Tic Getting Worse

My son is 9 and also suffers from them. They come and go and change into different ones. About 3 weeks ago he started a vocal one where he kind of neighs like a horse. It started to get really bad and his friends were getting annoyed. I reminded him to tell his friends that he could not help it but I did not mention it at all after that. It is now really calming down but it got much worse before it got better. School starts for him on the 3rd so I am nervous about the other kids too.

I really think you should not mention it to him at all. Even in a positive way. When you bring them to his attention he may internally try to stop them, which can make them worse.

My friend's son has Tourette Syndrome, and they used a combination of a pediatric neuropharmacologist to work with medications, and a behavioral therapist who specializes in kids with neurological issues. There are substitute behaviors that kids can learn to minimize the more annoying and disruptive tics. This is different than standard OT. You really want someone to teach additional skills but it's a bit of a specialization.

I think you should get a jump on this, not just because of his education and socialization and peace of mind, but because puberty can throw things into a new level of chaos, and you really want this well underway before he's 11 or 12. Hormones can increase the tics, and also interfere with finding the right medications and dosages - once you get it squared away, the tween or teen matures and grows, gains weight & height, and all bets are off, so you start over. If you have a good baseline, it's easier to make adjustments.

You might contact the Tourette Society and go to some programs, get on line support, network for professional practitioners, learn coping skills and support skills for your child, etc. My friend did a lot of this and it made her a much more effective advocate for her child. Education is power.

There is also a lot of of evidence for DHA, a fatty acid found in breast milk and essential for brain development and function. It's available in low quantities in some grocery store products but it's unclear what the sources of that are high quality enough or whether it's in an absorbable form. It can be obtained through patented products (patents on foods are very difficult to get, and mean that the product is proven safe, effective & unique) formulated by well-regarded food scientists. There is also some phenomenal work being done in epigenetics, which is repairing the damage done to the packaging around the genome/DNA. Improper gene "switching" (which genes in the cell turn on, which turn off) is one of the most heavily researched issues and linked to such factors as lifestyle choices, toxins, environmental influences (pollution, chemicals), diseases, stress and other factors. Epigenetic changes are a big cause of so many problems, including chronic diseases, the huge rise in behavioral and neurological and chemical problems (ADD, ADHD, learning/sensory issues, ODD, PDD-NOS, Asperger's, autism, severe allergies and so on). The good news is that there are nutritional, non-pharmaceutical steps that can be taken to restore the epigenome to its proper functioning. It's not messing with the DNA - it's getting the genes back to normal (after other factors have messed with them) so they can do their job. Again, education is power.

A multipronged approach might be something to look into.

I think you need to seek out a specialist's help on this. Your pedi should have recommended one to you along time ago. If you think this may be related to Tourette's or be Tourette's or is Tourette's like. Tourette's is not something that most Pedi's can treat solo. I understand that medication is not always a "go to" solution -thank you side effects - and OT can be VERY helpful in many ways, but a vocal tic I think (not terribly educated on this subject) would warrant looking into medication under the supervision of a Tourette's SPECIALIST.

My son (now 4) has had a couple of tics the past couple of years. I was also very worried about it and did a lot of research/consulted the pediatrician. Similar to you, we were told to ignore which we did and right now he's tic-free. When i was doing my research, I read about the OT and I heard it can be very effective. I hope my son's tics don't manifest into something greater down teh road but if it does, I'll definitely be trying to the OT before (or with) the meds. Good luck,

You've had some good answers . . . my only other thought was to test him for a strep related condition known as PANDAS or PANS. You may want to read up on that topic.

Good luck.

I'm going to second the 'did you check for allergies' advice. My son was doing a constant throat-clearing kind of noise. It started last summer and we thought it was a tic. Then it went away in the winter. And restarted in the spring. That is when we put together the allergy relationship - he was having postnasal drip in his throat. We treated the allergies, and it went away.

My son would get tics from time to time, which was odd because I had never heard of them coming and going. He would make this grunting noise. When i asked him why he was making this noise, he said he didn't know but couldn't stop. Finally, the light bulb went off. We noticed the off vocal grunting during his high allergy times, or when he was exposed to a known allergen. He does have a sensitivity to all dyes (food and non-food) and perfumes, and we noticed that if we eliminate all of these from his diet, no tics. Anyway, something to think about.

I'm sorry this is morphing into something harder for you. I will tell you that there is a restaurant that a man with Tourette's frequents that I have visited many times. His tic is making loud noises - very loud noises. It is VERY obvious that he cannot help it.

I don't know if he has tried medication or not. I do think that perhaps you should look into pediatric medicine for it. You may decide not to proceed, but you should at least research into it.