Anxiety? - Madison,WI

She needs magnesium which works well for anxiety. Magnesium Malate is what I use, or you can use magnesium citrate. Give just before bed as it can impart sleepiness.. If she gets loose stools cut back the dose until comfortable...or...you can put magnesium chloride in a spray bottle and spray it on her skin and let it dry. You can find it online.

Hi S.,
Depending on your daughter's age, it is possible that she may be experiencing some anxiety. Anxiety is both hereditary and learned. So she may be sensing your anxiety and/or be predisposed to it genetically. If her worries are limited to a few situations, such as missing the bus, you can try to reassure her. For instance, you can remind her how much time she still has until the bus (depending on her age). If you notice that she freaks out about many different things and this interferes with activities, you can take her to a child psychologist. There are good treatments for anxiety and as far as psychological problems go, it is one of the more responsive problems to treat.Good luck!

My 8 yr old has had anxiety issues her whole life, but they became much easier to identify once she was in school. My husband does, too, and I was concerned for her. We leave extra time in the mornings because she will freak out about missing the bus, too. She will wait at the door fully ready for over 10 minutes still worrying she could miss the bus if she looked away for a second. We started an anxiety journal. We write notes back and forth basically. She's afraid to actually say aloud what's on her mind, but she might write something like, "I'm worried about school ending because I don't know who my teacher will be." For anything on her mind, I think the anxiety stems from fear of the unknown. She is MUCH better about the bus thing now - which peaked last year. I asked her what she thought would happen if she did miss the bus. At first she didn't know. So my follow-up statement was something like, "Well, that's something to worry about then...the not knowing part." So we talked it out. What could happen? Would she miss school if she missed the bus? No, I would take her. (If you aren't home, arrange a backup plan so she knows what really WOULD happen if she missed it.) We get silly about it sometimes to lighten the mood. Like I'll say, "Ok, you miss the bus and A) you're never allowed to go to school ever again and I get you a job at Starbucks, B) a talking dog walks by and asks if you'd like to ride on his back to school, or C) mom says oh well, get in the car, I'll take you today!" She likes doing that. For the bathroom thing, she probably is nervous and has to go. A lot of people are like that. Or maybe she's afraid that she'll have to go on the bus (is it a longer ride like my daughter's is?) Or maybe it's become part of her anxiety ritual. I think the most important thing is to talk to her and to accept her without getting anxious yourself over her anxiety. Otherwise, you'll both feed off of each other's anxiety and it will be hard to take a breath & relax.

some of us are hard wired towards anxiety. So do your best to give your daughter tools to help herself. Examples: Get up 15 minutes earlier so that you can get to the bus stop 15 minutes earlier with plans to play a game while you wait. (Let her have her last minute run to the bathroom without hurrying her along.) Fight your own stress. Tell her if she misses the bus what will happen..........my guess is that it won't be so terrible. You will take her in a car, or she will stay home. Be relaxed about those consequences and take them in your stride. Hopefully soon she will too.

When my son was anxious and afraid to go somewhere or do something I told him "it's okay to be nervous, but go anyway." It helped.

He, however, gets anxious sometimes still. We always know when he is anxious because he becomes oppositional and acts like a real bear. I just keep trying to teach him ways to deal with his stress. I even suggested meditation. He is 19 now and thought I was out of my mind! LOL!

Wow, my daughter has this same kind of problem with anxiety and the pee thing. We have to sometimes get out of the car go back in the house to let her try to pee again, I know it is her nerves, we have checked for anything physically wrong with her with several doctors. She is 6 and will be starting 1st grade soon, we are trying to calm her with going to visit the school early before the other kids are there, we are going to see a psychiatrist in a few weeks to see if there is anyting else we should be doing to help her through this(medication). it has interfered with her going places and she does not like feeling this way either. It all just started about 6 months ago not sure why(no big changes in our lives). But I also deal with anxiety which is pretty much under control now, the coulselor had told me to make sure mine in in check because kids usually know when we are worrying.. Good luck, if you find anything that helps let me know. A.

S.,

If she worries about things to the point that it interferes with her life, then seek help from a board certified child psychiatrist. Especially since she seems to have a ritutual conected to her focus (using the bathroom before she gets on the bus) she would benefit from treatment.

If you have anxiety, it is quite possible that she picked up the genetic tendancy from you, it runs in families.

The good news is that treatment for anxiety is very effective and produces very good results.

M.