Catherine7

Its good to know that there is someone else out there that is going through the same thing. I sometimes feel guilty getting so upset over the smallest tics. My husband actually gets upset with me for thinking this is such a big deal. Are you planning on going back to the neurologist after a year passes to get a TS diagnosis or did she say that he will still be considered to have chronic tics if his vocals dont happen too often? I only wonder because my neurologist never asked me how often my son has tics or anything like that. She just gave me a lesson on tics and said since he has both vocal and motor tics he has tourettes...

Hi Lynn, I was actually quite surprised that the neurologist diagnosed my son with TS because he has only had a vocal tic (a cough) since the end of January. He had a motor tic for 2 weeks last summer and it returned in April. I think she thought I was crazy so she just said TS under her breath and tried to quickly move on:) She said the exact same thing that yours said, she would not medicate him to make me feel better. She said she didnt notice any tics and that the best medicine would be for me to accept the tics because he can sense if Im stressed, which could make tics worse. My husband and mom are the only people who even know about the tics. My husband isnt bothered at all by them and my mom said that she would never notice them if I didnt always bring it up. I havent shared his diagnosis with anyone because his tics are so mild and nobody has ever said anything. I dont really want him to be labeled, so Im struggling with what to share/not share with people. Have you been open with your sons diagnosis with his school and friends?

Hi Lynn, Im one of those people you are talking about. My son who is 3 1/2 was recently diagnosed with mild TS. After his diagnosis I realized that I too had a childhood "habit" that was actually a tic. For a while I would tense up my neck muscles then it moved to shrugging one shoulder. I remember even telling my mom that I started doing these movements and I had a hard time stopping. She just told me that it was a habit and to try to not think about it and it would go away. I also told my aunt about it and she basically said the same thing. No one thought it was a big deal because we didnt have the internet to look up all these things like we do now. I was never embarrased about it and nobody ever said anything about it, but I wanted to stop doing it because it was annoying. I would be fine if I didnt think about it but once it got in my head I would have to do the movement. I think I was around 12 or 13 when this occured. Im not sure how long it lasted because like I said no one ever acted like it was a big deal and I honestly looked at it like it was a habit that I needed to break. My mom would also always tell me about this "habit" that she had growing up. She said she made a grunting noise for a couple of years when her parents were going through a divorce. This too turns out to be a tic. She also said that nobody mentioned it to her and it went away on its own. Up to this day if I think about my neck "habit" I will feel like I need to do it but I dont because I know how easily it can start up again. Thinking about these tics that my mom and I had make me feel a bit better about my son's diagnosis because we grew out of the tics and they never got in the way of anything, we didnt even know they were tics! I also have to wonder if I didnt spend so much time looking up tic disorder symptoms on the internet if my son would have even been diagnosed because our pediatrician told me that his tics were self soothing habits, kind of like biting your nails. He told us to ignore them and they would go away. He even laughed when I brought up TS. I was so worked up about the tics because of what I read that he sent me to a neurologist just to put my mind at ease:) Didnt really work when they told me my son had TS! The neourologist even told me that in the past most people would look at these tics and think they were quirks or habits that their children had. Now people are more aware of tics because of the media and internet so they take their children in to get diagnosed. Our neour was great by the way...she told us that 30% of children get tics and they are not a big deal. Her opinion was "so what he has tics." At the time this annoyed me because I was thinking, this isnt your kid so its easy for you to say, but looking back at it now it puts things into perspective. Yes, the tics bother me and I have days where I walk around with a pit in my stomach but I have to remind myself that it could be so much worse.