Hi! Advice please! My 11 year old son is in such distress and I don't know how to help him. He is autistic and has OCD and has been doing compulsions in the bathroom for over 20 minutes. He's also wailing and slapping himself but when I try and go in he just shouts at me to leave him alone. He's so overwhelmed but won't let me near him. What do I do?

We have our first NOCD therapy session on Tuesday but wanted advice on what I can do to help him the meantime.

Thanks for the reply Justmesadly. His Autism makes it so much more complex. I've been trying to help him using ERP at home but he's just not in a mental state to be able to process the information to help calm him. I asked here just in case anyone on here is Autistic and could give me an OCD/Autistic perspective as to what may help comfort my son from their own experience.

Any information would be so very much appreciated. I am scouring the internet for any information I can find but nothing beneficial yet. Thanks for taking the time to reply though, appreciated.

Thank you so much for your reply. It has some very interesting information. I have heard of PANS/PANDAS before and my son's OCD does come in waves. I'll also look into the Glutamate function you mentioned. Most of the time he's so overwhelmed that any kind of distraction doesn't work and he has muscle and mobility issues which can make physical movement tricky. When he's in crisis, all I can do is let him know I'm here for him, that he's not alone. Any information regarding FB groups or the mast cell group information would be great, thank you.

Thank you A-non for all your advice and support. The links are really helpful. I'm sorry you feel alone and unsupported, I completely understand how you feel. To feel that way and still reach out to help others, like me makes you a remarkably kind and brave human. I'm sure you're a fabulous mom and with treatment, therapy and kindness we'll get our kids thought this.

Take him to see a psychiatrist and a ocd specialist