Hello,
I am new to this forum, but not that new, in that I purchased Sheila Rogers book: Tics and Tourettes just before Christmas. I wanted to see firstly if the forum thinks I am being overly worried about a throat clearing tic that has become an eye-blinking tic in my 6 year old son.
He is a very sensitive boy and has had a bad year. His grandmother, to whom he was very close, died in May and over the summer, his best friend, our neighbor, moved because she was beaten on her porch by her ex-husband. Not only that, two people have been shot (but survived) opposite us. He saw the aftermath of the shooting, the victim collapsing on to his porch after "a firework went off". He didn't see the domestic violence issue per se, but heard it and then saw the woman injured before she moved away to Arizona.
Last year around Christmas, he had a brief throat clearing episode (1 month), we took him to our pediatrician, who said "Allergies," prescribed an allergy medication, which we did not use and left it at that. The tic went away. It reappeared this Christmas and still has not abated. Could all this be stress/excitement related?
We went out of town after Christmas this year to North Carolina, where we went to an Acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist. She did the treatment and gave him some powder to mix up into tea. "Bupleurum and Peony Formula. Jia Wei Xiao Yao San.". We had given her a thorough explanation and she also suggested "play therapy".
Also we saw an Environmental Doctor, who took blood and we recently sent urine and saliva off to be tested for various food allergies: We, at her advice, have gone gluten-free and believe her quote: "The child is the best lab." Also we upped Omega 3s, Acidophilous and avoid processed/ non-organic at home always but eat out occasionally. We have not found out the results yet.
The tics seem to have improved except in
1. Times of excitement/stress (school play: bright lights, possible stage fright)
2. Candy
3. Television (we have an LCD monitor and he only watches maybe 1 hour or less per day) where there will be an occasional blink or wink.
4. Confusion
Don't get me wrong, these are not serious tics. The eye blinking is less worrying to me than the throat clearing was but I have several questions still:
High Fructose Corn Syrup?
Photosensitivity? (He has always sneezed when he first goes out into the sun and seems to blink more at twilight or in low light when outside.)
Corn in general? Is that common?
A lot of popcorn tonight preceded by Polenta and Marinara sauce with water started a minor episode but I wonder whether the M&Ms that he was given at school for being a good learner could have caused it? Minor throat clearing but also seems to be catching a cold.
How quickly do tics generally start after consumption of an offending food?
How long do they last after ingestion? I would assume 4 days since a food item would have passed through but....
Sorry to ramble, but my detective work is failing me.
Thanks for any ideas.
Bowman
