I can't stop my 8 yr old ticking but how can I stop yself wanting to put him in a cupboard so I don't have to listen to it ?

[Howlongtillbedtime]

He is 8 and most of his tics are the clearing the throat or snorting through the noise type . On advice we are ignoring it and hoping it will magically go away once he has his anxiety under control .

However some days I feel more patient than others . He is sitting near me just now and it is taking every ounce of motherly love to not tell him to bloody shut up !

I won't do this but I really could do with some advice on how we deal with it without making him worse .

Save my sanity before I turn to the gin .

I have to just leave the room sometimes. 2 minutes can make all the difference. My DD can be distracted from hers if I start a conversation she wants to be a part of. Short lived but it helps. You have my sympathy, sometimes I am snappy (not about the tics) because my patience is just so thin from not shouting "Just. Stop. It."

The clearing the throat one is one of my least favourite tics.

Thank you for the sympathy , I know he can't help it but it is driving me mad today .

We are not getting any help with his anxiety either , we have just been left to try and sort it ourselves .

Any advice gratefully received .

Hello just had to result to this thread with my experience.

When I was growing up a relative did this when he was late primary school age. His mum took him to the doctor for years and he put it down to lots of stuff which it wasn't. In the end the diagnosis was tourettes syndrome which is still the case 20 years later. Most people don't realise that tourettes can occur with no verbal tics and just done small physical ones.

My relative (now in mid 30s) still does the snorting and some repeated turning his neck but many people who meet him don't realise there is anything different with him.

Anyway don't want alarm you but if there is a chance that is the case wanted you to avoid the years of guessing that his mum went through!

Reply not result..

Thank you for the reply , I am currently trying to get a referral to CAHMS for him which was turned down less than a year ago but I figure I need to keep trying . I think in his case it is an anxiety linked thing but I am not ruling anything out .

Thanks again , all info is helpful .

Is it definitely a tic? My Ds started with something similar when he was three, an eight hour car journey with him and his Jack Lemon from the Odd Couple impression, made me want to drive us into the back of traffic. Repeatedly. However while the doc pondered tics he put him on cetirazine hydrochloride to test for allergic rhinitis and his tic vanished. Turns out he had that horrible itchy catchy throat hay fever and other allergies can cause. Could it be something similar? Ds is sensitive to cats and some pollen that comes out in July.

Thank you , and I love your Jack Lemon comparison . I am pretty sure it is an anxiety thing as he also gets very stressed and cross sometimes .

I have tried getting a CAHMS referral but it would be easier to get an appointment to see the Queen .

I have however had a call today to say we have been referred to the school nurse so it is a start .