Explaining Tics | ADHD Information

Does anyone have a child who also has tics?  Can you tell me how you explain to your child what they are experiencing.  My son said to me "Mom I can't stop looking up".

Does anyone else deal with this?  My son, 8, had ADHD and takes Concerta and Clonidine.  We took him off stimulants with no change in tics, so it is better for him to have ADHD control, so he's back on.

Thanks for your help.

Dear Krobb,

 

Thanks so much for the response.  We tried Stratterra with no luck.  Does your son take any meds now?  How long has he been tic free?  What was the nature of his tic?

 

Thanks for your help

happygirl - my son also develped a tic while on Concerta.  How long did you leave him off of the medication before you restarted it?  It took about 6 weeks for the tic to diminish enough that we no longer noticed it.  I was surprised at how long it took to go away.

Anyway, there may be other options for your son if you can determine if the Concerta is causing the issue.  Strattera isn't supposed to cause as many tics, or there are other meds to help control the tics - they use them for Tourettes.

While this was going on, we simply told our son the basic fact - the medication was causing his face to move without him being able to control it.  We also taught him some relaxation strategies to help when it was particularly bad - mostly just closing his eyes, trying to clear his mind, and breathing deeply for a few minutes.  This didn't always help, but it usually made it bearable for him.  He is 11, so it might have been easier for him to understand than it is for an 8 year old. 

Good luck.

HappyGirl -

No, my son does not take any medication now.  When he developed his tic, he was blinking his eyes and kind of grimacing with his mouth.  It started with the blinking only then the mouth movement came on a few days later.  Each day that went by, it became more pronounced, and more frequent, until he would be so frustrated at night he was almost hysterical.  After about 9 days of this, we stopped the Concerta completely, but it didn't let up at all for several days following.  Then it gradually became less frequent and less pronounced until it was completely gone.  It has not returned.

We made the decision to seek non-medication alternatives at this point because the tic was causing much greater issues than not having any medication at all.  His concentration (what little there ever was) was completely shot because he couldn't control his face and he couldn't keep his eyes open.  The other kids were calling him a freak... I'm sure you get the picture.

My understanding of Strattera is that it helps more with behavior than with attention, and that it takes several weeks before you know if an impact will be seen or not.

BlueCloudSky4 - your reasoning makes sense, although like you, I'm not a medical authority and do not have a good understaning of beta blockers.

I want to make it perfectly clear that I am NOT against medication.  I wish it worked for my son, but it doesn't.  After such a severe experience, we felt that any additional medication would be more experimental than anything and we were not willing to put him through it. 

I'm not a medical authority, but I do have a bit to offer. I believe that tic's are caused by an over reaction of a combination of the serotonin/dopamine/norepinephrine system. I believe that by causing these three systems to become hyper-stimulated with A.D.D medications (or by nature) tic's can be induced. I have OCD, and because of this I am highly predisposed to having medication induced tic's. In my experiance both SSRI medications and most stimulant medications, escpeccialy caffeine make my tic's much worse.

Strattera has actually decreased the frequency and intensity of my tics and tremors and has helped to steady me out...perhaps an atypical A.D.D med such a a betablocker would be in order for your child?krobb -

    this was tottaly understanable as such a unhappy time in your life can make you very weary of medication. i had a similar experiance with Zoloft, which made me very afraid to take medication again. After working up the courage to try a couple of different meds, we were FINALLY able to find a combo that worked really well for me after a couple of years. Unfortunatly, treating pyshcological conditions with medication is a guessing game at best and time, patience and the willingness to try new things is CRITICAL. i suggest that you ask you dr. about beta blocker or other a.d.d meds, as you would be doing your child a TERRIBLE diservice not allowing him meds which would help to improve his quality of life. please, dont do that to your child.

best of wishes,
brendan

krobb,

i applaud your efforts to find and use the approaches that work best for your child.  thank you for explaining the path you've choosen so well.

meds ARE NOT for every child and i find it insulting and presumptious for anyone else to recommend them for a child they do not even know. 

tunnel vision for medications can also be a trap. 

kppy

Maybe I do have tunnel vision.  Sometimes being a parent does that to you and all you can think of is a way to help your kid.  I know it keeps me up at night.

Barb - we started with supplements but stopped when we started a program called The Dore Centers.  There are only 5 locations around the US and we are lucky to have one about an hour from our home.  It's based on the principal that some people didn't completely develop the neural pathways from the cerebellum to the cerebrum.  They use special exercises based on test results for each individual.  The child must do these exercises twice a day, every day.  We went there based on recommendations from some friends that are educators.  It's very expensive, and it takes at least a year to complete and we are in the early stages, but we are feeling pretty good about it. 

We went to an open house and asked tons of questions and decided to have him evaluated for the program.  This is a testing process that takes several hours.  Everything they said about him after testing was right on target with what we had seen all of his life.  They have a doctor on staff that meets with you to discuss the results at the end of the day.  The doctor we met with is a neurologist.

The biggest thing we have seen so far is the change in his ability to transfer thought to paper.  He has gone from not writing a single sentence, to having trouble stopping.  I've also noticed small changes in his speech pattern - he isn't as monotone and doesn't have to start his comments over from the beginning as much.  His teacher tells us that he isn't having any more trouble staying focused than most kids and with a touch or a word, she can now bring him back to the task.

The reason we stopped the supplements (other than a multi-vitamin) is that fish oil supposedly coats those neural pathways and can inhibit the program from working as designed.  When we are finished with the program, we will start them up again.

The other thing we are doing is working with the school pyschologist on behavioral modification.  We actually practice strategies, and work with his teacher to be consistent, to help him refocus when necessary.  Some of the strategies I have pulled from this forum.  He has always had such a hard time when it comes to refocusing his efforts after becoming distracted.  Homework that used to take 3-4 hours is now getting done in 1-2.  This is homework that should take about 30 minutes to an hour, but I'm thrilled with double rather than triple the timeframe, especially considering that we usually have to take a little 15 minute break in the middle to do something active, like basketball, taking a short walk, something to get him out of the chair and get the wiggles settled down.

Is everything perfect?  Absolutely not!  We are seeing progress in focus/attention and therefore better scholastic achievement.  We are not seeing progress in impulsivity at this point, but I'm hoping that this will eventually be impacted by the progam, too, or at least by maturity (if that EVER happens!  - he is of the male persuasion after all.)    It will be a long process and we are cautiously optomistic.

Forgive me for the long post.

if what you are saying is 100% unexagerated truth then thats great...but is he REALLY doing that well?> if he is would the dr.s' really be trying to up his dosage? be careful not to become too tunnel visioned....

Krobb,

Are you giving your son any supplements? If so, which ones are you giving him for focus? My son is doing well behavior wise with Flax and it has made a slight difference in focus, but not much. I cannot get him to get school work done. He not only brings home homework but often much of what should have been completed during the day. He will suddenly get into hyperfocus and catch up but that is only after it has reached the point where he is ready to get all zeros if he doesn't. It is not a good pattern for him to get used to. School is starting soon and I don't want a repeat of last year. If I can't get his focus strengthened soon he will have to go on meds. Something made the difference for your son. What?

I prefer to find non med methods which will strengthen his life skills and hopefully keep him from having to use meds for what could be the rest of his life. If he can learn to function well without them, possibly use them at strategic times if necessary, it is the way I want to go.

I do not consider ADHD to be a horrid disease which will ruin a life. Severe cases may need severe measures but I personally believe it is a God given gift and we need to learn to develop the creative, out of the box way of thinking we (I have it also) have been blessed with. The high energy is also a blessing. We have just been convinced by society that it is abnormal. Once society accepts it and starts learning to encourage the positive aspects, and effective ways to teach to the ADHD personality, it will be seen as a positive rather than a negative.

Thanks! Barb

barb38209.4830902778

Thanks Brendan - I really appreciate your comments.  And I do want what is best for for my son.  However, I have to say that he is doing better right now than he has in a very long time.  We are doing some specific things and I am getting positive feedback from his teacher, and seeing good stuff at home as well.  As long as things are going this well, and he feels better about himself, too, I don't see a reason to try the meds again.  He isn't being disruptive in class, he is getting straight A's, he is in advanced math for the first time ever, and his temper is coming under control.  I'm not going to go the med route again unless there is an obvious benefit.  His major issue right now is impluse control, which the Concerta never helped anyway.  We are working on behavioral strategies to help in that area so that he won't be so excluded by the other kids.

I've talked to various pedicatricians, psychologists, and psychiartrists and they wanted to up the concerta and give him another med to control the tics.  That just didn't sound right to me, and I wasn't willing to play the guessing game at that point.

I may be completely wrong with the approach we are taking, but for now - it's working, and I'm going to give it a chance because I think he deserves the opportunity to be successful without adding additional complications to his life.  If it doesn't work and we see more issues or if he becomes disruptive or violent, then we will address it as it comes.

Does that make sense?  I don't really want to start another debate about medicate or not, but, I would like you to understand our choice and not think that we are trying to ignore the fact that our son has ADHD.