Nutrition Health Chat: Tuesday, Dec. 8th, 5-6 PM Eastern. Learn how vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients affect your health. Free live Q&A. Join us!
Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Poison Control
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Poison Control
by Zylo007, Aug 25, 2008 02:01PM
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.
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.
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Aug 27, 2008 06:33PM
, Aug 27, 2008 06:33PMTo: zylooo7
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.
