This is something fairly new. It started the first week of second grade.
Started with his cuticles, then moved on to fingers, now it's hands and knees. Bloody and scabbing over, yet it continues. His doctors upped the Zoloft he takes for GAD, but they're not hopeful it will cease the picking. They're encouraging me to teach him stress reducing techniques. He's 7.
His ADHD is well controlled with a combo of Daytrana,Methylin, and Tenex. The Zoloft is for GAD. Anxiety is our bigger issue at the time being. The Zoloft is helping with that, aside from the picking.
I can tape up his wounds with bandaids, but with the constant handwashing the teacher has the kids practicing, it's difficult to stay on all day. Plus, he just finds a new area to pick.
He's always been a chewer (shirts, pencils, chewy tubes), and that's what he does at home. At school, it's picking.
I questioned his ped. psych if all the meds could be causing a tic, and they immediately dismissed that idea saying the picking is stress related.
Any advice?
A few thoughts.I tried to get him to take his chewy tube to school, but I think he's embarrassed by it. He has a fidget toy at school, but he can't really use it when he's writing, or needs to hold a pencil in his hand for assignments. Sometimes he does chew on his shirt.
I'm going to ask about the tic idea again. I was told to wait a month to see if the increase in Zoloft helps. It has been almost a month. I'm going to be calling soon. I hate that I can't actually get the doctor on the phone though. He is a ped. psych professor at a childrens hospital, so he splits his time between the clinic and the hospital. Usually I get a nurse or a psych resident . Our next appt. isn't for 3 months.
Should I demand to speak to the doctor? Should I get our pediatrican's opinion?
His biggest ADHD issue is the hyperactivity. For now, it's well controlled. I can't help but wonder if all of these drugs are a contributing factor in the picking though. But without the meds, it's a bad, bad, situation for his ADHD. I guess I could be trading one issue for another.
My 5 year old has been on Focalin XR for about a month now and has just started picking his nails to the point of blood everyday. He is coming home with bandaids from school where he bled and he does it at home also. This is new with the medication. I too wonder if there is anything to counter act this? I worry about germs getting in through the open cuts on hands (H1N1). I'm so frustrated right now. I finally got his docs to admit his meds could cause the picking. When I asked about tics, they dismissed it. That was a month ago, we increased the Zoloft. I spoke to them over the phone today because it's getting worse, and they suggested decreasing the Zoloft dosage. "He could be getting extra energy from the increase" they said. They would never say the word "tic" though. Ugh. Frustrated!My son also did this in second grade. It was so bad that he did it even while he bled. The teacher's assistant brought it to my attention and it bothered her thinking he was in pain. But my son didn't seem to mind.
He still bites his nails, but they are never as read as they used to be.
I do not know if it was adhd anxiety, sensory intergration which he has and did not feel pain when he was very young but that has since changed, or if it was the meds back then were not at the right dosage.
My son is now 12 and handling things better. but again, he still bites his nails.
I don't know if his tenex helped with this, or he just over came it, not really sure.
what does your gut tell you?? Is your son in pain from it?
Would they allow him to chew gum or have a stress relief squishy toy at his desk? some kids without adhd have them where we live. they also like the squishy tubes you put on pencils to cushion your hand when writing. i wonder if that would help? If they allowed other kids the same "thing" then your son wouldn't feel embarassed. Believe me, there are other kids stressing in his class and could probably use one! That is how our school handled these things, but it was all through the classroom teacher, who totally got it!!
I had to take my 14 yo DD off of stimulants because they contributed to the OCD, her main symptom is skin picking. She started by picking at her head, and then moved to her ears, now it is mostly her arms and legs. She is scarred terribly from this. She is ADD inattentive type, and was on Vyvanse 50mg and Zoloft 200mg for a year, and the picking never stopped. She began feeling increasing unstable on the Vyvanse in October, so we switched her meds to a non stimulant. She titrated up to 4mg of Intuniv, and went down to 150mg on her Zoloft and is feeling so much better. Her picking has not stopped, but is has decreased alot. Months ago when her picking was so bad we did go through months of cognitive behavioral therapy. It was good, and did teach her alternatives and coping techniques, but eventually she stopped using them. It is simply easier and more satisfying to pick. Anyway, it could be that the stims your son is on is greatly contributing to his anxiety, thus the picking. DD's psych told us that she rarely sees progress with picking with less than 200mg of Zoloft.Sounds like Trichotillomania, which is a hair pulling, skin picking, nail biting, impulse control disorder. I'm not sure if my daughters ADHD meds caused this or not but I think it contributed to it. Trich. is closely related to Tourettes and tics are listed among the possible side effects for some of the stimulant medications.
My daughter started ADHD meds when she was 6 and only pulled during the school year. (we did not medicate during the summers) At first, we thought that she was having some sort of allergic reaction to the meds. (ie-Rubbing her lashes off because her eyes itched.) Eventually we figured out what was happening. Then the pulling didn't stop when we stopped the meds. In middle school, the counsellor told me what this was and told me to get help for her. We tried therapy with a Trich. specialist and had some mild success, using bandaids as barriers. Eventually, my daughter just did not have the energy to use the technics to resist the urge. ADD/ADHD and sensory issues make it harder to control or stop.
In my opinion, her Trich. has grown to be her biggest issue/distraction. She now has no lashes or brows. Sometimes she has patches of hair missing from her head. Her fingers are raw from picking the skin off of them and she has scabs all over that she won't let heal. When doing homework, she is contantly picking and pulling which makes homework take forever....At school, she twirls her hair and picks split ends during lectures making it difficult to pay attention or take notes.
Maybe therapy would have been successful if we would have started sooner, before the Trich. got out of control. Best of luck to you.
I hope someone has an answer for this....
Currently taking: 40mg Vyvanse, 20mg Lexapro, 10 mg Adderall (booster in am and for homework) Neurofeedback Treatments
Does anyone know if Tenex could be helpful for anxiety and impulse control issues for an non-H ADhD teen? DD has tons of anxiety but I'm wondering if she would be too sleepy on Tenex since she is not the hyper type of ADHD?Not sure about that, but I would try it. It is honestly the only way you find out if it helps your dd.
I will let you know that the pills can be broken in half, if that is any help!!
that is how we started, with a half a pill.