Poison Control

My eight year old daughter was swimming/playing at a friends house a few weeks back and called her Mom to say she bit into a snake (those toys that grow in size when submerged) and now she feels funny and has a rash.  When my wife picked her up she noticed no rash and treated my daughter with TLC and reassured her she was fine.

Since that day, she has been displaying very strange behaviour.  She repeatedly said her head felt "fogged", when I inquired, she said she couldn't gather her thoughts...she also thought she was dying especially being poisoned.  I took her to the Children's Hospital and had blood work and urine checked and all came back good, the doctors said the snake toy was a red herring and reassured her so.

I noticed she doesn't mention the fogged head" much, but started asking people to eat or taste the food she is given before she eats it and when I inquired she says she thought it might be poisoned, constantly asks questions about poisonous spiders, snakes and bugs...I reassure her constantly and back up with facts about nothing like that is in our country (Ontario, Canada) and she seems ok with it till next time.  

She seems to have a craving for sweets now which she never had (her Mom is a great cook, health food specialist and we eat well)...beyond a normal kids desire for ice cream, cookies etc once in awhile...but she constantly manipulates to go "out to eat" and makes sure there is some sort of "sweetie"...this is not normal up to a few weeks back.  We induldged her a little as it was nearing the end of the summer...but realized something was not quite right with this behaviour...

She just isn't the same little girl, the switch seemed like a light that just turned on it was that sudden.  I noticed she seems to be losing weight and today for the first time ever, she ate and threw up.  Anorexic?  Phobia?  I don't know what to do now and my heart is breaking for her.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I understand your worry and have a suggestion.  It is not uncommon for kids to fall into these kind of phobias/obsessions quickly and bounce out just as quickly with no particular external reason.  That may be the case here, and if so, simply tlc, explanation and patience are all that is needed. But to be on the safe side , you should have a consultation with a child psychiatrist who sees more of these, or ask this same question on the child behavior forum on this site.  I suggest a consultation in order to give her the best care possible.