Vocal tics increase after washing hair

[Rachel]

My son has vocal tics but he has not been diagnosied with TS. Whenever he washes his hair, his vocal tics increase for the rest of the day. The next day his vocal tic is almost silent. He does take Intuniv but on days when he washes his hair, this medication does keep his vocal tic under control. So I assume that the act of washing his hair is a trigger. Is there anyway to bring this trigger under control? Could this have anything to do with his shampoo or an ingredient in the shampoo? Any ideas?

[Chemar]

It sounds like it may be something in his shampoo to me....many kids with tics are hypersensitive to chemicals.

 

You may want to try getting him a pure, hypoallergenic shampoo and see if that helps

[Tessa]

I agree, I would try a shampoo without dyes, too. It would be fairly easy (depending on where you live) to access some more natural products and it is worth a try.

 

Good luck!

 

Tessa

[Sheila]

Hi Rachel,

 

I'd agree that shampoo is quite possibly the culprit. You want to look for ones that are unscented as well as made with natural ingredients. Here's one as an example Click If you click on the bottle you can see what it "doesn't" have -- these are things to avoid.

 

One other possibility, though admittedly not as likely, is that your bathing water has contaminants (like chlorine) that bother him and he gets a more exposure to it when washing his hair. We have heard from people with tics who were so sensitive that they were noticing increased tics every time they showered until they filtered out the toxins.

 

The fact is -- everyone in the family is better off with natural shampoos, and when possible it is good to have a whole house filter or a filter on the shower head to remove chemicals that can be released from the water as steam or absorbed through the skin.

 

We'd love to know if you try anything that helps!

 

 

[Rachel]

I'll order the shampoo and try it first. Thanks for sharing this information.