worried son might have tourrettes (sp)

Bun

I had all sorts of ticks when I was younger, often worse whenI was worried or stressed, and did actually get one back this year following a bereavement, which then sort of wore off. My DS also does little ones when he's tired that seem to sooth him, which change from time to time, from tongue clicking to 'horsey noises' (blowing through the lips if you know what I mean). All went if ignored with me, and seems to be the same with my son. They could get annoying, and I was certainly aware of them. Good luck at the doctors. You could always say that somebody else (family member etc) has commented on them, which gets the concern across without you self-diagnosing maybe.

tarajayne

Boy in the class I work, also 6, is being assessed for this, however it aparently rarely occurs on its own, usually with ADHD or similar and seems that in children it is not always the classic signs that we see in an adult ie: the tics. This boy stands out as being really 'different' so you would need to look at the bigger picture. Have to say though that I had a sniffing habit as a child, drove my mum mad, she put a peg on my nose at one point! Hope you sort this out.

sarahlouise210

My daughter has Tourettes - symptoms started at about age 4 with blinking, sniffing,twitching and grunting - it took 3 years to get a diagnosis. She is 14 now - suffers with all the usual symptoms (but does not swear thank goodness) - she deals with it with grace and humility and humour...she has a wide circle of friends, a good social life. I have always ,from day one, taught her to laugh at herself so that it does not hurt when others laugh at her-this has worked like a dream and she now accepts her strange ways as do her friends. She takes quite a bit of medication which really does help-eg we REALLY know if she has missed a dose!!!
If you want any advice or a chat PM me before 6th March xx

lazy_daisy

Thanks everyone for all these posts. I think people think Tourettes is just the swearing, etc, but it seems to be a sliding scale of severity of tics, twitches and noises. My DS (11) has been like this for years and the twitches and grunts change but there is always something! Occasionally I get upset and start worrying that he will get worse and start the swearing type of compulsion but from all your kind posts it seems that this is far from common. My main worry is what to tell him to say to people when they comment. I really liked your suggestion Sarahlouise to keep it lighthearted and laugh at it. I think that will be the best way to stop him becoming too self conscious, he is a lovely boy but clearly takes after me as I have alwyas been twitchy too! Thanks again everyone,
xx

something_girl

My youngest daughter used to make strained screaming noises, when she was playing in her room on her own, it was really weird, I never really questioned her about it and she seemed to grow out of it.

I went to school with the chap who was featured on the original QED programme about Tourettes, I see him in the street when I go back to that town, he is just accepted for what he is, but to strangers it is really shocking, I can see the looks on the faces of old ladies who have come to town to do their shopping.

tanith

One of my grandsons delveloped a habit of shoulder shrugging when he was 5 or 6 its was stress and was worse when he was nervous... my daughter was so worried about it but he grew out of it after a year or so... try not to worry...

lady_stardust

Don't wish to sound alarmist but something else it sounds vaguely like is OCD, which I had as a child and teenager but have mostly grown out of.

OCD is more like a series of mental habits - mine was putting number plates in alphabetical and numerical order - but it can also manifest itself in physical symptoms as well as I had various nervous ticks. I wasn't concious of it at the time, but OCD suffers are very ritualistic and the ticks were a part of that - it was comforting to do them and I was worried something bad would happen if I didn't.

pukkamum

Hi every one was quite shocked to see this back. I am pleased to say that all the ticking stopped as soon as it started although it did seem to reach a kind of crisis point were it was constant and every one was beginning to notice, my doctor told me that they would not even consider it a problem until it had been constant for at least a year. He does still have the odd day when he's blinking or moving but they are few and far between, i truly believe now that it was stress as it was at the height of the sats cramming that it got worse. So i would say to anyone who's child is doing this is don't panic and try your best to ignore it.