Saturday, March 12, 2011

Just Like A Detective.

Tappity-tap-tap.  Tappity-tap-tap.

Brian's OCD picked up a few weeks ago.  Not so much his routines- like doors closed, lights on, etc.- those have stayed somewhat consistent.  What picked up was this constant need to touch/tap things with his fingers.  If he brushes by a person and touches them by accident, he'll turn around urgently to make sure he touches their other thigh or arm.  When he gets out of the car he needs to touch both arms to his carseat.  If a stewardess walks by and brushes his elbow he needs to reach up and tap her butt (true story).

This was one of the concerns I brought up when we were at The Thoughtful House this week.  It was an area that was getting better so it was strange to see it pop back up.  They had two ideas that could be causing it- one, yeast, especially since he was on an antibiotic for his ingrown toenail, or two, could be reacting to a Strep virus- since I just got over a bout of strep throat.  My gut wanted to go with the strep, only because I wasn't seeing any red rashes or manic night wakings, like we had prior to the yeast treatment.

As soon as I got home I went to my daily journal to really confirm when the tapping rituals started.  I had written it on February 14th.  That was before his antibiotics for his toe.  It was a week before my strep throat was diagnosed, most likely I was contagious- especially since I dealt with it for days before actually heading to the doctor to get help for it.

Figuring this all out is like being a detective, some skeptics may think I'm crazy, but I know when I see changes in Brian and I know this stuff has helped (for example, the manic night wakings which were a constant in our life for years and are now gone).  I, honestly, get so excited before trying each new idea/treatment for the changes we might see.  And if we don't see any?  Then we stop and it has never caused any harm to Brian.

I'm so thankful that I have The Thoughtful House to help me with the detective work.  This was our last actual visit to the Thoughtful House under our grant but we will be continuing to be a patient of theirs as all we have seen are positive changes since we started there.  It would be foolish to stop now!  I am so grateful for them (and the anonymous donor who made the Bright Eyes program available!) and the information, help, medical advice, and support they have given our family.  It was honestly a huge turning point for our family and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

4 comments:

Brian@bothsidesofthecoin said...

Interesting on the night walking, my son did that for a while. Although for him, it was night climbing and jumping on things and laughing and singing. Glad to hear someone else has had this too. We have been doing melatonin and it stopped, save for 5 nights while antibiotics had to be taken for an ear infection.

Anonymous said...

Over from Blog Gems. Thoughtful House...we must be in the same area. I'd really like to hear more about your experience with them, and the grant you mentioned. We need to do something different for our son, ABA and meds are not working. I'll have to read more of your blog.

theconnorchronicles said...

Over from Blog Gems. Thoughtful House...we must be in the same area. I'd really like to hear more about your experience with them, and the grant you mentioned. We need to do something different for our son, ABA and meds are not working. I'll have to read more of your blog.

Brian@brianautismblog said...

Interesting on the night walking, my son did that for a while. Although for him, it was night climbing and jumping on things and laughing and singing. Glad to hear someone else has had this too. We have been doing melatonin and it stopped, save for 5 nights while antibiotics had to be taken for an ear infection.