hello

[triciamarie]

Not sure if this is the right place for introductions but I'm jumping right in here... Our six year old daughter has had vocal and motor tics for more than a year, and all of a sudden over the past month or so it's getting really, really bad. We have an appointment set up with her FP to do blood tests and ask for a referral to the Toronto Sick Kids ADHD/ Tourette's neuropsych program, also looking for a naturopath to do allergy/sensitivity testing, have also contacted the local health unit re: doing a developmental assessment, and for support -- for her, and for us... frankly the whole thing is pretty scary right now and not a little overwhelming. I expect I will be spending a lot of time here trying to figure out what I can do to help her and connecting with others going down the same road.

[faith]

hi tricia, welcome,

could I ask what things you may have done in the past to try and manage her tics.? has anything changed before she started waxing on these tics? does your daughter have any other issues? was she sick recently? what is a FP?

 

There's alot of information here, so read as much as you can. it gets a little confusing too, so try to focus on one thing at a time. What are your daughters tics?

 

Faith

[triciamarie]

Thanks Faith!

 

My daughter first started out sort of squinting and then huffing back at about age five. The squinting never really stopped, but it was pretty unobtrusive and never seemed to bother her too much; when I initially made her aware of the sound she was making (thinking of it as just a bad habit) she was able to stop doing it. Since then we have gone through lots of different sounds and movements, on and off... humming, squeaking, sniffing, and the squint turned into more of a grimace. It had pretty well resolved by the end of last summer but then it started getting worse again, and now there has been a huge flare-up just really in the past couple of weeks, since Christmas. Now she's both blowing on and smelling her fingers -- putting down what she's holding to do it -- and twisting her head around to the side so far and so often that her neck hurts. The problem seems to be worst when she's playing video games, or reading or being read to, or to a lesser extent when she has to try to carry out a complex task or if she feels stressed about something.

 

Some of her teachers have also started identifying some pretty prevalent behavioral issues, although according to them she is a very sweet girl, extremely funny and really smart. A friend of mine who works with special needs kids thinks she might actually be Aspergian. So that's another whole angle I'm tryng to get my head around.

 

So far I'm afraid I have done nothing other than severely freak out and try to get a grip on what this could be and what it all means. I somehow have the idea that an allergy / sensitivity panel should be done first, before eliminating a bunch of stuff from her diet and environment, just to keep things straight. We should be able to get that taken care of in the next week or two. From what I read here, I'm wondering about doing the strep tests next.

 

what is a FP?

 

Sorry about that -- family physician (GP).

[Chemar]

welcome triciamarie

 

yes, I do encourage you to investigate all the many potential triggers for tics/behavioral issues here before just accepting a Tourette or even aspergers diagnosis!

 

start with our helpful threads compilation http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2459

and just keep asking questions. We are represented here by parents whose children have tics for many different reasons and so we join together to try to help each other put the individual pieces of our children's health puzzle together

 

hope you will find the answers you need to help your child too

[triciamarie]

One thing that has me wondering is whether the thimerosal-containing H1N1 shot that my daughter received back in I believe November might have produced or contributed to this effect six weeks later.

[Chemar]

if the shot had thimerosal then yes, it is a potential trigger as it contains mercury and yes, a delayed reaction is possible

[kengela]

One thing that has me wondering is whether the thimerosal-containing H1N1 shot that my daughter received back in I believe November might have produced or contributed to this effect six weeks later.

hi tricia Im not 100% sure but I think it was on the paper from the health dept (michigan) that was sent home from school that actually said if you have an ongoing neurological condition you should discuss it with your dr before recieving the shot. I wanted to say it said not to get the shot but i doubt it would say that rather than "discuss wth dr". May I ask does TS or anything run in the family for your dd? It doesnt for my 5yr old dd. I think she has had reactions to shots in the past. We dont do them anymore.Anyway just thought Id pass along that info from that paper, it caught my attention because I thought the neuro we saw a few months ago should have mentioned it, I just think they dont want to admit any dangers of all these shots they want to give our children.

[triciamarie]

Evidently most vaccines used for kids no longer contain thimerosal (or not much) except in these mass immunization programs, when kids typically get the same shot as everyone else. The H1N1 vaccine she received did contain mercury. Her tic condition was very slight at the time so I hadn't done too much looking into it, and didn't realize the effect that mercury could potentially have.

 

If mercury was a factor I wonder if this would necessarily show up in her blood levels when we get that done hopefully next week.

 

May I ask does TS or anything run in the family for your dd?

 

That's the wierd thing -- there's nothing, as far as I know. However, three out of her six first cousins on her dad's side have anaphylaxis, another one has celiac disease, there are a bunch of other allergies and sensitivities there, as well as two very atypical health conditions, so my other wild speculation is that maybe it's related to that -- possibly in connection with all the pesticides (including neurotoxins) used in the area where my husband's family grew up. Could this have affected their genes somehow? I'm planning to check and see if there is some kind of a test for mitochondrial dysfunction; not that I have any idea at this point what difference that would possibly make for her prognosis, or treatment.