Princess JF is still on her antidepressants, although it has been 4 weeks now and we have yet to see a change. We told the doctors we would only try them for 6 weeks and determine further administration from that point. I hate knowing my 7 year old is on Lexapro! So, we are still praying through what to do about that situation. We do not like her current psychiatrist the hospital referred us to and are currently searching for another psych as well as a play therapist. This Saturday SuperDad and I will be attending an all-day OCD seminar. After posting about Princess JF's hospital stay on my blog and Facebook I was contacted by a friend who said her daughter was diagnosed with anorexia at 5... only to later be diagnosed with OCD. Every eating disorder has an underlying factor... and determining that factor may help us solve the issue. Princess JF has begun to eat again and her bathroom "issues" are getting better.... but her anxieties and fears have worsened. I have also begun reading a book {What to do when your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
} to try and learn as much as I can about this disorder. As I read, SuperDad and I are finding that we can spot almost every detail explained in Princess JF.She wakes up every morning around 3:30am on school days... almost without fail. It used to be "I have a stomachache, headache or fever." But now it is "I do not want to go to school." When we wake her for school she yells, "No!" This is quite frustrating knowing how much she adores her teacher and loves going to school! Her attitude at home has even changed and she can get completely out of control and unresponsive to any discipline. Ugh... I pray I get my daughter back soon! : (
Anyways... we are hopeful that the OCD seminar will give us insight into what may {quite possibly} be ailing Princess JF. Once we get a true diagnosis we will know better how to treat her. She tells my husband she doesn't want to go to school because she may miss something at home and will not know she needs to stop and pray for one of us. She even cries on Saturday night about attending church the next day because our family will once more be separated as we attend our own classes. Again, frustrating because she loves going to church and always has!
Her teacher and the school staff have been awesome in helping us walk through this journey. Her teacher has printed out the daily schedule for her so that as they go through the day she can check off each task and know when she can go home. Her school counselor {who, consequently, was also Princess CJ's kindergarten teacher} makes an effort to have lunch with her a couple times a week just to talk. They also share the duty of watching what she eats of her lunch and reporting it back to me. Finally, one of my best friends is the school secretary. Thus, Princess JF knows she has a friend in the office that she can go to when she has a complete breakdown. {They are actually trying to determine if they should keep allowing this to happen... but for now she is our biggest saving grace at the school.}
Princess JF has always done well with schedules and routines, hence one of the main reasons we chose public school for her, and one of her compulsions is time {I, myself, suffer from a similar compulsion}. Time, fear of loss, control, the list goes on and on. She needs perfection and strives to make everyone around her do the same! My other kids don't try as hard and it causes lots of disruption. We have banned any talk of weight, death, loss of any kind, and more just to try and keep things going smoothly {although its tough with the teenagers sometimes}!
We are hopeful that we will get new information this Saturday and will be directed to a good psychiatrist that specializes in the treatment of OCD. The suggested treatment plan requires both medication and Cognitive Behavior Treatment. Prayerfully we can get her the help she needs soon and we can get our daughter back! I so miss the Princess JF I knew before Christmas.
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| Loved seeing her smile when we gave her a Valentine gift: a watch to help her track the time throughout the day! <3 |
