I have been reading these boards for about a month and was glad to find it.
I have a 12 year old son who was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5 and has been on Adderral since then with 2 dosage increases. He has always had a slight habit of picking at his nose. In the last few months it has gotten completely out of control. Needless to say, this poses him great problems at school. I have been trying to help him stop, but it has become uncontrollable and he has no idea when he is doing it.
I have tried to determine if it is a side effect of the Adderral, a side effect of ADHD, but most importantly what to do about it.
He rarely does it at home, mostly when we are out places (nervous? anxious)
I did stop his medicine over the Christmas break and saw some improvement at first, but then it began to increase again, but never to the same level. Tried school for a couple days without the medicine, but that didn't work. Switched to focalin which seems to be working, but no change in the tic.
I read a thread on one of these boards last month about tics, but thought I would see if anyone has any suggestions. The kids are killing him at school for this.
Thanks
Here is some info on tics. Sometimes changing the ADHD med may lesson tics, or adding guanfacine (or clonidine-although this is more sedating), may improve tics.
http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/tics
My son is on 10mg Dexedrine and has several "tics"
1. Biting Fingernails and skin around cuticle
2. Biting lips
The school has decided to give him a "stress ball" (I think the people around him need it) to occupy his time when he is sitting at the desk. If you are sure your child will not be disruptive with the ball than it works wonders. I know my son is very tactile and so anything that he can rub/touch seems to soothe him
Good Luck
zjmom
I also have a son that pulls at this hair, for awhile he had pulled all of this eyelashes out. Thankfully they grow back. I think this is a nervous condition of his but increases as most do with the ADHD meds. Now he chews his nail, he always has to have something to do with his hands. I would like to find him a rubix cube, but prob could not take that to school. What we do at school, because his tics are more pronounced when he is just sitting with nothing to do, is bring him puzzle books to keep in his desk. It has helped some, keeps his mind occupied when he is done and others are still working and keeps his hands busy.
davetteb, you might see if any of his teachers have suggestions. When he does it the most? Ex: is he bored and is just something to do, or more so during tests when he really has to concentrate. See if they have ideas on what he can do with his hands during these times that it is the worst without causing him embarrassment or disrupting the class he is in.
I don't know if this might help, but I wonder if you offered him something to play with which is more socially acceptable. A koosh ball or a rubberband. I did this with a student after I explained that his habit wasn't socially acceptable. If he wore the rubberband on his wrist or kept it in his pocket, then I could remind him to use that. It seemed to help. jfla239133.390625I hope this helps, but, I know exactly how you're feeling. My son has had the tics from a very early age. It changed a lot. He would turn around once and touch the ground, he would do something with his lip and it would get really chapped, he would constantly pick his underwear out of his butt, etc. etc. He went through a period when it was really bad, we tried meds for add, and it made it worse. It got better as time went on, I don't know if it was because he was hiding it, or what, but we didn't notice it more and more. He is now 14, on no meds for add (because they made him tic a lot) and he is on 5mg of Lexapro for anxiety and what a difference. He even said that he's hardly doing his tics at all. He is way less anxious, doing better in school, adademically and socially. Don't get me wrong, he still has add, not getting great grades, but finally turning in all of his assignments, but I think since he's less anxious, feeling better about himself, he's doing better all around. Good luck, I hope you find what works for youI'm also concerned with tics displayed by my ds. My son repeatedly picks at fuzzballs on clothing and pulls his hair out in school. Something that may work similar to jfla2's idea for a child at school is a small, square piece of felt they can hold and rub or play with their fingers to keep them busy - of course, this did not work with my son as he chose to try and play baseball with it in class so it was confiscated. However, I do believe this is a good idea for some children who don't have as much of a behavior issue in class.
Momuv4 -
What exactly is Lexapro? Right now I'm trying to determine if his tics are related to his meds (teachers opinion) or anxiety/stress (doctors opinion) and I'd like to be aware of any other meds that may be brought up at our next dr. visit.