Eye Rolling Tics and Sniffing Tics

[MomBear]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. My five year old son had a motor tic at the age of three (shrugging). Our pediatrician didn't think anything of it. She suspected it would go away. It did. Then, when he was four, he had a weird (never identified) virus followed by eye rolling tics that resembled a seizure.   After an MRI to rule out a brain tumor and an EEG, he was diagnosed with transient tics.  Since the testing more than a year-and-a-half ago, the tics have evolved to include motor and vocal tics.  We have an appointment with a specialist in three months.

The eye rolling (accompanied by photo sensitivity) and sniffing are most bothersome for him. His eyes water a great deal when the ocular tics start up. He is miserable. The tics seem to be exacerbated by stress/anxiety and allergies.  We are doing a better job of treating his allergies with medication, which seems to help. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried other approaches that have successfully alleviated the eye rolling/sniffing/photo sensitivity?  I've seen others try dietary approaches.  Unfortunately, my son has gustatory issues and doesn't eat a wide range of foods (he gags if it isn't the "right" texture). I stuff nearly everything nutritious into a smoothie every day. 

Thank you for your time! 

 

 

 

 

[Sheila]

Hi Mombear--welcome to the forums, though I'm sorry it has to be when you are dealing with these difficulties with your son. I know it is so concerning.

I would suggest that you may need a professional help deal with some of the issues you have described. The good news is that you have seen a connection with the immune system and allergy, which conventional medicine does not explore for most tics. At the same time it can be difficult to figure it all out by yourself.

To answer your question about any one else having success in eliminating tics, yes --my son's problems started with major eye-rolling but we had no idea at the time about allergies--which did play a big role. Chemical exposures also affected his eye-rolling. We were able to learn that allergies were affecting his nervous system; gut problems were involved; and he had chemical sensitivities, had a special allergy approach, and he needed nutritional support. He is fine and has been for many years.. He had a serious case at its worst.

I see you are working on getting good nutrients into smoothies.Good for you--it sounds like a challenge. I hope that you can also avoid food additives in what he eats. Have you tried excluding them yet?

Try to follow all the allergist's suggestions for having a natural and clean home, free of allergens and toxins.

It would be good to learn if he has an underlying infection that is playing a role; you mentioned a virus. There are actually too many approaches that you might want to take to describe them all here.

We have a book that looks at a lot of symptoms and treatments that might help, and it includes advice from experts. It is here.

If you want to try to locate a practitioner in your area, we can try to help. (What country do you live in?)  Other members may also have suggestions for you.

You sound like an observant parent, and you have the determination to help your boy. Those qualities are both very important to helping him heal. We would like to help you find answers.

[MomBear]

Hi Sheila,

Thank you for the thoughtful response to my questions. I bought your book and will look further into the food additive connection. We have an appointment with a tic/tourette's specialist, but it's months away. San Diego is home. If you know of a specialist in the region, please let me know. I'm eager to find ways to help my little man.  I'm not confident we'll find all the answers we need from conventional medicine.

I suspect you went through many years of anguish on the road to better health and healing for your son. Thank you for sharing what you learned along the way. It's encouraging to hear he is now doing well. 

[klypciwhdhdo]

 

Hi @MomBear I think I’m in the same boat as you. My son is about four years old. He had his first tic when he was about 1.5 years old. It started with a movement in his shoulder. I’m not sure if it was a tic, as it only lasted a week or two. The second tic started about nine months later—an eye-blinking tic, just after he started kindergarten in early spring. This also lasted about two weeks. Then we went to Sri Lanka, and it completely disappeared. The new tic, eye-rolling, started about nine months later during winter in Germany. He has been experiencing this tic for about three weeks now. It comes and goes—some days I rarely see it, and on others, it happens every minute or so. It’s very hard to watch. He’ll just do something, and both of his eyes will shift toward the left. Two weeks into this, he went to kindergarten and came home with a strep infection. He tested positive for strep and was on penicillin for about seven days, but there were no changes in his tics. We completely weaned him off because he didn’t show any other signs of strep. He still has his tics, and since it’s winter, I think the cold has accelerated them. Other than that, he has been sugar-free throughout his life, and this week we cut out all gluten and dairy to see if it makes any changes. So far, I don’t see any changes. If you happen to know any remedies, even just to minimize them, please let me know.

[fgter]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:51 AM, klypciwhdhdo said:

 

Hi @MomBear I think I’m in the same boat as you. My son is about four years old. He had his first tic when he was about 1.5 years old. It started with a movement in his shoulder. I’m not sure if it was a tic, as it only lasted a week or two. The second tic started about nine months later—an eye-blinking tic, just after he started kindergarten in early spring. This also lasted about two weeks. Then we went to Sri Lanka, and it completely disappeared. The new tic, eye-rolling, started about nine months later during winter in Germany. He has been experiencing this tic for about three weeks now. It comes and goes—some days I rarely see it, and on others, it happens every minute or so. It’s very hard to watch. He’ll just do something, and both of his eyes will shift toward the left. Two weeks into this, he went to kindergarten and came home with a strep infection. He tested positive for strep and was on penicillin for about seven days, but there were no changes in his tics. We completely weaned him off because he didn’t show any other signs of strep. He still has his tics, and since it’s winter, I think the cold has accelerated them. Other than that, he has been sugar-free throughout his life, and this week we cut out all gluten and dairy to see if it makes any changes. So far, I don’t see any changes. If you happen to know any remedies, even just to minimize them, please let me know.

Hi @klypciwhdhdo

• you have taken a great first step eliminating sugar/gluten/dairy from his diet
• if possible, consult a functional/holistic/naturopathy doctor and get a thorough blood work done for him to find his food sensitivities/intolerances/allergies? My daughter has tics and we found out that her gut is sensitive to a whole bunch of fruits/veggies etc. Eating food that you're sensitive to may cause inflammation and that can trigger tics
• if possible, consult an environmental medicine physician and test your son if he has any toxins(heavy metals/mold etc) in his body