I have suffered with GAD and panic disorder for about
12 years. I pretty much have it under control, except for dizziness and a tendency to be a worrier and isolate myself a bit. But on the whole i am in a good state nowadays, and I'm proud of how far i've come.
The problem i have currently is my son. He is 9, and suffers from a swallowing problem, which is not caused by any physical problem - yep, its psychological.
He first had problems when he was just five - he had a small choking incident (no heimlich manouvre or anything, just a french fry going downt he wrong way) at school, and overnight he went from eating a normal varied diet to only managing liquids.
My partner and I visited his GP who said he had had a fright and it would probably right itself soon enough.
Well, 5 years later and he still has the problem. Of course he recovered a fair bit (we initially followed a great ormond street hospital eating plan that i found online as our doctor was useless) and he generally nowadays eats a range of 'safe' food - jacket potato and tuna mayo, bread and butter, croissants, soft fish sometimes, well cooked carrots.. BUT, always in small amounts, and taking 1 hour to eat a very small plateful.
We have tried various different methods of help over the years - introducing new foods slowly ( a bite a night, this was successful when he was younger), star charts (he's too old now they don't work), letting him choose his own foods (which we are trying now), a feeding clinic at our local hospital (who were great but really only experienced with children with physical problems), a NLP practitioner (she was also lovely but my son was too active to sit still and talk and visualize!), an NHS child psychologist referral (a nurse interviewed him, and as his eating was moderately ok at the the time and so they discharged him), a homeopath (did nothing), plus endless googling, different tactics.. etc etc.
Right now he is VERY bad, and it has hit us hard as he had a period of about
6 weeks where he was eating and swallowing normally - actually had school dinners and even ate rice and pasta. I thought he had finally grown out of it. Now, he is very bad, we dont know why, and he can barely swallow his own saliva, and ate 4 mouthfuls of potato on 40 minutes.
I know this is an anxiety type symptom, but its a standalone one, and its become the worst kind of vicious circle for him. I also worry about
how he will be in the future if he doesn't learn to cope with it - he may well have it for life. im so depressed, i dont know what to do, and it's bringing back my own anxiety symptoms. its so hard to be patient - to always be positive, though i know i must try to not pass on my worries and stress him out even more.
Can anyone relate to this swallowing thing? To hear an adults descript
ion of how it feels may help me understand. Also how many of you suffered with anxiety or panic as children? And how can you treat a child with his trouble? i just dont know what to do, i thought he was getting better, but it seems like the problem will just keep on returning...
Im an old member who's back to get involved again - i used to be just plain 'haze', but lost all my login details!
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