teacherkse

My daughter recently turned 12 and has had facial tics for over 4 years. She has been on Clonodine for almost all of that time, but I really don't know if it helps. Of course, the tics come and go. Her tics have been blinking, nose scrunching, and eyebrow furrowing. Recently, she went for six months with no tics so we were hopeful they were done. They came back twice since then, unfortunately. I don't know what to do. We've tried changes in diet, epsom salt baths, air filters, natural cleaning products, no fragrance, etc. I read and search the internet. She sees a pediatric neurologist. He has mentioned Risperdal but the last time he said she probably doesn't need it. If the Clonodine isn't helping, though, I think we need to consider a different medication. I am not opposed to medication, obviously, but it does worry me. I am looking for success stories and advice. Please don't scare me, I am already stressed to the max with all of this. Oh, I also wanted to mention that my daughter is definitely going through puberty. She will probably start her period any day now. I've read that this could be the worst age for tics, hopefully that's true. Thank you in advance for your help.

Thank you KateH! I will look into the other things that you mentioned that we are not doing.

Thank you for your response! My daughter has had a suspected vocal tic but we're not 100% sure. She clears her throat quite a bit. I bought the epson salt lotion. Thank you for that suggestion. I'm trying not to get upset but it's hard. We went for blood work yesterday so maybe that will give us some answers.

Can someone please tell me how long it takes to see results of dietary changes and vitamins? I posted a few days ago and only had one response so I'm really hoping that someone replies to this one. My daughter has facial tics (mainly nose scrunching) and three weeks ago we started gluten free, dairy free, sugar free and egg free. We also started magnesium taurine and B complex vitamin. We've seen some improvement but I was hoping for more, of course. Blood tests were done yesterday.

My daughter is 8 and started blinking quite a bit last January. I'm not sure how it lasted but I'm thinking less than a month. This happened again a few months later. Each time we thought it was something with her glasses. About a month and a half ago (I think) she started scrunching up her nose. Sometimes it would happen at the same time as the blinking. It started to get constant and I was freaked out. My pediatrician didn't seem to know tons on the topic and said it was probably just transient tic disorder, don't worry, etc. Well, we ended up seeing a highly-regarded pediatric neurologist two weeks ago and he said 20-30% chance of mild Tourette's. Our world has been turned upside down. This has been the hardest thing we've even been through. The doctor recommended the Paleo diet, no gluten, no dairy, no eggs, no artificial flavors, no sugar. We've been following this about 90%. My daughter ate normally yesterday (Thanksgiving) and has had two birthday parties with cake. She does have milk with cereal (we are trying to get her to like almond milk). I am also giving her B complex vitamin, Magnesium Taurate (250 mg) and Tic Tamer. Epson salt baths occasionally too. These modifications have been going on for two weeks (some are newer like the Tic Tamer and Mag). We've seen some improvement. I'm wondering how long it takes to see more improvement? Can someone recommend other things we should do? It's so tough. I try to take it one day at a time and not worry too much. We have no family history and she doesn't have any other things going on. Please tell me that time will help all of us. Oh, and to end on a positive note...my daughter has not been bothered by any of this at all except for the diet changes. She's perfectly happy and I'm praying it stays that way.