Controlling Tics

[Guest Guest_Heather]

I thought I would add a new topic thread to continue a discussion that stemmed from another issue on Jennifer's body bio thread.

 

Chemar,

 

I know from your postings that you have been through some serious self-injurious behaviour with your son and in following your discussion regarding your attempt to get him to control tics, I wanted to ask a question about a similar experience.

 

In November my son bit the inside of his cheek so bad, he had a huge sore all along the inside of his mouth that we feared would become infected. He wouldn't eat for 3 days because his mouth was so sore and would barely drink either because it hurt to open his mouth. It eventually healed and we have not had to deal with anything like that again and with the way things are going I don't think we will have to deal with it again, however, it is always in the back of mind that there is potential for something like that to come back and it terrifies me to think of it.

 

You spoke of using techniques to stop him from injuring himself. Did your son ever have a biting compulsion and if so what direction did you take to stop the self injurious behaviour?

 

The mouth touching thing that my son does now is very mild but when it was more severe he was leaving marks on his face from rubbing it so much so I think he has a tendency to do the self-injurious stuff which scares me so much. I can handle the tics and he can too but I can't handle watching him hurt himself uncontrollably.

 

Heather

[Chemar]

Hi Heather

I feel for what you have described as it is so scary when there is injury.

 

I am wording my posts in relation to all this very carefully as I dont want to create triggers for anyone.

 

I firmly believe that Haldol played a part in inducing the self injurious compulsive tics, as the serious incident I mentioned in that other thread happened just one month after he started Haldol......and then the addition of Luvox which the docs insisted on when he was released from the hospital truly made things far worse.

 

I would be happy to discuss the actual details of the tics/OCD stuff that was so alarming but would prefer email....I am very wary of too much detail on a board that is read by people for whom things can be triggers.

 

Soft mouthguards and wads of bubblegum are good ways of insulating teeth.

Gloves are great for covering hands and nails, and socks,bandages, bandaids etc can be used to insulate other parts of the body.

 

When the need arose, My son wore soft cotton gloves(bought at marching band uniform supplier) for a couple of of weeks...it was so sweet as initially when other kids would ask him why he wore gloves, he would simply say "cos I do! arent they cool?" They just accepted that and he wasnt teased or anything. I bought a number of pairs and would keep them well washed . This was all 4 years ago.

 

Some parents use chin guards, others pad headboards....there are many ways of coping when those kinds of tics or OCDs surface.......

 

from my experience, the most important thing is to try to help without acting distressed....for my son...after the horror of the hospital experience (he developed severe infection because of the bite)...he actually was the one who would come up with the protective ideas...gosh! now that i am thinking back...there were so many!!

(I confess i try not to think back to those days too often)

 

But even the knowledge of how bad things could get, wasnt enough to stop those compulsions and tics from still developing. he HAD TO do them, and begged me to understand.

 

I later learned from the psychiatrist who helped him go off the meds and onto the 5HTP (the man was a life-saver!) that a lot of what was happening was that my son was using those tics/compulsions to induce endorphin surges in his brain, which produced a euphoric state. Something about the medication mix was making him crave this endorphin rush. he was initially also given d-phenylalanine to provide these endorphins naturally, and then started the 50mg 5HTP once he was fully withdrawn from Luvox.

 

I hope I am answering clearly enough for you Heather. As i say, i am very willing to continue this in more detail via email if you want to contact me.

 

ALL of these kinds of severe tics/compulsions just disappeared when he came off the meds and it is now over 3 years since he started the 5HTP, and the other supps.

 

yes, he still has tics...but very mild, even when they are waxing...and his OCD still shows in peculiar ways, like organizing things and needing things to be "just right" etc etc.....but nothing alarming....for which this mom is soooooooo very thankful.

[Heather]

Chemar,

 

Thanks for the thorough reply. I won't pursue it any more extensively with you right now privately since you gave me some good ideas. If we ever have to deal with it later, I will maybe take you up on the private email.

 

Also, thanks for the reminder that things said on here can be triggers to some reading it. Being new to the forum and to the syndrome, I sometimes get rambling on and don't think about some of the reactions that could occur.

 

Thanks again.

 

Heather

[Claire]

Deleted.

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Chemar,

 

Thanks for all your valuable inputs and for sharing your experiences.

 

www.lifesatwich.com is a very good website as you rightly said and Dr Dunc gives a lot of good advice in general in that website. However, can you give me the link or the particular page on this website where he talks about coping skills for certain compulsions/tics (without really suppressing them). I am unable to trace the right page in this website.

 

TIA..

[Chemar]

Claire

I am happy to chat with you about this anytime....you have my email

 

Claire & Heather

It is a good idea to delete specific references to injurious tics....auto suggestion is a big problem for some.

 

efgh

I dont have the connection with Duncan's website on this....he does seminars and TSA articles and that is where I have the info on....just to clarify...the coping skills are ones that my son & I devised ourselves...i didnt get that info from Dr.Dunc...what he alerted me to was the fact that trying to make a TS/OCD person suppress can result in even worse stuff...one of the things he points out always is that when a person is forced to suppress tics, OCD, or rage, or frustration, or depression/anxiety etc bursts out. I have clearly seen that with my son

 

he is very kind in replying to emails and so you could ask him for his input as to your specific situation.

[Heather]

How do you delete a post???

[Guest Ronna]

I would sure like to know how to edit posts also.

 

Ronna

[Claire]

Heather, Ronna (and efgh...)

 

As you view your post, on the top of it--on the same line as the date, and to the right is a button with the word 'edit'. Click on it and you get the old post looking like you are ready to submit it for the first time.

 

You can't completely delete it, but you can change anything you want, and even delete all but a period.

 

Then click submit.

 

Claire

[efgh]

Thanks Claire.

 

Heather and Ronnas

 

Please note that this facility is available for only posts posted by registered members and hence for those posts created using Guest_xxxx you may not be able to see the option Edit. whereas if you have logged in with your name and password and create a post you would be able to see the EDIT button and you can then edit the post as suggested by Claire.

 

hope this helps.

[Heather]

Hmmmm...On some of the posts I see edit and others I do not. It doesn't seem to correspond with whether the person is a member or not???? The one above that I wanted to delete is one that I wasn't signed in I guess so maybe I can't delete it according to what you wrote EFGH, however, I do see other posts written by members that don't have the edit option in the right corner????

 

Heather

[Chemar]

Hi Heather

you wont see the "edit" on any one else's posts...only your own.

 

If you werent signed in on that other one, you cant edit it but you could email Sheila and just tell her the words you want edited.....as the moderater I THINK she can edit our posts or even the entire thread

dont worry about it tho....

[Heather]

Thanks Chemar,

 

I guess that makes sense that I wouldn't see edit on anyone's post by my own. Once you said that I had to smile at my stupidity....wasn't thinking. Anyway, thanks for the info.

 

Heather