Towards the end of school in April/May for a few weeks/months we had a bit of a scare. It has now passed, so I can talk about it, but it was rather intense for a while.
Evette developed extreme anxiety about bathroom related things. We think it started when our drains got backed up. There were roots in the pipes and backed everything up. Leaking washing machine, all sinks, toilets, and bathtub were backed up and filled with sewer water. It was rather disgusting. But, we got everything fixed up and cleaned up and we moved on.
Well, except Evette developed some anxiety about this. So much so, that we thought she had OCD. She was worried about pulling down her pants to go to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet, making sure that she was wiping enough, afraid to get off of the toilet because of all the germs she got, couldn't pull her pants back up after going because of the germs, couldn't turn on the water to wash her hands because she hadn't washed her hands yet, and not being able to wash her hands enough. So much worry.
It was bad. Not like, "get over it and just go", but like screaming, crying, not being able to breathe, shaking, hitting, hysterics. It was so very sad to see. Interestingly, it wasn't an issue at school or at a friend's house, just at our house. Just the house that backed up and got "poop water" all over the bathroom. Every time she went to the bathroom it was bad. She was so worried. So so so worried. Sometimes it was only a little bit of an issues, but sometimes it would go on for close to hour before we could resume normal life. It was terrible.
I suffer from some anxiety and panic attacks myself so I know how scary and debilitating it can be. And from the outside everything seems fine, but when you're experiencing it, the world is ending. It's terrifying.
I researched things online and used some coping methods and such, but it would just not stop. We tried distraction, logic, providing healthy examples, etc.... After about a month I went to see a psychiatrist in behalf of Evette. We had a nice long chat and he was convinced it was not OCD, but just some anxiety. She does tend to have an anxious nature about her, and this "traumatic" event of the bathroom probably triggered this anxiety for her.
We talked about different coping strategies, steps to help her get through it, and what our next steps would be if necessary. He was very helpful and made me feel like a good parent (which is what I desperately needed at this time!). He was amazed and how inquisitive she was and how she wouldn't just accept "easy" answers and need to know about all the germs and what kinds and how they travel, etc. She's so smart and aggressive about learning that I think it made things even a little more difficult for her. So much knowledge and not really understanding it makes it hard.
I went home, we got some library books about germs and going to the bathroom, we watched some youtube videos, we watched Daniel Tiger (which is a favorite TV show - way to go for teaching emotional health among other great things!), and many many breathing exercises.
Miriam was a trooper and would come and rub Evette's back while she was crying. She would bring her her blanket and baby doll trying to make her feel better. Or she would just sit at her feet while I was holding Evette just to be there and be close for her sister. It was very tender.
After a few weeks, we were back to normal. It just slowly faded out. It was amazing. Such a blessing. I cried so many tears over this struggle for my baby. It was hard to see her so scared and not her normal confidant self. I cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and tried to do everything that I could for her.
It was consuming.
I am so grateful that it passed and that we are not currently dealing with OCD or major anxiety for my sweet 4 year old.
Evette developed extreme anxiety about bathroom related things. We think it started when our drains got backed up. There were roots in the pipes and backed everything up. Leaking washing machine, all sinks, toilets, and bathtub were backed up and filled with sewer water. It was rather disgusting. But, we got everything fixed up and cleaned up and we moved on.
Well, except Evette developed some anxiety about this. So much so, that we thought she had OCD. She was worried about pulling down her pants to go to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet, making sure that she was wiping enough, afraid to get off of the toilet because of all the germs she got, couldn't pull her pants back up after going because of the germs, couldn't turn on the water to wash her hands because she hadn't washed her hands yet, and not being able to wash her hands enough. So much worry.
It was bad. Not like, "get over it and just go", but like screaming, crying, not being able to breathe, shaking, hitting, hysterics. It was so very sad to see. Interestingly, it wasn't an issue at school or at a friend's house, just at our house. Just the house that backed up and got "poop water" all over the bathroom. Every time she went to the bathroom it was bad. She was so worried. So so so worried. Sometimes it was only a little bit of an issues, but sometimes it would go on for close to hour before we could resume normal life. It was terrible.
I suffer from some anxiety and panic attacks myself so I know how scary and debilitating it can be. And from the outside everything seems fine, but when you're experiencing it, the world is ending. It's terrifying.
I researched things online and used some coping methods and such, but it would just not stop. We tried distraction, logic, providing healthy examples, etc.... After about a month I went to see a psychiatrist in behalf of Evette. We had a nice long chat and he was convinced it was not OCD, but just some anxiety. She does tend to have an anxious nature about her, and this "traumatic" event of the bathroom probably triggered this anxiety for her.
We talked about different coping strategies, steps to help her get through it, and what our next steps would be if necessary. He was very helpful and made me feel like a good parent (which is what I desperately needed at this time!). He was amazed and how inquisitive she was and how she wouldn't just accept "easy" answers and need to know about all the germs and what kinds and how they travel, etc. She's so smart and aggressive about learning that I think it made things even a little more difficult for her. So much knowledge and not really understanding it makes it hard.
I went home, we got some library books about germs and going to the bathroom, we watched some youtube videos, we watched Daniel Tiger (which is a favorite TV show - way to go for teaching emotional health among other great things!), and many many breathing exercises.
Miriam was a trooper and would come and rub Evette's back while she was crying. She would bring her her blanket and baby doll trying to make her feel better. Or she would just sit at her feet while I was holding Evette just to be there and be close for her sister. It was very tender.
After a few weeks, we were back to normal. It just slowly faded out. It was amazing. Such a blessing. I cried so many tears over this struggle for my baby. It was hard to see her so scared and not her normal confidant self. I cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and cried and prayed and researched and tried to do everything that I could for her.
It was consuming.
I am so grateful that it passed and that we are not currently dealing with OCD or major anxiety for my sweet 4 year old.
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