Tourettes

Post Reply New Topic

My son is 8 and has Aspergers with comorbid of ADHD. Has developed tics (first movement, now vocal too). Was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and how.

Has he ever been on meds? ADHD meds (stimulants) and antipsychotics can cause tics.

We think (well, i guess we know) that our daughter has tourettes. She is 7, and she's not our ASD kid. She's been having tics since the age of about 4.5 (first vocal, then motor and now she has both). She's actually got worse in the last few months, so we took her to a neurologist to rule out anything majorly wrong. We are now being referred to a ped neuro who specializes in movement disorders. We just ignore the tics, it's very obvious she can't help them. (right now, main ones are head jerking, facial grimacing, eye bulging/squinting, snorting like a pig, and other various noise making. She has MANY others that come and go). Our 5 year old (no ASD) has tics too, both vocal and motor, but they've only been going on for not quite a year now. Our ASD child has never had tics. My husband's dad & 2 of his brothers have tics, so we are assuming it is inherited from his family.

We ignore the tics. Of course when they first started with my daughter, we kept telling her to stop (clearing throat at first that changed to grunting), until we realized she couldn't help it. With our son, we've ignored them from the start. Ignoring them is supposed to be the best thing to do according to our research, and that's how we are dealing with it. She was prescribed medication to help control them, but we are waiting to see a movement disorder specialist before we put her on it.

I've got Tourettes. It is diagnosed if there are about 5-8 motor and 3 vocal (phonic) tics now. You are wise not to medicate until you have seen a specialist. Some medication can worsen tics or cause horriffic side-effects. You need to really weigh up the pros and cons of putting someone on medication. There is no specifically Tourettes medication either. A lot of the commonly used drugs are Haloperidal, Risperedal and Clonazepam. I am on Clonazepam for a different condition, however it has decreased my tics but only slightly. If it was just for my tics then I would stop taking it because it annoys me more. Haloperidal and Risperedal are anti-psychotics. There has been evidence to show that tics decrease when on these drugs however again, the side-effects are horrendous in some people. I personally developed (thankfully) temporary psychosis and paranoia while on Risperedal, plus nausea, headaches, weight gain, self-harming behaviour and became over-emotional. That's not what will happen to everyone on it though so don't freak out if a doctor reccomends it.

It is important, if they do get diagnosed, to let them know that you love them no matter what. You are right about ignoring the tics. If people point my tics out or tell me to stop, they get worse. Have you ever tried not to blink? You can stop it for a while, but eventually you have to slam your eyelids down. This is how a tic feels. It sounds like you are doing a great job though so keep it up

_________________
I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

My son had tics such as eye blinking and finger cracking since age 1 but they have changed over time. Sometimes he echos or squeals for awhile he butt picked. Lately he says inapproprite words and does bad gestures, We put him on Abilify first because he was having tantrums. It worked for avout six months but we kept upping the dose. Then we switched to Risperdal with tenex because he also has ADHD with Aspergers. The tics are better but the impulse behaviors and obsessions still are an issue. We have added prozac for the fixations. He still has them but he is easier to go along with things. The ADHD impulse and compulsions cause us more issues hen anything. I wish I knew how to improve his behaviors. I wonder if ABA therapy would help. We have him in OT,