What else should I be doing for my son?

[SitkaCircle]

My son was diagnosed with Conversion Disorder 6 months ago.  His symptoms of dizziness, nausea and room spins have subsided most of the time, but he still suffers from severe imbalance and is in a wheelchair and unable to walk or move his legs.  We stopped physical therapy about 2 1/2 months ago per recommendation of my son's psychiatrist, because it was causing my son more distress.  We are currently seeing a child psychiatrist once a week.  My son's legs and feet are starting to appear smaller due to inactivity.  Should I get him back in  physical therapy or will this cause him more distress and set him back again?  How long can he go without physical activity before it  causes permanent damage?  I am desparate to see some improvement in my son!

SitkaCircle

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

I am not in a position to guide you about the physical therapy because I do not know enough about the situation. How old is your son? I would certainly be cautious about the conversion disorder diagnosis, particuarly because he may well have some medical condition that impacts the vestibular sysem. This would not be a typical manifestation of conversion disorder in a child.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Please cut and paste your question using the Ask A Question option. This string of replies concerns SitkaCircle's posting, and it will be confusing if I post an answer to your question in this string. I hope you understand.

Dr. Kennedy

[cocade3]

I  am not sure where to post this at but I guess I will try here. I have a 7 year old who is in first grade he suffers from severe allergies and asthma and is on medication daily for it. My biggest concern is that when we just moved november 7 and he just starting going to a new school he has been doing very bad in class according to the teacher but when he is home with me he does very well. For example in 28 days he went from on grade level to below and the teacher says he can not count to 100 by 2's but at home he does and begs to do it for fun. Also the teacher says he reads 5 words a minute but when he is at home he reads anywhere from 12 while sounding out hard words like sister, funny, and really to up to 27 words all in 5 mins. Also at school the teacher says he does not pay attention and he is very maticulous about doing his work right I explained to the teacher that I want him to grasp the concept so if he gets it wrong he has to redo it or cross it out and try again until he gets it right. The hardest thing for me is that at his old school he had 3 awards and was doing so well the teacher said she did not even need to have a parent teacher conference with me because he was doing so well. The old teacher said he is great at reading and math and at this school he is not doing on grade level work. I find him to be more happy now if there is a snow day than he is when he has to go to school which is great but every weekend you would think he would want to go back to school because I make him doing learning things at home all of the time. Also if he comes hom and tells me something the teacher said and I question the teacher and principle they will talk to him and he will say "I do not know" but if I go to teh school and talk to him outside of teh principle's office he will tell me what he said when he can not see the teacher or principle. I am very concerned because I think he is scared to talk to them or feels intimidated what do you think could cause this behavior. Also I do see him not paying as close attention to thing at home for example Ihad him doing a learning page and it took him 2 hours and 6 mins to do it and then later on that day before dinner I said you can eat as soon as you finish that page he did it in 21 mins and it was exactly the same set up and it just had different questions and answers, as the one he spent 2 hours on. Shoudl I be concerned? what shoudl I do? how do I know what my son is feeling and thinking when he will not tell me and I do not knwo if thta is because he is scared to get into trouble at school for what he tells me the teacher says and does. Because soem of teh stuff she has said I went to teh school to speak about it to te teacher for example the teacher said to my son he coudl not go to school teh next day because he was coughing too much and I did not get a note call nothing. I knew it was his allergies and asthma because I coudl hear him wheeze and nothing changed except for him coughing a little more but that is because of the changing of the seasons but taht is common so I snet him to school and than he came home and he said mommy I can go to school now because my inhaler really works which shows me the teacher has kept him from using his inhaler which at his old school is was using it at least twice a week. He also informed his teacher that he could not go outside to play because he was having a hard time breathing and the teacher sent him any how which I feel was not right because he has a hard time breathing around all of his allergies which he has 20 allergies and 7 major allergies. How do I resolve this issue and what is my son really trying to tell me without thinking he is upseting me. Part of me feel my son is scared but how do I know.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You've had very good work done thus far. My worry is that conversion disorder is sometimes diagnosed by default. That is, when nothing medical can be discerned, by default a conversion disorder diagnosis is reached. I would manitain some healthy skepticism about this and seek a second opinion. I suppose a possible cause is a viral illness that has not been detected, but obviously I cannot say. All in all, while cooperating with child psychiatry, I would continue the medical investigations.

[SitkaCircle]

In response to your question reguarding my son with conversion disorder.  He is 10 years old.  He has been to an ENT and had vestibular testing done. Everything can back negative.  He was admitted to Children's Hospital in Buffalo and had CT scan, MRI, blood work, cardiac work up - all came back negative.  He was diagnosed by the head of pediatric neurology at Children's Hospital with conversion disorder.  Are there any other resources or vital information you can recommend?

SitkaCircle

[cocade3]

I am not sure where to post this at but I guess I will try here. I have a 7 year old who is in first grade he suffers from severe allergies and asthma and is on medication daily for it. My biggest concern is that when we just moved november 7 and he just starting going to a new school he has been doing very bad in class according to the teacher but when he is home with me he does very well. For example in 28 days he went from on grade level to below and the teacher says he can not count to 100 by 2's but at home he does and begs to do it for fun. Also the teacher says he reads 5 words a minute but when he is at home he reads anywhere from 12 while sounding out hard words like sister, funny, and really to up to 27 words all in 5 mins. Also at school the teacher says he does not pay attention and he is very maticulous about doing his work right I explained to the teacher that I want him to grasp the concept so if he gets it wrong he has to redo it or cross it out and try again until he gets it right. The hardest thing for me is that at his old school he had 3 awards and was doing so well the teacher said she did not even need to have a parent teacher conference with me because he was doing so well. The old teacher said he is great at reading and math and at this school he is not doing on grade level work. I find him to be more happy now if there is a snow day than he is when he has to go to school which is great but every weekend you would think he would want to go back to school because I make him doing learning things at home all of the time. Also if he comes hom and tells me something the teacher said and I question the teacher and principle they will talk to him and he will say "I do not know" but if I go to teh school and talk to him outside of teh principle's office he will tell me what he said when he can not see the teacher or principle. I am very concerned because I think he is scared to talk to them or feels intimidated what do you think could cause this behavior. Also I do see him not paying as close attention to thing at home for example Ihad him doing a learning page and it took him 2 hours and 6 mins to do it and then later on that day before dinner I said you can eat as soon as you finish that page he did it in 21 mins and it was exactly the same set up and it just had different questions and answers, as the one he spent 2 hours on. Shoudl I be concerned? what shoudl I do? how do I know what my son is feeling and thinking when he will not tell me and I do not knwo if thta is because he is scared to get into trouble at school for what he tells me the teacher says and does. Because soem of teh stuff she has said I went to teh school to speak about it to te teacher for example the teacher said to my son he coudl not go to school teh next day because he was coughing too much and I did not get a note call nothing. I knew it was his allergies and asthma because I coudl hear him wheeze and nothing changed except for him coughing a little more but that is because of the changing of the seasons but taht is common so I snet him to school and than he came home and he said mommy I can go to school now because my inhaler really works which shows me the teacher has kept him from using his inhaler which at his old school is was using it at least twice a week. He also informed his teacher that he could not go outside to play because he was having a hard time breathing and the teacher sent him any how which I feel was not right because he has a hard time breathing around all of his allergies which he has 20 allergies and 7 major allergies. How do I resolve this issue and what is my son really trying to tell me without thinking he is upseting me. Part of me feel my son is scared but how do I know.