Transient Tic Disorder

[Jerseylicious]

Hi my name is Annie and I googled "tics in children"and got here and have been reading your posts I see they were in 2006 so I would like to know hoe your child is now? Have they gone away or gotten worse? I am where you were , I am worried sick, my daughter is 7 and has been doing mild tics for a short time and the last week more severe tics more often, we were watching a movies tonight and i laid her on me to rub her back and she just kept jolting her head and snapping her teeth together, a got teared up , i just hate this,im exhausted and off to bed but please give me a update so i can have hope or not!

I hear ya....DD is now 12 and still has tics. She has gotten her period two times already, and I was hoping that the hormones would take away the tics, but no such luck. It is VERY very hard to have this happen to your child, I still get teared up at times. But like was mentioned, we have to be grateful that it is not something worse. DD's tics still come and go, and so does the severity. Nothing has changed, but that could be bad OR good. I'm thankful that with her period things did not get worse. I was hoping they'd get better, but it didn't happen. You will get used to the tics, and they will not upset you AS much as in the beginning. Just remember it could always be worse. I know it's hard, believe me.

Hey Jerseylicious! I think we've talked on the other tic thread...I'm another Tic Mom! It's back-to-school time, and that ALWAYS brings out the tics in DS14. He was diagnoesd with tourettes by a neurologist, because his tics are motor AND verbal. His tic right now for about 2 weeks has been a "sniffling" sound - like his nose is stuffy & he's sniffing - but he's blowing OUT of his nose, not in. It's TERRIBLY annoying, as he can do it up to once every 30 seconds...but we know after dealing with tics for 8 years now, just to ignore it.

So to all you fellow Tic Parents out there - hang in there - back to school is a very stressful time for tic-ers!

Oh man, DD recently started a sniffing tic, and IT IS DRIVING ME INSANE!!!! I try so so so so so hard to ignore it, and most of the time I can handle it. But if I'm having a bad day or something is bothering me, I feel like I can explode with annoyance! But then I feel the guilt. I ask her very nicely to try to be aware of it and try not to do it. A couple of times I've had to ask her to please go watch tv in her room. I feel SOOOO awful but sometimes I swear I can just rip every hair in my head out!

Hey Jerseylicious - do you have a link to that other long thread - there was some really good info there as well, I thought it might help the newer Tic Parents on here!

Yeah, I was just on that thread not too long ago! I'll go look it up.....

 

[Jerseylicious]

Here's a link to another tic thread. I think it's like 10 pages long! lol

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1482590

 

[TaraPA]

I feel SOOOO awful but sometimes I swear I can just rip every hair in my head out!



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Now now, that's a WHOLE other OCD...trichotillomania....and I have experience with that one myself LOL!!!

 

[Jerseylicious]

Now now, that's a WHOLE other OCD...trichotillomania....and I have experience with that one myself LOL!!!

LOL! However, that's not a matter of OCD, it's a matter of either pulling my hair out or jumping off a bridge!

JUST KIDDING, by the way! It's just so frustrating sometimes I could POP! KABOOM!!!!!

 

[TaraPA]

I'm TOTALLY with you!

 

[DVCJones]

I watched a documentary on TS tonight. I have suspected my DD8 to have some sort of TS. She has been doing a tic type thing since she was two. She clenches her hands, tightens up, opens her mouth and sometimes turns her head to one side when she get excited about something. It can be the littlest things that excites her too. She could be drawing and suddenly she will stop and do her 'thing' for a few seconds, then go back to her drawing. This could happen when playing with a particular toy, watching a show or just even if she is thinking about something that excites her. She often daydreams and imagines 'funny things' that involve mice, cats or other animals. She also goes through stages of intense worrying about things. like fear of choking while eating, swearing, or 'mean thoughts.' (that hasn't happened lately)

I have found, by not making a big deal of it, the worry tends to go away in about two weeks with each episode.

I have asked her pedi about it for YEARS and he doesn't seem worried. He thinks she'll grow out of it. I have had a neuropsyche evaluation done on her and the diagnosed her with mild SID.

No one has ever said the words Tourette's Syndrome, but my gut feeling tells me it is.

I always go with my gut when it comes to my kids since the day she was 6months old and her pedi told me nothing was wrong with her. I didn't listen to them and found a different Dr. who found a cancerous tumor growing in her chest!!!

It is my understanding that unless it severely interferes with a person's life, there isn't much you can do about it. She definitely can function through her day and is a happy child.

Funny thing...while watching the show tonight my DD was in the room an was listening to the kids describe how it feels to tic. My daughter said 'that is how I feel sometimes too when I do that thing."

She has an appoint with her pedi next month and I plan on bringing it up...again. I will try and have a phone conversation about before the appointment so I don't have to talk about it in front of her.

 

[TaraPA]

It ceratinly does sound like your daughter shows signs of a tic disorder. In order to have a diagnosis of Tourettes there have to be both motor and verbal tics. If it's just motor, it seems like most are diagnosed with transient tic disorder. You mentioned SID - I'm not familiar with that - what is it? It's also very common to have anxiety or OCD issues when diagnoses with a tic disorder as well.

Our neurologist was very non chalant about the whole thing, as you said your ped is. He said there is absolutely nothing to do but medicate, and only if it becomes a social issue or he's physically hurting himself from the motor tics. Thankfully my son's tourettes, while terribly annoying at times, is nothing serious. It's just part of who he is. His friends know he "twitches" and most don't even noticed the verbal ones. His last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. We try out very best not to bring any attention to it. He's very social & plays sports year round so it's never been a social issue. Not yet anyway. He's 14 so I'm thinking once girls are in the picture that may be a whole other issue!

With your insurance can you go straight to a pediatric neurologist? Around here there are only 2 that come up once a month from the bigger hospitals in Philly like CHOP & Jefferson, so it took 8 months for us to get an appointment. I'll call now if you want to get in soon!

Hugs to you & good luck!

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I have posted on the other thread too but since this one is active I will ask here. Does anybody's child have bed wetting issues? My son who will be 8 still has to wear pull ups at night. I am at my wits end. I successfully trained my two older kids, one who is a child with special needs!!! I feel like such a failure with this one. During the day too n occasion he will wet himself. He doesn't care!

We have had him at a urologist, he did an ultrasound and saw no issues. I brought it up to his neuro who thinks it is unrelated. (DS has tics, they thought it was petit mal seizures because he has an abnormal EEG but after a 48 hour video eeg he thinks it's just TTD, He really wasn't ticing during the video one so I am not sure. We follow up with a regular in office eeg next month)

I just cannot imagine that it's not related to his tics though. SOMETHING has to be at the bottom of this because it's not normal!

 

[TaraPA]

You could be on to something there - DS14 who has TS did have bed wetting issues until he was about 5 or 6...I never even gave it a thought that it could be related to TS/anxiety/OCD. My ped was unconcerned about the bed wetting. DH was a bed wetter & she said it's hereditary so she never did any further testing. It just stopped on it's own once he went to kindergarten.

 

[DVCJones]

It ceratinly does sound like your daughter shows signs of a tic disorder. In order to have a diagnosis of Tourettes there have to be both motor and verbal tics. If it's just motor, it seems like most are diagnosed with transient tic disorder. You mentioned SID - I'm not familiar with that - what is it? It's also very common to have anxiety or OCD issues when diagnoses with a tic disorder as well.

Our neurologist was very non chalant about the whole thing, as you said your ped is. He said there is absolutely nothing to do but medicate, and only if it becomes a social issue or he's physically hurting himself from the motor tics. Thankfully my son's tourettes, while terribly annoying at times, is nothing serious. It's just part of who he is. His friends know he "twitches" and most don't even noticed the verbal ones. His last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. We try out very best not to bring any attention to it. He's very social & plays sports year round so it's never been a social issue. Not yet anyway. He's 14 so I'm thinking once girls are in the picture that may be a whole other issue!

With your insurance can you go straight to a pediatric neurologist? Around here there are only 2 that come up once a month from the bigger hospitals in Philly like CHOP & Jefferson, so it took 8 months for us to get an appointment. I'll call now if you want to get in soon!

Hugs to you & good luck!

Thanks for the information! SID= Sensory Integration Disorder/Dysfunction sometimes called Sensory Processing Dysfunction.

Fortunately, we are 20 minutes from Boston and have an abundance of specialists in the area. Given her earlier diagnosis of Neuroblastoma as a baby and everything that went along with that, she has been seen by a neurologist and just about every other kinda of specialist. She had nerve damage after her surgery and several other issues like Horner's Syndrome to name one. Anyway, I have mentioned this 'thing' she does to just about all of them and no one seems to concerned. I guess in the grand scheme of things, this isn't /wasn't the biggest concern...

I just wish she could catch a break for once. I guess I should be happy that it seems to bother me more than it bothers her.

Right now I am watching her watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl on the TV and she is doing her 'thing' because she is obviously very excited about the show. I guess i should be happy she only does it when she is happy and not due to stress. MY DD is happy ALL THE TIME!!! Even her teacher's tell me how happy she is. My DD often tells me that she can't stop smiling. I am very happy that she is happy. I just worry about when she gets older and kids can be mean...