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Hi Atex. My son is 9 and his tics are also slowly progressing every year, but after obsessing for many years for finding triggers and going from one doctor to another, I recently decided to take a step back and just enjoy life. Every kid with tics is unique with his own triggers. Personally for me i don't believe change of diet, gut health etc.. made any difference for my son. Cbit didn't help my son either, he even told his therapist; why i have to change my tics they dont bother me i just want to be free. This changed my view a lot my son isn't suffering from his tics only i was sadly. Do i see triggers yes, screentime is a big trigger for my son, but i still let him, why take away something he enjoys just because he tics more while doing so! I see in the mornings he almost doesn't tic and towards the evening they tend to get more. Exitment is also a trigger for my son we went to a Water park and he ticced more. But there are also many times he doesn't tic at all. Like on the beach i rarely see him tic, where we spend many days cause we are living on a island. Or while eating dinner my son doesn't tic or when playing with his pet hamsters. So what im trying to say we can help a little, but cannot control the tics entirely. And maybe in a few years they be gone or maybe not. But me being more relaxed helped my son for the better for sure. Greetings

I also wanted to also add some good news to this thread. I joined this forum in 2013 back when my son was 5. He is 16 now with no remaining symptoms or flares ups and has been this way for about 5 years. What worked for us was getting a proper diagnosis early (within 2 days of first episode) and fighting like heck to get a doctor to prescribe long term antibiotics. At first he was just given the standard course of antibiotics to fight the strep or ear infections he had. Symptoms would improve, but then come right back. After about 6 months of constant flare ups we ended up getting him on daily antibiotics for 2 years. To do this it took traveling out of state to a Pandas friendly doctor. After that, he went down to just a preventative does of antibiotics a couple times a week for a year or so. After that, we went down to just antibiotics in the winter months, then down to just when he had any illness or symptoms or a dental visit. Now he’s been completely off antibiotics and flare free for about 5 years. Puberty really seemed to shut things down for him Pandas wise. I strongly believe we would’ve had a different outcome if we didn’t catch it early and get him protected with long term antibiotics. His original symptoms were awful OCD and tics. He had to do weird things like tap his leg with his fist 3 times after doing anything like throwing a ball or spelling a word. His tics ranged from mild blinking to full upper body contortions. It was hard to watch and heartbreaking at times and we truly wondered if he’d ever return to normal. The reason I came here today (first log on in 5 years) was because my son opened up to us on vacation about his Pandas for the first time. It was hard to get him to talk about it when he was young. Last weekend he explained the OCD urges he used to have. Some he hid, like when he played basketball he had to dribble down the court an exact number of times during drills…. Other things he couldn’t hide, but the OCD was worse for him than even we could even notice. Anyway, every case is very different and I know how it feels to be in the midst of it all. Just wanted to give everyone here some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and the outcome can be a successful and well adjusted child. My son has a 3.8 GPA in High School and has several offers to play college baseball. He is a 3 sport athlete, class Vice President, and has a great friend group. Everything you could hope for a child. All I wanted 10 years ago was to be able to write the post I am writing right now. Wishing you all strength in your battles and the best of outcomes for your children!