Nervous ticks in children

[Jerseylicious]

As I type this, I am sitting in my office and my son, who is in the next room, is clearing his throat every three seconds. It is driving me nuts, so much so that I decided to do some research on the internet. As luck would have it, the first site to come up for my search was a site that I already visit daily - disboards.com. What a surprise!

My DD9 has recently had a throat clearing/coughing tic. I wanted to pull my hair out!!!! And my DH is a little 'less' patient than myself, and he was going nuts as well. It can be very annoying, no doubt about that. Especially when I am already not in the best of moods....that's the last thing you want to hear over & over & over & over. Sometimes what I will do is offer DD to go upstairs in my room and lay in my bed to watch my TV. She loves that, so she always does it. And it keeps my downstairs living room much quieter! lol

To any other OPs that have seen the neurologist - what should I expect at this 1st visit? I didn't hear them say this was the full neuro work-up - I've seen that the work-up can be half a day long or more.

Hi Tara! We first took my DD to a neuro when she was 3, and that was 6 years ago but I will try to remember what he did. I know he made her do things like walk, hop, skip....follow his pencil with her eyes....ask her certain questions about math....and then just talk conversationally with her just to observe her tics without her knowing what he was doing. He checked her reflexes and had her do certain movements with her arms & legs. He sent her out for an EEG also to rule out seizures. That's pretty much it, from what I can remember.

 

[aprilgail2]

BTW- I also wanted everything in even numbers. If I had five lifesavers I would get uncomfortable. If I had six, I had to eat them in twos. I have outgrown both behaviors, although in times of stress I occasionally notice them coming back. I am a fully functional adult with a husband and two beautiful kids.
:

OMG- I am an adult and I have that even numbers thing going. If I am offered a piece of gum I usually have to say no because I can't take just one piece, it has to be 2 and I don't want to take 2 pieces of someone elses gum. M&M's, have to be in 2, 4 ,6 ,8 etc...can't have 5 of them that would just not work! I have gotten over the lightswitch thing over time, I would have to turn the light on then off then on again and then it could stay on. Sometimes if i touched something with my left hand would have to touch it again with my right hand...

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Hi Tara! We first took my DD to a neuro when she was 3, and that was 6 years ago but I will try to remember what he did. I know he made her do things like walk, hop, skip....follow his pencil with her eyes....ask her certain questions about math....and then just talk conversationally with her just to observe her tics without her knowing what he was doing. He checked her reflexes and had her do certain movements with her arms & legs. He sent her out for an EEG also to rule out seizures. That's pretty much it, from what I can remember.

Except for the EEG that sounds pretty much like our first appt with the neuro, too. He would do an abbreviated checkup for the other appts.

It's not uncommon for someone to have a tic disorder and another neurological issue, ie OCD or ADHD.

 

[TaraPA]

We were in & out in 20 minutes! He just did the above mentioned tests - eye movement, walking, motor skills, etc. and talked with DS for awhile to observe his tics. He has 3 tics going on right now - pulling out his hair (we're going for a short buzz cut tomorrow because he has a dime size of hair pulled out!), the head bobbing & face grimacing (I called it squishing up his face until I heard the doc call it "grimacing") He never once mentioned OCD even though it was clearly in my son's chart that both myself & my mother have been diagnosed with OCD. He never mentioned anxiety. I'm not a doctor but I'd be 99% sure my son's tics are some form of OCD/anxiety. He did mention tourettes.

They will not give meds unless there is a physical problem coming from the tics (migraines, head & neck stiffness, jaw strain, etc.), or he is having severe social pressure (being made fun of) or if his grades are affected by the distraction of the tics. That is fine, I didn't really want to go right to meds, but I just left feeling like we didn't learn anything new. Which I guess is a good thing. He said tics are very very common in boys this age (DS is 11 & started tic-ing at age 5), he said at least 15% of males tic at some point, and most tic for 5 years. He said the tics my son has are the most common forms too. He pretty much said to ignore it, if they get more severe, distract him from whatever situation he's in, remove stimulating things like TV, music, video games, etc. Our pediatrician had told us that before as well.

He did give me a lot of reading material on tourettes, I will read it tonight, and post anything interesting I might find.

 

[Jerseylicious]

Glad to hear nothing else major was mentioned at the appointment. I know when I take DD to her appts, I always wish I would hear something different, but then I think NO I don't want to hear anything different, because it might mean something worse! lol So I guess no news is good news! Glad to hear it went relatively well Tara.

 

[JBurke]

I was the original poster of this question about nervous ticks.
I see I wrote it over a year ago.
My husband and I were just talking the other night that its been a long time since my son has had any "ticks". (I hope I didnt just jinx myself!)

I pray they are gone for good.

 

[Jerseylicious]

I was the original poster of this question about nervous ticks.
I see I wrote it over a year ago.
My husband and I were just talking the other night that its been a long time since my son has had any "ticks". (I hope I didnt just jinx myself!)

I pray they are gone for good.

Glad to hear it! Hopefully they won't return!

 

[pweyl36]

My middle son also had tic's: clearing of the throat, blinking of the eyes, upper lip movement (almost like Elvis). He was dx with a mild case of touretts. Kids in his class use to make fun of him.... He was also dx with ADHD and the med did help some of the tic's. It's been about 6 years now and he only has the clearing of the throat.

My son was also dx with tourettes at the age of six,he's 20yr now and out grew it.

 

[Jerseylicious]

My son was also dx with tourettes at the age of six,he's 20yr now and out grew it.

That's good to know! Something to hopefully look forward to!

 

[MrsPete]

My daughter had a tic when she was younger -- I think K or 1st grade. It involved her eyes, and I made the assumption that she might need glasses; eye doctor said no. On her ped's recommendation, I ended up taking her to a neurologist. The diagnosis: She'll outgrow it. And she did.

Still, at the time I was very worried. Getting it checked out was the right thing to do; it could've been something.

 

[TaraPA]

The neurologist did dx him with tourettes today but I wasn't sure I agreed. Now that I am home & read everything he gave me, it describes my son to a "T"!! I assumed tourettes was mostly a severe verbal tic-ing, and it's not always that way. The severe cases like we've all seen on TV with the swearing & shouting are only 8% of tourettes, and another 31% are moderatley severe.

As long as you have multiple tics (at least one has to be verbal, the others can all be motor) that last more than 12 consecutive months, and occur several times a day, almost every day, you have tourettes (Yup). It can be complicated by stress, anxiety & lack of sleep (Yup). 50% off tourettes patients also have ADHD (nope) and 40% have OCD (yup!) Peak years for tics are ages 9-11, and onset is usually between the ages of 6-7 (yup!).

I was thinking that I wished they had sent him today for an EEG...however after reading the info, an EEG (or CAT scan or MRI) will not support the diagnosis of tourettes, it is only done to rule out other conditions (such as epilepsy) that could be casuing the tics. He did say today my son demonstrated classic textbook tourettes, so I'm guessing that is why there was no need for further testing.

The good news is that 85% of patients with tourettes outgrow it by age 18!!

The information he printed for me is coming from www.aafp.org/afp/990415ap/2263.html. Not sure what that site is or if the link works, but it's very useful & informative info.

 

[Jerseylicious]

The good news is that 85% of patients with tourettes outgrow it by age 18!!

That's good news! My DD has had tics since she was 2 and she's now 9, with no sign of them stopping. Hopefully the coming years will make them better & not worse!

 

[JoyG]

The neurologist did dx him with tourettes today but I wasn't sure I agreed. Now that I am home & read everything he gave me, it describes my son to a "T"!! I assumed tourettes was mostly a severe verbal tic-ing, and it's not always that way. The severe cases like we've all seen on TV with the swearing & shouting are only 8% of tourettes, and another 31% are moderatley severe.

As long as you have multiple tics (at least one has to be verbal, the others can all be motor) that last more than 12 consecutive months, and occur several times a day, almost every day, you have tourettes (Yup). It can be complicated by stress, anxiety & lack of sleep (Yup). 50% off tourettes patients also have ADHD (nope) and 40% have OCD (yup!) Peak years for tics are ages 9-11, and onset is usually between the ages of 6-7 (yup!).

I was thinking that I wished they had sent him today for an EEG...however after reading the info, an EEG (or CAT scan or MRI) will not support the diagnosis of tourettes, it is only done to rule out other conditions (such as epilepsy) that could be casuing the tics. He did say today my son demonstrated classic textbook tourettes, so I'm guessing that is why there was no need for further testing.

The good news is that 85% of patients with tourettes outgrow it by age 18!!

The information he printed for me is coming from www.aafp.org/afp/990415ap/2263.html. Not sure what that site is or if the link works, but it's very useful & informative info.

Well that is good news.

I've been reading this thread with interest. My son started the eyeblinking tic last spring and it hasn't gone away yet. The day I first noticed the tic, I broke down and cried. I know it's silly, because really in the grand sceme of things he's fine...but I was just heartbroken that he might be teased in school about it.

He's also started coughing a lot. It's a single dry cough. At first I thought he was coming down with a cold, but the cough never went away.

I notice he blinks and coughs more when watching tv.

I've been worried that his tics won't go away and he'll have turettes. But reading this post has given me hope.

I was in the grocery store the other day and there was a man in line behind me with a serious vocal tic. He was making a barking sound. I felt awful thinking that could be my son one day (God forbid).

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Unless my son does some serious growing out of it in the next couple of weeks, he won't be one of those to outgrow it by the time he's 18yo. His have stayed constant and sometimes even gotten worse through his teen years. However, he volunteered for a Children's Hospital camp a couple years ago and got to see some kids with horrible tics and lots of self image issues, so it could always be worse. I'm thankful to have my son exactly the way he is since it's shaped part of who he is as a kind-hearted, determined young man. Of course I wish that he'd never had TS or had outgrown it, but we all deal with what we need to in our lives and take from it what we can.

 

[TaraPA]

Unless my son does some serious growing out of it in the next couple of weeks, he won't be one of those to outgrow it by the time he's 18yo. His have stayed constant and sometimes even gotten worse through his teen years. However, he volunteered for a Children's Hospital camp a couple years ago and got to see some kids with horrible tics and lots of self image issues, so it could always be worse. I'm thankful to have my son exactly the way he is since it's shaped part of who he is as a kind-hearted, determined young man. Of course I wish that he'd never had TS or had outgrown it, but we all deal with what we need to in our lives and take from it what we can.

You've got it so right in what you said - it could be so much worse. While we were in the waiting room there were such sick kids in there, terminally ill kids with brain tumors, physically handicapped kids in wheelchairs & things like that - made me really appreciate that my son only has tourettes!

 

[Hillbeans]

My 7 year old has always had "quirks" that I never saw in other kids. From 9 months he was aware of tags in his shirts, and started playing with them as a soothing mechanism - if they're not in the top then he reaches up under his shirt and plays with them. I grew used to this obsession with clothing tags but over the summer he started a new embarassing habit of picking his wedgie and would do it 5 times a minute - I finally had to buy him boxer briefs because he said the others bothered him - and it's better thank goodness.

He's now doing this thing where he pulls at his shirt and puts the collar in his mouth, another nervous habit.....

When he was 6 months old he saw a neurologist for Hydrocephaly (large head) and while he was given the all-clear I do find that he has always had quirks and appears much more nervous than other kids. Just like others said, I take it with a grain of salt and am glad it's nothing life threatning, but I do hope as he gets older he is better able to control his nervous quirks.

 

[TaraPA]

Hillbeans - there are tic lists on the tourette's websites - we had to go through the list the other day & check off any he's ever done. Pulling at clothing at the crotch or anus was near the top of the list (the word wedgie was actually on the list too!), and chewing on clothing was there as well. Here is a link to a site with a list of tics if you're interested. Some tics are very common, others are not.

http://tourettenowwhat.tripod.com/all_about_tics.htm#TicList

Funny you mention the tags - my son cannot stand the tags in his clothing & if I don't remove them carefully before he wears something he rips them out! I did the same thing when I was younger it would drive my mother nuts!

 

[Hillbeans]

Hillbeans - there are tic lists on the tourette's websites - we had to go through the list the other day & check off any he's ever done. Pulling at clothing at the crotch or anus was near the top of the list (the word wedgie was actually on the list too!), and chewing on clothing was there as well. Here is a link to a site with a list of tics if you're interested. Some tics are very common, others are not.

http://tourettenowwhat.tripod.com/all_about_tics.htm#TicList

Funny you mention the tags - my son cannot stand the tags in his clothing & if I don't remove them carefully before he wears something he rips them out! I did the same thing when I was younger it would drive my mother nuts!

Thanks for posting that Tara - I didn't realize these behaviors could mean more than just a quirk - He doesn't have any verbal tics though, mostly just ones relating to clothes in some way. I certainly will keep an eye on it and bring it up with the doctor at his next visit.

I am really interested in reading the information you posted and I wish you and your son all the best.

 

[LBoyter]

My 14 year old son has has had a tic of some sort going on all the time. It started as a studder. Then it went to having to "stretch his eyes open and look to the side" but the studdering stopped. Then the eye thing stopped and be began liking his lips. Then the studdering started again but the licking lips stopped. Whenever one thing started the other thing would stop. Biting his nails is in there all the time. He is not on any ADD meds but is very high energy. He also finds himself counting any patterns all the time. He is obsessive at times and has a really hard time dealing with change, especially when it does not change the way he thinks it ought to.
Right now his tic is a little more annoying then most because he is making this hic-up kind of sound. He hardly notices it but everyone around him is very aware of it.
I've spoken to his pediatrition about it and she told us not to be concerned about it and try not to draw attention to it.

 

[Boo'sMom]

I have nothing "new" to add, but I've BTDT, and as much I as I thought my son would never outgrow these tics..he has. He's 17 and I'm not sure when they stopped....they just went away....

Good luck!