Hannah

Hannah has been going to OT (occupational therapy) for the past month (once a week) to get therapy to try to help with the sensory issues she has been having. Well...I haven't seen much of an improvement at all.

Last Friday, she was evaluated by a developmental/behavioral pediatrician. Another bittersweet day for me, but we came out of the appointment with a diagnosis. Hannah was diagnosed with Anxiety with features of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and Selective Mutism. She was also diagnosed with a Sleep Disorder. (one thing isn't enough, right?!)

You are probably wondering what the heck all that means! Well, the anxiety is due to a chemical imbalance. Basically, she inherited my anxiety disorder. And while it didn't affect me until I was older, she is getting nailed with anxiety at a very young age. In fact, the doctor said she was the youngest he had ever diagnosed with all these things. He said that since they are cognitive disorders, they generally don't pop up until later...but he said that Hannah is extremely smart and advanced with her cognitive function, and that is why we are seeing it now.

He also saw a component of OCD with her...again something that doesn't usually surface until around age 6-7 years, but something she is definitely dealing with.

The Selective Mutism was something new to me, but after he explained it, it makes sense. She doesn't have this to a very severe degree, but he said if the anxiety isn't treated, she could go full blown with it as she gets older. Basically, it is when a child can be extremely social at home or around people they know, but won't speak to strangers (can you see how this could be an issue when she is school-age?). Hannah instead, acts anxious and makes funny squeaking noises instead of using words around people she knows. If I remind her to use her words, she will to some extent, but it is in a very quiet voice and is usually more baby talk than anything.

The sleep disorder comes from the anxiety and OCD. She has always been a horrible sleeper. It's as if her brain just will not turn off and let her sleep. She is always awake worrying or obsessing over something. Last night, she was up from midnight until 4:45 am. She couldn't sleep because she was having unrealistic fears, and was obsessing about something she had done during the day.

I think we are going to discontinue her OT since we really aren't getting much out of it. She LOVES her therapist, and has finally opened up and is really comfortable with her and talking to her etc. But...we aren't rich and can't pay for something we aren't getting much out of! I have gotten several good ideas to try and implement at home...but they are also things I could have found and done just by searching the internet.

The developmental ped wants her to try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Basically, it teaches people with these types of disorders how to control themselves when they are feeling anxious or having OCD problems. I am really hoping she will benefit from it. I have no idea how long we are going to have to wait to get her started though, as the therapists are apparently extremely busy. We were planning on holding off on medicating her because we wanted to try therapy first. But....since we don't know how long the wait will be, and she is getting worse by the day, we have decided we are going to put her on meds. All of the research I have read shows that children showed more improvement on a combo of meds and therapy than they did on either meds or therapy alone. The goal would be to eventually get her to the point where she can control her thoughts/actions on her own and not need meds.

Wow! Sorry that turned into a novel. I have had one heck of a week. Everyone in our house is sick, and then we got this diagnosis to top it off. I'm glad we can finally get help now, but it really is hard. You never want anything to be wrong with your child. Wish us luck with the meds...I am really hoping they make a HUGE difference. I love my Hannah so much and it is so hard seeing her not be able to control herself.