What happened to my little girl?

It feels unbelievably strange to not post once or even twice a day, but I have been hit with a wave of panic attacks from Monkey and she seems to be digressing. This issue with my family is most important, so you will have to excuse my absence from the blog world. Sorry in advance for the terrible spelling, usage, and grammer.



Back to Monkey (my 8 year old daughter- if you are tuning in for the first time)

We have fought her anxiety and panic for 2 years now, and have tried just about everything. As some of you know, I did not want to medicate my 8 year old. I believe that medication should be reserved for situations where the disorder is prohibiting the child from daily necessary tasks or if the child becomes a danger to themselves of towards others.



Monkey is not able to attend school and misses often. Her fear keeps her from going to the movies, restaurants, church, and grocery stores. The list keeps getting longer and more isolating. She is in fear at all times about every possible thing that can happen at any given time. She has more fears and worries then many adults. She is afraid in her own house, to be out of our site. and must constantly be yelling "mommy?" to make sure I am near.



Many of my friends and family would find this hard to believe considering the child that she once was. This is a child who on the first day of pre-k walked off and jumped right in to play, only to realize we were leaving when we said "we are leaving now..." she waved and went on playing. This is the same child that has been said to "never meet a stranger," and wants to know the waiters name, so that she can call them by name. At the zoo, when the staff ask "anyone have any questions?" Monkey ALWAYS has a question and then will go on and on with more questions. She is usually the first to volunteer or raise her hand when she hears "anyone want to help?"



What I tell myself. What happened to my child? Nothing. There is nothing "wrong" with her, but she will have to work through this before she can get back to who she really is.



It is with the advise of both her psychologist and psychiatrist that we will begin medication today for her panic attacks and anxiety disorder in order to get her "calm" enough to even begin coping and self controlling techniques. Our goal is for this to be short term. We have no real choice since she is so irrational, un-trusting, and uncontrollable when she has these "episodes" of panic.



Time will only tell and we have at least 2 weeks before we see "progress" Im keeping my fingers...and toes crossed.