Biting fingers

[airial95]

Okay - first of all, I haven't been on since Thursday afternoon (a record for me, I know) so I have a lot of catching up to do!

 

But I have a question, we noticed what may be a couple of new tics in our son. The first is sort of a teeth chattering thing. I first noticed it when I was getting him in the car for school on Friday, it was cold, so I didn't think anything of it (heck, my teeth were chattering!) But when we got to day care (his big boy school was closed Friday) he was still doing it, and it was no longer cold. We saw him doing it off an on all weekend. Could this be a new tic? (He did have some anxiety with the break up of his normal routine on Friday morning - right when this started - so it makes me wonder...)

 

About the same time, he started to "chew" on his fingers. He's always been a thumb sucker, but this is different, he's not sucking on them. He's putting them in his mouth and sort of gnawing on them, not hard, but that's the type of motion. He'll also sort of pull on his jaw, like he's trying to pull on his teeth from the back. Sometimes he takes his fingers and puts them all the way to the back of his teeth to gnaw.

 

We've asked him if his teeth hurt, or why he's doing that - he just tells us it's because he wants to. Nothing else. He's never done this before, and it's been NON-STOP for over 3 days now.

 

I really hate second guessing everything he does - he's 3, and stuff like this might be "normal" for "normal" kids be we always have to be so vigilant with him! I just wish we could not worry and assume he'll grow out of it!!!

 

Anyone seen something like this before? I'm pretty sure that the teeth chattering might be a tic (if anything). But would this finger thing be a tic or a compulsion? Thoughts?

[butterflymom]

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Edited February 2, 2016 by tampicc

[MichaelTampa]

Ahh yes, the teeth chattering. I've been doing that one since childhood. For me, it is the same thing as foot-tapping. There is music going through my head pretty much all the time, and it goes to the music. I'd put it similar to echoing the last word in a verse of a song playing on the radio. It is more comfortable to do it than to not do it. If I had to not do it, I could not do it, but I like to do it, it's work to stop it.

 

I went through a treatment break about 6 months ago, and was more peaceful and relaxed during the beginning of that treatment break than I have ever been (except, well, coming out of anesthesia, which sure was spectacularly relaxing!). During that period, I did a lot less of the chattering and echoing and so on. I really think this goes hand-in-hand with the anxiety that comes from these conditions (not anxiety about having the condition, just anxiety as a symptom of the condition).