new to this: sleuthing

[Guest heidi]

hello,

 

I've been reading for a couple weeks or so since I found you all. My little 4 yr old daughter has kind of suddenly begun having a lot of tics. My sister in law noticed it first, having just recently had her son diagnosed with a tic disorder. (He is 10 but in retrospect has been ticcing for a very long time). I talked to my doctor, who seems a little clueless, he said maybe it was psychological and that he didn't know of it running in families. But after reading this website and getting the book, I am waiting for an appointment with him where I am going to have my daughter tested for airborne and food allergies. But meanwhile, I am trying to figure out what is triggering it. Definitely chlorine, she tics like crazy at her swimming lesson. (her big tic right now is an eye roll). What I am curious about and wanted to ask you more experienced folks, is the lag time between the trigger and the tic, especially with food. Today for instance, she ate a popsicle at the park which I thought was an ok one (it was one of those kind of fresh fruit mexican popsicles), but she ticced as she ate, and wasn't ticcing at all before, and I looked at the ingredient list and sure enough it had the red dyes and the yellow. She also tics alot in the morning as she is eating breakfast. Could food possibly trigger that quickly? I am curious for any insight as I am trying to move as fast as possible and of course it is going to be awhile before I get the tests done let alone hear the results of the tests. I am a little beside myself about all of this.... both my husband and I remember having some tics as children (felt like compulsions) and I kind of assumed maybe that was just a kid thing, but in relating the story to others, I get the sense that many people have no experience of ticcing at all. I don't think either of us were as bad as my little gal seems to be at so young of an age, but who knows. I know I myself have a quite a few food allergies/sensitivities and am very aware of fumes and chemical smells, perfumes, etc, literally can't bear them, and am prone to migraines. my husbands family is very prone to airborne allergies. so this seems familiar. I try and remind myself of this, so I don't panic too much about her situation.

thanks, and it is so helpful to read your posts....there is nothing worse than feeling alone with an escalating panic. Knowing others are dealing with the same things helps.

[Chemar]

welcome Heidi

 

my son has TS and we see an almost instantaneous increase in tics and OCD if he eats anything with artificial food colouring, especially the red40

[Toms_Mom]

My son will tic for up to 3 days after he has had any dairy product!

Mary

[QsMom]

Like Tom's mom, my child will tic for several days with casein and the tics usually are delayed showing up the next day.

 

When my son was ticing a lot though I noticed right away if he had had a heavy dose of sugar.