Xpost, OT, kids-anxiety, advice..

My oldest son was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) when he was 8. He has a genius-level IQ. I tell you this not to brag--there are many other "quirks" that come along with it that few people talk about and anxiety is a common one. It is due in part to asynchronous development; he could reason like an adult but still only had the emotions and coping capacity of a child. He is just an intense kid and began having panic attacks about a state standardized test that he could have passed while asleep. But everything stresses him out and worries him.

We have done therapy off and on for years. Some therapists did better than others. I will tell you that sometimes therapy tended to have him dwell on the things that worried him and practically made the situation worse. I know one poster said to avoid medication at all costs, but it was the only thing that worked for us. He takes a low dose (50 mg) of Zoloft daily and began taking it when he was 10. (Zoloft has been used for children for more than 30 years, so their are multiple efficacy and safety studies on the books.) He is now 13 and in puberty and seems to need the medication less. We were told he may "grow out" of it or it was possible that he may always need help with his anxiety. We work constantly on coping skills and ways to manage his intensity. He has learned coping skills that help him calm down when he gets upset. We have tried in the past to take him off of the medication and he is great for about a month. (My guess is that it takes that long to work out of his system.) Then the symptoms come back and he will come and tell me he is getting overwhelmed and he may need to start it again. I do let him go off of the medication during the summer with the doc's blessing. Was medication my first choice? Absolutely not. Do I wish his situation was different? Of course. Do I regret giving him medication if it helps him lead a happier, calmer life? No, I don't.

Thank you for sharing your story! Although I do not claim she is a genius, my daughter is very gifted and has been tested and is pushed in school as such.. I think her regular anxieties were similar to what yo described.. Oversized intellectual capacity and undersized emotional capacity is how I always thought of it in the back of my head.. I think her hormones are starting to kick in, and that prob plays in as well..

I am open to wherever this goes, as long as I can help her..

My grandson who is now 16 suffered alot with anxiety. Has she suffered any lost of loved ones or any kind of trauma. With my grandson they think his anxiety was onset by the lost of his step-grandmother dying from leukemia and  one day he was at his other grandmother 's and a drunk driver drove through the house and he had gotten hurt really bad, and also my son died suddenly of a stroke and he was my grandson's godfather and they were very close. So needless to say he had been through alot in a short amount of time for his young age. His anxiety was with any kind of sudden noise of course due to the accident. He would also constantly wash his hands, if he dropped anything on the floor he would throw it away even if it was a package snack not yet opened. He wouldn't eat lunch at school because the table had a chip in it and he said it was dirty. We think this was because  his grandmother with leukemia had to have everything clean and sterilized. He had severe issues with school every year at the beginning of school it would take about two months before he would settle down and this lasted till about 7th grade. He did go to therapy and this did help. They tried him on some medications and he never did like the way it made him feel so my daughter stopped them. But with therapy if he didn't go for a while and he'd start feeling anxious he would tell my daughter to bring him back to the therapist. If you would like to speak to her you can contact me at pennyguidry@ bellsouth.net. Hope things work out for you. This is really hard on the whole family.

Penny

Wow, your family has been through a lot! Big hugs, and thanks for sharing! We haven't had anything that traumatic, but it has been a hard summer for her. We had money troubles and had to move out of our big house to a one bedroom apt. Then her sister, daddy, and myself have all had surgery this summer.. Then last week she lived through her first earthquake, tornado, and hurricane all in one week..

Shoot, all of those things happening in one summer would be enough to cause many adults to start having anxiety.  Kids especially need that strong sense of security, and it sounds like hers has been shaken quite a bit.  I'm no therapist, but I bet that with some reassurance and (uneventful) time, she'll be back to normal.  I think its smart to look into therapy, to help her process her feelings and also help you know the best way to communicate with her about it.

My daughter has had anxiety problems since 1st grade, she is now in 7th grade, it started with her pulling out her eyelashes and eyebrows and hair. That stopped and then came the tummy aches and head aches, then fear of dying or getting sick, fear of germs and now it is insomnia - she has a complete meltdown at the thought of the stomach flu. She would seem to go in phases. Some things that we have tried are books like "What to do when you worry too much" from amazon.com, cd's to listen to at night while falling asleep "indigo dreams" has a series on amazon.com. these really helped with falling asleep. She has had cognitive behavior therapy and learned a few coping techniques. We have also tried Calms Forte for sleep and now she takes melatonin because she was panicing about not falling asleep in time. I have GAD and take Lexapro which has made all the difference and given me my life back but I am still fighting putting my child on meds. She is also a very bright child and her doctor mentioned that higher funtioning individuals have higher levels of OCD and anxiety. One thing that seemed to help early on that was advised by our therapist was to make sure she has a high protien meal each morning, so she gets an egg every morning. I keep hoping she will out grow it, but in reality she will probably have to take medication some day.

Thank you! I have reserved both the book and indigo dreams from my library, and will pick them up tomorrow. I will look further into the sleep aid also, because the fear of sleep leaves her tired and def makes everything worse.

I get anxious anf have had a few panic attacks myself, so I feel especially ill equipt to help her as I haven't dealt with my own issues, tbh..

Okay, so I don't know how to put a response in here like to "quote" them, but I wanted to say that as a child I suffered extreme anxiety.  I always had stomach aches, I went through pulling out my eyelashes, pulling out my hair, never slept well, I did it all.  Unfortunately I still struggle with anxiety.  As an adult I do take a mild medication (Celexa) which really does help me.  As a child, I suffered a lot.  The best advice I can give you is to never make her feel "weird" or "dumb" for her concerns.  To her, those fears are as real as anything else.  I remember the anxiety starting as young as 7 years old and honestly, the best I ever felt, was when I was very active physically.  I was a cheerleader as a freshman in high school and for that one year, I felt good!  Healthy!  Not afraid.  My heart goes out to all of you who have suffering children.  Pray with them, comfort them, and let them know they are not alone....those things always helped me.

Rebecca

I firmly believe in therapy because sometimes getting to WHY she thinks she's going to die in her sleep, etc.

Does she watch tv but not just TV but commericals and news?  I ask because I was a well adjusted child and didn'****ch a lot of tv but as I grew up I would watch the news and such and BAM I started having these dreams about dying, fires, death, mugging etc.  Which is close to why today I will NO****ch the news.  When you mentioned fires, I immediately thought about all the natural diseasters we're having.  Like someone said it's hard for ADULTS let alone children.

Reassure her that she's going to live to be a ripe old age of someone she knows.  And to a child old is YOUR age, lol.

Good luck darlin...

Ms Shell

I'm a not a fan of medication, especially medicating children!   I am a huge believer in natural ways to heal a body, whi*****ludes chiropractic care.  My entire family goes and swear by it.  Obviously you have to be careful on which chiropractor you choose, because there are "waks" out there. 

Here is some information that I looked up for you on the subject of treating anxiety.

"When the body goes into a state of high anxiety, or panic, it triggers a series of physical reactions in the body, including raised blood pressure and hormone levels, as the sympathetic nervous system goes into “flight or fight mode." This causes a rush of adrenaline, which speeds up the heart and has a host of other effects. If you have ever suffered from a panic attack, you know that your body feels shaky and sweaty when these attacks occur. Other unpleasant effects, including nausea, headaches, light-headedness and disorientation are also common.

These physical reactions and side-effects can be controlled. Although some people are more prone to anxiety than others, anxiety may become elevated by a physical problem such as a pinched nerve. A person suffering anxiety might not even realize that causes such as this could be behind their problem, and think that their anxiety is “all in the head," when often anxiety may actually be caused, or worsened, by misalignments of the spine.

People often turn to anti-depressants to cope with anxiety and panic disorders, but chiropractic care is a safe and natural alternative to medication. Chiropractors are able to correct nerve problems associated with these disorders by adjusting the spine. Often, when the spine is misaligned, nerves become twisted and caught in the wrong places, leading to problems such as nervousness and anxiety. Chiropractors are able to adjust the spine, freeing up the nerves to function properly. In fact, chiropractic care has proven time and again to have beneficial effects on men and women suffering from the physical effects of anxiety disorders. Many patients have reported a great reduction in anxiety levels, headaches, stress and other associated symptoms following a course of chiropractic adjustments.

Chiropractic can correct the spinal problems that may be causing difficulties with the nervous system.  Its also a good alternative to anti-depressants and other medications that can have unwanted, severe side effects."

Good luck to you and your daughter!!