7 year old with "bad thought" OCD

[maroon123]

My 7 year old was diagnosed with OCD a few months ago and is on Prozac.  He doesn't do any counting or hand washing, nor do things have to be in any particular order, he just has bad thought ocd.  He has to confess everything to me even it happened a year ago.  And he will say to me "I just thought you are a pin head, but I don't think that anymore".  He can't keep any of his thoughts to himself.  He is now on Prozac and I'm wondering if it is making him hyper.  Does anyone have these same symptoms with child on Prozac.  By the way the Prozac is helping the OCD.


This discussion is related to My 7 year old is having disturbing thoughts...

[HopeSoToo]

My 7 YO son was diagnosed with anxiety over a year ago. We started him on Prozac this past September after coming to the realization that therapy alone was not working for him. We noticed IMMEDIATELY that he was hyper and attention deficit on the Prozac. The Dr. dismissed my claims and said that my son must be ADHD and that anxiety masks the disorder until the child gets on meds. She then tried to put my son on Ritalin. I fired her right quick! We recently saw a new psychiatrist who confirmed what I knew all along, that Proza is an activator. We did some testing for ADHD for him and will get the results next week. I asked her about switching his medication to see if the mania goes away. I think we will try this before Ritalin. My son has always had anxiety but NEVER any mania or attention deficit issus until starting the Prozac. Hope that helps you out, your post certainly helped me. I think some Dr.s are just too quick to overmedicate. I will not allow that with any child of mine.

[jdtm]

Our child is almost 15 years old now.  She was diagnosed with severe social anxiety and depression at 6 years of age (OCD is one of the anxiety disorders so the treatment tends to be similar).  Unfortunately, it is possible that she might be developing OCD in her teen years - not sure yet.  Celexa is working well at this time but I always felt that the child psychiatrist increased her dose of Prozac too much at too fast a rate (today medication follows this mantra - "go low and go slow").  She is still a bit hyper but keep in mind that the anxiety will mimic ADD/ADHD behaviours.  Because our child suffered from social anxiety, the medication took some of her inhibitions away and lessened her fears, and thus the hyper reactions.  When she is calm and comfortable, this hyperness disappears so I suspect some of the hyper behaviours you are seeing in your son is a direct result of his anxiety (and always keep in mind that OCD is one of the anxiety disorders) and not totally the result of his medication.  By the way, many children with anxiety are misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD due to the similar behaviours.

Surprisingly, children who suffer from anxiety tend to have not learned proper social etiquette from their surroundings - even simple things as when to say "thank you" and "please", etc.  This is because their brain is so focussed on every thing in their surroundings that many of the social skills instrinctively learned by children not suffering from anxiety are not learned by our children.  So, we have to "tell" them what to say, how to react, in your son's case not to wipe his hands on his shirt, etc.   Older children often take therapy in order to learn how to manage their fears in day-to-day situations.  Since our child had difficulty in social situations, she took art therapy - use of puppets, drawings, etc. - in order to better interact with her peers.  Hope this helps ...

[maroon123]

Thanks for commenting.  I do think it is making him hyper and that is interesting that you say she was laking a "filter" in what she said or did.  I know that my son has become so messy in just wiping his hands on his shirt while he eats without knowing it.  I don't see his friends do that, he also must say things on his mind but that is his OCD.  Do you see a big difference between Celexa and Prozac in terms of hyper.  How old is your daughter now?  Does she also have OCD.  Thanks

[jdtm]

Yes, the Prozac can make him hyper.  Our child took Prozac at the same age as your son and she, too, did not do well on it.  It did help her anxiety but seemed to take away her "filter" for saying or doing appropriate things.  Our doctor then placed her on Effexor - which worked well but today she is on Celexa (citalopram is the generic term) and this seems to be the best "fit" for her.  Both Prozac and Celexa belong to the SRRI medications but there are others that might be more suitable for your son.  Please discuss this with your son's doctor - I do know that some children do extremely well on Prozac, but not all.  All the best ...