My son suffers with panic attacks.

[Joshua1]

Hello, I am new to this site and found it while searching for support for my son(14) who has sufferered panic attacks, social phobia and anxiety for the last five years.He is now seeing his third CPN in CHAMS. We have had a good result with this and he is now going to school and attending a lot of lessons compared to a year ago.The school support has been good in areas and patchy and disgusting in other areas The problem being that releif teachers taking over a lot of the time and a lot of other teachers just see him as a school refuser.A teacher at primary school actually said to me she was a school teacher and not a social worker.He dosnt sleep very well, and has to fall asleep with a fan blasting his face. He awakes Quite often feeling sick which brings on a panic attack.He is therefore very tired and lethargic in school most days. He has missed so much school I cannot see how he can ever catch up. he is very often sent home ill because he just cannot function in lessons.At the moment the lessons he is attending he is not functioning in and finding it hard to concentrate, he is getting into trouble for things like playing with his phone etc.Could anyone advise on if i could apply for a partime home tutor.I cannot home educate myself and still want him to attend school to have the socialization as he does not go out anywhere else. I think he has missed so much school that the lessons he is now attending he really does not understand,So he finds it easier to muck around with friends. He is underacheiving in lots of areas and his handwrting and maths are very very poor.I feel some one to one tutoring would help him and also take the pressure off trying to get him to school after he has been awake at night.It seems unfair that this problem wil now affect his adult life as with no Gcses his choices will be very limited.Any advice on this would be appreciated

[totalmisfit]

sorry can't offer much advice in terms of his education. But as a former panic attack sufferer i can recommend a very good self help book which pretty much cured me when i was suffering from them at around 18. Probably not much use as i'm sure you've already tried something similar but it's called Your Survival Guide to Panic Attacks by Bev Aisbett. I can even send you my copy if you would like, just let me know.

Hopefully someone will come along with more practical advice.

[Joshua1]

Yes we have tried lots of different things on the advice of mental health workers. As mentioned before we have had some success with this, he is now equipped with what he needs to do when having a panic attack and uses all of these things. The panic attacks he now gets relate to feeling sick and a sick phobia, which we cant seem to stop.Thankyou anyway for your offer.

[tutu100]

I missed a lot of secondary school due to panic attacks. Luckily my school was very supportive on the learning side of things and quite often teachers would see me after school to explain work to me. I had panic attacks because I had a phobia of vomiting and used to worry that I might need the toilet when in class. My head of year made up a card so that all I had to do was flash it to the teacher and I could leave the room, immediatly, no questions asked.

I always kept up with my school work and was quite an able student, so no one ever said I was a school refuser.

For lessons that I felt completely unable to attend I sometimes had a special needs assistant sit with me in the library and help me with work if I needed it.

If you have not already done so I would make an appointment with your ds's head of year. Ask what they suggest is done. Find out if it is possible for your ds to focus on just a few subjects so that he stands a chance of catching up (I'm thinking science, maths, english and something that your ds enjoys) and take it from there.

Schools have to make an effort to include and accomodate. Your son's panic attacks can be classed as a disability so they should be doing everything they can to enable him to attend class. If you would like to get a private tutor the school may be able to help put you in touch with one, but I think you will have to pay for it yourself.

Sorry I have waffled on but I really feel for your ds. I hated school and it was one of the most miserable times in my life, but I got through it and went on to college and university so I'm sure your son will do just fine.

[Winetimeisfinetime]

Sorry to hear about the problems your ds is having. If the extra tutoring doesn't work out, another alternative might be to consider online schooling. I have home educated my ds but he is now nearly 14 and has gone to an online school for the past couple of years,which he enjoys and is doing really well at.

[tutu100]

Also my GP gave me some tablets to take to stop me from being sick (although I never was in the first place,) but also they helped with the constant nausea I had through the anxiety and stress.