My grandson has been diagnosed with OCD

[katbirdfl]

My grandson has been diagnosed with OCD by his ped and put on prozac.  He is two years and 9 months old.  The only behavior that he has exhibited is pulling out his hair and constantly picking scabs that he has He is a bit hyper and high strung.  But otherwise, he is a happy two year old.  His ped did not refer him out to a specialist to be tested for this problem just basically took my daughter's word for what my grandson has been doing.  My daughter does not live with my grandson's father but instead lives with another man who she is currently pregnant by.   My grandson tells me that he does not like this man.  I am at I odds as to what I should do with this situation.  I do not think my grandson needs to be on prozac at this stage in his young life.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

[jdtm]

OCD is a serious anxiety disorder and one of the more difficult to treat.  Liquid Prozac (an SSRI) would not be unheard of to treat a child as young as your grandson.  However, if the parents are uncomfortable with this method of treatment, I might suggest that they request a referral to a medical specialist with experience in anxiety disorders as a child psychiatrist or a child neurologist.  By the way, pulling out one's hair is called Trichotillomania - another anxiety disorder.

As a grandparent, there is not much we can do - perhaps educate yourself on OCD - google phrases such as "OCD and children" or "anxiety disorders in children" or similar words/phrases.  If it would help, you might also like to educate yourself about Prozac - looking at not only the "bad" reports; but also the good.  Hope this helps ...

[katbirdfl]

Thanks for the comment.  It does help.  I have been doing a lot of research over the past couple of days on Prozac and OCD.  Do you have any specific websites that you can pass on that would be good to look at?  I just want to make sure that this is what is best for him.  Thanks again!

[jdtm]

I'm glad you posted on the "ask a doctor" forum - the answer that OCD is usually not diagnosed in such a young child was a point that I missed.  I see that the doctor also felt that a referral to a specialist would be advisable.  I know our son and DIL cringed at the idea of a "psychiatrist"; however, the child neurologist seemed to be more acceptable.  (Actually, it was a child psychiatrist who diagnosed our granddaughter with severe anxiety at six years of age and this doctor was a godsend).  It does appear that your grandson suffers from anxiety - whether it is OCD or one of the others or a combination is really irrelevant - diagnosis and treatment is what is important as your grandson will not outgrow his anxiety nor will it go away; but, anxiety is highly treatable and the prognosis for early intervention is excellent.

One site that is excellent is the Child Anxiety Network (www.childanxiety.net) - don't know if there is anything on Prozac there but I expect there should be links to that information.  By the way, usually intervention and therapy are the routes followed for anxiety before medication is prescribed - I doubt very much if your grandson's doctor is competent in these areas.  One more thing - a good specialist will instruct the parents on how to do intervention and/or therapy - it is not done by the doctor.  Hope this helps (and I wish you the best) .....