My DS& has been seeing a therapist for his difficult behavior. He was diagnosed with mild OCD, which we were already aware of, but this is the 1st "professional" to confirm. We worked on behavior modification for months, with no improvements, or temporary improvements. Therapist is leaning towards a chemical imbalance. Chemical imbalance/OCD is strong on my hubbys side, so not so far fetched.

My question...

Talk of medication was brought up last visit. We are discussing it. DS& is VERY gifted, as well as VERY difficult. He is always anxious, worried or beating himself up for not being perfect. He just is not being a kid. He has always seemed a bit tormented about things. He has never experienced trauma or anything that would cause this.

I was told the med would be taken for 1 yr only & would train the brain to produce the proper amount of seratonin. After 1 yr, he would never have to take it again & would lead a more productive life.

I, honestly, am ALL for it. I want him happy, & if he is suffering inside, I want it to stop. The people on my hubbys side with OCD are very low functioning, although very smart. I want more for my son. He has unlimited potential, but this is a roadblock that could stop him from acheiving all he is capable of.

If you have had any experiences with ssri's, please let me know what success you have had. I am leaning that way.

Thanks so much. This has been difficult for us.

I think that OCD responds well to behavior mod/cognitive therapy, especially if the person is motivated and smart. Have you looked at that? Also, how old is the child? Was that an 8? Of course, that could become expensive and time consuming.

Your child may need meds and it may be the right choice for your family and everything, but if I had a dollar for every person that I know that's been on some drug "temporarily" while the body magically changed itself, I'd be rich. O.k. people, it doesn't work. Not for cholesterol, not for losing weight, not for AD/HD, OCD, tourette's. I mean, maaaaybe depression, but that's about it. If you do choose meds, I would suggest combining it with a skills based program so that if your child eventually comes off medication, he hasn't lost time developing a skill set needed for happy living.

Oh, you know, I didn't read your post very carefully. I see that you tried behavior mod. Hmm. I would try a different therapist. We saw one therapist for almost two years for my sons's AD/HD. She taught me a lot and I really liked her, DS liked her. Then, I ended up finding a different therapist who actually specializes in AD/HD. Now, we're really getting the help we needed, learning about more resources in the community and so forth. I wish I'd known about her two years ago! If there's anything I've learned through my journey, it is to find people who truly specialize in your issue.

Thank you. We will be seeking a 2nd opinion & I am also waiting for a response about a blood test. Someone said a blood test will confirm if there is a chemical imbalance or not. If to blood test is yes, than we will carefully consider our next move. If answer is no, than, obviously, we will not go ahead with meds.

It runs in my husbands side & although all highly intellectual, all are very low functioning. I don't want this for my son if he is, indeed, chemically imbalanced. But, I also understand that gifted children are often misdiagnosed as having ocd when they really don't.

I appreciate your input & any other that comes my way. I am open to all veiwpoints at this time!

My husband is just like you described. He is one of the brightest people I know, but his fears keep him where he is comfortable. At this age, try all you can before he gets to puberty and refuses. My husband is comfortable being at the top so he really cannot try something new - even though he is curious.

I know that his anxiety attacks/migraines and other things really kicked in during middle school years. He will quote that he "tried that when he was twelve and it did not work" for things such as skating or French.

He made an "A" in French and clepped out in college, but refuses to speak it or teach our daughter because he is "terrible at it". I had to learn to speak it (way worse) when we traveled to France and Quebec just to get around. Then, he would tell me the correct way to say it once I had asked for directions.

It is really tough for them (and the spouse).

My DS9 is on SSRIs and has been for 2 years. The psychiatrist told us that 1 year is the norm and after that, the child can be off of them. He has a cousin for whom that was true.
My DS is on them for social anxiety and phobias. His phobias were so bad that he couldn't sleep and he did not speak at all in school. As soon as he started meds, it was like a switch went on and he was able to do things he had never done before. He went from controlling and anxious to "let's try that roller coaster over there". He is still "shy", but is not so paralyzed by his symptoms.
That's the good news.
Now for the bad.

The psych said this is NOT related to meds, but we are not so sure because each time we attempt to stop meds, these things get better, but here's the down side for us.

DS lacks judgment that he had as a 5 year old. For example, he would put a Kleenex on a lit lightbulb, he has cut out holes in his wall with a pocket knife. A few minor self injury types of experimenting (eye, skin, and ear picking), and a loss of organizational skills, and handwriting legibility.
We feel like it dampens down his feelings as well as removing some impulse control and for that reason is great for anxieties and OCDs. This is purely my feeling here: I hope he is off of them before teen years, because I can totally see how a kid with the lack of judgment and impulse control might be a suicide risk (the drugs carry this warning).
His dad had tried meds for his OCDs and didn't like it because while it cured the OCDs, it took away his intense feelings too. Since his OCDs were not too bad, he chose to be off meds (though sometimes it drives me CRAZY!)
For us, the anxieties were SO bad that we felt like we'd rather have a functioning child with minor behavior/judgment issues than to have a child whose fears were paralyzing him.

Our psychiatrist said that it's OK to be on them for life. It's just the norm to take the child off after a year and often there is good success. We continue to periodically do trials without meds, and we include DS in the decision. We do not really think that there's enough evidence that "it's OK to be on them for life", but we do what we feel is best each time.

Anyway, that is my experience. I hope it helps!
P.S. My son has been like this from birth. No trauma, lots of understanding and gentleness. It's not your fault or his. We were pretty sure it was a chemical imbalance since it has nothing to do with the outside world. It seems to be a totally internal experience for him.

Some of the more gifted people in my family have mild OCD but have never been treated for it. My daughter has it and says her little brother has it too but if he does, it isn't causing enough trouble to do anything about it.

But anxiety and phobias are making life difficult for both of us. This is one of the things I will ask the developmental pediatrician about if we can ever get in to see him.

I am worried about things like my son crossing over to Boy Scouts and having to go to camp with kids who would tease him about the phobias if they found out about them.

He can talk about some of this with me, because I have some of these issues also, but I know it bothers him that his dad, retired military veteran and physically and mentally strong and very smart, seemingly perfect in every way, might think he is weak. He made a comment about this to me recently and I didn't tell his dad because I know that he never intended for his son to feel this way.

I am also sad that my son is not being a kid. My son even says he is not a kid. I don't know how to change this, but I wish you luck in finding answers.

Just try what you can and decide. Each case is different. Luckily, my daughter takes it in stride most of the time. Yesterday, my husband was going to use equipment that could "kill him" (not really for most of us). He said to call and ask if he was alive when I got to work. I called and my daughter answered. I asked her if Daddy was still alive. She yelled "Daddy, are you still alive?". She got back to me, "He said yes - he is still alive."

She knows that if she wants to do something really dangerous (like skate), she comes to me and I will take her.

Hi Florida Mom,
Our experience with meds is that any administration is a trial basis because one can be great for a person and the same one can be futile or adverse for another. Our son is now 27 but suffered miserably with OCD in school, for years. A med helped lower the anxiety/obsessions. Ritalin helped him the most as he began achieving, doing homework, and losing the odd behavior that caused him stress. His anxiety was largely caused by his social oddities and Ritalin changed his behavior to be less impulsive and he became liked by his peers. I felt it helped him improve social skills which lowered his anxiety considerably. So, I believe they are worth a try with close observance so you can switch to another when needed. I don't know if Anafranil is still used for ocd, but our dr. had to monitor his heart while on it. Also, as long as his school placement was lousy, his condition never went away totally. Blessings.

I saw an ad for a Johns Hopkins study on ocd- they are looking for families to interview & test; looking at genetics. Not sure if the study would be informative, but they might be a place to contact for more info since it sounds like they might be on the forefront in research.