child with tourettes??

[plainjayne]

is there anyone who has a child with tourettes or tourettes symptoms? i have a 7 year old who is showing signs of tourettes, i have tourettes myself but even i have never seen anyone else with it. i think i will be a good support to him as i suffer myself but i would welcome any new suggestions for either myself or my child to make life a little happier for both of us

[calgarygirl]

I have an almost 16 year old son with tourettes, he was dx with "tics" when he was 9 and has been on medication since he was 10. He has both the vocal and motor tics. The decision was made to treat him with medication as his vocal tics were disturbing the classroom. The medication has helped tremendously and his neurologist monitors his weight to adjust the medication as needed. As far as we know, there is no family history of tourettes or tics but I do think there is some ocd. He no longer has any vocal tics and any motor tics are very minor now-the tics seem to lessen as he gets older. Good luck to you and your child.

[loopyloo]

Hi I have two children with tourette syndrome we do have a family history of tic disorders but noone ever diagnosed with tourettes, my boys are now 10 they first started with tics at the age of 4 and 5 which were mild shrugging shoulders, throat clearing and so on by the time they reached 8 one of the twins had got quite bad and this was the first time I took him for any help, he and his twin were diagnosed last year and at the moment are doing well, have you spoken to anyone about your sons tics? I'm sure having a mum who fully understands will be a great support to him

[plainjayne]

loopyloo, do you give your children medication? i wouldnt want to give mine medication as i know how horrible it is. i also dont know if im being overly concerned because i have it myself and im just guilty that i might have passed it on i dont even know if he has it, he is forever shouting and making noises but not the same ones and i never went through that. i wasnt vocal until puberty then it just got less and less until now im very good at controling that part of my tourettes did your children have so many different tics? mine come and go or all at once but i rarely get new ones but that is also to do with my age.

[mitpatsmom]

I have an 11-y-o son with tics (first dx at 8). His are all facial, no vocal and he's slightly OCD. The tics were getting pretty bad, so the ped referred us to a neurologist that suggested medication.

We were really hesitant to medicate, but worried that he would be starting middle school soon and didn't want him to get picked on. We put him on guanfacine (worked up to 2 mg/ day), and it really hasn't been as bad as expected. At first (and anytime we increased dosage), he was tired a lot and often fell asleep in the middle of the day, but that stopped after a few weeks.

The good news, most of the tics have stopped, except for when he gets really excited or anxious about something. We never thought he had a concentration problem, but since going on the meds, his grades have improved dramatically, making straight A's on all but two report cards in the last 2 years (and when he didn't make straight A's, he was bumped off by only one B.) He had never come close to principals list until he went on the medication.

All in all, I think the medication has improved his life. I know what you're going through. We debated and stressed and prayed to make the right decision. (Before we put him on, we had never had either of our kids on anything other than antibiotics before, and that was only once or twice. We were really terrified of long-term medication.) We are glad that we did chose the medication. He's happy, well adjusted and has made lots of new friends in middle school. It sure beats worrying about kids making fun of him because he's different.