swallowing tic?

[colleendonny]

DD5, after being pretty much symptom free for about a month, is saying today that she is swallowing a lot. I also heard her clear her throat a few times today, which was her previous tic a month ago.

Can frequent swallowing be a tic? Or maybe this is just the beginning of an exacerbation? I hope not

She has been doing well. Yesterday and today I have noticed her having a little more than normal emotional liability. And she hit me at the supermarket yesterday.

She is still on Augmentin and Azithromycin.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Does she have environmental allergies, by any chance? I find that, with the hefty pollen count we've been having, both DS and I who have hayfever have quite a bit of extra phlegm hanging around in the backs of our throats, hence more swallowing and more throat clearing. Plus, the allergies can set off the immune response, too.

[colleendonny]

I don't really think she has any allergies...

Then again, she has never been checked for any allergies.

No puffy or red eyes. I don't hear any phlegm.

 

I'm hoping it's not the start of any behaviors

[MomWithOCDSon]

I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

I know with my DS15, the throat clearing begins as a legitimate response to phlegm in the back of his throat, but then it becomes a habit (tic?), which he will sometimes do non-stop if he's neither eating nor talking.

 

We try to break the habit by 1) calling his attention to it and 2) asking him to sing a little tune instead, which always seems to successfully pull him out the throat-clearing repetition for a good block of time. A recent favorite ditty was "Soft Kitty" from "Big Bang Theory."

[colleendonny]

Thanks for the suggestions

It seemed to help a little last time to distract her.

 

She said she wasn't swallowing a lot in the afternoon, and I didn't hear a throat clear since lunchtime. She is in bed now, but she was just irritable tonight and emotional. She stopped playing a board game with me because I was winning, hit her brother, yelled at us. I'm just imagining this behavior as a teen!!

So, all is okay thus far tonight.

 

I was googling remedies for throat clearing tics... One was magnesium. Have you ever used this?

[MomWithOCDSon]

I was googling remedies for throat clearing tics... One was magnesium. Have you ever used this?

 

Our DS takes a calcium/magnesium/zinc supplement twice daily, but I've never done major magnesium dosing at all. Tics aren't a major part of his symptomology overall, though. I have heard that magnesium is supposed to help minimize tics in general. It's sort of a relaxant, I think; many labs carry a melatonin/magnesium supplement mix that's supposed to promote restful sleep, for instance.

[colleendonny]

Thanks for sharing.

Hope all is well