My son was diagnosed with OCD and Panic Disorder when he was 14.

It initially started off with obsessive behaviors...usually related to religion or whatever interested him at that time (one time was the Titanic, another was Martial Arts, another was Tornados, etc). He had what looked almost like a shrine in his room, dedicated to Jesus.

I should also note that he had the cleanest bedroom of any teenager I have ever seen. Absolutely spotless!

Not long after he turned 14, he began having auditory halluncinations. When this happened, he had a panic attack. Not long after, he started seeing stuff. He was convinced that the devil was in his room. He was having panic attacks so frequently, I threw a mattress on his bedroom floor and slept on it for a month...each night, being woken up several times with him in a full blown panic attack.

I took him to the doctor and he told me my son was delusional and possibly schizophrenic. To rule out a brain tumor, he had an MRI. In the meantime, the family doctor put him on Ativan for panic attacks. He also referred him to a university teaching hospital to see a child psychiatrist.

After several tests and talking with us, the psychiatrist assured us he was NOT schizoprhenic but rather had OCD and Panic Disorder. He started him off on 20 mg Prozac and eventually upped it to 30mg.

For several years, no problems. His bedroom began to look like every other teenagers (lol) and no more panic attacks or hallucinations.

Now, my son is 3 months from his 18 birthday and he has stopped taking the Prozac. He weaned off with the doctor's permission.

Over the past two weeks, I have seen a change. He again thinks there are demons in his room. He is absolutely terrified and does not see this as having anything to do with the OCD---he now says the hallucinations never stopped because they "weren't" hallucinations. I know my son well enough to know if he'd been seeing demons all this time, he would have told me. Anyway, he thinks he is being followed by demons, that they have attached themselves to him.

Last night I got home at 3:10am (I work nights) and he was wide awake washing my hallway walls. He said he couldn't stand seeing the handprints.

I see everything coming back again. He told me today he will "never" go back on medication or back to therapy again. He is completely convinced the Prozac did nothing.

Any suggestions?

Also, has anybody else had experience with hallucinations and OCD? Any websites to share that I can maybe show him? I have Googled and I am not finding much connected to OCD and hallucinations.

Please help...I am scared for him (a local boy recently died while trying to outrun some hallucinations he was having---he walked onto a railroad track and was killed by a train).

Hi,

I am very sorry to hear the problems you are having with your sons illness. As a son myself I have seen the effects on my family at my worst times.

I have lived with some quite severe OCD symptoms since I was 13. I am 26 now. My compulsions are very rare but incredibly harrowing to me, not to mention dangerous. I have a morbid obsession with finding ways to harm myself. My depression became so severe because of these thoughts, I need to be on meds for life now, but that's ok. I am over the worst now, the worst being when I came OFF the medication. I have finally got on some working pills which are working well now.

I would not necessarily call your son scitziophrenic, as the compulsions of OCD are enough to send one insane. The thoughts are so real you become mentally deluded and start to make decisions based on irrational thinking.

I think your son will eventually realise things have got so bad that he will make the decision to go back on the meds again. I know I did.

Do you mind sharing what your "working pills" are?

Thanks,

Maddie

Citalopram was the first med I went on, that killed pretty much everything - depression, and anxiety and any OCD compulsion I had. This was on a very low dosage as well (10mg). 20mg is the lowest theraputic dose. I hope this is satisfying reading. Over time this med actually increased my anxiety so I came off it last year. It worked good for a good two years though.

I am on Amitriptyline now which is a very old AD for pain, depression and anxiety. I don't sleep very well in the working week, if at all, so that was partly why they chose this one. It is not great for OCD though as I am fighting the thoughts daily.

This post has been edited by kirkwuk: May 27 2008, 01:12 PM

Well, he has finally agreed to go back on meds. He's not happy with it, says he is doing it for me.

His appointment is tomorrow. I spoke with the doctor today and he is very concerned. He said he will probably up the medication (he was only at 30mg of Prozac) but he also wants him to see a psychiatrist---he gave me a list of locals.

I wish he didn't have to deal with this. :-(

Well what we can say is, his life isn't going to be easy, but the sooner he realises he understands the nature of the problem, things slowly get easier. Check some of the posts I made seven months ago. Things have changed so much, and the hard times make you a much stronger person and able to appreciate the good times more. I honestly didn't think I would make it past Christmas. But people do, once the initial panic is over, realisation settles in and recovery takes its place.

I am glad he has agreed to go back on the medicine. I think that it is definitely a good idea to see a psychiatrist. That individual can evaluate his symptoms and determine if he has symptoms of another illness in addition to OCD.

Thank you for sharing this information. My son insists that Prozac didn't help his OCD, but I really don't think he was on it long enough. He's going to a therapist tomorrow, and we'll likely continue seeing the pdoc if he agrees to try another med. My post sounds similar to ladyfalcon's, doesn't it?

I think many of us go through periods when we want to do without medication ....... I fought long and hard :-(. Now that I have accepted that I need to take meds for life I can move forwards. But at 18 it is hard to believe that life is that long away ......... I find delusions being related to OCD a strange scenario, delusions are more often caused by schizophrenia-type illness.

Hope the Prozac helps ...... sometimes when we return to a drug after stopping one it no longer has any effect!

I'm not necessarily in agreement of the schitzophrenia diagnosis for delusions caused by OCD. For example a person who washes their hands a lot believes them to be incredibly dirty and being able to contract illnesses. The only way to rationalise with these compulsive and nagging thoughts are to supply some reasoning to an already illogical procedure. The person suffering from OCD must accept that the "ritual" is not of logic, they already know this as they have identified it as a problem. One of the lessons taught in CBT is that thoughts are just thoughts only, and not a representation of something physical.

However: my thoughts which I was totally unaware of caused my increased anxiety = panic attacks ....... a sudden surge of adrenaline and immediate panic. My therapist once asked what my thoughts were before I panicked - I don't have thoughts, just INTENSE physical feelings in a variety of situations and I'm away home! Fleeing from that situation. Feelings = panic = home to safety.

Ladyfalcon - how are things today?

This is one of the worst things about anxiety, it happens and it is hard to identify it, especially if you work in a busy job. Once the physical feelings start there is moer anxiety over those as well.

Well, he spoke with the doctor and he is back on the Prozac. The doctor convinced him to at least get back on Prozac for the depression. He has agreed to see a therapist, too. I went through the ones our insurance covers and he has picked his own.

He almost seemed relieved after seeing the doctor yesterday. They talked for quite a bit about what is going on (our doctor has had a few other OCD patients with hallucinations and have had them halted by use of SSRIs) and he (my son) was pretty receptive to the plan of meds and therapy. He started back on the Prozac last night.

Our doctor is going to talk with the psychologist in a few weeks and find out his recommendations so for now, playing it by ear.

So sorry and it sounds like ocd, God bless

Glad to see you posting!