Tics During Sleep

[4feisty]

Good morning,

 

I am a desperate mother experiencing major problems with a child suffering from both sleep apnea as well as bouts of 'tics/tourettes' symptoms during sleep, where he cannot recall or remember anything at all...please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chemar]

Hello

Most people with TS do not tic when they are asleep, so the tics your son is experiencing may be related to something other than TS.

 

Does he tic at any other time or in any other environment?

If not, then it is possible that something in his room (or that he is consuming or exposed to before bed) is triggering the tics (and perhaps the sleep issues as well)

 

Have you seen a sleep disorder specialist about the sleep apnoea? That may also shed some light on why it is accompanied by tics.

[cara615]

Chemar - i read that most people with TS do tic when they sleep. My son does not, but I thought it was very common. I'll try to find the literature I read on it.

[Chemar]

Cara, please note I said MOST people with TS do not tic in their sleep. I did not say all.

 

The literature is pretty consistent that for those that do, tics are usually greatly diminished.

[Lee101]

When our daughter was diagnosed last year, her phsycatrist asked me if I had notest her ticing in her sleep, I hadn't , he said that she probebly does. I had never seen it until by accident one night when I went to check on her.....and there she was...having full body tics! I have also noticed that when she has waxing periods we find her in very odd body posture positions. I'm sorry I can't comment on the sleep apnea side of things, has your son been diagnosed with ts( my apologies if you have mentiond this before) ?

 

We found that a strict bed time rituall helped with sleep time. Epsam bath, followed by a chapter or two of a book, gental massage then bed, helps sometimes with sleep. Not every time but some times. Even a heated wheat bag to drap on herself has offerd comfort

[Chemar]

In the early days after the severity of my son's onset of TS, we had a bed in our room for him as that was the only way he managed to sleep without night fears etc.

 

I was awake a lot during those nights as I was pretty anxious and distressed about what was happening to him and would spend a lot of time just praying and watching him while he slept. It was the only time that he seemed totally at peace, and I never observed tics then.

 

But yes, as with everything related to TS, different things manifest for different people.

 

I did go back and look at a lot of references and again, as I realize things are ever changing on what we know about TS....the majority I could find suggested that people with TS tend not to tic when asleep (at least not noticeably) and that if they do, it appeared the tics were greatly diminished.

[my2sons]

I do not have a dx of TS with my son...not to say that it is not TS...his tics are vocal for the most part...but i have heard him tic while sleeping. As Chemar stated though, very diminished.