Absolute panic my 8 year old has blinked non stop for 3 weeks

[Motherofoneandonly]

Absolute mental breakdown happening with me! My 8 year old DD has suddenly started blinking nonstop all day long everyone is noticing. I took her to a top opthamologist who said she has perfect vision and doesn’t know why she’s blinking. It started after a high fever and a dose of antibiotics theee weeks ago. I am terrified of this being permanent and have no idea what do. I haven’t eaten for days and realise now I had no idea what worry meant before this happened. Please help me - any idea how to help her - any similar stories - it’s not once an hour it’s non stop all day every day! :(

My DD developed a tick every April from about age 7 - she would scrunch one eye and twitch her head - turns out it was her body's response to hayfever.

An antihistamine every morning and it stopped within a day or 2. Now when we see it start we get her some medication and she is fine - she still gets it every year, but it is treated every year and goes away.

May or may not be the same sort of thing - but if you try an antihistamine and say that it will get rid of the blink... you never know ... it may work.

Thank you for replying willing to try anything at the moment - it’s worth a shot so worried! Thank you

Hi. My daughter is 10 and tics a lot. I've not got much advice but I know i used to worry about it a lot more than I do now. Each tic seems to pass after a spell of times, weeks usually. I also wonder if physical illness sets her off. I hope things improve soon.

You need to see your GP for advice about the blinking AND your own anxiety related to it.

Take her to the GP in case there is an underlying reason related to the virus. On a positive note, my child started displaying tics when in year 5. They were related to anxiety and I found them very stressful. I used to give him rescue remedy drops (didn’t really help but made me feel like I was doing something). The tics all disappeared when child went to secondary school.

My now 21 year old suddenly started ticcing when he was a toddler. We’d have a few different ones which would last from a few weeks to a few months - they included blinking, facial grimaces, excessive sniffing, head jerks, throat clearing, gasping, arm jerking, hopping and more. He was eventually diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome when he was 6 and we were frankly terrified for his future. However when he started puberty the tics started to diminish and by the time he was 16 they ds gone completely. He’s still got OCD symptoms and has anxiety (mostly controlled by medication) and I suspect his adult life is going to be more complicated than for many others. But he was very severe as a child and it’s been nothing like as bad as we thought. Lots of children have passing tics and it’s not a problem - for the vast majority they happen for a while and then completely disappear

The sudden onset after fever fits PANDAS disease, please insist on getting that checked out.

There is a condition called PANDAS that can develop after an infection. Worth checking out and visiting your GP if this sounds familiar.
patient.info/doctor/pandas-paediatric-autoimmune-neuropsychiatric-disorder-associated-with-streptococcal-infection