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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible tale of courage, intelligence and perseverance, August 25, 2009
This review is from: Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD (Hardcover)
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What could be more compelling than the story of a mom who simply will not accept that her son's suddden onset OCD/Tourette's Syndrome is irreversible? At the age of twelve years old, Sammy began developing symptoms of OCD that grew in intensity over a fairly short period of time until they seemed to control all phases of his life. Sammy's mother, and his two brothers, were forced to watch helplessly as he went from being a normal young boy, who liked school, loved playing Dungeons and Dragons and was an acknowledged math wizard, to one who was positively paralyzed by his need to engage in ritualistic and repetitive behaviors that controlled his every movement; who could not touch a door handle or a telephone or virtually anything else; who could not attend to basic matters of hygiene or change his clothes, and who could not eat to the point of becoming emaciated and dehydrated. As Sammy's mom put her entire life on hold to attend to Sammy's condition, and even as Sammy bravely tried to continue going to school and to his math events (it could take him hours to get from the house to the car, and then from the car to his ultimate destination), eventually, Sammy became virtually housebound, and his mother with him. Sammy's mom was told that he had OCD (later he was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome as well), a difficult and probably irreversible mental illness which might get worse or might get better and was given various medications to help deal with its effects.
Sammy continued to deteriorate, and mom's research into her son's condition seemed to confirm that there was little that could be done for him. She continued to take him to doctors and continued to follow their advice concerrning medications, all the while watching her son develop new and more complex compulsions. Then by happenstance, a friend of a family member related to Sammy's mom her own story of a similar malady that had attacked her son, and its relationship to an undiagnosed strep infection. The remainder of the story focuses upon the efforts of Sammy's mom to first, confirm that her son suffered a similar strep condition (known as PANDAS) and second, to have the medical community recognize her plight and help her find a treatment that would help him. Courage and perseverance abound in this heroic tale, but you will also find a fair dose of mom's intelligence fueling her quest. What is truly amazing is the way the author continued her search for answers and her battle with the medical community while always attending first and foremost to her son's increasingly difficult demands on her time and attention. The "ups and downs" of improvements followed by lapses back into compulsions and emotional breakdowns could easily have leveled a weaker or less determined person.
I loved the way this book was written; it is a straightforward and honest account that rarely dwells directly upon the emotional trauma that the author suffered. When those emotions surface, however, they are all the more compelling. The stark simplicity with which the story is told underscores how heartbreaking Sammy's terrible transformation must have been for those who had to witness it, as well as the guarded nature of his family's reactions to his various improvements along the way. It's never really about mom, though, it's always about Sammy and his brothers. At one point in her journey, Ms. Maloney made a promise to God that her battle would not stop with her son's illness. She wasn't sure what she meant when she made that promise, but obviously her wrenching tale of her family's struggle is part of the payback. It will open your eyes to some truths about the medical profession that you might never have wanted to believe. Highly, highly recommended.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captures the Parental and Familial Chaos and Pain Brought on by OCD, September 22, 2009
This review is from: Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD (Hardcover)
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Not a book that would be of interest to everyone, but it is a very well written, accurate account of what it is like to watch your child fall prey to OCD. It's also an excellent portrait of what it's like to be a mother of a child with OCD. I've lived it... and I found myself nodding, crying and saying "Yes!" over and over again while reading this book.
Desperate to save your child, with or without the help of others, you will do anything to figure out how to help them and save your family from crumbling around you. That quest is an exhausting, daunting, uncertain one that may lead you to fall into a pit of desperation when exhaustion and frustration overcome you. This book reminds you time and time again (if you are a parent of a child with OCD) that you are not alone in your feelings. I liked that about the book and it made me think I'd like the author if I met her because the thoughts and feelings she shares in the book are 'real'.
The author: A strong woman- a good mother - an advocate for her child - an attorney with a bright mind. The author gives hope to parents of children with OCD and through her own struggle illuminates the need for two things. First, the need to question doctors if what they are doing isn't working and second, the importance of being an advocate for looking outside the box when it comes to an answer.
If you are the parent or a guardian of a child with OCD... read this book. While what saved Sammy might not 'save' your child, it's certainly a good story and excellent information to keep in mind when looking to manage OCD.
My own experience with OCD:
My daughter showed signs of OCD following a traumatic incident when she was 5, whereby she went into anaphylactic shock. A severe allergic reaction seemed to be the turning point which allowed OCD into our lives. A previously joyous child turned into a fearful, socially reclusive oddity in first grade. Despite being considered 'gifted' academically, she was unable to open doors (because of germs), saw things in her food (black spots... so she stopped eating), couldn't sleep, washed her hands until they were raw and bleeding, asked the same questions over and over again - never accepting the answer, and developed many other gut-wrenching compulsions as her obsessive thinking continued.
We were lucky as our pediatrician is an exceptionally good one who when I took my daughter to her said "We need to do something. We are losing her." Counseling followed, but being so young, it wasn't easy to determine whether that was working or not. For a year and a half she didn't improve very much, and then got markedly worse when a very stressful event occurred in our lives. Another trip to the pediatrician yielded a new plan of attack. Within a week my daughter was seen by a psychiatrist who specializes in children and after a few months it was determined that therapy alone would not stop the progression of OCD. Zoloft was used and within 2 weeks my daughter's compulsions slowed and she said "I feel 'lighter' and my head isn't telling me to do things all the time."
With the help of 1mg of Melatonin each night, sleeping soundly had become the norm once again and her joyful spirit returned. She has been on Zoloft for 3 years now, taking a relatively small dose to manage her thoughts and compulsions. She continues therapy; once every 3 months or so, but rarely gives in to compulsions now and freely talks about OCD and how it has affected her life.
Stress and lack of sleep are the two things that always bring OCD to the forefront for her, so we try to eliminate as much of it as possible. She's just begun middle school this year and seems to be doing well, even with the additional stress of a new school, social anxiety and some demanding advanced classes.
Occasionally I'll notice a behavior or she'll say something to which I will respond 'Is that OCD talking or is that you?' On medication she is able to pause and respond normally.
For my child, unlike with Sammy, Zoloft worked. I am told that as she matures she will change hormonally and may not even need medication when she's in her late teens to early twenties. I hope for that, but in all honesty I'm just relieved that we found people to help her - and yes, our family - to manage the OCD monster that invaded our lives so unexpectedly 6 years ago.
I did blame myself at one time for the OCD. Wondering if I had failed as a parent to protect her - just as the author, Ms. Beth Alison Maloney, describes feeling in this book. In the end what I've learned is that to continue to fight for your child is the important thing, and to never lose sight of hope, which is what I liked so much about Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD."
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A New Theory of Mental Illness, September 26, 2009
This review is from: Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
As a clinical psychologist, I was trained to believe that mental illness is not "caught." Individuals may be born with a certain genetic predisposition or they may acquire their disorder as a result of difficult life experiences, but since psychoanalysis there has been no accepted theory of infection or transmission. (Even now, as this book will tell you, there is still not wide acceptance.)
Then along comes this important, well-written account. The author, an attorney who serves as a guardian ad litem on behalf of neglected and abused children, started to notice that her 12-year-old son Sammy was exhibiting some strange behaviors: stepping over invisible walls, holding his breath, spinning and jumping, not being able to eat when he saw bare feet, etc. Things escalated to the point where it would take him perhaps two hours to go from his house to the car and another couple of hours to get from the car to his intended destination. He could no longer tolerate people touching him or the tasks of personal hygiene. He could not open doors or flush the toilet. He could not eat food as he did before, bringing him to the brink of emaciation and dehydration. Eventually he became housebound, and his mother along with him. When she sought medical help, Sammy was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and later Tourette`s Syndrome. She was told that his condition might wax and wane, but that it was basically incurable.
Then a friend of her mother's told Maloney--who was suffering by now under the strain of Sammy's demanding care--that her own son had similar symptoms for ten years due to an undiagnosed strep infection. A blood test confirmed this diagnosis for Sammy and helped to identify his condition as PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). Children with this disorder typically show a sudden onset of symptoms including motor or vocal tics, obsessions and/or compulsions. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is unknown, but is suspected to occur when the body produces antibodies to fight the bacterial infection of strep and mistakenly attacks the brain instead.
Armed with this information, Maloney marshaled her prodigious research, analytic, documentation, and advocacy skills on Sammy's behalf. She cut a swath through those doctors who were ill-equipped or even resistant to work with this diagnosis, until she found an outstanding developmental pediatrician and child psychiatrist who helped put together a treatment protocol consisting of vaious antibiotics and other drugs. Immediate progress was apparent as soon as treatment was initiated, letting everyone know they were on the right track, but there were setbacks and adjustments that had to be made along the way. Eventually, however, Sammy recovered and has now been symptom-free for five years. He went on to pursue his genius in math and to resume being the happy and well-adjusted kid he was before his illness.
Bottom line, do I accept the contagion theory? I don't have enough information to say yes or no. But I do like the fact that this book stimulates new questions for mental health professionals to ponder and investigate.
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