15 month old daughter has developed multiple tics, not sure where to turn to, and very overwhelmed.

[vlada_s]

Hi!

I'm so, so happy that I found this forum. Just picked up the Natural Treatment for Tics & Tourettes book a few days ago and I'm so glad I did. I am the mother of a 15 month girl, and absolutely frightened because she is exhibiting multiple motor tics. 

This all started on January 29th, the same day she learned to walk. I was video taping her to show my folks that she was eating with her fork and noticed she did a few odd head jerks. I caught it on video and showed my parents and husband that day but all anyone was focused on was the amazing miracle of our little one walking on her own. I brushed it off, but had a bad feeling about it. I'm with her 24/7 since I took postpartum time off and now I work from home and take care of her, so I feel like I have a very good grasp of her personality and eccentricities. The head jerk tic continued, and she did it while walking as well, almost as if she was trying to balance herself. It continued, so I made an appointment with her pediatrician for Feb 6th. Her doctor viewed the video and said it was a tic, but nothing to be concerned about, that I should cut out all TV time for a week to be safe. Our daughter doesn't really even watch that much TV. 10 minutes tops a day while I change her diaper or clip her nails. This was when she only had one tic. Still, I did what she said, but more tics started to develop, even with zero screen time. She went through several days of very odd long eye blinks which almost seemed to disorient her for a moment while she either ate or walked. She had a head flailing movement which leaned for left. Others came and seem to go since her first tic Jan 29th. I told our pediatrician via a phone call about all of this on the following Tuesday, and mentioned that I had / have OCD (not as bad as when I was between 4-10 years old). The doctor then quickly made a referral.

I was referred to CHLA to see the neurologists there and we went Feb 19th. The two neurologist there (very nice, but sadly not helpful), were really surprised that someone this young was indeed exhibiting tics, but had little advice or ideas as to what to do, other than "wait it out." I also showed them a video of my daughter when she was about 7 months old. We had to get an EEG for her because we thought she might be exhibiting seizures, her head was nodding forward almost like she was about to fall asleep, but with her eyes open. Now the neurologists felt like those were actually tics, at 7 months! Our daughter also fell out of our bed January 11th. It was terrifying and she busted open her nose/mouth, we rushed her to the ER. Everyone there reassured us that there was no need to do any scans, and that the best place for her to fall with on her face. Thank goodness she healed quickly. I asked them about Magnesium supplementation and was told that it's a fairly recent topic in their radar. I told them about her ticcing in her sleep. We bedshare, and now are too scared to sleep train out of fear that it will make her tics much worse. I also told them about her terrible sleep since birth, the fact that she's teething with 5-7 teeth coming in (4 of which are molars), and about her HORRIBLE digestive issues. Our daughter is chronically constipated, no matter how organic and well we feed her. She has a good high fiber diet. None of this seemed to worry them, or seem like read flags. 

I've read about the potential of Dysbiosis, her possibly being allergic to gluten (so we have cut it out but still haven't seen much of a difference), switched to goat milk which she didn't really like, and stopped all her organic pouch foods that have preservatives. Now we only do cold pressed pouch food which we rarely feed her but they at least have zero preservatives. 

I'm so sorry to post such a long letter, but I'm very worried. I'm just not sure what the next steps for my daughter should be, should we really wait it out?? 

 

I am asking specifically if 15 months is way too early to be exhibiting tics (since 3yo seems to be when the are detected earliest), and does this mean that she has a much higher chance of having Tourettes? Does this mean her chances of these tics becoming chronic higher? I can't find anything in the forums here, or anywhere online about a child this young. We have an appointment with an allergist this following Monday and was hoping I can have some help figuring out which tests specifically he should run. Lastly, are there any Naturopathic/holistic doctors or pediatric nutritionists in the Los Angeles area I can be recommended?

 

THANK YOU so so much, and am so happy to find this forum / the incredible books. It seems like tics/tourettes are so under documented and reported and most doctors just don't know much about it. I can't believe that "wait and see if it goes away," and "if it doesn't there are really strong drugs with horrible side effects we can try," is all most of the medical community is willing to do. 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2018 by vlada_s

[Sheila]

Hi vlada_s,  thank you for sharing on the Forums, and welcome. You have done all the right things with seeing doctors. that is good to read. Sorry no one got back to you; long messages sometimes get overlooked.

Today should be the day for the allergist, right?

Please let us know what the allergist says, OK? In my book, which you said you have, there is a section on lab tests (by Wm Shaw) and perhaps the doctor would consider some of those.  You will want to be ruling out any toxins, if possible.

You are right to be concerned, but do not assume that this means your little girl will develop Tourette's. There is no reason to assume that. I always remember a mother writing how her little boy's tics were so bad that she had to carry him. It turned out he had been exposed to arsenic in pressurized wood, and once he was detoxified for that, he was OK.  There are so many things that could play a role in tics, and you want to look into them.

I'm surprised the neurologist did not do anything in the way of evaluations.

Please do get back to us on what the allergist thinks. And hang in there, there must be answers for your daughter.

Question: any chance there is mold in your home?