13 year old DD has a fear of choking. She is starving herself.

[Goober]

Going to Dr tomorrow.
She is frightenning me as she is losing weight and was skinny to start with.

Hello Goober. I'm sorry to hear about your DD. My DD is currently waiting for an appointment with CAMHS due to a vomiting phobia which is now affecting her life so badly and she is only 9. It is always tricky with things like this, particularly when they involve food so I think you are definitely doing the right thing. I think it's a good idea to go the the doctors as I put it off too long thinking she would grow out of it as time passed but actually she has got worse. Good luck at the doctors and I hope you get the help your poor DD (any you) need. It's so stressful and desperately worrying being the Mum to a child with these sorts of problems and I really understand how you feel with the meal time issues. The amount of food my DDeats would not keep a mouse alive some days.

Result! Pancakes are good!

Hopefully she will manage that again today.

Had tears over breakfast again. Made her some readybrek (nothing to chew/get stuck in throat/choak on logic). Over 30 mins she managed a tablespoon full.
Told her we are having enchiladas tonight she said she likes them. Not doing pancakes again.
I went to do the weekly shop and got her some mini chocolate bars, yogurt drinks and some smoothies to try again.
My 2 boys will be jealous.
Dr this evening.

I hope it goes well.

Good luck at the doc, goober.

Good luck Goober. Hope the GP is helpful.

How did you get on at the Doctors, Goober?

How are things today.

Dr was great.
He spent 30 mins with us asking lots of questions and listenning to DD.
He wants her to have some blood tests just to rule out the serious illnesses, which I will organise for next week.
Also said that she needs to be seen by our local adolescent psychologists.
He spoke to DD explaining that she MUST eat or there will be further health problems. She agreed, BUT in practice CAN'T eat!
He said she is 10lbs underweight.
Until we saw him I don't think she realised how serious it was. She cried when we left.

Nabster: I am a slow typer. I was just typing that as you posted that last comment.

Today she is just the same, refusing anything.

Can you puree stuff for her? Go back to babyhood as it where. A pain, but she might be able to handle it.

Smash, very liquidy and then start adding more nourishing things to it like a bit of chicken soup?

I'd thought of this Jux.
It is not lumps that bother her it is swallowing altogether. Tonihjt we are having sausage mash veg etc. I offered to puree it for her and put in a bowl. She laughed at me. Will offer again later though.
This morning, again I gave her some very runny redybrek with new yogurt drink. Altogether she consumed less than a tablespoon of redybrek and 1/4 cup of drink.

I have no advice to offer Goober but I wanted to send positive vibes to you and your dd - I hope she feels better about food soon

Can she drink?

Thanks Yurtgirl.
and thankyou to everybody who has posted.

i know this is elementary, goober, but you have checked that her glands aren't swollen, haven't you? i had glandular fever at that age and it was a nightmare to swallow stuff, very painful.

She drinks lots of water - especially with food.
The yogurt drink I gave her this morning was "too thick" (it wasn't) so she had a glass of water with it.

Yes, I checked her glands, so did Dr.

Have just come across this thread and am so sorry that you are going through this Goober. I haven't had the same experience but my DD2 has been ill for a year and needed building up (she was very thin beforehand). We found Nestle Build Up very good, it is a nutritional drink but full of vitamins and calories. Just mix with milk and is exactly like milk shake - chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Can be bought at chemists or some supermarkets.

I do hope you have some joy - good luck

Goober-Get her to drink milk instead of the water-or milkshake if she does not like the taste of milk on its own.

As I said earlier in the thread, there is a condition where the muscles actually go into spasm when you try to swallow. Although it is psychological in cause the effect is physical and can be very frightening.

How long before she is seen by the psychologists?

How about skimmed milk and then start putting baby rice in it? Really go back to basics?

Hi Goober - what kind of environment is she eating in (or not)? I had some issues with eating, including gagging on food, when I was younger, and I found eating in an environment where I was distracted (watching tv for example) was much much better than at a table where I felt everyone was watching me, which added to the stress.

Really hope this gets better soon.

HTH

Goober - was going to CAT you but your settings wont accept it. Used to have same phobia as a child, my email if you want more detail - [email protected]

Hi Goober what a difficult problem.
can you ask the gp to refer you to the hospital dietitian for all inclusive drinks which are nutritionally balanced.My dd has crohns disease and she was given these before diagnosis and they are cartons of drinks.My dd currently has a specialist drink that contains all aspects of diet and is a treatment on its own[with no food] for crohns in children.

Fear of swalowing is common as part of a general anxiety problem and as such is better if confronted.So if she is at any point happy to eat onething,try to get extra things in after.
Has anything triggered it like a tv programme like casualty,or a choking episode involving her or friend?
Can she drink water ok?

Goober - sorry to hear what your DD is going through.

I know you have been to see the GP and waiting for test results to exclude physical causes of your DD symptoms.

However, it seems to me that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) might be ideal for your daughter.

Here is a link:
CBT

Try to resist your daughter being given something like Prozac or other similar drug to relieve her anxiety. It is not a long term solution.

I had several sessions of CBT - although it turned out I really did have a physical problem that could not be cured by CBT.

However, I found the CBT training I had was very useful in dealing with stress.

Young teenage girls like your DD are under a great deal of stress from the modern world. Moving to a new school, physical changes to her body and dealing with relationships as well as perhaps academic pressures could all perhaps be 'triggers' but CBT would aim to help her with the 'fear of choking' itself rather than dignose and deal the trigger cause.

Have a look at the link above and Google CBT before you go and see the GP and talk to him/her about it. Sadly GPs tend to reach for Prozac as a quick and easy cure but many GPs do not know about CBT.

It would probably require a refferal to a psychiatrist and then on to a psychologist to administer the CBT training.

All the best - this is a horrible thing to happen to your DD and you.

i don't think gps can prescribe ads for adolescents any more because of the risk of suicide,they can only be given by a psychiatrist under strict supervision