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Mood disorders in children
My 6 year old daughter is on Abilify 10 mg right now for what they are calling a mood disorder for now. She is happy, nice, caring, and just great and then can just turn in a second to a very angry upset and self harming child sometimes. She also was put on Concerta 36mg and her rages got even worse to where she once almost jumped out of the car when driving down the freeway. Very scary. She also has pulled clumps of her own hair out and busted her tooth out of her mouth and injured her body with bruises and cuts in her rages. I admitted her to St Lukes Behavioral Health Unit last week because the rages were getting bad that she was getting actually hurt. They took her off the concerta and left her on the abilify because they stated that the Concerta can make children be more aggresive and irritated and she does seem a little more laid back. But what should I do besides having her on meds and taking her a therapist? I do not know what the next step would be if this continues. I feel like I do not know what to do any more to help her.
I tried posting last night but I must have made an error... I'll try again:
Maybe something to consider (actually two things) regarding your daughter: PANDAs and allergies. If your child has been exposed to STREP recently, there may be a chance that your child's own strep-antibodies are attacking the ganglia in the brain, which results in these actions (it also can result in OCD and really bad thoughts.) The antibodies somehow mistake the ganglia for the strep infection. If you think your child has strep or has been exposed.... get a Titer count test. This is how the Drs. tell if your child has strep and it shows the level of strep-antibodies in your child's system. Your child may show absolutely zero signs of STREP or illness but still have it. Also, peanut butter, dairy, wheat, asthma medications may set off behavior issues or OCD or exacerbate the effect of the strep reaction. Good luck finding a Dr. who believes in PANDAs, most don't. But any Dr. worth their salt will have at least heard/read about it. Ours said he didn't think it was a valid diagnosis but could not explain away the documented correlation and had no comment on the accepted diagnosis' of CHOREA (St. Vitus’ Dance) or strep related heart problems that can arise after contracting a strep infection. As far as the peanut butter thing goes... I have no actual proof, only what I consider amazing results after we stopped eating it in our house. Allergies to peanuts do not have to be lethal. They can be mild and any physical side effects can go unnoticed, but who knows what turmoil it is wreaking within the body. One indication of an allergic reaction is called the "allergic shiner". They are light to heavy dark rings around the eyes. Many times it's attributed to lack of sleep, but it is actually the result of an allergic reaction. Also your child might get any itchy throat or itchy roof of the mouth after eating peanut butter.... but it may be very mild so they might not tell you. I have read on-line about reactions to some asthma medications that are unofficially linked to morbid (bad thought) OCD. Night terrors, bad dreams, sleep walking, bed wetting, and/or obsession with frequently going to the bathroom is also associated with PANDAs. I am not a doctor and can only relay to you what I have read. I read that PANDAs is usually noticed in children about the age of 7 but that it can occur earlier. Children don't (or can't) always articulate what is going on with themselves so earlier occurrences of this tragic condition may not be brought to the parents' attention until around that age. What I've read did say though that it is associated with children who have not yet hit puberty but does not mean it can't occur later in life (teens.) There is a book out, written by a mother who's son was almost institutionalized due to OCD. He developed it out of the blue around the age of 11 and after a year (or two, I don't remember) he became so obsessed with performing certain rituals that he was essentially non-functinal. His mother had been video taping his actions to show doctors in an attempt to get help. She was at her wits end and ready to have him put in an institution when someone asked if he'd been tested for STREP. He hadn't but sure enough came back positive and was put on antibiotics. The antibiotics worked almost miracuously and he returned to normal (though at 18 says that if he feels any urges coming on he goes back on the anti-biotics and is completely "cured"/feels normal. I think the name of the book is "Saving Sammy, Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD." I also read an article in the Chicago Tribune last week about a Loyola University student who out of the blue had an auto-immune disease that left her unable to walk and see properly. One theory is that it may have been triggered by a virus which caused her antibodies (to the virus) to attack the brain. She is still recovering after extensive treatments but making improvement. I know this is a ridiculously long post and it may not have anything to do with your daughter's condition but I just wanted to let you (and anyone else who might be going through similar child issues) know that some child mental health issues may actually be caused by the body's reaction to some stimulus or virus. Anyone reading this in hope of finding information (or just plain "I'm in the same boat as you" support) should consider allergic reactions or auto-immune response to blood issues/antibodies before placing a child on medication. I hope this information is of help to you or another reader and that your child's "episodes" are few and far between. I know this can be a nightmare. You feel helpless and afraid... you want to do the right thing but don't want Drs. to label your child as "menatlly ill." I wonder how many children suffer from behavior problems (mild or severe) or Morbid (bad-thought) OCD due to food/drug allergies or STREP. More than we know I'm sure, because I believe most parents keep it to themselves (to keep their child from being labeled) and they hope it will go away on it's own. Little research on this issue and even less discussion within the medical/pyschiatric communities. I have a family member who recently (2 years ago) obtained a masters in child psychology and hadn't even heard of PANDAs and had no idea what might have been going on with my child - ruled out food allergies too... immediately suggested psych meds (we refused!) Except for one reoccurrence last March, my child has been symptom free for two years now. The change? It all went away (over-night) when we completely removed peanut butter from his diet. The one occurence in March you might ask? We had our child tested for STREP which was a positive, went on antibiotics and was back to normal. Coinicdence? Maybe, but the timing and positive results we've had seem to indicate there might be something to this.
One more thing, which is very important to remember. The quick/same day result STREP test that they do at the doctor's office came back negative (on two different occasions) for our child. We insisted -and got some static from the doctor I might add- that they send it to a lab for the more extensive TITER test and guess what, it came back positive! As I said before, I am not a doctor and I can only relate in this post what I recall and what I recall reading. Hope it helps and God Bless.
Maybe something to consider (actually two things) regarding your daughter: PANDAs and allergies. If your child has been exposed to STREP recently, there may be a chance that your child's own strep-antibodies are attacking the ganglia in the brain, which results in these actions (it also can result in OCD and really bad thoughts.) The antibodies somehow mistake the ganglia for the strep infection. If you think your child has strep or has been exposed.... get a Titer count test. This is how the Drs. tell if your child has strep and it shows the level of strep-antibodies in your child's system. Your child may show absolutely zero signs of STREP or illness but still have it. Also, peanut butter, dairy, wheat, asthma medications may set off behavior issues or OCD or exacerbate the effect of the strep reaction. Good luck finding a Dr. who believes in PANDAs, most don't. But any Dr. worth their salt will have at least heard/read about it. Ours said he didn't think it was a valid diagnosis but could not explain away the documented correlation and had no comment on the accepted diagnosis' of CHOREA (St. Vitus’ Dance) or strep related heart problems that can arise after contracting a strep infection. As far as the peanut butter thing goes... I have no actual proof, only what I consider amazing results after we stopped eating it in our house. Allergies to peanuts do not have to be lethal. They can be mild and any physical side effects can go unnoticed, but who knows what turmoil it is wreaking within the body. One indication of an allergic reaction is called the "allergic shiner". They are light to heavy dark rings around the eyes. Many times it's attributed to lack of sleep, but it is actually the result of an allergic reaction. Also your child might get any itchy throat or itchy roof of the mouth after eating peanut butter.... but it may be very mild so they might not tell you. I have read on-line about reactions to some asthma medications that are unofficially linked to morbid (bad thought) OCD. Night terrors, bad dreams, sleep walking, bed wetting, and/or obsession with frequently going to the bathroom is also associated with PANDAs. I am not a doctor and can only relay to you what I have read. I read that PANDAs is usually noticed in children about the age of 7 but that it can occur earlier. Children don't (or can't) always articulate what is going on with themselves so earlier occurrences of this tragic condition may not be brought to the parents' attention until around that age. What I've read did say though that it is associated with children who have not yet hit puberty but does not mean it can't occur later in life (teens.) There is a book out, written by a mother who's son was almost institutionalized due to OCD. He developed it out of the blue around the age of 11 and after a year (or two, I don't remember) he became so obsessed with performing certain rituals that he was essentially non-functinal. His mother had been video taping his actions to show doctors in an attempt to get help. She was at her wits end and ready to have him put in an institution when someone asked if he'd been tested for STREP. He hadn't but sure enough came back positive and was put on antibiotics. The antibiotics worked almost miracuously and he returned to normal (though at 18 says that if he feels any urges coming on he goes back on the anti-biotics and is completely "cured"/feels normal. I think the name of the book is "Saving Sammy, Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD." I also read an article in the Chicago Tribune last week about a Loyola University student who out of the blue had an auto-immune disease that left her unable to walk and see properly. One theory is that it may have been triggered by a virus which caused her antibodies (to the virus) to attack the brain. She is still recovering after extensive treatments but making improvement. I know this is a ridiculously long post and it may not have anything to do with your daughter's condition but I just wanted to let you (and anyone else who might be going through similar child issues) know that some child mental health issues may actually be caused by the body's reaction to some stimulus or virus. Anyone reading this in hope of finding information (or just plain "I'm in the same boat as you" support) should consider allergic reactions or auto-immune response to blood issues/antibodies before placing a child on medication. I hope this information is of help to you or another reader and that your child's "episodes" are few and far between. I know this can be a nightmare. You feel helpless and afraid... you want to do the right thing but don't want Drs. to label your child as "menatlly ill." I wonder how many children suffer from behavior problems (mild or severe) or Morbid (bad-thought) OCD due to food/drug allergies or STREP. More than we know I'm sure, because I believe most parents keep it to themselves (to keep their child from being labeled) and they hope it will go away on it's own. Little research on this issue and even less discussion within the medical/pyschiatric communities. I have a family member who recently (2 years ago) obtained a masters in child psychology and hadn't even heard of PANDAs and had no idea what might have been going on with my child - ruled out food allergies too... immediately suggested psych meds (we refused!) Except for one reoccurrence last March, my child has been symptom free for two years now. The change? It all went away (over-night) when we completely removed peanut butter from his diet. The one occurence in March you might ask? We had our child tested for STREP which was a positive, went on antibiotics and was back to normal. Coinicdence? Maybe, but the timing and positive results we've had seem to indicate there might be something to this.
One more thing, which is very important to remember. The quick/same day result STREP test that they do at the doctor's office came back negative (on two different occasions) for our child. We insisted -and got some static from the doctor I might add- that they send it to a lab for the more extensive TITER test and guess what, it came back positive! As I said before, I am not a doctor and I can only relate in this post what I recall and what I recall reading. Hope it helps and God Bless.
I tried to post some info but might have sent a msg instead. please post if you got a response from me regarding PANDAs - JimH68
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