My 9 year old son has both motor and vocal tics. He started with a throat clearing tic that lasted 3 months last year, after he had a sinus infection. He would clear his throat 4 or 5 times a minute. Then about 4 months after that he started a facial grimace where he would raise his upper lip above the gum line. This, however, coincided with his adult teeth growing in on top in a very crooked way which he could feel on his upper lip any time he closed his mouth. I have noticed very occasional strange movements by him sparadically over the past winter. He just seemed to get really excited sometimes and shrug his shoulders or bend at the knees up and down.
About 7 weeks ago, he had a virus where he lost his voice and had a fever for about 3 days. He started this hm, hm sound in his throat during this time. It was barely noticable, but I could hear it. This went on for 3 weeks straight, hm,hm, 8 or 10 times a minute. I finally brought him to the doctor, who said he was very congested and put him on Extendryx Jr, decongestant. Well, he just went beserk. He had abdominal spasms, strange breathing patterns, extreme shoulder shrugging, arm jerking and a feeling a few times a day that he had "electricity" in his chest that traveled through his body and out through his arms and legs. These symptoms were still barely noticable at school, but at home we were extremely alarmed. I took him off of the decongestant and within 3 days the symptoms had lessened noticably. He still had a little shoulder shrugging, but the vocal sound had changed to include na, na , as well as hm, hm in his throat. I started him on a Magnesium, calcium zinc supplement as well a mega dose b12 as well as b complex and evening primrose. We went to the a neurologist. Of course my son did not tic the whole drs visit. The neurologist did a quick 5 minute exam, diagnosed Tourettes and that was that. My concern is that my son doesn't seem to have any of the things that are supposed to go along with Tourettes. He is an A+ student. He is extremely bright. He has never had any ADHD, OCD, sleep problems, social problems. He is allergic to pollen, trees, mold, dust mites, grass, dog, but his allergy symptoms are minimal. Could his tics be caused by allergies? I have been in constant contact with his teachers and they only notice a soft humming at school. His peers and friends have said nothing, which leads me to believe they are not noticing anything. What else can I do to try and keep his tics to a minimum.
