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A little back story. My son is 7 years old. He has a heart defect and has had 3 heart surgeries. (Not sure if that makes a difference.)
When he was 6 years old in kindergarten he started to do a vocal tic kind of like a little grunt all day. That passed and immediately after he started facial tic where he would blink and raise his eyebrows and do stuff with his mouth. That went away and he was tic free for a few months and now he has no school and he has developed the vocal tics again. This time it started off with the grunting and now he has added 2 more vocal tics to that where he says ha or he gasps out of nowhere. It has to started to really bother me to the point of me crying. It doesn’t bother him seems like but he says he wishes he didn’t do the noises.
Has anyone went through this or have any advice for me on how to deal with this? I would greatly appreciate it.
Some days he does them a lot less. But towards the end of the day he does make them a lot.
A little back story. My son is 7 years old. He has a heart defect and has had 3 heart surgeries. (Not sure if that makes a difference.)
When he was 6 years old in kindergarten he started to do a vocal tic kind of like a little grunt all day. That passed and immediately after he started facial tic where he would blink and raise his eyebrows and do stuff with his mouth. That went away and he was tic free for a few months and now he has no school and he has developed the vocal tics again. This time it started off with the grunting and now he has added 2 more vocal tics to that where he says ha or he gasps out of nowhere. It has to started to really bother me to the point of me crying. It doesn’t bother him seems like but he says he wishes he didn’t do the noises.
Has anyone went through this or have any advice for me on how to deal with this? I would greatly appreciate it.
Some days he does them a lot less. But towards the end of the day he does make them a lot.
My daughter had a few tics when she was your son's age. She did the raising of the eyebrows, cleared her throat and did a heavy breathing tic. Tics are pretty normal in younger kids and can peak again in middle school. She knew that she did it but said she couldn't help it.
My ped said she would not refer us for testing unless she was doing a motor and then an oral tic. She is 14 now and she grew out of them around 9 or 10.
Good luck....I know what you mean it about is bothering you.. she would do it and I felt so bad.
It's a clinical diagnosis, meaning that you diagnose based upon signs, and he's got it. There's medication for it, and it works! Forget this pediatrician, she won't be able to help you. A pediatric psychiatrist will know what to prescribe. Kid may outgrow it, but the treatment really does help. And you forget to give the med when the kid's symptoms calm down, so it's kind of a symptom-directed unintentional wean as soon as kid's symptoms calm down. Clonidine, Abilify, clonazepam are some examples. I'd start with a low dose of clonidine at bedtime (it makes people sleepy) and increase it gradually until you see efficacy, and then stay at that dose. Expect symptoms to come and go, it is usually at its worst as they get close to the beginning of puberty, and they very often outgrow it. Only reason to treat is if it's bothering him, which it sounds as if it is. Oh, and don't bother with any "treatments" other than medication. Waste of time, will only make him more self-conscious about it.
Ask your pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric psychiatrist who is familiar with treating tic disorders. If you say Tourette's, she'll discourage you, saying he doesn't have it. Sure, he's probably not going to be the man with explosive, uncontrollable, blurting out curses, full-blown Tourette's, but he DOES have a tic disorder now, and it's adversely affecting his quality of life. He deserves the effective medical treatment that is currently available.
If you cannot find a pediatric psychiatrist to help you, a pediatric neurologist will also know what to do. Or a better pediatrician, who is the type who is willing to learn, who will call a specialist, ask them what to do, and then prescribe for you based upon their guidance.
She has said it is most likely a transient tic that will go away.
Wow. Find a new pediatrician.
Something neurological is clearly happening here and whether it went away for a while or not, the fact that this has sustained in some form for a while warrants AT LEAST, a test.
I find it hard to believe that any medical professional of any sort would brush off a tic as something that will pass on its own or describe it as transient when its clearly been around in some form for a while.
Find a new doctor immediately.
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