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Update a year later and observations


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My daughter is 7 years old now. We had about 6-9 months of total tic free behavior. She was a bit scrunchy of her nose around Christmas but it was accompanied by a cold and vanished within 2 weeks. The nasal steroid spray seemed to help, so we have given her a squirt every night for the past year. Her new ped who is pandas friendly thinks they are allergies.

two weeks ago I picked her up from school and she complained of a scratchy itchy nose. She was rubbing it every 5 seconds. Well, she started bunny twitching again, I took her into the ped and he found a yeast infection with pustules. We did some topical cream which made it feel a bit better but she bunny nose twitches every 5-20 seconds. All day no breaks. He was leaning toward impetigo when we last went and we are doing an antibacterial ointment.

she now has a cold two weeks later and is doing a full bunny nose twitch with open mouth every 5-20 seconds. 

where are we now? She's started to chew her lower lip too -it's a scabby mess.

whenever she feels a slight irritation she turns it into a tic. She even does it in super light sleep. Is this OCD? Hypersensitivity?

shes not sensitive usually to tags on shirts (occasionally) but sensitive to the seams on her sock toes. Has been for years.

where do we go from here? How do I desensitize her so she is not so overwhelmed by these feelings that turn into tics?

do we have hope that this will go away or should I assume this is the beginning of OCD or Tourette's ?

one doctor said tics, another doctor said just allergies. I don't know what to think. Is any of this normal? I just want her to get better. I thought we were done with this but it's back. 

Edited by ssonheim
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Ssonheim, I'm wondering how things are now--did they settle down as the cold hopefully went away? Or have the tics remained the same?

Does the doctor think the nose/nasal yeast infection could be related to the steroid spray?

Can you get her checked for a systemic candida infection? Maybe an antifungal medication will be called for -- a doctor could tell you.

What is her diet like--that of a typical kid, or is she on a restricted diet of any type? 

For sure you can have hope that it will go away! Your instinct that it is not normal is correct. Just because it is common for doctors to see kids with tics doesn't mean you want to ignore them.

If you look at it from the standpoint of allergy, as one doctor suggested, then it makes sense to make adjustments at home to avoid all allergens and also to watch her diet. Some nutrients could also help.  Have you ever had time to do an overall allergy approach at home? I think you have good clues to what is going on and can zero in on efforts that will help.

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Hello there - I just posted something similar, it seems like my son's tics/compulsions are brought on by physical discomfort related to allergy or cold symptoms. They always have to do with those symptoms (throat clearing, sniffing, nose scrunching/twitching) but it's almost like once those actual allergy symptoms abate, his brain doesn't get the message to stop clearing/sniffing/scrunching and they hang around (and sometimes worsen). He doesn't chew his lips but he will go through phases of biting his nails down to almost bleeding (and is "tic free" during these times, usually). 
 

I'm wondering if they're tics or compulsions, or what the difference is, really. And how to help. OTC allergy meds don't seem to alleviate it. 

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Hi! They turned into a cold and came down but are still there. She wiggles her nose like a bunny. All day long. I can see its red and she can tell me exactly where it itches. Just inside her nostrils. Thinking of seeing an ent this week. I don't know. She eats a standard diet and way too much junk food. I'm sure candida could be an issue. 

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Last night it was really bad. My husband gave her a saline spray in her nose and it immediately got about 50-75 % better. There was a bunch of gray dusty snot on the tissue, she had been digging in the dirt a day ago and I guess it went to her nasal passages. She's much better this morning. Still itchy but better. It drives me crazy because I don't know how to help her or what is going on. 

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And I just cleaned it out with nasal spray again and it's a tiny bit bloody on one side and we found more dirt! So strange because she has been asleep since we last did the spray! Perplexing 

Edited by ssonheim
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I'm glad there has been some relief at least. That's progress. Seems like it could be a good idea to see an ENT to let them rule out anything special going on. It would seem he/she could also make sure all the dirt is out and nothing else is aggravating things.

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For anyone still reading I am looking into sensory tics. She has a few symptoms of spd... sensitive to seams in socks, aggressive tantrums out of the blue, very ticklish... sensitive to loud noises. Nothing too serious or that interferes with school. 

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