Advice needed - Son with Tics

[cloudy]

Hi. I have been reading this forum for at least the last six weeks and have got a great deal of support and help without ever posting.

 

However, I finally need to write my story and hope that some of you can offer some further suggestions.

My DS is 9 years old. When he was 3 he had eye binking for a couple of weeks. Then nothing until he was 7 when he sniffed for a few weeks followed by throat clearing for a month. Then nothing for 12 months until last February when the throat clearing came back.It is now more of a grunt. Then we had what I can only describe as puffing air out of his nose in quick succesion. He then got the eye blinking tic but only for a month or so and I wasn't worried as I believed it would disappear which it did. Over the summer we had a bit of throat grunting but nothing serious so I wasn't too concerned. It was the beginnning of August and the day we were coming back from holiday that the eye blinking came back. Again, I wasn't too worried as I thought it would go. However, it hasn't gone. He had a birthday party in September and was blinking excessively followed by the throat grunting. I went to the doctors at this point who said they thought it was just a childhood tic and it would pass.

 

I left it for another month and went back again and was referred to a Paediatrician (for my peace of mind the doctor said). The Paediatrician again said he believed it only to be a childhood tic, they were fairly common and he did not think it was TS. He did say that he would refer my DS to a Child Clinical Phychologist who had a good history of dealing with Tics. I havn't gone down that road yet as I don't want to make this a big deal for my son. However, I am sooooo stressed out by this I feel it is making me ill and I believe my DS knows how I feel.

 

We have no history of either TS or Tics in either my family or my husbands. I did suffer from a bout of stuttering when I was about 3 but it cleared up after a couple of months. My DD who is now 14 did have the eye blinking tic on and off for about 4 years but each time never lasting more than a month.

 

Since reading this post I have started my DS on Omega 3 (but I believe it does have some artificial sweetener in it), Epsom baths every night and in the last 3 day Natural Calm for kids. He currently only has 1/2 tsp as we are building up.

 

We live in the UK and I don't believe we have such an array of vitamin supps as the USA does and certainly not for children. Do you guys use adult supps and just change the amounts.

 

At the moment the eye blinking seems to have eased and I only see him do it a few times a day. Stress and tiredness make it worse. He is not an anxious boy by nature and is very clever and popular at school. He has no learning difficulties. He is doing a lot of puffing air from his nose. When he was younger he suffered a lot from blocked nose but we had all the allergy tests and he is not allergic to anything!

 

Your help would be much appreciated as I am so worried.

Edited December 13, 2010 by cloudy

[Autic-GoodRiddance]

Hi. I have been reading this forum for at least the last six weeks and have got a great deal of support and help without ever posting.

 

However, I finally need to write my story and hope that some of you can offer some further suggestions.

My DS is 9 years old. When he was 3 he had eye binking for a couple of weeks. Then nothing until he was 7 when he sniffed for a few weeks followed by throat clearing for a month. Then nothing for 12 months until last February when the throat clearing came back.It is now more of a grunt. Then we had what I can only describe as puffing air out of his nose in quick succesion. He then got the eye blinking tic but only for a month or so and I wasn't worried as I believed it would disappear which it did. Over the summer we had a bit of throat grunting but nothing serious so I wasn't too concerned. It was the beginnning of August and the day we were coming back from holiday that the eye blinking came back. Again, I wasn't too worried as I thought it would go. However, it hasn't gone. He had a birthday party in September and was blinking excessively followed by the throat grunting. I went to the doctors at this point who said they thought it was just a childhood tic and it would pass.

 

I left it for another month and went back again and was referred to a Paediatrician (for my peace of mind the doctor said). The Paediatrician again said he believed it only to be a childhood tic, they were fairly common and he did not think it was TS. He did say that he would refer my DS to a Child Clinical Phychologist who had a good history of dealing with Tics. I havn't gone down that road yet as I don't want to make this a big deal for my son. However, I am sooooo stressed out by this I feel it is making me ill and I believe my DS knows how I feel.

 

We have no history of either TS or Tics in either my family or my husbands. I did suffer from a bout of stuttering when I was about 3 but it cleared up after a couple of months. My DD who is now 14 did have the eye blinking tic on and off for about 4 years but each time never lasting more than a month.

 

Since reading this post I have started my DS on Omega 3 (but I believe it does have some artificial sweetener in it), Epsom baths every night and in the last 3 day Natural Calm for kids. He currently only has 1/2 tsp as we are building up.

 

We live in the UK and I don't believe we have such an array of vitamin supps as the USA does and certainly not for children. Do you guys use adult supps and just change the amounts.

 

At the moment the eye blinking seems to have eased and I only see him do it a few times a day. Stress and tiredness make it worse. He is not an anxious boy by nature and is very clever and popular at school. He has no learning difficulties. He is doing a lot of puffing air from his nose. When he was younger he suffered a lot from blocked nose but we had all the allergy tests and he is not allergic to anything!

 

Your help would be much appreciated as I am so worried.

[Autic-GoodRiddance]

My son is 19, diagnosed w/severe autism at 18 months, lost all speech at age 3, diagnosed with severe Tourettes in 2007. I have beeen giving him supplements since age 5, and have completely sworn off meds when I figured out his prompt dependentness and tourettes started when he was on Risperdal. I have always given him adult nutritional supplements as childrens' were not available when he was little. I just give smaller doses. I figure the drugs do more harm than "too Much" of a vitamin or other natural supplement. I have recently begun my son on Accupuncture which seems to be helping him. He has been tic-ing almost constantly day and night for the last few months. Barometric pressure seems to be a huge trigger for him and our weather here has been changing alot since hurricane season ended. I HIGHLY recommmend Sheila's book "Natural Treatments for Tics and Tourettes."

[Chemar]

Hi Cloudy

 

yes, Sheila's book is an excellent resource to have on hand

http://www.latitudes.org/book.html

 

I am not sure of the vaccination schedule in the UK, but do you feel there may be any correlation with the tics coming back over the years and when vaccinations were done?

[cloudy]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies.

He never had the MMR. He has only had the measles jab at 1.5 years old. He hasn't had a jab since then.

I will order Sheilas book. And keep going with the supplements.

I am hoping it could still be the transient type.

[Chemar]

the vast majority of childhood tics are transient ones cloudy

 

has your child had strep or other illness at any time that you could correlate with the tic increases?

[cloudy]

the vast majority of childhood tics are transient ones cloudy

 

has your child had strep or other illness at any time that you could correlate with the tic increases?

 

 

Thankyou Chemar, that is what I must keep reminding myself or I feel I will go mad! Is it very common to have both the phonic and motor tics as a transient tic?

 

He had his Christmas performance today and it was very hot and stuffy in the school hall. He did do the eye blinking a lot but since we have got home he hasn't done the eye blinking at all. He is still doing the nose puffing thing though! He does have a cold so this might have aggrevated it.

 

Looking at your old posts am I right in thinking that TS is more of an inherited issue? That some other types of tics whether they might last longer than the required 12 months could just be part of growing up?

 

He hasn't had strep throat that we know of. He does have a cold now and I do think his nose puffing has increased but he is also sniffing as he has a runny nose. Other than that he hasn't had an increase in tics.

Edited December 14, 2010 by cloudy