My 7 year old daughter seems to have developed general anxiety that occurs in the evenings.
It began last summer (2009) with a wavy feeling, a "wierd" taste in her mouth, and her legs and arms felt "wierd". It was very intermittant. Now, she has progressed to every night. She reports not feeling "calm" and "wierd" and cannot sleep, startles easily, is over sensitive emotionally (all this is in the evenings), appears to be trying to find a reason for her distress, still reports her legs and arms feeling shakey or wavy, but says she does not know the words to describe it. She frequently says she has a headache on the right side of her head. She is endurning it like a trooper, but I am afraid this train is going to jump the track. For now it is only in the evenings, but I fear it will seep into her days as well if I cannot find what has caused this. I have covered every subject with her to see if she is worrying about something. She is now to the point where she gets annoyed that I am pinning it on the idea that she is worrying. She maintains that she does not have any problems and is not worrying. She has purple circles under her eyes and I have noticed the joy has gone out of her in the evenings. It is so sad, I want to cry sometimes for her.
Anyone have any idea how to deal with this or what an alternative explanation might be?
I would recomend talking to a physician about this. Have her checked out really good physically before you take the mental/emotional route. She should be seen by a doctor.
Pat
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Chee
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 at 03:11 PM
psychoward1
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 at 04:55 PM
I would also look into food allergies since they can cause a lot of sporadic symptoms that you generally wouldnt consider related to allergies.
Pat
Hello Chee,
I'm sorry to read this, but you do explain the situation very well. Let me first say that your daughter has not developed 'general anxiety' if it only appears to occur in the evening. But before we even approach the notion of a psychological cause you really do need to rule out physical causes, so a trip to the doctor is in order.
The fact that the focus is always in the evening does make me wonder why? Is your daughter taking any medication? Also, have you noticed anything about her mood? Evenings just may say something about access to parental attention.
There is certainly no harm in a neurological check and with the symptoms you describe (taste, arms and legs) it's best to take these on board first. It would be quite natural for your daughter to feel anxious if she is having these sensations
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Chee
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 at 03:09 PM
We started with an ophthamologist, then an ENT, our next appoint. is with a neurologist, but it is a month away. She is an only child and we are fortunate enough that I can stay at home following a career of 21 years (older mom). She is funny, athletic, has a fantastic dog, does well in school, has a few good friends and we feel she has adequate access to us ie; we are generally available and she is included in most things. She is not overindulged. She was taking Claritin, but I discontinued it 2 weeks ago just in case. It was thought that her sinuses were swollen and putting preassure on her eustaceon (sp?) tubes thereby causing the wavy-ness and other odd sensations. The ENT says no. Mood tends to be over-animated/active at night because (she says) she is trying to avoid thinking about the "icky feeling". For several days she keeps hinting that she has bronchitis (yes, it is odd - she has never had it, the neighbor did). I asked her why she keeps talking about it and she says because it is sometimes hard to breath. She does not appear to be having any difficulty (ever) so I am wondering if it is imagined as is so often the case with people with anxiety. Thank you for your thoughtful response, we are hopeful of a reasonable resolution as we pursue all avenues.
Thanks, we are currently taking that route while things continue to deteriorate.