We've finally been able to move past that and focus on the outcomes. I am personally doing much better as well - I always knew starting medication was necessary but DH made me question this decision and at times I suffered from guilt. Truth be told, I feel that starting the Prozac is one of the best things we've done for her. Right now it is keeping her keep on a normal developmental trajectory. Obviously these decisions are hard and I struggled with it immensely, but looking back we should have done it sooner and my advice to any parent would be take action fast when treatment can help. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 16 minutes ago, mindinggaps said: Truth be told, I feel that starting the Prozac is one of the best things we've done for her. Right now it is keeping her keep on a normal developmental trajectory. Obviously these decisions are hard and I struggled with it immensely, but looking back we should have done it sooner and my advice to any parent would be take action fast when treatment can help. A friend of mine is in a similar situation with her son. The Prozac made a huge difference for her son and it's just been such a positive experience for the whole family. It was a very difficult decision for them but the results have been amazing since he started taking the meds. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 I'm so glad she's doing better! ❤️❤️❤️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindinggaps Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 47 minutes ago, Kassia said: A friend of mine is in a similar situation with her son. The Prozac made a huge difference for her son and it's just been such a positive experience for the whole family. It was a very difficult decision for them but the results have been amazing since he started taking the meds. I've chatted with quite a number of parents through various OCD support groups who've had tremendous success with Prozac or other similar SSRIs. It certainly doesn't work for all cases and we were lucky to have success with the first medication we tried. However, our psychiatrist did say that for certain types of brains, particularly for OCD and anxiety in young people, SSRIs can have a profoundly positive impact. This was the case for us - she was noticeably less anxious a few days after starting the treatment, whereas it can take many weeks to see impact in adult patients. We did have to tinker with the dosage a bit but she's been steady for a while and hopefully won't require many frequent adjustments over the next while. At the moment, I definitely have a hard time imagining where she'd be without the meds. From what I've seen managing more severe OCD through therapy alone at a young age is extremely challenging. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 As someone on the other end of a very similar journey, kudos to you, mom, for running this gauntlet with and for your child! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 I'm so glad she's doing well. I totally agree with your thought....starting meds for my youngest at age five was hands down the single best parenting decision we made, and I only regret not having done so sooner. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindinggaps Posted June 22, 2023 Author Share Posted June 22, 2023 On 6/13/2023 at 7:33 PM, Terabith said: I'm so glad she's doing well. I totally agree with your thought....starting meds for my youngest at age five was hands down the single best parenting decision we made, and I only regret not having done so sooner. Yes, the only thing I would change looking back is acting sooner. I was too afraid of side effects, long term implications to development and many other things to start medication and in hindsight she suffered needlessly as a result. It's an important lesson that sometimes not moving quickly with medical intervention for mental health issues is costly. I think that her issues set her back a bit in life and now she is finally able to catch up, which is good. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 6 minutes ago, mindinggaps said: Yes, the only thing I would change looking back is acting sooner. I was too afraid of side effects, long term implications to development and many other things to start medication and in hindsight she suffered needlessly as a result. It's an important lesson that sometimes not moving quickly with medical intervention for mental health issues is costly. I think that her issues set her back a bit in life and now she is finally able to catch up, which is good. It's so hard for us to make these big decisions for our children. You did (and continue to do) the best you could for her. Glad she's thriving now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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