Hi, I've never posted before but I'm really looking for some encouragement from parents who understand. We just started an evaluation process for our 4 year old daughter, who has sensory issues, is extremely emotionally de-regulated, has terrible sleeping issues, screaming tantrums, high anxiety, doesn't deviate from routines well, etc. I am just so so exhausted. One of our sons (19) has level one autism and combined type adhd. Our oldest (20) has sensory processing disorder, and I'm fairly certain now that my husband has ASD so I'm familiar with all of this but each child/person is different and life has just been so loud and so hard for the past 4 years. I put off talking to our pediatrician because I kept hoping she'd outgrow a lot of the challenges but I finally listened to my gut that says we need to figure out what's going on so we can be better parents to her and understand her better.
I'm near tears all the time. I find it hard to be regulated myself to be calm for her because I'm running on such low sleep and have constant headaches. I think my fear is that we'll be told she's fine and it's "just" anxiety or adhd. I already have a family member (mom is pushing hard for it to be adhd) and a behavioral health counselor who have told me it was just anxiety (after one 45 min session!) I worry that it will be harder to find answers since she is a girl. I also don't think most people understand the extra that life requires being a parent of kids with special needs. I'm "on" all the time even when doing regular life things and everything takes extra energy, effort and patience. Just looking for some encouragement. Thanks!!