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Chronic eye blinking tic.


jcandkc

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Hi tater :)

good for you for being willing to try to eliminate screen flicker to see if that is what is causing your eye blinking.

 

There are also supplements that many people have found very helpful for tics inn general and eye blinking tics in particular

 

try to take a good multivitamin plus minerals supplement every day as a start .

 

There is very convincing documentation that suggests that eye blinking tics can be caused by a deficiency in what is known as the Essential Fatty Acids.....

The best sources of these are fish oil, flaxseed oil, Borage oil and Evening Primrose Oil.

My son takes all of them and, where he used to blink and roll his eyes continuously, he doesnt have any eye tics anymore.

he also takes a bunch of other vitamins etc to help with his tics...the most important other ones that may also help you are magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6

We are on a pretty tight budget, but you can get most of these fairly inexpensively (even walMart sells some good brands)

 

I look forward to hearing how your week without TV/computers has gone...for some people that is a BIG tic trigger...for others, like my son, it is only if there is flashing on the screen that it increases his tics (like with explosive games, or those websites that have stuff flashing or twirling etc)

 

stay in touch with us !

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Tator,

 

First of all, you are absolutely right about most doctors wanting to prescribe medicine! The type of doctor I was referring to is not a 'typical' doctor at all. These doctors are specialist in dealing with a spectrum of neurological issues who avoid pharmaceutical treatments and instead look for things such as metal toxicity (mercury), yeast, allergies, sensitivities... that might be triggering your tics. They then suggest over the counter natural supplements to help correct the problem--not just to try to stop the tics with drug. All the regulars on this board are avoiding using drugs on their children (most of us are parents). Many have already been successful.

 

Second, IF TV/computer is an issue for you, it takes about a week for the affect of the TV/computer to get out of your system. Even a few minutes will set my son off for days, so I wouldn't expect just being away for one day or two would be enough to eliminate your tics.

 

My son started getting tics at age 8--especially eye blinking. He was ticcing all the time, not just during computer. But he stopped computer and we noticed a drastic improvement in a week, and by 10 days or the ticcing was completely gone.

 

By flat screen, I mean an LCD monitor (and I think plasma)--I think that 'flat screen' can mean other things. Are both your TV and computers LCD monitors? Do you do ANY computer or TV/video viewing on a CRT monitor (the big fat ones--sorry, you probably no all the terms), such as at school? With my son he needed complete avoidance(including big screen movies!) for the full week. Others here could tolerate some, but my opinion is that this is the only way to be completely sure.

 

If it 'works', then you can test out LCD monitors a bit at a time. I have lots of recommendation there (e.g. no more than 15", a well-lit room, sit 9 feet away, lower the brightness--but it is best to take it one step at a time. If NO tv/computer for a week makes a big enough difference for you to think it was indeed a trigger, then I can talk to you in more detail about how to see what you can tolerate.

 

My son went a little crazy with no TV/computer initially (now he no longer misses it), so we stocked him up with comic books and book tapes. He will still re-listen to his Harry Potter tapes when he needs some down time.

 

There are other tic triggers, but I don't want to load you down right now. I will mention that for some people the chemicals in artificial colors and preservatives can be enough to set off tics, as well as caffeine.

 

Please DO check back with us. If it doesn't work, there are other things that have worked for other people here. I didn't mention them now because many involve vitamin supplements, and that is best for a teenager (or anyone!) to do with a doctor's guidance. You just need the 'right kind' of specialist (naturopath/MD) and some are on that list I posted.

 

There is a path to solve this, I hope you get lucky right away!

 

Claire

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GL&L,

 

Great point--how perceptive to catch that possibility.

 

My son was never sensitive to computers until we moved into an apartment with carpeting (while we were remodeling).

 

Then we moved into our remodeled and freshly painted house (though with hardwood floors) and his sensitivity got a lot worse.

 

By the way, we just repainted the inside with low-odor paint, and he has no problem with it.

 

Claire

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Hi Tater Salad, As I mentioned in an earlier post on this same thread, our family has had very good success controlling (nearly eliminating) the tics by eliminating artificial colors and flavors from our diet. So, if you're eating stuff like Twizzlers, or M&M's, or Lucky Charms, or Trix, or colored drinks, you might want to start avoiding those and look for more "natural" food and beverages. See my posting earlier in this thread for more info, and start checking the labels on the foods you eat.

Best of luck.

Jeff

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Guest Guest_jcandkc

Hi Everyone:

 

Quick update. No eye blinking tics still. We are in our 2nd month of no tics. Hope we continue this path.

 

For those of you who want to go non-flicker, Dell computers have a laptop for only $699.00. Isn't that great?? Also, Gateway computer is closing its stores. So perhaps you can get an LCD monitor for cheap.

 

But I still haven't had guts to try the non-flicker computer on my daughter yet. I guess we will when she goes to kindergarten. There they have an apple LCD monitor. Right now we are free from all the tv and computers. We are doing well. Just what the neurologist ordered.

 

Take care,

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Hi JCandkc!

 

I am so glad your daughter is still doing so well. Congratulations!

 

We found out that my son has elevated mercury levels and yeast problems. The doctor thinks that this is what is causing the tic reaction to TV/computer. He is being treated for these with over the counter supplements as instructed by his doctor. If this actually works to get rid of his reaction, I will let you know and maybe you can check into it. I don't want to test him on it until his yeast and mercury levels are normal again.

 

I noticed your thread here got 1000 clicks. It sounds to me like a lot of kids have eye blinking. A new friend of mine and her friend's daughters both have it now too, and it doesn't seem to be going away 'on its own' unfortunately.

 

See you around--let us know when you try the LCD monitor, okay? I am glad her classroom has an LCD monitor, you are lucky!

 

Claire

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Guest Guest_efgh

jcandkc

 

really glad to know about your kid's progress. congrats!

 

Claire

 

Can you please tell me what "over the counter" supplements your doctor suggested for high mercury and yeast levels? Have you started them and are they working?

 

thanks

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I noticed your thread here got 1000 clicks. It sounds to me like a lot of kids have eye blinking.

 

Claire, I seem to recall reading somewhere that eye blinking or rolling was probably the most common of all tics! it was the first tic my son had, years before we even realised that he had TS. as he wears glasses, the eye doc said it was vision related!

 

 

 

jcandkc....so glad things are still going well :)

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  • 11 months later...
Guest Guesst
Hi Efgh and Jean - thanks for replying.

 

My daughter will be 5 years old this month. She had a one eye winking problem when she was just 2 1/2 years old. It was triggered by a film shown in the library. It was an off and on switch directly connected to the film. If the film was shown, she'd start the right eye winking. After the film, she'd stop winking after 1 hour exactly. That bout lasted only 2 weeks. We tested her again and again. It was like switching a light switch. The correlation was startling. There was no room for guessing. It was black and white. Even the optometrist said he had never seen any child do what he just witnessed in all his years of practice. He said he had seen tens of thousands of kids. After elimination of TV, it went away. During that time we thought what caused her one eye blinking was lazy eyes or astigmatism. We never suspected that it was a tic. So we thought to let time heal her eyes. After 1 year, we let her watch TV again. Well she didn't watch long before problems arose again. This time she developed a left eye winking problem (opposite eye). That bout lasted 2 weeks to end with both eyes blinking. Subsequently after these 2 episodes, we just felt that my daughter had weak eyes (lazy eyes) and didn't deal well with the stress/strain of TV/computers. TV/computers were banned for her. Unfortunately, she started her preschool had a old computer. So when she was forbidden the TV/computers she starred at it every opportunity she got. She started the one eye winking soon after. That was November, 2003. Unfortunately this time, it did not go away. Instead it esculated into both eyes blinking every day. The frequency varied between days and even hours. For the first time ever, she started to blink at high frequency (30+ blinks per minute) for hours. This really scared me to death. We are almost on our 3rd month of ticcing. I still cry. I don't cry in front of her. I am usually very strong during the day (or try to be). I keep myself busy and don't think too much. It is at night, after she is tucked into bed, that I cry. I pray. I even asked god to let us exchange eyes. My husband will love me any way. But with my daughter, social peers are so important to her. Will she have difficulty finding a boyfriend/husband to love her b/c of her eye problems??

 

I took her to optometrists, opthomologist (pediatrics, surgeons and teaching staff) and a very nice neurologist. Depending on whom you spoke to, you'd get different diagnosis. No one was 100% sure. Our neurologists said that many kids have eye blinking tics. From my daughter's history, our neurologists says she doesn't have transient motor tics (no signs yet) and that currently she has chronic motor tic. She said not to stress about it and that most kids get better with time. She said if her eye blinking problem interfers with school work, we could give her some medication. But that most children's tics are minor and never require medication. She also stated that if my daughter still has this chronic eye blinking that she could get botox injections when she is much older. It is quite painful but effective. She said she didn't think my daughter will need to do this since she will most likely outgrow this problem. She was very calming to talk to. She made her eye blinking tic feel like no big deal. That everything will be fine. I wish the public was like her. But atlas they are not. They stare, question and judge.

 

As for family history. Well... that is hard to say. I don't know much about my medical history. My parents divorced when I was 3. My mother never allowed me to know my father or his relatives. As such, I don't know what their medical history is. On my mother's side, I have a 1/2 brother whom I might suspect of having either transient tics or mild TS. I am much much older than he is. However, I don't EVER remember him doing anything repetitive or anything strange. He said he did but I never saw them. If he did have transient tics or mild TS, it was so minor that it never interfered with anything. He definitely never ticced to a point where everyone noticed. Lucky him. To date, he looks 100% normal. He says he doesn't do anything now. He said our mother said he had tics but he doesn't think he did. Go figure. My sister said he had compulsions to do things. Once he did it, it was over. He didn't tic. And he definitely didn't have TS. That is what they told me. So I really don't know what he had.

 

My daughter does not have ADHD or OCD. Thank god for small stuff.

 

I will try vitamin supplements. Thanks for the advice. I will continue to read the threads. I will definitely try to eliminate all the artificial stuff: food colors, MSG, etc.... We currently don't watch TV/computers. I'm not sure why her ticcing won't go away like the prior years before. I've read that ticcing esculates till they are 9 or 10. I'm so scared of this. At 4 they are bad enough. Trust me, they are really really bad. I don't even want to imagine what it will be like when she is 9 or 10.

 

Trying to hang in there. Thank you for the support.

I happened to come across your post today and just wanted to let you know about a web site. Go to www.handle.org and see the info they have about TS, ADHD and a lot of other things. They treat TS with a very unusual approach but it has worked in many many patients. They also treat much more severe problems. I have TS and if money weren't an issue, I would have already gone to one of their locations for treatment. I do have a friend who took her daughter there and they are seeing some relief. I pray that your daughter's tics go away with age. Mine went away for many years so I was spared the tics during preteen, teen and early adult life. Now, I'm about to turn 40 and they've come back with a vengence. I don't think that's the norm though.

 

By the way, they don't medicate the TS, they explain what is happening in the brain and then teach you exercises to do to help eliminate the tics.

 

Dawn

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eye blinking is one of my son's most frequent tics however we consider it one of his most mildest. He is in the kindergarten level and is reading on a second grade level and functions on a middle grade level with the sciences. His brain is a sponge. I tell you this for you, as you should be, are concerned with your child's future. When my son is unable to read for at times his tics cause not to be able to keep his head or body straight we just play alot of books on tape for him to listen to. This helps build up his background knowledge as well as listening comprehension and realizing that stories have a beginning, middle and an end.

 

As for food sensitivities, that can be caused by mercury posioning as well as to much antibiotics damaging the gut. We follow the path that restrictive diet helps but the gut needs to be repaired. This can be done with detox or with killing off excessive yeast build up or in some cases both are needed. No one can say what is needed without tests. There are urine and stool tests for yeast, etc and there are detox tests for heavy metals. We have done both ourselves. It is not cheap but then again we just find other things we can do without to cover the costs.

 

I would recommend that everyone takes their kid to a DAN type doctor and have some real medicine applied to their child for life long results.

 

As for the posters who shared their experiences with us. It was very touching and I wish all of you only the best.

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  • 4 months later...

:) Alright !

 

Alot of you need to be informed about eye blinking and understand whats it like to have it ...

 

 

I dunno how bad your kids are with eye blinking i mean , Not to many people comment to me on my eye blinking But i always new i had it so i guess you learn to deal with it . Ive noticed my eye blinking get's worse if i dont sleep good for quite a few days .Im 18 i started a new job from 7am in the morning till 5pm long day at work. Let me tell you i did this for a 6 weeks getting up this early.And the nights before i didint get much sleep accept on weekends. I noticed my eye blinking got way worse and it was annoying to me.

 

The guy who wrote this comment hit it right on the dot...

 

, I have never had a headache in my entire life, I don't even know what they feel like, and I do not recall any time I have gotten dizzy. The eye blinking is just annoying, it doesn't hurt or anything, just very frustrating and mentally draining.

 

He is right , ^^^

 

its very draining and frustrating because you know your doing it and you dont know why.

 

Doctor's said to use eye drops because reason we blink more is because are eyes get dry and that causes us to blink to create more water to flush out are eyes.

 

Also the reason i blink is my eyes get tired and i feel sleepy so i blink.sometimes eyes dont feel so tired but that its most of the time i feel tired.

 

I dont believe watching what ur kids watch or eat is the problem. I believe its got alot to do with are eyes. wish doctors would come up with a fix for this .If i new of medication to fix my blinking problem i would take it in a heart beat .that would be one less flaw agest a person ... Any comments email me..

hyprenbay@hotmail.com

 

or post on the site and ill read up/

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  • 2 years later...

Dear jcandkc,

 

I have read through your post. In my opinion,your daughter is having such a symptom called photophobia (pain in the eye resulting from exposure to bright light ) which in turn causes her non-stop eye blinkings.

 

For your information, I have suffered from the similar sickness a few years ago through allergy & overdosage of certain medications that carry muscle spasms side effects which in turn caused my eyes to blink non-stop from time to time whilst I in turn simply have no ways of dealing with such uncontrollable eyelid-twitching movements.

 

I have sought numerous treatments from lots of medical experts for the treatment of this non-stop eye-blinking sickness and actually I finally get it totally cured by acupuncture ( a self-administered one) instructed by a licensed acupuncturist.

 

 

 

Though the causes of our eye-blinking sicknesses differ from one another, I would still hope that the information I give will be helpful to you.

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