Discovered my 6yo daughter has tic

[joandsp]

hello,

 

brand new to board. my 6 year old daughter recently started licking her index finger and wiping her eyebrow with it. she is sucking her thumb less so we assume it is part of the "transition" process. background: when she sucks her thumb she typically holds her index finger against her eyebrow (same hand). we think the new manuever is about satisfying those urges with a quick lick and wipe without being caught sucking her thumb... anyone have an opinion? we are rookies with this but appears to be a tic.

 

sincerely,

jo

[Chemar]

Hi and welcome

 

do you reprimand her for sucking her thumb? If so it may just be that she has developed this as a substitute and so it may not be an actual tic, but more a psychological/emotional reaction to having the comfort factor of sucking her thumb designated as a no no

 

if it is a tic, and she has no others, I would honestly just try to ignore it and it will likely resolve. transient tics are very common in young kids. the more you draw attention to it tho, the harder it will be for her to stop

 

JMHO

[joandsp]

Hi and welcome

 

do you reprimand her for sucking her thumb? If so it may just be that she has developed this as a substitute and so it may not be an actual tic, but more a psychological/emotional reaction to having the comfort factor of sucking her thumb designated as a no no

 

if it is a tic, and she has no others, I would honestly just try to ignore it and it will likely resolve. transient tics are very common in young kids. the more you draw attention to it tho, the harder it will be for her to stop

 

JMHO

 

we don't reprimand except in certain circumstances--at dinner table, out to dinner, etc. she can suck her thumb when relaxing, before bed, no issues there. regarding the 'lick and wipe,' we discussed it with her but more as a sanitary issue than a behavioral issue. she's becoming more aware of germs with the school discussing hand washing all the time so we didn't feel we were piling on too much. i think you are right, just let it run its course.

[krisT]

My 10 yr old daughter starting having tics suddenly. One day she was fine and the next day she wasn't. At first, she did this eye thing with her right eye. After that, it switched to a bunny nose thing. Then, i saw her pushing her lip on the right side trying to get it to touch her nose. she was doing this on purpose. now this is her tic that she's been doing for probably going on three months now. In all, this has been going on since the end of may. I have been drawing attention to them even though i know i shouldn't. what concerns me is that her dad has ts, and my worst fear is that they will escalate to that. i have cried and blamed myself. thinking there must have been something i've done to trigger them. food? braces? we recently had some new carpet installed in my son's room and did some remodeling in her bathroom. could hers also be transient since there is just one tic at a time and no vocal tics?

[faith]

kris,

could I ask if you have ever seen anything that could have been a tic prior to this? you say she is 10? you've never seen any other transient tic in the past at 5 or 6 years old?

 

what are your husbands symptoms over the years? what age did he start?

 

 

Faith

[krisT]

kris,

could I ask if you have ever seen anything that could have been a tic prior to this? you say she is 10? you've never seen any other transient tic in the past at 5 or 6 years old?

 

what are your husbands symptoms over the years? what age did he start?

 

 

Faith

 

Yes, when she was around 4 or 5, I remember her lifting her shirt and arm like her shirt was bothering her. I remember it because it deeply bothered me, but it passed. And then nothing at all (tic wise) until now other than she seemed to have sensory issues with her clothes. Like she wouldn't like the feel of them and refused to wear them or purchase clothes because of the way they felt to her. Is there something significant about the age 5 or 6? Also, before the sudden onset in may, she coughed from november to february until the doctor gave her a strong antibiotic to get rid of it. I have wondered about that cough, too.

 

When I met my husband, I didn't notice any tics. His tics started after we were married and he says he didn't have any during childhood. But I did notice he blinked a lot. Now he is full-blown...grunts, clears throat, flails arm, moves legs, grimacing, bunny nose, turning head.... He did tell me that he remembered smelling his baseball glove. He also had a seizure in high school.

[faith]

kris,

no, nothing specific about age 5, just using an example. I usually question parents who say their child just started tics, but usually they find that there was something minor in the past. its usually when it gets more obvious that one thinks it 'just started', when there may have been some signs in the past.

If your daughter had a cough for several months (with no respiratory illness), it may very well have been a vocal tic.

 

Re your husband, how old is he now and by any chance did he start any medications as an adult, i.e. anti-depressant, or some other med that may have triggered these new tics as a side effect? it is very uncommon to present TS as an adult, it is usually before age 18 at the least.

 

 

Faith

[krisT]

kris,

no, nothing specific about age 5, just using an example. I usually question parents who say their child just started tics, but usually they find that there was something minor in the past. its usually when it gets more obvious that one thinks it 'just started', when there may have been some signs in the past.

If your daughter had a cough for several months (with no respiratory illness), it may very well have been a vocal tic.

 

Re your husband, how old is he now and by any chance did he start any medications as an adult, i.e. anti-depressant, or some other med that may have triggered these new tics as a side effect? it is very uncommon to present TS as an adult, it is usually before age 18 at the least.

 

 

Faith

 

 

He took depakote ( i think) for epilepsy. He is 38. He was 22 when we married.

 

What's going on with my daughter? I'm hoping it will all go away.

[faith]

Kris,

If these are the only symptoms your child is having right now, you really can only wait and see. what you describe is probably the more benign tics, that lots of kids get and they resolve on their own within the year. In the meantime, you can adjust her diet to exclude things that may be triggers such as candies and juices with artificial flavors and colors, really limit packaged foods with "high fructose corn syrup", caffiene, and msg.

Start using and learning about magnesium. many here us a product called "Natural Calm". you can google it.

 

I know how it is to panic when you think the worst will come. Since she is already 10 and things are pretty mild, there is a good possibility that it will stay that way. If anything drastic happens, then you will see a neurologist (who will basically tell you the same thing I just did, lol), but seriously, with your husband's medical history, it might be a good idea to have her checked right now, since you say he has had seizures. this could be a genetic thing too. So I would go ahead and have her evaluated regardless.

 

Faith

[krisT]

Kris,

If these are the only symptoms your child is having right now, you really can only wait and see. what you describe is probably the more benign tics, that lots of kids get and they resolve on their own within the year. In the meantime, you can adjust her diet to exclude things that may be triggers such as candies and juices with artificial flavors and colors, really limit packaged foods with "high fructose corn syrup", caffiene, and msg.

Start using and learning about magnesium. many here us a product called "Natural Calm". you can google it.

 

I know how it is to panic when you think the worst will come. Since she is already 10 and things are pretty mild, there is a good possibility that it will stay that way. If anything drastic happens, then you will see a neurologist (who will basically tell you the same thing I just did, lol), but seriously, with your husband's medical history, it might be a good idea to have her checked right now, since you say he has had seizures. this could be a genetic thing too. So I would go ahead and have her evaluated regardless.

 

Faith

 

She has an appointment in january. I have elimated all that you just mentioned, but she is 10 and away from me at times. She is slowly accepting her new eating habits. I am doing the same with her, which can only benefit us in the long run from I read about high fructose corn syrup and the like. I have read about magnesium; however, my husband doesn't agree with increasing that in her. So he's agreed to test the magnesium increase on him to see what happens first. he thinks she will basically have diarrhea constantly from it. I'm trying to give her mag rich foods meanwhile.

 

I hope you are right and she outgrows this. My husband thinks she will because hers are not that severe. Also, his little sister had seizures too when she was little and I remember her doing a sucking in motion in the corner of her mouth. I don't notice it now, but I'm not around her much anymore.

[compy168]

We just found out my 8 years old son has tic disorder too about 1 week ago. He always clearing his throat since he's like 6-7.

We didn't know this might be 1 of the vocal tics then. We told him not to shake and nod his head back and forth few days ago.

It made it worse. Now he's shake/nod his head quit often through out the day, especially when he's doing his homework. I am new

to this tic disorder. I have called my son's doctor, she said it's fine without even ask him to come in to take a look. I am worry

that his tics will get worse day by day. I have no idea what caused his tics. He had 2 seizures due to high fever when he was like 1

and 2 years old. He has allergy and we have given him Claritin for the past 3 years or so. He hasn't take any for the past few weeks.

And we plan to stop using it due to the tic problem. Right now we plan to give him more magnesium rich food and try to give him

less stress on everything that we can. I am not sure what else we can do now. Pls help. Should I force my doctor to let him

goto the doctor office to have her to take a look or possibly refer him to a neurologist?

 

compy