After years of Dr’s telling me that my son was okay and so bright and blah, blah blah I finally had it when the one psychiatrist (who’s name I will not mention just in case you know him!) said to me that even though my son will not throw out ANYTHING and collects EVERYTHING and has chased the garbage men in the garbage truck down our street screaming and crying to bring back his stuff that it was okay. He is such a nice boy, and he will probably outgrow his strange form of OCD. This is also the crack pot that told me the reason my son at age 7 tried to kill himself was because his medication for his ADHD was too high. So I emailed the chief psychiatrist at Sick Kids and asked him if he would see my son even though we are outside of Toronto. We were there a month ago and I thought I was going to cry and never stop crying when they told me that my son’s hoarding was not a form of OCD but a strange obsession related to his Aspergers. In this poor childs head he believes that if he see’s something or touches something it becomes part of him and therefore if it is thrown out he is throwing out parts of himself. Strong stuff and I just truly cannot relate. I wish there was some type of support group or others out there who I could communicate with but I was told that it is not like typical hoarding it goes beyond that and at Sick kids they told me they have not experienced this before to this level and there really isn’t anything they can do at this point. We go back tomorrow so I am hopeful that maybe they can help him with some other issues. I feel guilty or like I am whining but it really is hard to live with and so stressful on the other children.
There is one bright spot however - inside his complete chaos if you need to know where something is well he usually has it on his bed. His memory is fab, and he will never be able to toss out the affection, closeness, and love he has for me and his family!
May 19th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
This post came at just the right time for me. Thanks for sharing. I’m going through some extreme behaviours with my dd right now that keep getting dismissed, but I know there’s “more to it”. We have an appointment with a new specialist tomorrow, so this has given me hope!
May 19th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Good luck with the doctor and please share how it goes. My son has aspergers and has taken a pretty big backslide in the past two months. He is not a hoarder but does form strange attachments to material things. I am interested in learning more about you and your son.
I am glad that you pushed - it took me a long time to get someone to listen to me and I thought I was going to go crazy. Even now, I find I have to push. Our GP last week said, oh most of that is just normal boy behaviour. She has no clue and if I was a different type of person I might just believe her and then my son looses out.
If you haven’t already looked up Tony Attwood, I would. I can’t remember if I have read about hoarding in his books but he is a great resource for aspergers and worth checking his site and book out.
Helen
May 19th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Good for you for sticking to your guns. It seems doctors are so quick to label kids with the disorder of the week. There was a time when every kid and his dog was being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. A cousin of mine was given close to 20 pills a day for ADD. Finally his parents said “enough, no more!” It turns out he didn’t have ADD at all. Now the popular disorder of the week seems to be Auditory Processing Disorder. Both my daughter and nephew are on a waiting list to be tested. We have been told the waiting period can be up to 1 year. That’s probably because the doctors are diagnosing so many kids with this new “disorder” of the week. I think they give the parents a crock diagnosis just to appease them and get them out the door.
May 29th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I totally agree with Kelly, may daughter and my nephew were diagnosed with ADD when they were in Elementary School. One of the mothers in the class came to me and told me to have my daughters eyes and ears checked. I did and it ended up that she could not focus and therefore when she read her eyes go tired and she lost interest and once she got glasses she was find. The same went for my nephew, once he got glasses then he could concentrate. Most doctors are quick to push pills…for the “disorder of the week” in children and in adults. Go with your gut….it is usually right! Way to go momof6!!!!
June 5th, 2009 at 2:41 am
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June 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Well the best thing for anxiety and depression is to talk long and hard about it with someone who understands.
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July 6th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Hi. I like the way you write. Will you post some more articles?
July 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
My days are always filled with something and I am always writing so there will be alot more articles coming up! Thanks so much for the compliment.
momof6
August 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
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