Has anyone of heard of a child "grunting"...by that I mean that he sounds like he is constantly clearing his throat...as in 10-15 times a minute. I asked my family doctor one time (of course my son was NOT doing it when I asked) and she said that it sounded like it could be a vocal tick. Now recently (last 2 months) he has begun having heart palpitations and rapid resting heart rate in the range of 120-130 bpm always during the same time period that he starts this grunting. He is seeing the doctor next week again and I just wanted to try and get some information so that I can ask questions. Thank you! :)

My first though was a "tic" as well but it threw me off with the heart palpitations?? Unless the grunting makes him anxious because he has problems controlling that "tic" which causes his heart to race?? I'm not sure but I would have more testing done just to be certain it isn't something serious.

MissMack, are you sure that he isn't having some post nasal drip?

My son started that a few years ago and it turned out to be allergies. Once we started him on allergy meds he was fine.

My 7 year old son has been doing the same type of grunting and throat clearing for more than 3 weeks. The doctor told me yesterday it was either allergies or a nervous tic.
He suggested we treat the allergies with Nasonex and Claritin for 21 days and to avoid drawing any attention to the throat clearing.
He said if it was allergies the meds should show improvement within that time. And if they don't than it is a tic and they usually stop or lessen within 3 months time. He said to keep an eye on it and to check back with him in the 3 weeks.

The noise is so annoying, and drives my DH insane. I have been able to ignore commenting on it, but Chris has not and once that he did ask Matthew to stop, my son replied with "The Dr. said you have to ignore it and it will go away"
Sooooo do I assume he has some sort of control and awareness of actually doing it?
Did you son begin doing it after a cold or flu? What did your Dr say about the heart palpitations? That could be scary.