Jump to content
ACN Latitudes Forums

TV/computer and tics


Claire

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Heather,

 

There was nothing special about DVD in and of itself.

 

Samsung make 15" LCD monitor with a TV tuner for $400+ at Best Buy. You can view normal broadcast TV/cable TV/Videos and DVD's on them, as well as use them with your computer. (They have bigger ones, but they are worse for my son and more expensive)

 

I suggested it because I assumed that you DIDN'T have an LCD monitor that also worked for TV, but rather, just one for your computer. Since most computers these days have a built-in DVD player, I was suggesting that your first attempt at "TV" be using the DVD.

 

CRT screens refresh at a 60 Hz rate, or 60 cycles per second. The way I understand LCD monitors, they have diodes and don't change unless the image on that part of the screen changes. Thus it doesn't matter what you watch on them as far as inherent flicker. But definitely some computer games flash and flicker a lot.

 

My point was, that if you decide that TV/Computer is a likely trigger, then my recommendation for reintroducing it is the same as for efgh: Introduce it from across a well-lit room to watch part of a movie, rather than up close using it as a computer. THis is the least visually stimulating way. If that goes well, then you can try normal computer work. My son can only do static games on the computer, like Rollercoaster Tycoon--he reacts to the rapid action games. Efgh's son, as I understand it, has no reaction to the fast games--but only when watching TV!

 

Bottom line, is that, just like with supplements, our kids react so differently, so some experimentation is involved. It is the opposite with supplments--many find the 'lowest dosage needed' and with TV, people might want to find out the 'highest viewing time possible'.

 

efgh,

By 'across the room' I meant sitting on a coach with the TV 9 feet+ away, vs sitting too close to the screen. On the photosensitivity/flicker sites, they say the less of the 'visual field' that the screen occupies, the less likely that you will have a neurological reaction. The theory is that closer you are of course, the higher the %age of the visual field that the screen fills up. It does matter with my son.

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Guest_heather

Claire,

 

Thanks once again for the details of the technology behind the theory of the flicker. I will definitely take your advice.....I am pretty electronically ignorant when it comes to the newest devices. My husband is more up on that stuff than I am and he understood what you were talking about when I was explaining the different types of monitors and why it would be an issue.

 

Anyway, as of tonight, we are still doing better than in months. As I have said before, I am praying this is our answer to hold off the tics until we can get his body back in balance.

 

Heather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heather, efgh

 

I don't normally ask for tic details, but I am curious as to what you each mean by 'improvement'.

 

Do you mean that they went from multiple tics to one tic? Or vocal tics to just motor tics? Or the same tics but only 2x an hour vs every minute?

 

With my son it was multiple tics (he never had vocal tics) intermittently throughout the day, to none at all. It is hard for me to recall just how long it took to get to 'no tics'.

 

I know that you both are doing other things to help minimize tics, and especially Heather hasn't fully determined whether TV/computer is truly a trigger (as with efgh, it took us weeks/months of intermittent exposure to be 100% certain).

 

I don't know Heather, if this holds for the whole week with your son, I suspect you have found a key trigger. Fingers crossed. I am not personally convinced though that I will reintroduce computer until his brain is fully developed. I think that this frequent up close exposure to computers or viewing large TV screens is not good for developing brains--I never had that as a child.

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Claire,

 

My son has been having mostly motor tics lately (facial grimaces and head jerks). Over the last 3 weeks since he had the virus they have changed significantly each day. They have been very frequent at times (every minute) to perhaps 5X an hour at other times. But they have always been present. However, this week there have been hours where he hasn't ticced at all. Since Sunday I would say he has had 3 time periods where they became very noticeable for an hour or so and the time periods were all during stressful situations. Today, since arriving home from school 2 hours ago, I haven't seen a single tic. This has not happened since the beginning of October. Over the last few months they have been mild but never gone completely like this.

 

I am starting to believe more each day that the TV is the trigger. I am so excited by this, however I am also not looking forward to the battle I will have on my hands next week once this NO SCREEN contest is over. He has agreed to the no TV this week primarily because of the town's contest and actually is not even aware at this point of the concept of the TV causing his tics. They have been so mild in the past months that he is hardly aware he is doing them so he doesn't see this no TV week as any big breakthrough like I have.

 

As I have said before, he loves his computer games and although he doesn't watch a lot of TV, he does have a few favourite shows that will be hard to cut out.

Thank God it is spring time.

 

Heather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heather,

 

That is so encouraging re hours with no tics--I can't tell you how excited I am for you! It is starting to feel real...

 

With my son, I did make sure that he understood the correlation...but ONLY once I was convinced enough to enforce some restrictions--there is something about them not missing something until they know they can't have it! :(

 

I don't envy you the next week. Maybe you can give the school $100 for a party amongst all the kids who last for a month with no 'screen'...!

 

When my son would get re-exposed (usually because he was somewhere where I wasn't, where a TV/computer game dominated the room and he just zoned in and forgot), and he would be ticcing that night, sometimes it would really bug him and sometimes it wouldn't. It was much easier when it bothered him because then he would appreciate the benefits more. I will say that once he truly got used to 'no ticcing', the tics from exposure DID bother him more, because it felt like an unnatural state for him I guess.

 

We really worked hard on what would be okay. Again, the transition was HARD. That's why it was so excited when 10 months later I found out about LCD monitors--it took a full year until I heard about this. I talked to everyone I knew about it and it paid off--remember how I posted on one thread that 8% of the non-epileptic population is bothered by 'flicker'? I had to be forthright, because in spite of my telling my son's parents that he couldn't have TV/computer, they would let him do it for hours at their home. This changed when they understood why. Anyway, as a result of talking about it, I ran into a number of adults who said the flicker really bothered them (no one with tics though), and finally someone mentioned the LCD monitor. So I then did my research on them as a solution. And we negotiated 15 minutes every other day--his choice of TV or computer. And he did have to give up his old games like racing and anything flashing, but there were some cool new more static ones--Sims, RollerCoaster tycoon. Fortunately he never had a Gameboy or X-box.

 

Actually it is MUCH easier for us now that he doesn't play computer, and just watches TV movies ocassionally, because getting my son off the computer after 15 minutes was usually a nightmare. TV shows on the other hand, have a distinct beginning and end.

 

I sometimes wonder if his increased physical activity as a result also helped with stress and thus tic reduction.

 

I think that efgh was lucky that her TV 'broke'--that must have saved a lot of anguish.

 

By the way, my brother's son had transient tics and now he has OCD, which my brother noticed got worse after Nintendo (once I told him to start watching). Well guess what, my brother just bought his son a 27 inch TV for his room. We are so completely different as parents. He did take him off the OCD medicine which made his son fat, and now his son is slim again. His son was completely ostracized at school for a time when a number of kids found out. The pain of that has gotta be greater than no screen (I like that term, easier to say).

 

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Claire,

 

The party thing sounds like a great idea. However, I don't believe my husband will support the cost issue. We have already spent soooo much on new foods, supplements, etc.

 

As you said, I haven't really addressed the idea of no TV yet since I didn't want to make it an issue before I thought it was necessary. This contest just helped me along with the incentive for now and I will have to get into the discussion about it tomorrow night. I am not looking forward to that.

 

I am amazed how you made all the connections with the LCD monitor. Thanks for sharing all of your information about the trial and error with the screens. It will definitely take some testing to observe what he can handle.

 

Will keep you updated.

 

Heather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With my son, I felt it was important to have his system totally 'clear' first (it may have taken more than a week though--a week is how long it takes him now, I can't remember 2.5 years ago, I just know a week was long enough to tell a huge difference). Then I knew what his 'baseline' was before Istart adding some screentime back in.

 

Ugh it is late, and I just finished working! About 1 am my time, and I will be up at 7, as always. Too many nights of this even now.

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had another great day which leads me to another question.

 

Claire,

 

My understanding of your situation is that when you avoid TV the tics stop completely. I know that your son has recently been tested for food allergies and since he has been avoiding wheat, etc. the uncomfortable fidgety feeling goes away. My question is, "When he does not watch TV are the tics completely gone no matter what he eats?" Is your removal of the food to stop the uneasy feeling only or is it to stop the tics as well.

 

Today Will had pizza at school which he usually reacts to. He was in the primary choir and they won 1st prize at the festival so the music teacher had a pizza party for them at lunch. I simply didn't have the heart to exclude him from that so he ate 2 pieces of pizza. Since then he has hardly reacted at all. He did have a slight increase when he went to bed but nothing really heavy. We will see what tomorrow brings but his food reactions have typically happened within a few hours after he eats the offending food.

 

If the TV truly does end up being the trigger, I am wondering if we completely remove it, will we be able to reintroduce the foods. I know each situation is unique and the only way we will truly know is by trial and error but I would be curious to hear a clarification on what your situation is with respect to that.

 

EFGH,

 

I know that you have removed offending foods as well. Since you have removed the TV, do you still avoid the offending foods or is he able to tolerate anything that he was previously sensitive to?

 

Heather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heather,

 

So glad to hear that you had another great day!

 

First, I don't believe that any two children are the same, but I can tell you of our experience.

 

When we were still figuring out the screen issue, e.g. my son had 15 minutes of CRT computer a to see if he could tolerate it, my son would get tics from chocolate. When we completely removed the screen then that reaction to chocolate went away too. We had never noticed any other food sensitivity to comment on. His wheat allergy was more related to digestive inflammation and excema. I do believe that the digestive inflammation had other consequences (ie yeast and less absorption of nutrients), but it was not a direct tic trigger.

 

Whe I say he is tic-free without computer, I mean that literally. When he would eat junk food after basketball, I would notice him being wired and 'fidgety' but still no motor tics. We discovered this 2.5 years ago, and once we really got it down, he goes 6 months at a time with 0 tics--a couple of times now, until/unless I experiment (like with a big screen movie with sunglasses on in November, or a big screen TV at a friends). It has been 4 months since the last experiment so we have had no problems with tics.

 

My assessment is that the cumulative effect of the disruption to his system just made him more sensitive to other things.

 

I think the efgh's son still has some tics, but from what I understand, she has never completely eliminated computer, just TV. I do think that even if you don't notice an immediate reaction e.g. to computer games, doesn't prove that it isn't a trigger, but nor does it mean that it is a trigger either. efgh, did you ever test 'no screens at all' for a week just to be sure their wasn't a delayed/cumulative reaction from the computer, if not an immediate one, like with the TV? I am sorry if I missed this in another post of yours...

 

Their bodies are so different, that I hate to assume what applies to my son applies to yours, but at least you have a data point from me now. Your son may just be more sensitive to foods than mine is. I guess that time will tell. You might keep an eye to see if the pizza had a lingering impact--or does it generally go away the next day?

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Guest_efgh

Heather and Claire

 

As regards my son, as Claire pointed out , my son's tics are very mild without TV (not completely gone but very mild and barely noticeable to others but I can sure notice it! ) . I am yet to experiment on no computer and no TV. would have to do so shortly. But right now, since the going is good, I let it be like this so that my son does not get frustrated with no tv and no computer. Unfortunately, he loves TV and computer games and so I did not want to stress him a lot by removing the both. so, as of now , with the computer alone, he seems ok .

Regarding food, I am yet to to try out offending foods. I don't want to upset the present improvement for the time being.

as regards his fidgety nature, restlessness etc I would say that FLAX OIL has done wonders for him ...He seems really calm , thanks to flax oil. Even if I skip flax oil for a day, I can see that he becomes restless, moody etc..

I am waiting for the day when my son can watch TV for long hours without tics.. I am somehow not confident about this but let me hope and pray that day comes soon!

Goodluck to you and I really owe a lot to all the members in this forum.

 

Keep us posted Heather and Claire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

efgh,

 

I was just asking if you had tested out no screens at all to see if it resulted in complete tic elmination (or greater improvement). When we tried moderate computer time for my son, though he didn't tic during the games anymore, I noticed that he still had a baseline of minor tics that only went away when I elminated it all (and once I established this baseline of course I later added in on occasion with the LCD monitor, etc etc). I realized that we were saying that 'computer wasn't an issue for your son', but if he still has tics, then the scientific side of me says that we can't say for sure as we all try to use our experience here to figure this out. I was just being meticulous here. My gut reaction is that given your son's intense reaction to TV, that there is a significant chance that the computer play does have some impact, even if not immediately noticeable.

 

On the other hand PLEASE PLEASE don't think that I was saying you 'should' do this experiment and remove both TV and computer for your son!!! Only you and he can make the determination of the emotional trade-off of happiness vs tics.

 

I deal with this trade-off on sugar right now (no sugar is best to get rid of yeast), and I just can't eliminate all sweets temporarily with my son without causing greater problems.

 

Just like Heather and pizza for her son.

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well we had a situation this morning that totally messed up my experiment but we will try to get back on track. I talked to Will last night about the "no screen" and surprisingly, he was totally fine with it. He says he is now used to not watching TV so it isn't a big deal. Thank God for the timely "no screen" contest. However, he does have a favourite show on Sat. a.m. and asked if he could please watch that show only. I gave in, partly because he was so cooperative about continuing with it on a regular basis and also not wanting the stressful upset that I knew it would cause if I said no.

 

Anyway, during this hour of TV this morning he ticced pretty much constantly... nothing heavy, just mildly. He stopped watching at 10:00 a.m. That was 3 hours ago and since he stopped watching TV, the tics have stopped too, almost completely. This convinces me the TV is the culprit, although he was ticcing last night when he went to sleep so it could be the residual effect from the pizza yesterday lasting into this morning. My gut feeling though is that it is the TV.

 

Anyway, Claire and EFGH, thanks for your input on these circumstances. As we know, every kid is different but it definitely helps to have a baseline on other's experiences. Claire, as I have said before I never would have even made this connection if it weren't for you sharing your experience. I am so thankful for this forum.

 

Heather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to add to the above, the TV that he watched his show on was a small 12" in the bedroom. I had him sitting across the room with the room as bright as I could get it and the brightness on the TV turned down low.

 

Anyway, maybe it is time for my trip to Best Buy for that LCD monitor!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Heather,

 

The Sat am TV 'experiment' is a good thing as it helps you to 'know'. We used to try a 13" TV across the room with my son and he would still tic! So hard to believe, isn't it? I really doubt that the pizza impact would just be during TV watching, and I can tell you had the same reaction.

 

I hope that your son noticed too, so that he 'believes' the correlation.

 

Sometimes with one exposure the effect will only last a short while. I hope this is the case with you. As I said, for my son it varied, but definitely with repeated watching it got worse and lingered more.

 

Be sure to get the LCD monitor with the TV tuner built in--much easier to transport and they definitely work together. Plus it gets double usage for the computer vs buying the outrageously expense LCD TV's-only. I priced this out quite a bit.

 

So glad the conversation went well on moving forward, you must be so relieved!!!!

 

We just had our Friday night LCD TV movie night again (only our 2nd time) it is a nice family treat now.

 

Claire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...