azlsmom

I don't know what DAN stands for. How do you go about finding an environmental doctor? Teresa

Thanks for your replies. Can I ask if there is anything they can do if it was PANDAS verses plain old Tourettes? I tend to think it is not PANDAS just because I don't remember him ever having strep in his life, but I'd be interested to find out about it. I am still waiting on my book to arrive. I hope it can offer some insight. From what I have read about diagnosing Tourettes it says you don't go longer than 3 months tic free. He has gone longer than 3 months and usually does. Honestly he usually has one bout of tics a year and it usually lasts 3-6 months. He is almost always tic free in the Fall. His tics usually start somewhere between March & April and last anywhere from May until the whole summer. His tics usually come on gradually and get worse and then go away gradually. There is no way I would put him on some of the meds they prescribe for Tourettes. He took clonidine when he was 7 and it totally wiped him out. He was sleeping all day and practically passing out from it. He'd just fall asleep abruptly. Teresa

I haven't been arguing with him about it, but I was trying to explain to him that it was a tic and not a cold. He had asked me if it was allergies. This is the first we have really talked about Tourettes. He has gone 6 months at a time tic free. Usually his tics start in the spring time, but this year they started earlier. He hasn't had strep throat recently, but I have had it twice recently. Once in March and once in April. I just finished medication for it actually. I am trying really hard not to make a big deal about it. I find myself having to just take a break sometimes from him when it gets too much. Send him to play outside for a while and try hard not to make an issue of it. Teresa

My son has been diagnosed with Tourettes since I think he was 7. He started getting tics around 4, but at the time I didn't realize they were tics. He is now 14. I actually thought he outgrew them, but they are back. He goes very long spells with no tics at all and most people don't realize his tics are tics because they are things like throat clearing and coughing. Right now he has a coughing tic and it is honestly driving me crazy. He coughs until midnight or later keeping me up making it hard to sleep. He coughs from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to bed. He hasn't seen a doctor for his tics in years. He is not interested in taking medication and honestly is still in complete denial they are tics. He argues with me that he is "coughing up snot" and asks me things like "do you think I have allergies". I am sure these are not allergies. He has had motor tics in the past that were very noticable, but hasn't had any ones in a while that are really noticable. (I notice them, but other people wouldn't.) I feel like such a shallow crappy mom to not want to be around him when he starts coughing like that. I usually can cope with it when he has them for short periods of time, but when they go on for months I start melting down and find myself distancing myself emotionally from him. I should also add that he is type 1 diabetic and has a profound learning disability. I can't help but wonder if the tourettes is some how autoimmune related. I just ordered the book Tics and Tourette’s: Breakthrough Discoveries in Natural Treatments. I am hoping it will be useful, but will admit them I am very skeptical. His tics don't seem to bother him and I don't know why I let them bother me, but they do. I am not sure if it is because I am a fixer by nature and this is just something I can't fix. I could really just use some support. Teresa