Anxiety Disorders in Children Support Group
Childhood","This community is for parents and caregivers of children who exhibit signs of anxiety. Anxiety refers to a complex combination of negative emotions that includes fear, apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and/or shortness of breath."
NOT SURE WHAT TO DO?
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | An Anxious story Hi guys i'm new to the group, I'm just wondering if anyone can advise; my 9year old has had anxiety since she was 4, we new it wasnt the normal she would grow out of kind BY AGE 7 she started counseling and did well. At 8 or so the counselor said she could take a break from seeing her and if she started to have issues again we would start up therapy again. The anxiety has never stopped but she has been dealing with it, and everything just exploaded at the age of 9 after christmas break she didnt want to go back to school and she began with panic attacks and than the depression set in, which is totally new for us. Its so sad when you see your child in such a state; well to get to the point where I need advise is we had to start her on flouxetine 10mg because now her quality of life was severly being affected. Its been about 23 days on med and I see the depression has lifted thank god but the medicine hasnt touched her anxiety. Her stomach has hurt constantly with this med and she even lost 4lbs in a week bc she isnt eating well, Ive had to pull her out of school bc her main anxiety issue is school and she had missed so many days; I wanted to take the pressure of so i just enrolled her in online school until she gets back to herself, bc ultimately my goal would be for her to stay in a brick and motar school which she does well in, she an excellant student but shes always been anxious about school, We have her first pyschatrist appt coming up in a few days and I'm wondering what to do about the med should I ask them to change it? does it take longer to work on the anxiety part? will her belly feel better? does it need to be uped? please anyone?
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | An Anxious story Hi guys i'm new to the group, I'm just wondering if anyone can advise; my 9year old has had anxiety since she was 4, we new it wasnt the normal she would grow out of kind BY AGE 7 she started counseling and did well. At 8 or so the counselor said she could take a break from seeing her and if she started to have issues again we would start up therapy again. The anxiety has never stopped but she has been dealing with it, and everything just exploaded at the age of 9 after christmas break she didnt want to go back to school and she began with panic attacks and than the depression set in, which is totally new for us. Its so sad when you see your child in such a state; well to get to the point where I need advise is we had to start her on flouxetine 10mg because now her quality of life was severly being affected. Its been about 23 days on med and I see the depression has lifted thank god but the medicine hasnt touched her anxiety. Her stomach has hurt constantly with this med and she even lost 4lbs in a week bc she isnt eating well, Ive had to pull her out of school bc her main anxiety issue is school and she had missed so many days; I wanted to take the pressure of so i just enrolled her in online school until she gets back to herself, bc ultimately my goal would be for her to stay in a brick and motar school which she does well in, she an excellant student but shes always been anxious about school, We have her first pyschatrist appt coming up in a few days and I'm wondering what to do about the med should I ask them to change it? does it take longer to work on the anxiety part? will her belly feel better? does it need to be uped? please anyone?
tm26
Hi SANTDA, I just joined the group as of today (3/9/15). First of all, let me tell you, what you are dealing with is frustrating, depressing, and can make you feel like you are on pins and needles. My son (11 years old) has been dealing with anxiety for 2 years. Most of it, pertains to school anxiety but he also has big anxiety when I sign him up for basketball day camp. He loves basketball and plays on the town team but the last 3 times, he couldn't get out of the car to go inside the camp. My son was hospitalized last September for debilitating school anxiety. He couldn't attend, and when he was there, he had to leave the classroom and sit in the school psychologist's office most of the day. I am a teacher at the school so I saw everything first hand. My son was prescribed Atarax (along with Zoloft) while he was in the hospital. Atarax helps to ease anxiety instantly. After his release, he took one at around 5am in the morning (before school) and then I let him get another hour and a half of sleep before getting up for school. I did it like this because he might vomit before school if his anxiety was up and the pill would come up too. He did really well getting back to school and getting his life back together again. He took Atarax for about 6 weeks and now he takes Lexapro because he said he felt a little "wired" on Zoloft. My son spent a week in the hospital, which was very scary for him. Parents could visit 1 hour in the evening and that's it. It killed me to admit him but he was so rock bottom down in his life, he told me he didn't want to live anymore if life was going to be this way. My son also has learned some Cognitive Behavioral therapy techniques (breathing, counting, distracting himself). Things aren't perfect, but now there are those mornings before school when I hear him signing in the shower!!! Praise God! Currently, he sees a counselor every other week and she is working on building his self-confidence. Please let me know if you have any questions!!! YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS!!!
rms519
Wow, tm26, my story is almost exactly yours! My son started with panic at 10 and we did therapy and Zoloft. He was great with that after about 6 weeks. Then basketball started again and he started with the feelings of anxiety around 6-7 months later. Stopped doing basketball and took about a month or so until he was back to normal. It's so hard trying to figure out what sets it off. It does get better though as you know.
momsanity88
wow, both your stories are almost similar to what we are currently facing with my 13 yr old son. He has had school anxiety since he started school. some years were better then others, but he would pull it together and would go after missing a few days. This school year was and is the worst. Sept was rough, he missed a handful of days, had him on meds, which seemed to make him worse. he became aggressive and depressed when he came home. somehow, with the help of a therapist, he got better. by better i mean he went to school, did his work. all other areas of his life is fine. hes a great soccer player, had lots of friends, and gets along with everyone in the family. our family went away during the winter break, all was great, had so much fun. however, ever since we have been back, it has gotten worse for him. he has missed almost 11 days of school since end feb. hes with a new group of therapist and is currently taking Prozac, going on a week. yesterday he had a very bad episode relating to doing homework. got so bad, me and my husband had to restrain him from running away. today he is home and is so upset over what happned he does not want to eat or go outside. ughhh.... I understand how helpless a parent feels when they cannot help their child. seeing them suffer is one of the worst feelings in the world and you wish there was a magic word which will make them feel better. i can only pray for these kids and their parents and remain optimistic we all will get through this. I am going to speak with this doctors today to see how he can get more help. my next worry is him repeating the school year, which means I will have to switch schools as he will be too embarrassed to go back. one day at a time....
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