Childhood tics

[Worriermom]

Really loosing sleep over childhood tics. Any one have any positive stories of their child over coming the tics? Loosing my mind and could just use a friend

I had therapy for mine and it really helped. We would have gone private at the time but I’m sure it’d be available on the NHS. I haven’t tic’d since I was 19. It was about reversing the habit, I suffered terribly as a teenager and they tried medication but that didn’t do anything for me so I would really recommend therapy first x

I have one who did not grow out of them and one who did.

The one who did not has been diagnosed with Tourette’s, which she found a relief as it provided an explanation for something she’d found very distressing. She’s now in her 20s and her tics are just something everyone accepts as part of her.

My son had tics from very young - picked up about age one.

Mostly physical - blinking, snapping his head back to the point of hurting his neck, kicking his legs back, pushing people, grunting.

They’d disappear and reappear with growth and development spurts. They’ve now largely gone, or are certainly less noticeable. The worst thing to do is draw their attention to them. Tourette’s Scotland website had some good tips.

How old is your son now?

Are her tics now pretty mild or? Did you ever try Magnesium supplements?

I've read about the therapy and I'm thinking if it doesn't go away we will try it too. Thank you!

Both DC; DC1(15) diagnosed autistic, now barely has them bar some echolalia and scripted speech (not quite the same) but which to the uninitiated just sounds like her messing around with choice phrases in a funny voice, like reiterating a TikTok meme that nobody's heard of. She used to headbang and skin pick but that has stopped and no new tics have appeared in the last few years.

DC2(12) has cycled through all sorts -jaw jutting, clawing fingers, wrist circling, neck cricking, handle pulling, tapping, coughing, snorting, throat clearing, blinking- lasting for a couple of months, then it stops for a bit and then it reappears as something else. She's not worried or distressed about it so we haven't as yet sought advice or assistance about it.

Thank you for sharing. Did you ever try Magnesium with either?

DS (8) has had a couple over the last 2 years. Ive mostly ignored them and they have both completely disappeared.

Magnesium supplements are a good idea. I’m not sure if there is a direct correlation but a huge percentage of neurodivergent children also have a magnesium deficiency, and tics are much more common in ND children, so it’s probably worth a try…..

Sorry I should’ve said, he’s 13. He’s also awaiting an Autism and ADHD diagnosis.

I’d add that they don’t particularly affect his life now, they’re more subtle as he’s older. Repeating words every so often. It doesn’t bother him, I think we worry more about it than they do sometimes.

I’ve posted on here a few times about my DS’s tics. He’s nearly 10, not ND, and like a previous poster has cycled through a huge range of tics since he was about 5 - coughing, blinking, rubbing his fingers together, looking up at the ceiling, the list goes on ... they always last a few months and then disappear and something else starts. For him it’s an anxiety thing, he’s not a hugely anxious child in general but this is how his expresses itself. The best thing really is to ignore, hard as that can be (at times they’ve driven me up the wall, especially the coughing one!)

We do give him magnesium supplements, but I don’t know how much it’s helped to be honest. I do think his are getting a bit better now with age and I suspect he will largely grow out of them.

My DC had them from around age 3 or 4. They tended to go in cycles of being very noticeable and frequent and the much less so. At age 11 now they have almost disappeared currently.

We were referred to a specialist to rule out any more sinister neurological causes at about age 4.

We did an online therapy course called tic helper at about age 9 when they were quite noticeable and annoying my DC. That did help with some strategies.

Funny you should say that -not intentionally used magnesium for tics but DC1 has been taking a basic sleep gummy off and on for the last few years, one of the active ingredients of which happens to be magnesium. Interesting.