Re: Nervous Tics - Longish

December 29, 2006

Hi,

I do have a son with Tourette's syndrome, OCD, and ADHD. Hannah our daughter

with DS/Aut was starting to do some weird stuff and I had her checked out by

his doc that specializes in Tourettes to see if it was possibly Tourette's

also. They didn't think it was. When I asked them what does a kid with DS/Aut

and

Tourette's look like, he didn't think there was anything written on it and it

would just be an Academic Curiosity. So, sometimes we call her " AC " for short.

For it to qualify as Tourette's there has to be both a motor tic and a vocal

tic present for the better part of a year. The tics don't have to be the same

for the whole year. So the head jerking motor tic could turn into a jumping

motor tic and a squealing vocal tic could turn into a sniffing motor tic but

they both have to hang around for over a year to think about Tourette's.

The other thing to think about is, if it is Tourette's is it bad enough to do

anything with it. With all of Hannah's other Ds/Aut issues, if she did have

Tourette's I'm not sure I would start her on meds. We have started our son on

one for the ADHD which is working great but the one to control tics is

difficult. He's 15, he's going to want to drive and I'm not sure he'll be able

to on

the same timeline as his friends. We are trying to give him a normal life. With

Hannah, we know she will never have one. We are trying to give her a happy

life and to use her strengths as much as possible.

Sorry it's long,

a (Drew 15, TS,OCD,AHDH; Marissa 11; Hannah 9 DS/Aut)

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