"Saving Sammy"
I have been wanting to read the book Saving Sammy, Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD, by Beth Maloney for quite some time now. I checked it out from the library last week and read it in two nights. The cover has the following quote: "A remarkable journey of a mother's perseverance to save her son may well hold the key to curing the lives of millions."
The story starts with a typical boy who begins to have odd behaviors- not wanting to open the front door, jumping over cracks on the sidewalk, not wearing jackets, then refusing showers...a spiral of events lead the mother to take her son to several specialists, all who diagnose him with OCD and Tourette's (for his tics and involuntary movements). He is given antidepressants which make him worse, and not until a doctor suggests having his strep titers ran, which ended up being off the charts high. They had gone over two years without an accurate diagnosis. They started treating with antibiotics, and he drastically improved. He went from not being able to attend school and basically being home bound due to his extreme OCD, and returned to school an honors student.
In her last chapter, she described talking with a friend whose son was diagnosed PDD-NOS nine years ago. In listening to his symptoms, she asked if his titers had ever been run. It turns out he had an active Lyme infection, and once treated, was on the road to recovery.
Beth wrote the following: "We must not rely on anyone else to ask...questions for us and we must keep asking them until we are satisfied with the answers. Because while I do not think that every mental illness is due to infection the possibility of an invasive cause must truly be ruled out first. While I appreciate the patience of doctors who are exploring and researching, the bottom line is that my son and the children like him simply do not have time to wait."
In one chapter, a situation reminded me of the time Peter took Hunter to the doctor's office and the on-call doctor didn't think he had strep. Beth wrote that "doctors are scientists. They like to rely on studies. Some doctors get so invested in their positions that they have a hard time when a different truth stares them right in the face. Especially if that truth can be dismissed as 'anecdotal.'" She wrote about a former doctor that said they still wouldn't test for strep if a patient came in with sudden onset OCD. That day in the office, last February, where the doctor told us he didn't have strep due to the absence of clinical symptoms, was completely surprised to see a positive rapid strep test.
Sometimes the science doesn't make sense...so we need to go on what is right in front of our eyes.
I loved every page of this book. I highly recommend the read- it demonstrates the lengths we go to as parents to help our children. I still get flips in my stomach when I explain PANDAS to someone new, for I never know if the glazed over look of disbelief or questioning will appear. It was nice to read a book about someone with the same determination we have- and how needed it is to heal these children.
She "Saved Sammy"; we are "Healing Hunter."
The story starts with a typical boy who begins to have odd behaviors- not wanting to open the front door, jumping over cracks on the sidewalk, not wearing jackets, then refusing showers...a spiral of events lead the mother to take her son to several specialists, all who diagnose him with OCD and Tourette's (for his tics and involuntary movements). He is given antidepressants which make him worse, and not until a doctor suggests having his strep titers ran, which ended up being off the charts high. They had gone over two years without an accurate diagnosis. They started treating with antibiotics, and he drastically improved. He went from not being able to attend school and basically being home bound due to his extreme OCD, and returned to school an honors student.
In her last chapter, she described talking with a friend whose son was diagnosed PDD-NOS nine years ago. In listening to his symptoms, she asked if his titers had ever been run. It turns out he had an active Lyme infection, and once treated, was on the road to recovery.
Beth wrote the following: "We must not rely on anyone else to ask...questions for us and we must keep asking them until we are satisfied with the answers. Because while I do not think that every mental illness is due to infection the possibility of an invasive cause must truly be ruled out first. While I appreciate the patience of doctors who are exploring and researching, the bottom line is that my son and the children like him simply do not have time to wait."
In one chapter, a situation reminded me of the time Peter took Hunter to the doctor's office and the on-call doctor didn't think he had strep. Beth wrote that "doctors are scientists. They like to rely on studies. Some doctors get so invested in their positions that they have a hard time when a different truth stares them right in the face. Especially if that truth can be dismissed as 'anecdotal.'" She wrote about a former doctor that said they still wouldn't test for strep if a patient came in with sudden onset OCD. That day in the office, last February, where the doctor told us he didn't have strep due to the absence of clinical symptoms, was completely surprised to see a positive rapid strep test.
Sometimes the science doesn't make sense...so we need to go on what is right in front of our eyes.
I loved every page of this book. I highly recommend the read- it demonstrates the lengths we go to as parents to help our children. I still get flips in my stomach when I explain PANDAS to someone new, for I never know if the glazed over look of disbelief or questioning will appear. It was nice to read a book about someone with the same determination we have- and how needed it is to heal these children.
She "Saved Sammy"; we are "Healing Hunter."
Comments
Post a Comment