going to give it a try

[mylittleangel]

After a long five years of dealing with Tourettes, I finally found a doctor that I connect with and trust. My son is on 5 mg of Abilify and our new doctor has laid out a plan. My son, who is 9 1/2, will start CBiT next Monday (there are only 3 doctors in Ontario who do this therapy) with the social worker from his clinic. He said they have had wonderful results and they can start treatment at age 9. We will have 8-10 sessions and hopefully this will provide my son with enough tools to be able to apply this technique to his most distressing tics (a loud squeak is the worst one). After he finishes the CBiT, we will slowly wean him off the Abilify. My only concern is that the child has to be really willing to put in the hard work that this technique calls for. They are not sure he is ready.I will keep you posted.

[ptcgirl]

Good luck! How is it going? How is that different from regular CBT? I haven't heard of CBiT before....

[leepee]

My son's tics - mainly vocal, started when he was six. He is now nearly 10 and they are almost constant! We are starting a programme of CBT next week with the therapist recommended by our Tourette's clinic doc....

 

Finger's crossed!!

[tpotter]

Have you checked for infection? My son's tics (mostly vocal, as well), cleared when we treated with abx and natural supplements, and also treated the immune system.

[JoyBop]

We have been trying CBT with several therapists now. I'm not sure how the treatment differs from diagnosis to diagnosis but my child has PANDAS which presents as severe anxiety and OCD. The CBT was to address the intense irrational fears such as gum and vomit. The technique for this is exposure response therapy. The child makes a list of the hierarchy if his fears and then you strategically choose a starting place to begin. Our first therapist started at the bottom of this list and we o my got 3 sessions in before his wife became ill and he had to stop working. The. His psychiatrist stepped in and went right to the top of the list, vomit. Then she had to stop and have her baby. (Are you seeing a trend here). There was one person in between who refused to work with my son bc he thought he was "too ridden with anxiety". (Isn't that his job?) now he's starting with a new therapist who says the first one started out too easy and the second started too hard. She says that he isn't ready yet and that the ERP that was done to address the vomit has made him worse.

 

So as you can see its tricky but our situation has been complicated due to multiple therapists. I think its wonderful you have found someone that can work with you.

 

As tpotter suggested, you ought to have a peak at the PANS Pandas Forum and see if anything rings a bell. There are many children that suffer from tics, anxiety and OCD that are caused by infections such as strep, Lyhme, and mycoplasma. Although there are far more that have the true forms of each condition. Just wanted to make sure you explored that possibility.

 

Good luck and I hope it is a positive experience for you!

[Vegtbull]

Have you checked for infection? My son's tics (mostly vocal, as well), cleared when we treated with abx and natural supplements, and also treated the immune system.

Does abx stand for antibiotics? Can you share what kind of natural supplements worked for you and how you treated the immune system? Thank you!

[MomWithOCDSon]

Vegtbull --

 

Yes, "abx" stands for antibiotics. TPotter's son has/had PANDAs or PANs, an auto-immune illness that can result in Tourette-like and/or OCD-like symptoms and behaviors.

 

Unfortunately, this Cognitive Behavior Therapy forum doesn't get a whole lot of activity, but if you'd like to read more about PANDAs/PANs and the abx, supplement, and immune-modulatory steps many of us have taken to help our kids, I would take a look at the PANDAs forum here. There's a world of information and ideas there:

 

http://latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showforum=17

 

I haven't seen TPotter on the forum much these days, which is why I thought I'd step in and offer a couple of thoughts. The supplements some of us have found useful tend to vary from person to person, but in general, anti-inflammatory supplements (curcumin, turmeric, quercitin, Omega 3's, coconut oil) are favored.

 

Take a look at the other forum, and good luck!

[DaLester]

How is your son? Any luck?