Anyone have experience with childhood tics? Need help!

[njshep]

My 9 year old son has recently (within last month or so) begun constantly flicking his head back almost as though he needs get hair out his face. We first thought it became a bad habit after he had his hair longer throughout covid and he needed to do it to get it out of his face but now his hair is short and it continues. He does this several times within a span of 10 minutes and I feel like it has recently gotten worse.
We brought him into a dr who is going to run a neck X-ray but also suggested it might be a tic.
I am worried sick. He is a well adjusted, happy and super athletic child and the thought of him struggling with this is so upsetting. It really started to amplify when the kids here ( I live in Canada) had to roll back to remote learning in early April as the covid situation started becoming serious again.
Does anyone have any experience with childhood tics they can share? It is so prevalent right now I can’t see how this might disappear.
Very stressed and desperate as getting in to see anyone is such a long wait due to our covid situation.
Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Hi - my daughter started having tics at 15, also whilst online schooling. They are many and varied but also include flinging her head back. We've been for a MRI scan, but as expected it shows nothing out of the ordinary.
I read a newspaper article a while back that childhood tics had doubled during the pandemic. Advice there (and I've seen elsewhere) is not to stress, and they will likely vanish as quickly as they appeared.
I do hope that's the case for you, especially if they're worried about your son's neck.
DD's tics are noticeably worse if she's 'excitable', either because she's very upset, or very happy. They only really die down when she's depressed. It's taken a while to work out triggers / what makes it worse etc.

I understand the worry. My 6yr old son had 6 weeks of tics at the start of 2020. They came back with a vengeance in early January this year. He has both motor and vocal tics. His main tic - so far - appears to be a noise he does that I can't really describe very well. It's like a cross between a burp (as if done with the mouth closed) and a throat clear.
I myself have OCD and I now understand that there's a suspected genetic link between that and Tourettes.
I'm beside myself with worry. I feel for you.

My DS (11) has had vocal and non vocal tics on and off since the age of 3, ranging from sniffing and humming to pulling his jumper and constantly jerking his head (not all at once, always one present at any one time). The tics thankfully tailed off at the age of 9 just when children at school began noticing. However during lockdown last year they started again, mainly biting the hem of his tops and biting his nails. I've noticed the tics start when his anxiety spikes. He had some counselling for anxiety last year which helped a little. He is currently being assessed for OCD and ADHD.

If your dc is otherwise fine and you don't suspect any underlying issues then I wouldn't worry - the tics will go away themselves.

Look up Tourettes Action. They are a fantastic, UK based charity that provide loads of information and support.

My son has suffered from tics for a few years and lockdown calmed him down as he was home familiar surroundings etc but due to me working he had to go to school for child minding/school open for people working during the lockdown so his tic gee worse then slowed down after they shut the school . He gets tics when stressed burdened anxious worried etc so I always let him talk no matter what as he does stutter too also we gave cuddles calming down time fun time anything to keep his mind active and football for him to have a focus on