Anyone on here with just Tourettes and no ADHD or OCD??

[mrsbaffled]

Just wondered really....
My DS2 (5) has a neurologist appt in a couple of weeks for suspected TS. My dad has it, though his tics are hardly noticeable now he's an adult.

He started ticcing prob 2 years ago (just blinking), but it really stepped up in Jan last year, and has continued. I can't remember a day when he hasn't ticced. In the last week he had developed a shoulder shrug. It looks so awkward :(

How are your children with TS at school? Does it affect them at school? How about in making friends? DS2 is very friendly and doesnt seem to have any social difficulties (unlike his older brother with suspected AS).

is it possible just to have the tics? Or is he likely to develop more OCD type things over time?

Do the tics get worse? Will they ever go away completely?

I wonder if my ds1 (8) has Tourettes. He has had a few different physical tics, some more obvious than others. And it has been ongoing for at least 2 years. He also has a verbal tic where he repeats himself, but is really unaware he is doing it!
I read up on it & its more common in boys & especially at this age. Apparently the symptoms can disappear when puberty hits. I think the tics my son has just now are less noticeable than previously, but they do seem to be ever changing.
The school have never mentioned it, and it does not appear to have affected him socially either.
I am much more accepting of them now & don't even comment on them & I think this has helped us both. I think stress definitely makes them worse.
He doesn't appear to have any OCD (yet!)
I don't know if we have any family history of it, but my dad is pretty bizarre sometimes.

I think my son's tics are getting more obvious now too. He has moved on from just blinking or nose / mouth twitching to more complex and bigger movements like the shrugging.
I am not certain they will dx TS as I am not sure if the humming thing he does when he eats is a tic. Perhaps more of a compulsion? I am really confused Lol! He has done it since he was very small and hums mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm loudly whenever he eats.
He also pulls off his nails :(

Eek! His poor fingers! I think before they can diagnose they have to have about 2 years of evidence & I'm think making noises counts as well.
Yes my son had one where he would jump all the time! He has shrugged as well, and recently he had a type of headbanging one like a woodpecker! And he does the blinking sometimes too. Just now he opens his mouth wide like he is stretching it.
Sometimes I have mentioned it to other family members & they say they haven't noticed (!).
I think there is probably a lot of ignorance about Tourettes & lots of people have the stereotypical idea of someone who swears a lot. Maybe that's why it isn't picked up more. I can't recall if I had any tics as a child, & I have no-one to ask. My dh assures me he never...

Apparently DH ticced too (the wide mouth opening thing). But he doesn't do it any more, unless you count nervous foot tapping.

School haven't particularly noticed, but I help in his classroom once a week and he is twitching away sat ont he carpet. How people miss it is beyond me. I have found it so very easy to video it - every time I point the camera at him he tics!

My DS1 has a diagnosis of Tourettes with OCD and generalised anxiety. I was actually looking at the Tourettes Action website today and reading about the variability of Tourettes: you can have 'pure Tourettes', 'full-blown Tourettes' or 'Tourettes Plus'. My DS has the latter. I'm afraid there is no way you can know what your DS will develop, as it is very variable.

In answer to your questions: school was very difficult for DS and he developed extreme anxiety about going to school when he was nine. We struggled on for a couple more years, but I had to take him out in Year 6. He tried secondary school, but it was disastrous and so he is now home educated.

The tics have never been a problem, although, of course, they were embarrassing for DS. The OCD and anxiety have been far more of a problem and the reason why DS can't go to school anymore. Interestingly, as DS's OCD got worse, his tics reduced and now they are hardly noticeable.

DS has had a lot of ups and downs with his friendships. He can only cope with one good friend at a time. Groups are too much for him to deal with. He has been the victim of bullying.

Yes, it is possible to have just the tics (this is 'pure Tourettes'). There is no way of knowing whether your DS will develop more OCD-type behaviour over time, I'm afraid.

My son's tics were very bad during primary school, but they are very subtle now. Adolescence is meant to be a bad time for tics, with them improving in adulthood, unless you are one of the unlucky ones with severe Tourettes.

My DH has Tourettes, although we didn't know until our DS developed symptoms. Nobody would ever notice his tics because they are so subtle and he makes sure that he keeps them under control.

When DS's tics were bad, I would usually ignore them. However, we did sometimes find that laughing about them helped. One of his tics, which he found mortifying, was a kind of Nazi salute with his right arm. We had to laugh at that one because it was so inappropriate.

I hope the appointment with the neurologist goes well. Best of luck.

And I have found that people are generally blind to tics unless they are tuned into them. DS's teachers hardly ever noticed his tics. They tended to put them down to fidgity behaviour and youthful exuberance. At one point, he used to whoop regularly and the teacher just assumed he was happy .

Thanks, toffee :)