Helen

Cheri, While I'm still trying to find out what causes tics, I do believe that how a child feels psychologically can cause increments of tics. I personally have seen that in my daughter. Just by talking to one of my girlfriends one time, she had told me that her son had tics last year at one point but fortunately, he stopped in two to three months. She told me that she was yelling at her son a lot during that time (I know she's pushing her son to continue his piano class & other classes which her son had no interest in) & her son was ticcing crazy. After seeing a pediatric neurologist, she stopped being so harsh on him & his son's tics suppressed. As for telling your child not to tic any more - it's a very tricky thing. You definitely don't want to scold your child every time she tics. However, I don't think we can avoid the fact that ultimately they will be very aware of their tics & at some point they will want to suppress them themselves. I have tried not to pay attention to my 6 1/2 y.o. daughter's tics in front of her, and yet, she came home last week telling me a lot of people in school were asking her why she's doing all these movements. Even though her teacher is aware of her problem, there's no way you can stop other kids from talking about it in front of her. Therefore, I do believe we should prepare our children for this - afterall, the outside world could be cruel! It is important that they understand that if this is beyond their control, then that's OK. Once they lose their self-esteem, that's when all other problems kick in. Again, my point here is while we are still searching for solutions to our children's problems, we, the parents, have to remain positive. It is important to let your kids know that you accept them 100% the way they are so that they can accept themselves too.

I happened to be in a Physical Medicine and Rehab doctor today for myself and I asked the doctor's opinion about my daughter's tics disorder. My daughter was ticcing a lot for the past couple of weeks, mainly facial grimaces. However, she was not that bad while we were in the doctor's office. He said tics is actually a common thing in growing up but severity differs from one to another. He said the main reason is their brains are not fully developed yet and when they are exposed to over excitement (I guess like certain cartoon like Yu-Gi_Oh) or under tremendous stress, their brains simply cannot handle the pressure. He said I should remind her to try to control the tics to prevent them from becoming habitual. However, it is important not to over emphasize the child's condition or say anything negative to affect her self-esteem. As for my daughter's facial tics, he suggested gentle massage to ease her pain from the frequent tics. A massage therapist will be the best person to teach a mother how to apply the correct massage at home. He said a mother's hand is far more comforting than a stranger's. He also suggested to minimize the child's activities over the wk-ends as rest is very important for children with tics. A happy and relax environment will definitely help. Come to think about it, kids nowadays do have a very business schedule (computer, ballet, piano, baseball....) comparing to when I was a kid. After my daughter finished her swimming class today, I praised her on how well she did in class and to my surprise, she said to me, "Did you notice that I'm not doing it (& she showed me what she was talking about - snapping her jaw tic) now because you just said you're very proud of me?" All I said to her was, "Mommy is always very proud of you!" I do think it's necessary for parents to reassure their kids by saying positive and encouraging words to them all the time. One more thing, my doctor also mentioned that boys tend to develope tics more often than girls because somehow they are eager to get the parents' attention.

I happened to be in a Physical Medicine and Rehab doctor today for myself and I asked the doctor's opinion about my daughter's tics disorder. My daughter was ticcing a lot for the past couple of weeks, mainly facial grimaces. However, she was not that bad while we were in the doctor's office. He said a lot of little children have this problem with severity differs from one to another because their brains are not fully developed yet and when they are exposed to over excitement (I guess like certain cartoon like Yu-Gi_Oh) or under tremendous stress, their brains simply cannot handle the pressure. He said I should remind her to try to control the tics to prevent them from becoming habitual. However, it is important not to over emphasize the child's condition or say anything negative to affect her self-esteem. As for my daughter's facial tics, he suggested gentle massage to ease her pain from the frequent tics. A massage therapist will be the best person to teach a mother how to apply the correct massage at home. I agree that a mother's hand is far more comforting than a stranger's. He also suggested to minimize the child's activities over the wk-ends as rest is very important for children with tics. A happy and relax environment will definitely help. Come to think about it, kids nowadays do have a very business schedule (computer, ballet, piano, baseball....) comparing to when I was a kid. After my daughter finished her swimming class today, I praised her on how well she did in class and to my surprise, she said to me, "Did you notice that I'm not doing it (& she showed me what she was talking about - snapping her jaw tic) now because you just said you're very proud of me?" All I said to her was, "Mommy is always very proud of you!" I do think it's necessary for parents to reassure their kids by saying positive and encouraging words to them all the time. One more thing, my doctor also mentioned that boys tend to develope tics more often than girls because somehow they are eager to get the parents' attention.

I have heard a lot about vitamin deficiency here. How exactly can that be detected? Will a simple blood test tell you that? or does it require some other tests?

I discussed with my daughter's pediatrician in getting the IgG test done & of course she's very reluctant to do that. She basically thinks, like most of the regular doctors, that there's nothing you can do about tics. However, she did raise a few points about the ELISA/ACT lab, i.e. are they licensed like Quest Diagnostics to do this kind of tesing? How many case studies have they done? How do you know who is actually doing the tesing. etc... The pediatrician basically thinks that it sounds too good to be true to do hundreds of food/chemical test with just one blood drawing. That leads me kind of hestitate to go ahead with this & needless to say, I couldn't get her to agree to order for the test for my daughter. I called up ELISA/ACT a few minutes ago, they did not answer the licensing part, they did say that they do research everyday and they claim they are 97% correct. Is that any other labs out there that will do the IgG test? Any comments/suggestions will be appreciated. I'm thinking of may be do a IgE test first but then again, I don't know if that will help.

Hi Jan, My daughter had tics also last year when she read. She's almost 6 1/2 now. It was pretty bad at first and that made me worried because she's a good reader and she loves reading. It was hard for me to tell her not to read especially that was the time she supposed to learn to read more! That reading tic probably lasted for one or two months. Thank God, she can read without ticcing now. I think the tics from reading may come from different factors. With my daughter, I believe it's from trying to concentrate on pronouncing some difficult words; trying to read the whole paragraph with a lot of lines without skipping a line in between (I noticed she'd point to every word in order to make sure she can read the right line.) At that time, she had also developed a special tic from reading, i.e. she'd be holding the book in her hands and she'd constantly move her hands up and down; it looked like she's trying to keep the book open so it won't close by itself. When I noticed her ticcing from reading was getting worse, I monitored how many books she could read everyday (if not, she would read 10 books sometimes!) I also tried to make sure she had enough breaks in between after a book or two. Helen

Alison, I agree with what you said about the feeling of the stuffy nose makes her tic more. When my daughter started her tics last year, it was triggered by allergy followed by very itching eyes, then followed by eye blinking. She had stuffy nose then as she tried to breathe hard, she started to develop shoulder shrugging tics. I'm glad you mentioned the chapped lips. My daughter has chapped lips all the time during winter. Maybe this is causing her to move her mouth around recently & even sticking her tongue out sometimes! (That one really bothers me a lot ) I normally put vaseline on her lips before she goes to bed. She tends to drink very little during day time, especially at school. Most of the time, she doesn't go the bathroom until she comes home after school! I have thought about that could be a problem since the toxic might stay in her little body for too long. Claire, As for the LCD TV, my husband is STRONGLY against getting a 15" one. It's just too small to be put in the living room. It'll be good for the bedroom, but I don't want her to be hiding in her room and watching TV all the time. I have to go to the store this week and see for myself. I know LCD TVs are very expensive. We have to replace our TV in the living room anyway so I just thought we should go for the LCD TV. May be we'll find a quiet time (thansk Alison for your letting us know your experience) to bring her to the store and test it there first. I have made an appoinment with her pediatrician this wk-end. I'm planning to ask her to do a swab culture and also order for the IgG test. I'm afraid my daughter is not going to be very cooperative in opening her mouth and the result may not be accurate. I can't blame her on that. I've never done a culture myself. I tend to get very sore throat (may be it's strep!) a few times every year. Last time when I asked my my doctor about strep, he actually told me it doesn't make any difference whether I have strep or not because Amoxicillin will treat that anyway. Is this true? On the other hand, I have also read that too much antibiotic is actually bad for your body because while it's killing the strep cells, it may destroy your B-6 cells also. I guess we'll just keep trying to do what we think it's right for our children. May God bless us all!

Claire, I know it's recommended here to buy just a 15" LCD TV. I also know that I'm going to have a hard time persuading my husband to agree on that since he's a "big screen" lover! I was surprised when he'd actually agreed to buy a 20". I guess I'll have to insist on the 15"! My daughter hasn't been watching TV for 2-3 days now but she continued to have the facial tics. I'm not sure it was from her watching TV last week (I believe you said sometimes it can linger for a week) or the fact that she has a cold. I believe the tics get worse when they are sick, is that correct? Will Tylenol & other over the counter drugs make the tics worse? I gave her some pedia care medicine for her stuffy nose tonight 'cause her congestion is definitely making her tic more. I'm hoping that will help. I'll find out in the morning.

Alison, Thanks for your comments. For the LCD TV, we're planning to get one, we'll probably get like a 20" for her. I'm definitely going to take her to the doctor this week since she continues to complain about her stuffy nose & of course, as she tries to breathe hard, she starts all kinds of facial tics! I also want to do the IgG test. I actually asked her neurologist last time but I don't think he's too familiar with this. He asked me if this is a regualar blood test? I know Claire has mentioned there's a lab that does the IgG test for about $300. Do I have to ask the doctor to send the blood to those special labs for the test? What kind of doctor is your son seeing? A naturopath? or a DAN doctor? Helen

Claire, Here're my comments on "NO TV" findings: - no TV for a month/ significant improvement seen after two weeks/ diet change at about the same time - no artificial color/flavor, no diary and almost no wheat, more organic fruits and vegitables. - started with only 1/2 hr TV time after school in the afternoon; it wasn't too bad since her 4 y.o. brother always keeps her busy playing with him. Then, I simply unplugged the TV and announced "TV is broken!" (the rest of us only watched TV after they were asleep.) I guess the most important thing is to make sure everyone in your family works together to reinforce this. ( I had hard time in the beginning since I'm not home during the day and my in-laws always turn the TV on to keep the kids quiet. What I did was I called everyday to check on them so that eventually my in-laws got the message that it's important to shut it off.) If you're firm with no/less TV, your child will get the message! My kids don't really bug me to turn the TV on for them anymore! - my daughter is 6 y.o. I hope that helps. Susanna, I had wanted to take her to her doctor for the culture but then she got better and I was hoping that she'd been completely fine. I guess I should do it just to be sure. Thanks for your response!

Thanks Claire for being so patient with me. I sure have learned a lot from this web site! I'm planning to buy a small LCD TV to see if it helps & I'll let you know. My daughter's tics got worse again tonight. I'm not sure if it was caused by the TV from last night or because she's having a cold. One thing I do notice is that she tends to get stuffy nose quite a lot and every time when she complains that she can't breathe, she starts to tic a lot. I have read that strep throat can cause some motor tics and that you may actually have strepA without a sore throat. May be I should take her to the doctor for the test. I feel so tired and I just can't stop worrying about what's going to happen the next day...There seems to be so many possibilities of what could be causing the tics and it's just so overwhelming sometimes as to "ok, what should we try next?" One thing I have to say is that I'm so glad I have found this web site. It helps me to keep on looking for the answer. Thanks again!

It sounds like your body somehow contains too much metal or mercury substance....? If one is allergic to metal, does that make her fall into the category of Heavy Metal related problem? My daughter is allergic to metals. She can't wear any of those metal kiddie jewelry. She always gets very red and itchy after wearing the jewelry. Has anyone here have the Heavy Metal test done? How is the test being done and what's the treatment? Thanks.

I know TV is the major trigger for my daughter's tics. I have limited her TV time to almost "no TV" for a month now and she has been doing great! (Along with this, I'm also following the less diary & wheat and more organic food approach.) Two nights ago, I let her watch one episode of Dora the Explorer on tape for testing. She was ok at first but 10 minutes later she started blinking more. I was a little discouraged since she had hardly any tics at all when there's no TV. However, apparently she's still "allergic" to screens. Does anyone know what's causing that? Is it the radiation? the bright color? the fast movements...? I know LCD TV is suggested here on this website. Does it really help? My husband doesn't think this will help since my daughter started tics one time when we took her out for the movie. What makes LCD different from the regular TVs? I notice my daughter is very "into" the TV when it's on. You can be calling her next to her & she won't seem to hear you sometime. That makes me think that may be when she's too focus on something, it makes her tic more. I have originally plan to put her on piano class this year but now I'm kind of holding back. I'm afraid that piano lessons require too much concentration and may turn into another trigger for her tics. Does anyone have any problem with pianos here? Thanks.

LuLu and Dara, Thanks for your reply. I have called one of the environmental doctor listed under AAEM two days ago. I spoke to a nurse there about the approach they use to treat tics. I was thinking of the IgG test but they do scratch test and give allergy shots. I'm not sure if I want to go with that. Anyway, I'm trying out the no dairy and less wheat diet (I find pasta without wheat but find it very hard to get any bread that's not made of wheat!). I have also eliminated anything with artificial color or flavor. I give her a glass of juice with antioxidant every morning. I buy more organic food now, not all. So far, I'm still not completely sure if it helps. Her eye blinking and eye rolling were actully worse on the first two days. However, I noticed her tics were almost gone yesterday and today. I'm going to try it for a couple more weeks. I read some of the comments on how anxiety increases tics. I do agree with that. I think sometimes we, the parents, don't realize how much stress our kids are going through. My daughter told me two nights before she wants to stay in first grade and does not want to go to second grade because she likes her teacher and her classmates. She told me she was nervous when she went from kindergarten to first grade because she didn't know who her new teacher would be but thank God it turns out to be fine. I have always been kind of strict to my daughter, expects her to do well in school, etc. Part of the reason is that I know she is capable of doing it; she's always in the 10% in her class. Recently, she's been very sensitive whenever I said she did something wrong in her homework. One time when I said her penmanship is getting sloppy, she immediately broke down to tears and said, "I told you I'm stupid and can't do it..." Now, I try to praise her for even little achievements she has done. We might not realize that our children always try to do things to please us so that we'll be happy about them. Afterall, having a child who is in Harvard is nothing comparable to having a child with good health! I just thought that I'd share this with all of you.

Claire and Caz, Thanks for your advice. I'll look into that. Helen

I haven't posted for a week or two - but I have been reading on a lot of suggestions/comments on how to get rid of tics on this web site. My 6 y.o. daughter has tics since April. Her tics keep changing from one to another & have ups and downs. She just started another one today & I was heart-broken again - this time she sticks her tongue out! The words "leaking gut" have shown up more than a couple of times on forum but I wasn't really sure what that means until I just finished reading an article on a successful story in reversing Autism on the home page! I think my daughter, very likely, has leaking gut! I don't know why I'm so stupid and couldn't relate to that before - my daughter had Hernia when she was born. It was very very uncommon in girls but well she got it! I discovered the swelling when I changed her diaper one time and then... make the story short, she had hernia surgery done on both sides at 7 wks. old. She recovered very fast and honestly, I have never thought about her hernia problem again until now! I think, like that article says, the proteins from gluten and casein in milk products were leaking through the intestine wall undigested and somehow affecting her brain...Is that any special test that can confirm she has leaking gut? And assuming she does have it, what kind of doctor will be the best to treat her? I have printed the listing suggested here but I am not certain whether I should go with a DAN doctor or one from the AAEM. Any suggestion? By the way, what is a naturopath? How are they different from other doctors? I have HMO insurance, chances are none of these doctors are in my network. However, if any one knows of any good ones, I will take my daughter there. I live in New York city. One last thing, I know a lot of you have put your kids on the recommended diet and/or vitamin supplements. Does it really help? Are the tics consistently decreasing? or they still have ups and downs? Thanks a lot! I know there are many of you out there going through the same thing I'm going through. There are times when my daughter is doing good and I'd think may be she's getting better. However, when I see her tics coming back again & again, I'm totally devastated. I sincerely hope that somehow we can all find the right way to treat our beloved children. May God bless us all! Helen

Hi All, Just as I was looking through the web site for more info to cure my 6 y.o. daughter's tics, I came across something called SID & I'm now worried about my 4 y.o. son also! He doesn't have tics but he has very very bad temper sometimes even when he was younger and we'd all thought that he was just spoiled by everyone being the baby in the family. He has always been very "specific" in his clothings. the color, the texture, etc. Inside labels and pants are big problems; he only wears sweat pants because they are comfortable. You don't know how many times I have fights with him in the mornings trying to dress him. He would take off anything you put on him if he decides that he doesn't want to wear them! I'm not sure what SID is? Is this an illness like TS? For my son, I just think that he's spoiled (He does get away with a lot of things sometimes being the youngest one!) However, I'm worried about him sometimes 'cause he likes to hit. He can be very uncontrollable if you try to punish him even with a gentle spanking on his bud. He will DEFINITELY hit you back. How do you classify SID from a little hyperactive child? Any comments will be appreciated. Helen

Hi Evangelia, Thanks for spending your time in answering my questions. I really appreciate that. I especially like your "Scooby-Doo" and "Dora the Explorer" approaches to explain to your son about his tics. I can use that to tell my daughter when she begins to question me with all her "why?" What kind of doctor is your son seeing and how long have you been supplementing him with all those things you listed? That looks like a very long list! Are all these recommended by your doctor? Did he say how long your son has to take these for? I'm asking these because it'll be hard to make my daughter take all these stuffs everyday. The only thing she likes is the Flintstone's children multi-vitamin. But even with that, my husband thinks that it could be I'm giving her too much vitamin that her body doesn't need. I'm only giving the vitamin to her every other night right now. By the way, my daughter had a hernia surgery done when she was 7 weeks old. Sometimes I wonder if they might have used too much anesthesia on her that might have contributed to her tics. I had asked her neurologist on this but of course he doesn't think so. I'm taking her for an EEG test next week. Hopefully, she'll be okay. Helen

Claire, Thanks for your reply. I didn't let my daughter watch any TV today but her tics seem to be worse than yesterday. I'm taking my daughter to her pediatric neurologist on Monday for the EEG test and I'll ask him re. the IgG test. Thanks.

Hi Jeff, Dara & Evangelia, I'm still not too familiar with this web site, that's why I have just noticed of your reply! Thanks to all of your support. I have just posted a question as to where to take IgG test for my daughter. I can't really tell if she's allergic to any particular type of food. I know she's very sensitive to metals so I have told her to forget about getting her ears pierced for now. Ha! I've just scheduled for an EEG test on her today on next Monday. She has complained about headaches a couple of times & we just want to make sure there's nothing major going on. I know TV is a major trigger for her tics, so the last two weeks I have cut down her TV time a lot and her tics have decreased a lot. Her tics came back immediately today when she came home today from school. Well, I let her watch the tape that her little brother was watching. She watched for about 15 minutes and I could see that she started nodding her head and clacking her teeth frequently. When the tape is finished and she started playing with her brother, her tics decreased. What should I do? No more TV from now on? It will be impossible to do that since both my 4 yr-old son loves tv also. And, will that cause a more uncontrollable outburst of tics later on when she's exposed to TV again? Do any of your kids ever complain about their tics? or ask any questions relating to why they can't watch tv? Why do they have to take all those vitamins? or go to see the specialist? I wonder how that's affecting their feelings? Sharon has always been a very sensitive child. The fact that she always pays attention to the grown- ups' conversations worries about me sometime. Just like today, I called for her EEG appt while she was watching the tape. I did not realize that she could hear me talking on the phone. After she finished with the tape, she came to me & ask me who I was talking to on the phone and why? "Why do you mention my name?" Do your kids realize that they are ill? Sharon is only 6 now & is probably still not being questioned by her friends at school as to why she has all these movements. We told her teacher so she's aware of her condition. I'm worried she gets older, she'll be embarrassed of her condition. I've read something before that says as the child grows older, most of the tics should be greatly reduced. Does anyone know if that's true for most cases? I sure hope so. Btw, Dara, I live in NYC. I'll be happy to chat with you further. Here's my e-mail address: helen_ma_lee@yahoo.com

Claire, I keep seeing IgG test for kids with tics. Is this a simple blood test that basically test on a lot of different kinds of food that one may be allergic of? My 6 yr old daughter has different types of tics on and off. She's seeing a pediatric neurologist but he didn't really have any suggestions in terms of food elimination or other testing other than EEG. I'd like to do some kind of test on her. Can I request for an IgG test done on my daughter from her regular pediatrician, her pediatric neurologist? Or do I have to bring her to see a differnt type of specialist? It seems like a lot of parents are bringing their kids to see environment doctors. I don't know where to find a good one. Any advice will be very helpful. Helen