Emotional Disregulation specifically when Sick?

[momlife7]

My son has always been super emotional anytime he gets sick ever since he was little so this is not a new thing that we are experiencing. BUT during last school year now into school year officially after all the Covid isolation I feel like he’s been sick so much and every time it’s the same old story with him just being unreasonable.

We try to be patient with him because he doesn’t really have meltdowns any other time so it’s always right before or while sick and it’s just really exhausting kind of taking its toll on the whole family this go around.

Have tried the gentle approach like we know you don’t feel good and I’m sorry that you don’t feel good but you can’t keep yelling at everyone just lay down and relax and let us know what we can do for you, etc

Anyone else experienced this and have any tips

He is 6 and understands hes sick but seemingly has no control when hes not feeling good. Cries about everything, protests things, gets mad about things he normally wouldn’t.

[LAJ12345]

Sounds like anxiety to me. This sounds very much like my husband who has Parkinson’s. Before diagnosis he often felt sick and fluey and behaved like this. It is avoidance behaviour and his sickness was due to anxiety about having to do something he was dreading. Threatening, bullying , lecturing didn’t work at all. Now we know what the problem is I have tried to take the pressure off and he takes a very small amount of clonazapam, 0.5 mg split over the day plus he is on Hardys daily essential nutrients which really helped his anxiety so most days he is much better. Also changing his diet to remove all sugar and gluten and additives helped. Any stressful situation makes him sick again though.

I’d try the vitamins and diet changes and see if it helps on a child, plus trying to de escalate stressful situations.

[momlife7]

So you bring up a good point and he has had minor anxiety previous in regards to example first time losing a tooth it was very dramatic leading up to it then it happened and he was like oh cool no biggie. As far as being sick i cant pinpoint what the anxieties would be since he doesn’t really know a lot about illness disease and death yet

it seems like hes miserable and he wants us all to know and to also be miserable but I think at 6 seems like thatd be an advanced thought

We do some quality supplements and avoid dyes and artificial stuff but didn’t think about gluten

Thank you

[Trying1978]

Not much to add that's helpful in terms of direct advice except to say YES. We have a 6yo ADHD boy who's had non stop viruses & ear infections, etc since the end of September & the whole emotional & behavioral side has gotten SO much harder. I think it's partially because it's hard to convince a sick 6 yo to do "feeling exercises," lol. We've done 2 extra med check visits with Dr just to be sure on that end. But I was just googling this the other day. Hang in there; we are definitely living through this right now, too!

[momlife7 in reply to Trying1978]

Thank you its nice to hear we are not alone ❤️

[Hidden]

Worth looking into PANS and PANDAS as well. It does then change Children’s behaviour when they are unwell.

My son used to have lots of strep infections and green/yellow discharge from nose pretty much all year long since he was a toddler, we did all assays for allergies (no allergies), then at 6 years old amazing doctor allergist/ immunologist suggested nasal steroids for 6 months and then annually for 3 months in periods when this flares up. We only had to do 2 years of this regimen, he stopped getting flu/colds completely all together. If he gets runny nose- it’s like for a couple of days clear discharge that doesn’t bother him.

Before these treatments every time he was unwell we had behavioural presentation and he was unwell with colds all the time, even in the summer.

We also took him to neurologist specialising in PANs/PANDAS and he was on oral antibiotic daily for 2 months - this was adjacent to the nasal steroid. It worked.

So now he’s got ADHD and is medicated daily for this but at least he’s well physically and doesn’t get colds and flu and nasal discharge all the time.

Just do what feels right for your child in terms of medical investigations. Yes, most young kids get sick ‘all the time’ but you know your child best and you know when it’s actually a bit more than that. And yes, most kids act out behaviourally when they are unwell, but let’s say if you compare with your other child and you see that it is a bit different then it’s worth checking it out.