Anxiety twitches/tic/spasm

[fluckityfluckfluck]

Dd is 13, got her first period last month. Over the past 12/18 months she has mentioned a pain in her chest in stressful situations and have talked through breathing ecxercises etc.

On Tuesday this week the pains got so bad she was struggling with her breathing and was taken out of class a few times. This pattern continued and when I was face timing her Thursday evening (she was at her dads we share custody) she was having these spasms through her neck and shoulder. Looks like Tourette's - totally involuntary and she said they are making her sore. She can't control a pen/fork etc when they happen.

They are still on going - frequently. She is home now and I will ring the gp Monday but thought a post here may be wise... any and all advice would be appreciated. It's awful to see her like this.

They sound like tics related to anxiety.

For it to be Tourettes tics need to be physical and verbal and be present for more than a year.

Your GP probably won't be much help, they may put her on a very, very long waiting list for someone to help her with her anxiety,but it's a good idea to have it noted by the GP, so if the tics get worse then you can ask for a referral to a peadiatrician.

There has been an explosion of children and teens (many of them teenaged girls) who have started to tic since the beginning of lockdown.