Anyone have experience with PTSD?

atlb

Hi all! This is my first post on this board, and I am grasping at straws here, but I was wondering if anyone's child has ever gone through PTSD? My DD, Avery (4), had surgery a little over a month ago, and since then her behavior has drastically changed. Her surgeon believes that she has PTSD. I have been trying to cope with it on my own, but tonight I came to the realization that she needs counseling. It absolutely breaks my heart to make this decision, but I just can't do it alone anymore.

If you have had a similar experience, I would love to hear how it turned out. I am hoping to find a play therapist for her to see. I don't want to take her to a psychiatrist for fear that they will just push drugs on us.

TIA for any help you might be able to offer!

atlb

Thank you for the response. Oddly enough, my husband is in a PhD program, and his focus of study is PTSD and Traumatic Brain Inury. Unfortunately, the population he deals with are military veterans, so he isn't much help in this situation.

As far as specific behaviors, the one that concerns me most is that she is terrified to go to sleep. She used to go to bed at 7:00, every night, without fail. Since the surgery, the earliest she has fallen asleep is 1AM. Once she finally does fall asleep, within an hour or two she wakes up from either a nightmare or a night terror. This happens several times a night. She has not told me what the dreams are about or why she is afraid to fall asleep. At this point she is getting less than 4 hours of sleep (for a month strong) and it is wearing on both of us.

Also, her personality has changed completely. Of course, this could be from a lack of sleep. She went from being the happiest, easiest kid to a screaming, violent monster. She doesn't smile anymore. She doesn't want to play, go to dance class, ride her bike--anything. She also does not have an appetite.

This was her 10th surgery, so it really isn't anything new. But this one was a bit more complicated than the last few she's been through. Also, she was under anesthesia for about 10 hours, when they had only planned for 4. The surgeon told me that it was possible that she could have been semi-conscious at some point during the procedure. She did not visibly awaken, and they believe that they kept her well medicated, but still said they couldn't rule it out due to the length of the procedure.

My main fears with a psychiatrist are the medications, and the nature of the therapy. I don't want her to feel as if something is "wrong" with her. I know quite well how that feels and it is something I never want her to experience. We saw her pediatrician this morning, and she did give me some resources so I will check into those. I have also called a psychiatrist I saw in the past that has been in the business for 40 years, and I am hopeful he might be able to point me in the right direction.

Thank you for the advice. Some of it stung a little, but I do appreciate it.

atlb

I forgot something. She has been potty trained since 18 months. She had 1 accident her first day in underwear and not a single since--until now. She pees her pants multiple times a day. In the bed, on the rug, in the car--wherever she is. She used to go to the bathroom once a day. She would hold it all day long at school until she got home. Now she pees everywhere. We were in the bathroom last night drying off from her bath, and she literally peed right on the rug. Then she just broke down in tears.

It's just so upsetting because this isn't the girl I know :-(

luvmyboys12

The most effective treatment to trauma, and trauma can be whatever a person experiences it to be, it is not always what we think it has to be like abuse, war, violent crimes etc, is what is called Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT).  This is what is called an evidence based treatment which means it is based on research and shown to be highly effective (maybe your husband is doing it).  It is usually provided by somone specifically trained and supervised in it, ideally also someone who works with children.  The treatment teaches them skills to manage their emotional response to the trauma and then leads them into them talking about or doing a trauma narrative since processing the trauma and not letting them avoid it is the goal all the while they use the skills (ie. relaxation, deep breathing) to deal with the emotional response.  The response rate in kids that have had this treatment is amazing, they can be cured of PTSD diagnostic symptoms and no longer meet criteria for that diagnosis if that is what they have had.  I certainly hope medications are a last resort, given her medical experiences and current symptoms she needs a thorough mental health assessment by a trained person, probably not a pediatrician.  It could be several things but it is great you are being proactive in getting her help, sounds like you are a great mom.