6 Year Old Daughter - Sudden Onset of Tics - Looking for Advice

[dsnow777]

Our daughter is 6 and started the 1st grade in September.

 

Since she was 2 years old she would develop a soft, repetitive humming tic immediately after becoming sick. It would last for maybe 1 month and happened every year for 3 years in a row.

 

This year (the past 5 weeks specifically) have been a roller coaster and have basically started to turn our world upside down.

 

One weekend (exactly 5 weeks ago), it was as if she had a complete personality change. She became defiant with uncontrollable rage/anger, constant aggressive tormenting of her 19 year old sister, and on and on. The ocasional sibling rivalry has always been common but the degree to which it has now escalated to has never been seen before. This type of behavior has always occurred with her but everything has been amplified to the extreme. If her sister accidentally marks her with a pen for example... the amount of anger and rage sounds worthly of a neighbor wondering if everyone here is ok.

 

This same weekend is right around when we noticed the onset of her yearly hum, which came about and within 1 week soon escalated to an all out air blowing through the nose followed by an immediate hum/grunt. Over and Over and Over.

 

This hum/grunt has gotten so bad that she sometimes can't even get through a sentence without pausing to do it between words. Some days its about 9-15 per minute. Other days it seems like a machine gun of sounds. It completely stops if she is drawing or trying to complete a task.

 

Adding to this, within the past week she has now also started doing something with her eyes where she raises her eyebrows as high as they will go and then looks to the right and to the left. This is really bad if she watches TV but less so without it. The vocal hum/grunt and eye brow/eye jerking is now a pair.

 

We are so broken up about all of this as it just seemed to come out of nowhere and has snowballed since. Every single day has been worse than the one before it.

 

Our pediatrician thinks they are probably stress related transient tics brought on by school as everything started immediately after the first week of school. It's also worth noting that she was sick the first week and this all happened immediately after. We called him again a few weeks later to tell him about the behavorial changes as well and he referred us to a psychiatrist. Not a psychologist or neurologist.

 

We found PANDAS researching online and have a blood test scheduled for today. So that is our first step.

 

We're also getting her tested for food allergies later this week.

 

We also sent a note to her teacher to alert her to the tics and soon found out that our daughter seems "zombie" like in class. She seems lost and is having trouble remembering where things go, etc. Which is completely out of character as in kindergarten she was one of the top students, finishing her papers first, etc. This just does not sound typical of our daughter.

 

Her handwriting, drawings, etc. all still look great. She has no learning disabilities, finishes all her homework with little direction at home, etc. So the learning is fine and unchanged.

 

FEARS have intensified. She will not even go to the bathroom here at home alone without one of us walking her to it. She is afraid of everything. This has been a problem always, but again it is now amplified.

 

With friends she is anything but shy or "zombie" like. She is very outgoing but also has extreme problems with bossiness, others touching her things and losing her temper if things doing go exactly how she wants.

 

She has been active in dance and gymnastics for years but now does not want anything to do with them. She says she is worried my wife will leave her there.

 

We are at such a loss and feel helpless.

 

The such sudden and seemingly never ending escalation of vocal and facial tics and uncharacteristic + amplified personality changes all seemingly out of left field makes us feel as if something is very very wrong.

 

Any and all advice is appreciated.

 

I just bought this to start trying daily (magnesium). How many mg of magnesium is recommended to improve ticking symptoms?

http://www.iherb.com/Peter-Gillham-s-Natural-Vitality-Kids-Natural-Calm-Multi-Fruity-Splash-Flavor-30-fl-oz-887-ml/22855

 

Thank you!

[Chemar]

Hi

it's good that you are investigating PANDAS as with the sudden onset and personality change etc that is always a possibility!

 

Just an FYI that the Kids Calm you purchased is a MULTI vitamin/mineral so you give just the dose recommended. For the extra magnesium it is the pure Natural Calm magnesium powder that one mixes in liquid that is suggested. It comes in assorted flavors http://www.iherb.com/search?kw=natural%20calm

[dsnow777]

Thanks Chemar. I'm glad you alerted me to that.

 

Looks like we'll be ordering this:

http://www.iherb.com/Peter-Gillham-s-Natural-Vitality-Natural-Calm-Organic-Raspberry-Lemon-Flavor-16-oz-453-g/5124

 

Does anyone know the recommended amount of this to give a child daily to help with the tics?

[jimTheBassPlayer]

You can find instructions on their website I believe. I think that they say to start with a teaspoon and work up from there.

 

Yes, this link has that info.

 

http://www.vitacost.com/natural-vitality-natural-calm-raspberry-lemon

 

Also, what blood tests are you having done ? You say your daughter was sick, was it a fever sore throat episode ? Or something different ?

 

Does your pediatrician "believe" in Pandas ?

 

-Jim