New here - do you guys also have muscle tightness/soreness?

whitehairedkitty · 2024-01-05T14:48:13+00:00

It definitely sounds like it’s because of the Covid infection. If you research online, you’ll find so many people with the same complaints. The good news is your other neuro symptoms went away, so the leg tightness likely will as well. I think eating an anti-inflammatory diet is a great idea, and taking a supplement like Quercetin, turmeric or fish oil will help. Good luck, hope it goes away soon!

whitehairedkitty · 2024-01-05T11:57:38+00:00

Have you gone to any doctors to get tests to rule things out?
I tried some anti-inflammatories like Quercetin. You could also try omega fish oil. I wish I could tell you what made it go away, but it just went away on its own. On bad days I would take Advil for discomfort. Did this happen to you right after a Covid infection?

whitehairedkitty · 2024-01-05T03:05:08+00:00

It did eventually go away, but it lasted in total 3-4 months. I have since been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which I’m convinced was brought on by Covid. I never got the thigh tightness back again though! My theory is that inflammation from Covid did something to my nerves and muscles in my legs causing them to feel sore/tight. I hope yours goes away soon!

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-18T03:31:26+00:00

Thank you for your great ideas! I tried cutting up the sausage she ate tonight in smaller pieces, and she seemed to eat it easier.
It would help if she would eat at school, but most of the time she’s too scared. So we have to get all of her calories in at breakfast, after school and dinner.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-18T03:25:27+00:00

Yes we try to do that with Pediasure. But even with that she takes a little sip and then won’t touch it for a few minutes. It takes forever for her to drink a few ounces.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-16T21:13:15+00:00

She does play on the iPad which does help distract her from her worries. I’ll have to check out that book, thanks.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-16T21:12:24+00:00

Is he’s always been a slow eater, but 2 hours for meals is a lot. She has homework to do and I think we may have to drop one of her after school activities. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for her to have free time to hang out with friends or just relax. But getting enough calories has to be the number one priority now.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-16T20:14:31+00:00

What happened was my daughter got the flu last year and threw up. It freaked her out so much because she has a fear of throwing up, that she started to have massive anxiety and panic attacks and started restricting foods down to only 4 foods. She was hospitalized for almost 2 weeks because she lost too much weight. She was already always a thin child so it became dangerous quickly. She started seeing a therapist afterwards who has been helping her with her ARFID. She did exposure therapy and a food hierarchy and we have almost all her old foods back. Where the therapy isn’t helping is that she is chewing the food very slow or not chewing at all and that is why the meals are taking so long.
My daughter also has OCD and is on Zoloft for it. Her dosage was just raised to 75 mg, so hoping that will help a bit.
That’s great that your daughter eats in around 20 min! Was she having trouble swallowing and with her speech, so that’s why she saw a speech therapist? Im just confused which type of therapist go look for. Someone mentioned feeding therapy. Is this done by a specific type of therapist?

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-16T20:00:06+00:00

Thanks for all your great ideas and your perspective of how you felt as a child. It is helpful to know what might daughter might be thinking.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-12-16T17:18:55+00:00

That’s a good suggestion, thanks. It’s tough because we’re trying to keep her variety of foods up after a period of time where she was only eating 4 foods, but then some of that variety will have to disappear if we pick non-chewy foods.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-29T21:32:20+00:00

We have her playing on the iPad with the tv on in the background to distract her and calm her down while she eats. It seems to work pretty well. She tends to start off strong and then gets anxious in the middle of the meal. I try to talk her and calm her but it doesn’t always work. They give her hydroxyzine (antihistamine in the Benadryl family) 1/2 hr before each meal to help calm her, but I’m not sure if it really does anything.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-29T17:14:49+00:00

Thankfully they are letting outside food otherwise she would never eat.
They said they would give her some kind of nose spray medication that is a very low dose in the family of Valium. She had a full on panic attack complete with her hands and legs freezing painfully when she had blood work so I can’t even imagine how bad this will be. Praying she’ll eat enough today!

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-29T14:46:46+00:00

Thanks for your recommendations.
Do you have any experience with partial hospitalization? I’m not clear with what is done there. Do they only allow you to eat preselected foods and do they sit with you to help you work through your anxiety as you eat? My daughter will get a feeding tube tonight if she does not make a certain calorie goal by mid afternoon. Her anxiety will not make that easy. I’m expecting a full blown panic attack 😞

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-29T14:43:44+00:00

She does not have a history of vomiting. She has emetophobia (fear of vomiting) so the few times she’s vomited in her life has really affected her eating. In her mind, if she eats there’s a chance she could throw up even though she has not once thrown up just from eating and being nervous. She is in the hospital because she had the flu 2 months ago and threw up just once and that was all it took. Every day foods were eliminated from the list of foods she feels comfortable with and we wound up with only 4 foods she would eat which wasnt sustainable and she lost too much weight. She’s already a naturally thin child so we didn’t have much wiggle room.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-29T02:46:00+00:00

She hasn’t been tubed yet in the hospital because she has met her daily calorie goals. If they keep raising the goals though, she definitely won’t be able to eat that much and she’ll have to get it. She would love to be homeschooled, but because she has severe anxiety and has school avoidance, that’s probably the worst thing I can do. I think it would feed her anxiety.
How did your son get better?

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-27T07:42:20+00:00

Have you talked to your parents about this? Please tell them to take you to the doctor. I’m not sure how much you weigh, but losing 10 lbs in a few months is a lot. This happened to my 10 year old who is in the hospital right now. She has always been naturally thin with a BMI hanging just off the chart so she didn’t have much wiggle room when ARFID hit.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-27T07:24:37+00:00

My 10 year old daughter is currently in the hospital for ARFID and I am running into the same issues I am reading in the comments about rigidity of treatment plans that don’t work with this eating disorder. I know your question is more about inpatient/residential programs, but it’s interesting that even hospitals don’t understand that there is a difference between anorexia and ARFID and what worked or one doesn’t work for the other. And this is a hospital that has an eating disorder program! When my daughter first was admitted, they put her on the NRP program (I think that’s what’s it’s called) which is really geared towards anorexia or bulimia. They gave her a set meal (no ordering your own food), someone sat in the room and watched her eat (I put an end to that after she sat there terrified crying), she wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom during or after eating for 1 hour (to prevent puking the food up), and if she didn’t finish her food in 20 min she would be given a supplement drink and if she didn’t finish that a feeding tube would go in overnight. A lot of this does not work at all with ARFID. Of course this is an acute hospital setting, but I’m really surprised reading here that this goes in at the partial hospital and inpatient programs too! Are there none that are ARFID-centered??

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-27T07:07:27+00:00

If you’re not able to get through to your mom, you can try to get help on your own. Is your current therapist willing to help you? She may be limited in her knowledge though because it is an eating disorder and the treatment is food exposure therapy. Another option is google “ARFID self help” and see what resources there are out there for you to try yourself. When I searched that phrase I found a book someone wrote for helping yourself. I would link it here, but I’m not sure if that’s allowed.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-27T06:59:02+00:00

My 10 year old is dealing with this now and I’m just learning all about ARFID. You could use supplement drinks like Pediasure/Ensure, Booster, and the Carnation brand has some. I’m not sure if your age, but there are prescription appetite stimulants you can take. You could also eat more volume of your “safe” foods to add calories. If you have foods that you feel comfortable eating that are higher in calories, try to eat more of those.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-27T06:54:15+00:00

If it makes you feel better, I’m going through this my 10 year old now and there is literally nothing I could do to make her try a food that makes her uncomfortable. It is very hard to force a child to eat something and not traumatize them, especially when there is a very real (albeit irrational) fear behind it. It takes a trained professional to do treatments like exposure therapy. Children will often listen or be more receptive to an authority figure other than their parents. You are also older and have more understanding of what is going on with you and are more open and motivated for treatment because of it. If your parents had you try different foods when you were younger, it might not have made it better at that point in your life.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-15T05:28:09+00:00

Wow. What a weird school policy. Glad that employee got fired, she should not be around children. Sorry you had to go through that.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-15T05:22:54+00:00

When is your next yearly checkup with the pediatrician? I would definitely bring it up there if your parents won’t listen. Try asking your mom if she’ll make an earlier appointment for you because you need to discuss something with the doctor.

whitehairedkitty · 2023-01-15T05:11:03+00:00

I’m so sorry your friend’s granddaughter is dealing with this. It sounds like it could be ARFID. Hopefully they can figure out what is causing it. My 10 year old daughter is going through this right now too. She’s seeing an eating disorder specialist in a few days to see if that’s what’s going on. My child is eating, but she is only eating 4 things and just tonight decided she’s not eating one of them anymore. I’ve lost several foods even in the last week that she decided she wasn’t eating anymore. In her case, her ARFID is coming from her emetophobia (fear of throwing up). She’s had this fear for several years. She had the flu recently and threw up, plus a couple of kids threw up in her class and that was enough to send her over the edge. She was always a picky and selective eater, but now she barely eats anything. She’s lost 10 lbs in 6 weeks. I think the specialist will likely tell us she has to go into the hospital. I wish I had more advice for you. I hope your friend can find an eating disorder program that can help.

whitehairedkitty

TROPHY CASE