AIBU to ignore 'ticks'

[Whatdoyouthinkthen]

DD (8) has developed a 'tick' over the last few months.
She very quickly shakes her hands and arms as if she is shaking off water (if that makes sense).
She also shakes each leg at a time if she is sitting or lying down.
She does this every few minutes at it's worst.
AIBU to ignore it and not make a big deal out of it or should I really be doing something about it?

dd went through a stage of touching all the drawers in the chest in her room several times. When it got to be a very regular occurence (i could hear the tappping so knew she was doing it) I had a chat with her about it and we sort of weaned her off by only counting them 5 times, then 4, each time proving that nothing bad comes of not doing it iyswim.

Generally, it becomes a habit for the fear that something will go wrong if they don't do it.

Once you show them that nothing goes wrong for not doing it, they can relax and see how silly it all is.

agent yes, that's what I mean- saying something like 'hands' - DH says this now and then.

my ds1 has the facial tics when hes upset or worried its worse,he gets bullied at schol for it too but nothing the GP will do and wont refer him and have been told the meds they can give can had nasty side-effects.
i would get it checked but try not to draw to much attention to it as it can make it worse.

Snow it is a habit yes. I'm thinking about today and it was worse this evening (she was tired).

Agent also :( @ your uncle. (yes a twat).
So far so good with that kind of thing, I heard someone say " why are you doing that" as we were standing in the playground. DD just laughed and said "I don't know".
At the moment it doesn't trouble her but I don't want it to start to either.

Derren Brown has OCD, and when you watch him he's definately got a head nodding thing going on

So in good company.

A lot of it is pretending nobody notices, so a friendly 'notice' at home can help I reckon, because the outside world can be pretty harsh when it comes to 'odd' behaviour and pretending doesn't always work.

Your DD would be in a safe place at home with people who love her unconditionally, making it a good place for you to help her deal with it.

Hi there.

My son was diagnosed with a tic disorder at about 4 years old, and then at about 8 with Tourettes. He is now nearly 14. At times it can be dreadful - he pulls his hair out and has a bald patch, and makes grunty noises and screws up his face, which causes lots of tasing at school. Sometimes he tics about 100 times in a minute.

However, tics are very common in children, and most will grow out of them fairly quickly and with no major problems.

Anyway - the doctor's recommendation is to simply ignore. There are a very few medications which can be used to suppress tics, but they are quite serious meds, and would only be prescribed if the tics were causing a major problem for the child. It sounds like it isn't for your daughter - my son generally doesn't even notice he is doing it (until someone points it out - and that makes him cross.)

not 100 times a minute - that would be insane. About 100 times in 5 minutes... (roughly ever 3 secs or so...)

Thanks shine!

Oakmaiden :o !! No, not medication, I think that DD's tics are relatively mild ATM.

Her dad has OCD ( nothing to do with cleaning unfortunately) so maybe it's all linked in a way. We're a strange lot!!!

Agent: A lot of it is pretending nobody notices, so a friendly 'notice' at home can help I reckon, because the outside world can be pretty harsh when it comes to 'odd' behaviour and pretending doesn't always work. Yes, I agree with that - It's really useful advice, thank you!

:o

oakmaiden the :o!! Was for your second post not first!

We're a strange bunch here too.

Whatdoyouthinkthen I would have liked smiling acceptance I think. I can't remember an adult having any bad reaction to my 'little ways' but children were definately cruel about it, my siblings have even mentioned the words I used to repeat etc as adults, they still find it amusing, I can giggle about it too now although it was hurtful when I was small.

I have a few tics that developed around that age.

No one ever really mentions them, although I do my best to keep them under control in public. They are worse if I am tense/excited or tired.

I don't have OCD, anxiety, depression, anything like that.

I am just me and tics have never affected my life in any significant way.

I know that's not advice, but I just wanted to say, you know, it's not necessarily a big deal

Rika I'm glad you can :) now.
Yes, I think acceptance is a good way forward!

Thanks everyone for your input, all been really helpful!

Mrtumbles very true, It's a good way to think about things.
I have been trying to think if there may be a particular cause but you're right, I don't think it is always easy to pin it down to just one thing and sometimes things happen without reason (& not always a big deal.) It's all good to hear. :)

I would mention it to the GP, also ask if she is doing it at school.
Does it get worst when she is tired or stressed?
Does she know she is doing it at all?

It's so difficult to know what to do for the best in the long run.

DD definately has OCD, but I haven't taken her to the doctor because I don't want any kind of labelling of her, especially at school, or too much focus and risk ingraining the behaviour.

So I'm just doing it in stages starting off small with just talking to her about it, if it becomes a problem then the doctors would be an option.

But then I don't want to miss an opportunity for her to get help that might reduce any problems she has with it in the future.

Ideally it'll turn out to be a phase like MrTumblesBum ( at name), but mine is genetic and if your DDs dad has it, it could stem from there.

How does he feel it should be approched (if at all)?

Agent DH looks at me, shakes his head and smiles or says to DD "you're doing it (name)" or "hands".
He says nothing else. I don't think he believes it's something to worry about particularly. As I said his thing is OCD ( obsessed with certain foods, activities, interests over and over for weeks on end, he HAS to do them/ have them otherwise it drives him mad- then he'll move onto something different).
He thinks that the less pressure on DD the better.

I think if you've reason to believe that she's very stressed about something in particular, or has generalised anxiety, that you should gently talk to her and see if you can resolve things. But loads of children go through phases of having nervous, ritualistic behaviour - it makes them feel 'safe' and in control, if something's scaring them. My brother had a lot of these tics - he'd grunt a lot in a sort of pattern, as well as tapping things. He got over it, as far as I know. I had them too, though not as badly, and I think I'm ok.