Can tics be so strong they seem like seizures?

[jph]

My son is having a horrid period of tics right now. His tics turn into/cause/... full body seizing-like activity that are now sucking the breath out of his lungs. They've never been this bad and I'm quite terrified. WWYD? Is this normal?

[Chemar]

Hi

Some tics can be intense, but honestly, I would take him to his doctor for an evaluation.

[hopeful2]

Hi JPH,

 

Please see my extensive post in the category: Updates from members--Successes or Not

 

Our son is now in severe ticcing--which worsened when he began living on his own, in college, etc. and

they can involve almost his entire torso. It is completely frightening to watch and we had no idea it had

gotten so bad until we did a recent visit. (He is living several states away and just completed college.)

 

You will need to get totally immersed in this. In the post I recommend relevant books to buy, as well as immediate steps to improve diet:

no gluten; no casein; limiting any yeast-promoting foods that can cause Candida overgrowth; no food additives, etc. etc.

 

In addition, you will need to do allergy proofing as much as possible from household and airborne allergens.

 

In 4 weeks time since our son got serious about all of this (and he is an adult now, age 25) he reports that he is starting

to feel better. I, his mom, am visiting right now--trying to help him sort all of this out. His diet had been terrible,

so we are revamping his food choices based on what we know about food choices and ticcing.

 

Hope this helps. Hopeful 2 mom

[hopeful2]

P.S. to my above post. We took our son, during our visit, to one of Michigan's so-called top (?) "Movement Disorders" neurologists--

I've never wanted to strangle a doctor in my life, but I came close this time. The doctor was very arrogant when I asked reasonable

questions, he examined D and proclaimed it to be a "motor tic." In essence he said, you'll have to live with it, or we can try drugs

(which can cause irreversible damage). That was the only option--terrible drugs. He basically dashed anything else we asked him about: massage, physical therapy, diet, nutritional deficiencies, etc.

 

As an academic research librarian, I know that other doctors have reported successfully (reducing tics) with these other methods.

 

Our son does better with massage (he gets one about every two weeks--as his back is all knotted up from constant ticcing); he is

in physical therapy, to help rebalalnce muscles, and he has an extensive clean-up of his food choices.

 

I am positive we are on the right track for D.