Concerta causing tics

[mitpatsmom]

My 10-year-old son was put on Tenex almost 3 weeks ago, but I'm not sure if it's helped much. He has tics (unrelated to medication) that involve eye blinking and facial grimacing, but no vocal tics. We are up to 1/2 a pill twice a day, but will increase it this weekend to a full pill at night and 1/2 in the AM. Eventually, we will be giving him 1 pill twice a day (which is also the typical dosage for a full-grown man taking it for high blood pressure.) It scares me to no end to put this much medication into his body.

We are getting ready for vacation, so he's excited which makes the tics worse. He starts school on Aug. 3. Hopefully, we will see more results by then.

A friend's son was on clonadine and it worked for him. He's now in 11th grade and is tic-free. (I believe that his tics were medication realated.) They say they will get worse during puberty, but may ease-off after that. I sure hope so.

[Jennita]

Originally Posted by mykids

My 10 year old son has been on Concerta for a little over a year now and all at once developed bad tics. He says it feels like the muscles in his lower back start to tense up and then he shakes all over. Its not a small quiver its gets bad sometimes. The first bad tics showed up about 2 weeks ago and after a trip to the emergency room and talking to his neurologist discontinued the Concerta. After about 4 days of being of the Concerta the tics all but went away. Then 3 days ago the tics have come back again. He has been taking Clonidine to help him sleep for as long as he has been on the Concerta and the doctor told us when the tics started to give him a half a pill of the mornings along with one at night. But after the tics showed up again he put him on Tenex. He starts it today and I pray that it works. Is there any thing else out there that would work if the Tenex dosen't work that will help? He starts school in a few weeks and we really hope to get things under control before then. We were told when we started him on the Concerta that he could have small tics happen and if it did we could stop it and they would go away. And we thought that was the case when it got better after we stopped it. But now that he has started it again we don't know what to think. We are told now by the doctor that it might last 2 weeks or 2 months or might not go away. After he told us if tics developed when we stopped the Concerta it would go away. I feel so helpless. He is handling it well but if the tics stay this bad I know what a struggle he his going to have later on in school and life. I don't know what to believe from the doctors now and I'm praying that the tics will dimish over time. I feel so mad, afraid and so helpless right now. Does anybody have any thoughts on what we can do now?

Quite frankly, I am apalled that they basically lied (aka hid the truth) about the possibility of the tics being permenant. Possible side effects should be presented more honestly up front, even if not every person gets them, then the parent at least knows the score and can determine if indeed the need outweighs the risks. You can't do that if you are told by a trusted professional a half-truth about certain adverse effects.

I'm so sorry, I do hope the tics will not end up being permenant and if they are that the current medication will keep them down....although it's a shame that your son wouldn't have even needed the medication for tics if they hadn't given him the stimulant, now he might be stuck with it for life but lets hope his youth and time will change that.

I hope so, good luck

[sjones3991]

This is all really weird. My son was having mouth tics...puckering over and over. I stopped the guafacine, and kept with the concerta, and the tics stopped.

He has however developed something else. He rubs his head now. He says something is wrong with it, but it's not. Only other thing I can think of is it might be headaches.

But, I remember when he was like 2--before the meds...he would put his hands on his cheeks in a home alone fashion when he got into trouble. He would actually do it pretty hard too. He grew out of it with a little help to remind him to stop.

My son is 4 now, and he has been on Concerta since May or so. He has improved, but his melt downs have become more frequent. I am not real sure what to do with him. I've almost contemplated stopping the meds, but schools or day cares won't keep him without it.
I'm so tired of seeing him left out of stuff bc of his behavior. His day care teachers even do it...and sometimes don't even realize it.
ERRR...
I need a support group...any takers.

[Jennita]

I wouldn't let schools or daycare determine my son's health. Quite frankly, I'd complain to school board or even see an attorney if necessary.

If you slowly wean him off, he hopefully will get better. IHMO< Before I'd let my son continue harmful drugs I'd even lie if necessary; I mean, just because you see a doctor and fill a prescription doesn't mean the pills need to go into the mouth...the toilet will take them too. Sorry to ramble, but it makes me mad that a school would not let him in just because you are trying to preserve his health.

You shouldn't be forced to give your child drugs if those drugs are not helping and maybe even hurting his health and well-being. man, sorry, but the thought of that just burns me.

It should be your choice, not theirs, and clearly the drugs are not helping his behavior anyway.....so even though he has all these meltdowns and poor behaviors, the schools will accept those behaviors as long as he is on meds? How stupid is that. ERRRRR is putting it mildly...

Good luck, hope you can find a solution here.