Transient Tics/Turrets

[disneyfreak1972]

My son has developed what we thought were Transient tics at age 7 (he is now 10). The vocal and facial tics would come and go but have been constant in one form or another for just over a year now so they are less transient. We have been working with a nutritionist/chiropractor/accupuncturist since age 8 and have noticed that diet plays a big role and certain foods make the symptoms worse. Foods we avoid are corn (including corn syrup, hfcs, and other derivitives of corn), wheat, gluten, apples and some stimulants like caffine, sugar etc. He can have these things but it just makes the tics worse and they flare up with a vengence and it can take weeks for them to slow to a dull roar.

I think we can manage the food situation by contacting disney and taking some of our own stuff along (btw: thanks to all who have given great advice in this area). I was wondering if anyone else had a family member or child that has this same type of issue? The other thing that sometimes sets off the tics is high stimulation or excitement. We live just a few hours away from the "world" so we used to go every 6 weeks when he was between the ages of 3-8 but that was when the tics were very minor and were "on again, off again" but "mostly off again" and we thought it was just a habit and had no idea they were tics. We are planning a trip at the end of August and I was wondering if there is a family out there that experiences tics like this? What do you do to counteract the high over stimulation environment of wdw?

Just wondering? Thanks for your input.

disneyfreak1972

 

[clanmcculloch]

My daughter doesn't have any true tics. She does have "stims" though which are definitely affected by diet as well as sensory inputs and stress. She's a huge hand flapper and blinker but sometimes she'll also do this back of the throat/nose clicking/grunting noise thing (I just can't explain it right; you'd have see/hear it to understand it).

Something I've learned over the past several trips is that it is VERY important for us to stick with something close to our normal schedule. My kids always wake up at home very early when there's no school (funny how their internal clocks seem to just know when it is or isn't a school day; LOL) so at WDW we don't sleep in. We also don't eat huge breakfasts at home so at WDW it works well for us to have breakfast foods in our room so we can eat quick breakfasts. This makes it very easy to get to the park in time for park opening. Doing this means that we're touring with much lower crowds which means less over stimulation. Because we can accomplish so much in the first few hours of the day, we're able to take nice long breaks in the middle of the day. I insist on a bit of quiet time in the room but that can include watching TV. We also swim most days since this is such a soothing sensory activity for us. We eat CS meals at our resort when we first get back for our break. I speak with the chefs before our trip (Special Diets dept. has them call us) so they're prepared for us ahead of time and have several safe kid friendly food options for us. I make our dinner ADRs for early times (4:30-5:00 when possible) since at home we're generally eating by 4:45. This also means shorter waits to be seated and also means that chefs aren't nearly as swamped with other guests meaning they can give us a bit more attention. I do have a couple evening activities at parks scheduled for after dinner but I go in understanding that we have to be flexible with these as by that time of day, even with breaks, sometimes my kids just can't handle it. At home, they go to bed around 8:00 so staying up later can be very difficult for them.

I subscribed to TourGuide Mike for the first time this past trip and I'll do so for every future trip after having had such a great experience. He lays out which park will be best on any given day plus he lays out which rides/shows to hit which time of day in order to avoid crowds and lines. Using the TGM tools and working that into our normal daily schedule made for an AMAZING trip, and this was over Christmas. This was our smoothest trip yet.

 

[a1tinkfans]

OP: would be glad to share some info, but was unable to PM you!

You do have options, let me know if I can email/pm you.

 

[disneyfreak1972]

Thanks Clanmcculloch! I know exactly what you mean about the throat noise...we got that one too. I appreciate your experience and you have some really good common sense advice. I am thinking about incorporating your schedule ideas into my plan. Makes sense as routine in our daily lives always works better for us, not sure why I didnt think of that to begin with.

We are thinking of going with a Disney dining plan and I am glad to hear that Disney is so supportive of dietary needs. I guess planning is key.

Thanks for your reply. It's nice to know we are not alone.

 

[bookwormde]

anxiety is often a triggers so monitoring for that is important.

bookwormde