So sad about child's tics- what to do?

[miracleone]

I am so sad seeing my daughter’s head nodding frequently due to tic disorder. Sometimes she tells me she has a headache because her head moves a lot. I also think this is starting to affect her socially because she tries to control it when she is at her dance class and then when we are back home it gets worse. I don't know what to do or whom to seek treatment for this. I know it’s Tourette yet there is no cure.

 

Has anyone tried alternative treatment and see improvement? Thank you.

[IsabelC]

:grouphug:

 

Don't know much about Tourette's. My son does a lot of head jerking but apparently his is just autistic/hyperactive stuff.

 

Hope you get some ideas.

[Trillian]

Hugs. :grouphug: it's really hard.

 

We are trying CBT, but so far have had no progress on his tics (he is able to do less obvious tics most of the time, that's something he taught himself, not through CBT). It is helping, slowly, with his anxiety, which I'm hoping will help over time.

 

I have one friend who went gluten free/dye free/preservative free and found that cured her sons's tics. I haven't found that diet to help DS, although for other reasons, we stick to it.

 

At DS's request, we tried medication, but the side effects were unacceptable.

 

There is a pronounced increase in DS's tics when he is anxious/excited, so keeping a regular schedule and teaching him alternate ways to handle stress is high on our list at the moment. We're increasing his focused exercise; he already does a lot of trampoline time and just playing per day.

 

It's hard to tell what helps and what is part of the natural ebb and flow of the tics.

 

Good luck,

[dbmamaz]

My son has been dx'd w/ tourettes on top of a bunch of other stuff, and usually the anti-psychotics he's on for the bipolar keep the tics from being that bad - i mean, he moves a lot, fiddles his hands, sometimes repeats words, sometimes throws his arms up in the air when he's excited. about 2 years ago he had a bad surge where at one point his head was moving so much he couldnt read a book. I let him play video games for a few days because that seemed to help

 

we finally went in to get the official diagnosis - you have to also have vocal tics in order to get it - anyways, he said that if there is another upswing like that, to first get checked for strept throat because sometimes that can cause tics (PANDAS). He also said we can talk w our p-doc and temporarily increase the anti-psychotics.

 

i read on a food allergy board that someone had found some really unusual allergy (peas or something) was causing the tics to be worse for their child. I think they had used the ALCAT test, which tests tons of foods, but is pricey.