Diagnosis and Next Steps- OCD and ADHD

A few weeks ago I was able to chat with my son’s therapist. She had a couple of observations for me.

Diagnosis and Next Steps- OCD and ADHD

1) He is the most intelligent child she has ever met.

2)He has ADHD.

3)He has OCD.

She has done some reading on some studies of similar patients who have taken a vitamin B supplement and had very good results. We have started using it and will slowly increase dosage in hopes that we will see some results.

We’re also going to increase the intensity of therapy. Ethan tends to under-report how severe his negative emotions are when he relays an incident that has happened. So, we get to start having him chart his emotions after he has an incident.

This photo is from several days ago. We had about 6 incidents since then that would be rated at “overwhelming” on this scale.

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That hardest thing we’re dealing with right now is some very intense anger from  Ethan. It’s hard to know what he can control and what he can’t. It’s also hard to distinguish between normal childhood disobedience and OCD rages. It’s been an interesting learning process. It’s really hard not to get sucked into the vortex of his anger, but when we don’t stay calm ourselves, it only makes things worse.

So, this is where we’re starting. Lots of prayer, documenting behavior and starting Inositol. It seems like there are a million things that people say can help or hinder progress: gluten, processed foods, red dyes, sleep habits, sugar, fish oil, essential oils. I can’t really wrap my brain around it all right now. When I look at everything that we might have to change, it seems too big for me, but we can start with these baby steps and move on from there.

Have you had a similar situation with your child? I would love to hear from you.

One thought on “Diagnosis and Next Steps- OCD and ADHD

  1. I wish I had the magic pill or the behavior indicator for you. Alas I don’t but I can pray for you my friend. I am right with you in the trenches wondering how in the world I know what can be controlled and what is part of the syndrome/genetic disorder/psychological disorder. It is hard, super duper hard. So my reminder to you, is take time for you where and when you can. Breathe, cry, sleep and do it all over again.Praying!

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