Advice from other parents about motor/vocal Tics

[BumpleLeeds]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping for some reassurance from parents who have children who've had motor or vocal tics.

My 5-year-old son has had some small tics on and off since he was a baby. Most of them we didn't realise were tics at the time (e.g. sniffing and blinking - which we thought were allergies). 18 months ago he suddenly developed a head nod, which was terrifying at the time. His eyes would roll back and then he'd do a quick set of nods. At the time we took him to the doctors as we were so concerned. My mum passed away 9 years ago of a brain tumour and this particular tic of my sons mimicked the small fits that my mum had at the end of her illness - so we wanted to be sure that this wasn't something more sinister. The doc said just to completely ignore the head nodding. We did, and it stopped within a month.

Since then, we've had a bit of blinking on and off, but nothing worse. And then 2 weeks ago (18 months since the last time) the head nodding started again - this time accompanied by a sniff and a sucking in of air noise. They're very slight (except on an evening when he's tired) and so most people in contact with him wouldn't notice. We're currently in the midst of this and are panicking again. Not that we think it's something like a tumour - we understand now that these are transient tics and that they'll come and go (hopefully). As he's still little and a bundle of energy anyway, I don't think anyone in his school has noticed (yet). But when this current tic goes away, and if it presents itself again in a year or two's time, perhaps his friends at school will notice. That's my main concern - that if this carries on he'll be made fun of by his peers.

In starting this thread I was hoping for stories from other parents further down the line in this situation. I'd be interested to know how this has played out in your lives over years. I don't know of any other children with tics and it would help us to hear from parents who have had experience in this.

TIA x

[EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic]

Sorry @BumpleLeeds, I haven’t got any experience but I didn’t want yiu to go unanswered. Hopefully this will bump for you

[taykitty20]

Did you ever get any answers? X similar boat here