A couple of days ago our 6 year old son started blinking and twitching while watching TV. during the day this advanced to involuntary head shakes and involuntary stretching and spreading his fingers. He clears his throat a lot and mimics peoples actions on TV in short bursts. This all happened over last weekend with the whole thing starting up in a matter of hours, on Friday he was fine, there is no history of anything like this in the family.
We only recently took out health insurance and have to wait several weeks before we can have any treatments under this cover. Does this sound like Tourettes? Will it have a detrimental effect on our son if we wait a few weeks to have him seen? My impulse is to take him straight to the Doctor to have him checked out to make sure it isn't anything more sinister and I have an appointment booked for him but this could negate any insurance for him as they may deem it to be an existing condition.
My initial reaction has been total shock, my wife is totally devastated.
Last edited by cmboswell; 01-17-2012 at 03:58 AM.
Reason: spelling mistakes
I have a son with the disorder and the symptoms sound like it. There r medications for it but my son does not take anything. The best advice is to not mention the Rica, make sure he is not stresses at school and give lots of hugs. To receive a proper diagnosis u need to take him to a facility that tests for adhd, etc... If there is a university hospital near u they can recommend someone. There will be weeks worse than others and try not to worry. I have been there!
Thanks for your support, we have taken him to a pediatric consultant who thinks it may be pands, he wants to just monitor him for now and wants to see him in a month. All a bit confusing really.
Sounds like PANDAS. Same thing happened to my son in January. Perfectly fine one day, then non stop blinking while watching tv, drinking, or exercising. Do some research on PANDAS if you haven't already, but the short answer is that an infection, typically strep throat, brings this on. 10 days of antibiotics clears most of it, with some symptoms slowing dying off over the next month. Ear infections, mono, and some other infections can also bring on PANDAS or PANS episodes. We had our first ocurence with strep, then a flare up with a double ear infection.
The Following User Says Thank You to cutplax For This Useful Post: sjb (06-12-2012)
Hi Welcome to the health boards! I hope the needed support is found here! Several children seem to have aggravated tics with T.V. watching, sugary drinks, infection, allergens etc. Infection might be a reason to see a professional right away insurance or no insurance but of course everyone makes their own decisions in life. Unfortunately tics can last for some people for life. This is something that if addressed immediately maybe, just maybe it could be caught early enough to prevent it from continuing. I would be interested to hear any improvement if willing to share. sjb
Last edited by sjb; 06-12-2012 at 10:53 AM.
Reason: addition for clarification
Hi Welcome to the health boards! I hope the needed support is found here! Several children seem to have aggravated tics with T.V. watching, sugary drinks, infection, allergens etc. Infection might be a reason to see a professional right away insurance or no insurance but of course everyone makes their own decisions in life. Unfortunately tics can last for some people for life. This is something that if addressed immediately maybe, just maybe it could be caught early enough to prevent it from continuing. I would be interested to hear any improvement if willing to share. sjb
The following user gives a hug of support to cmboswell: sjb (06-17-2012)
The Following User Says Thank You to cmboswell For This Useful Post: sjb (06-17-2012)
Thanks for your message, we've really been round the houses trying to get this diagnoses/clarified. The current idea is that its something called Motor Steiotipy, This ticks have not gone away, we keep thinking they have but they always come back. Once the pediatrician came up with the diagnosis he pretty much turned us away saying that we are to come back if things get worse. Not really much help!! The school have been good, they have assigned a special needs teacher as his attention span is pretty short and it affects his schooling. On the bright side none of the tests came back with anything sinister so we're just doing our best to handle what we have been dealt,
The following user gives a hug of support to cmboswell: sjb (06-17-2012)
My son's tics started suddenly one day when he was five and a half. I went into absolute shock. I found many doctors did not really understand; I suspected he had symptoms of TS well before they did. Of course, all kinds of tests were done and the diagnosis took time...
I truly hope your child does not have to handle TS. It's a really hard thing to watch your child experience. Our son started medication a couple of months ago because the tics became so frequent, so apparent and so upsetting. He's now on a low dosage of aripiprazole (Abilify) and the tics are so suppressed it is as though the disorder has gone away. For us, this the contrast is incredible. We hope he will continue to respond positively to this treatment. He had a lot of trouble concentrating, too, before we began medication. Now he's doing so much better because the tics do not distract him at school.
Could Tourettes Syndrome Come On In 1 Day? 
This is something that if addressed immediately maybe, just maybe it could be caught early enough to prevent it from continuing. I would be interested to hear any improvement if willing to share. sjb 
