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My son has been on Clonodine for almost 2 yrs with incredible results. He was like your son (when my son was 8). He takes 1 .01mg dose at bedtime and that's it (he gets drowsy and then goes to sleep). No side effects at all during the day. It takes a few weeks-months to really see the full effect, but we saw inital progress by the first week. According to the neuro (and the medical info I've read), one does not develop tolerance. You may need to increase the dose as one gets bigger and gains weight, though. I honestly hate giving meds to a child, but this medication worked for us and we've had no issues. Ofcourse it can be different for others, but he's been virtually tic free. I wish you luck in whatever option you choose.

Hi kbt. My son had mild single eye blinking when he was 5 for a month and it disappeared. It came back at 6 for a few months, then disappeared. At 7 he suddenly developed a terrible cough (1 wk after being sick). It lasted for almost 6 months. We went to an ear/nose/throat doctor and pulmonogist, and they both found nothing wrong. 4-5 months into the cough, the blinking returned. The pulmonologist diagnosed the cough and blinking as "tics", and to just leave it alone. When the cough stopped, the eye blinking stopped. 8 months later he started having the eye rolling tic, and this was quite severe. It would wax and wane, but then his head started to shake too and his speech would get slurred. We went to a neurologist at that point and we were presribed Clonidine. I was very reluctant to give it to my son at first, but we did AND it has all but stopped the tics. We give him as little as possible, and decrease it when he's tic free for a "while". If the tics return we increase it a little and they always go away within a week or so. It's almost 2 yrs since we started Clonidine and it's been a godsend. He has virtually no tics whatsoever. Also, you do not build up a resistance to it so you don't have to increase the dose (besides possibly a normal increase due to your child growing). We do have behavioral issues with him that also wax and wane like a tic. He has months where he can be "on edge" and get upset easily, and then he'll be fine for months. It's not at all severe enough to warrant any treatment. Honestly,..I'm not crazy about giving my son any medication, but he needed it (to quote the pediatrician, "you wouldn't think twice about giving a diabetic insulin"). We tried various diets and it had no effect...We tried MANY things, and they didn't work. I have no faith in diets as a treatment for this condition. Just my 2 cents...I've been reading this forum for years, and I felt compelled to write a reply to you. Best of luck.