Hallucinations

[Nick231]

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience of hallucinations occuring just before the onset of TS symptoms.

 

The reason I ask is this: My TS symptoms appeared when I was 7, just three months after a one off, full-blown hallucination, that lasted for about 15 mins and scared the ###### out of my parents. There was no family history of anything similar (the hallucination, I mean) and I have never experienced one again. It was so traumatic for me, I can still see it now if I think about it, and I often wonder if it might have somehow been related to the onset of TS, or if it might have even 'triggered' the TS. I have not been able to find any info on similar cases. Maybe the two things were totally unrelated, and the hallucination just a one-off freak thing.

 

Anyone with any similar experience, or some other 'traumatic' event taking place just before onset of TS?

 

Would be grateful to hear from you, as I'm still (30 years later) trying to piece things together and make some sense out of the TS enigma.

 

Love and strength to you all.

Nick

[Nick231]

Just in case anyone is wondering - the word that caused the '######' in my message was actually rather innocuous - but I guess there are filters here that pick up on any potentially not-so-nice words. The word I used was the one that means the opposite of heaven!

[Chemar]

Hi Nick

 

I must say I havent heard of anything similar to what you are describing in terms of a full blown hallucination setting of TS. However, I certainly do know of kids who have begun ticcing after a very stressful even or period.

 

When my son was still suffering with severe TS/OCD he did have very intense phobic periods, but I dont believe they were anythi ng like what I understand an actual hallucination to be.

 

Have you ever spoken to a therapist about it?

This may be totally unrelated, but I do know that exposure to certain chemicals or toxins can produce hallucinatory experiences. Could you accidentally have had such an exposure?

 

bye now

[quan_daniel]

No..but my son has anxiety.

We made him sleep by himself last nite as a punishment.(after 30 minutes we gave up..he was scared)..this morning he woke up shivering so he tells us..

 

or when he is scare of monsters at nite..(shivers also)..

 

This trully makes our punishment limited.

 

We were also heartbroken to hear him cry..

 

Being a parent is not easy at all.

 

THis definitely have to do with serotonin..or someting..

 

or yeast..

 

who knows..

 

tics..can cause a lot of problem..like Andy's kids having reading problem because of eye/neck tics..

 

I pray one day all people with tics can be help in a widely accepted fashion...meaning even the mainstream doc understands this as not a only a neurological issue but an intestinal/immune/psychological issues also..

 

Please God...this I only ask..

[Frank_Sm1th]

Nick,

 

Could it have been a migraine aura?

 

Frank

[butterbean]

This is my first post to the site as my 6 YO daughter was diagnosed with Tourettes 2 weeks ago. Our process began with unusual/uncharacteristic behavior at school and we did not know what they were talking about. After 2 months of this and several meetings with the school, we took her for a full medical check up and our pediatrican took everything quite seriously. He was really good and ran a bunch of tests including MRI to rule out a tumor. We were referred to a specialist at NIMH who helped us gather information and made the TS diagnosis.

 

Previously much of her behavior would fall under a complex tic descrption with things like breaking pencils, writing on tables, making noises in school. At home she was irritable and emotional. Since the diagnosis, she is doing more simple tics - clapping hands, eye rolling, etc.

 

Last night, while sitting at the dinner table she had what I would describe as a full hallunication followed by eratic eye rolling/eye movement. This was the most involuntary that any of her so called "tics" has appeared. She told me she could not stop her eyes from "squiggling" and she was scared and sad. I won't get into the details but to say that it was a visible (not audible) hallucination that lasted several minutes. I watched the whole thinkg and it was really scary. Being little, she went to bed a short while afterward and had a hard time being still in bed to fall asleep. Her head was moving and her feet. She was tired but could not stop moving to fall asleep.

 

I wanted to share this so that you might know there is someone else out there who experienced this and also get he post back active to see if anyone else has had this experiecne.

 

We are seeing a TS specialist at Johns Hopkins in the next few weeks and will inquire about it.

 

Thank you all for sharing your stories and advice here. I am so glad to have this connection.

[Chemar]

Hi Butterbean and welcome:)

 

so sorry to hear your daughter had a scary experience. Eye rolling/blinking etc is one of the most common tics in childhood, although most dont have hallucinations with it. I am glad you have a good doctor.

 

 

Just an interesting observation from our end....my son is now 16yo and was diagnosed with TS at age 10, although his tics had probably been there since an earlier age, as we first noticed eye rolling age 5 (he got glasses and it stopped, so no thought of it being a tic at that time occurred)

 

Anyway, his tics and OCD/depression etc became VERY severe after his 10th birthday, worse on one year of medications, until we stopped meds and started the natural treatments that I have documented here

http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=687

 

Everything has been really mild for him for some time now, and most people dont even realise he tics. We still notice slight waxing when he has illness or high stress. (or if he sneaks in a blue slurpee while with a friend ) and his OCD, which used to be more troublesome than his tics, has been virtually non existant.

His supplement regimin had been cut back to where he was just taking a good multi, along with his calcium/magnesium/zinc combo, and antioxidant combo and EFA combo

 

A few months ago he had a flare up of Candida and developed an ulcer! It came as a big surprise as he is overall really healthy, but the doc felt it could have been related to his not drinking enough water and sneaking some wrong foods at school (sodas, Doritos etc....he is usually really good about his diet, but because things have been so stable, I guess he thought it was ok to slack off when mom wasnt watching )

 

The natural treatments for both the Candida and ulcer worked really well and he is back to health again, HOWEVER, we did see a slight upswing in both tics and OCD at the time of his illness.

Most alarming tho was the fact that he started having brief but very scary HALLUCINATIONS just before falling asleep. To the point where he was convinced it was real...that is how scary it was....he was seeing rabid dogs coming up from the covers to attack him...etc etc

 

He went back on to 50mg 5HTP each evening and the hallucinations stopped IMMEDIATELY!

 

So somehow, the illness was causing a drop in his serotonin levels again, and this in turn was causing the OCD flareup, and, we think, the hallucinations (which by the way he had never experienced before)

 

Of course, we firmly believe that the toxins from the Candida and the physiological impact of the ulcer contributed to all this.

 

 

So, there is some extra info for consideration!

[butterbean]

Hi Chemar,

 

I have noticed many posts from you and I can imagine as someone who has been dealing with this for years that you have a lot of experience to share. So thank you for your input.

 

Interesting that your son was sick at the time of the hallucintion and that he also saw something "coming up" at him. My daughter had been flushed and pink cheecked since she got home from school. She felt warm to touch and had a headache. No fever registered on the thermometer though. 2 days later and she is still pink in the cheeks. She may be coming down with the flue and it just hasn't become full blown yet. Her vision was also a fox moving about her, bugs on the chair, worms on the floor and the fox "coming up the chair." Sounds just horrible. It started with her seeing a bird looking in the window, but it was dark outside and there was no bird. She later said that she knew, even as this occured, that it wasn't real. She said (during the hallucination) "my brain is thining everything that I don't want it to." She squeezed her eyes tight and held her hands over them. Pretty smart for a little 6 year old I thought.

 

I made a note of what we ate for dinner, wondering if that may have exaserbated her TS. Quite possible. we have not done any of the food elimination or allergy testing yet, but plan to do so. We have only requested so far that her teachers not give any more candy or sweetened anything at school.

 

We have to go through all the steps ahead and this was a huge shock that this could be related to the TS. I wanted Nick to know that he was not alone. Glad you also have some evidence to support a theory here.

 

Chemar, did your son have unusual fears when younger? Our daughter is afraid (and now I understand why) to be in another room from us - just yards away - and gets jumpy if i address her when she is walking away from me.

 

Thanks so much.

 

PS it seems so funny to be referred to as "butterbean" - my daughter's nickname. Ha ha

[Chemar]

Hi Butterbean's mom

yes, my son did have a lot of fears when he was younger. He is very independent now, and has even gone on foreign youth mission trips without me, but when he was younger it was very different.

 

Interesting similarities there about the animals coming at them during the hallucination. My son also heard strange things and felt that there were worms crawling over him plus some other really weird stuff. It happened four nights in a row and stopped immediately that we reintroduced his 5HTP before bed.

 

Keep us posted on how things are going for your daughter

[dan]

Hi everyone,

 

For whatever it's worth, my 8-year-old son has had occasional hallucinations, both aural and visual. The aural ones started a year ago and occurred primarily at night while he was in bed but not asleep. He said he heard voices arguing with each other. I don't think he's had any of these for a while now. The visual hallucinations are more recent and started out as human figures he'd see out of the corner of his eye, but lately he's had a few where he saw a figure straight-on. That's what happened this morning, when he saw the dark figure of a man with enough detail to see the hands. He was somewhat upset by this but not freaked out or anything. I explained to him that it's nothing to worry about, and that the hallucinations are caused by his brain in the same way as the tics are. That's my understanding of it. Other than fits of oppositional-defiant behavior, which seem related to his tics, my son appears to be quite normal psychologically and doesn't at all fit the profile of schizophrenia or anything like that. He was examined thoroughly by a psychiatrist as part of a team evaluation done with a neurologist, and the psychiatrist said my son was very normal and happy except that the tics were making him miserable. That was a year ago, right after his tics emerged as a major problem (he'd only had mild ones before), but now his tics are much, much better, I'd say at least 85% improved and not noticeable by other people. His oppositional-defiant behavior is much better too. The combination we've found that seems to help him is Bontech TS-Plus Control, EPA/DHA, Bifidobiotics (a probiotic), Country Life DMG (we've tried other brands, but for some reason they don't seem to work as well) and guanfacine (a tiny dose, 1/2 gram twice a day). We also keep him off corn, cheese, sweets and artificial anything.

[dan]

I just did a Google search of "guanfacine" (Tenex) and "hallucinations" and found a bunch of studies suggesting that guanfacine causes auditory and visual hallucinations!