Medication and tics | ADHD Information

I'm so glad for you and your son!! He must feel so darn good! That's the best feeling for a parent when you see your child happy! Best of luck and keep us posted. How cute is that little tic? Maybe some of the little girls will wink back at him, then he'll really think he's hot stuff!

Kathy

Kathy,

Thanks for the support. We went to see the psychologist on Monday, and he advised that sometimes, the tics will subside after a bit, sometimes a higher dose will help, and sometimes you just need to change the med. I had been thinking that we needed a higher dose because his dad and I had not noticed much improvement. However, Joe came home from school on a high because his teacher had just named him "Most improved student of the month!" The school is not aware that we have stared medication. The tics have never bothered Joe up till last Friday, but on Tuesday, I noticed that he is back to his pre-med level. Luckily, his tic is kind of cute, he winks alot.

I sure wish the medications were more of an exact science, I think we are all in a state of desparation when we try them.

I'm still close to tears of joy about the most imporved thing- bout time we had a sucess!

Laura

Hey Laura. I'm not in your situation but I know that the doctors always always asked me if my son has tics. I kept thinking why the heck does she keep talking about that? I think that medication can make a child who has a tendancy to have a tic (like yours) come out and be more pronounced. I'm almost positive it's the medicine bringing it out more. I don't think it causes it but if someone has that tendancy, meds will make it noticeable. You should let the Dr. know right away and see what he says. The poor little thing probably doesn't know what's going on with the tics. Hopefully he doesn't know he's doing it. The DR. may say it'll subside shortly or try something different. I would definitely call and let him/her know what's up. Good luck

Hello,

Can anyone offer their experience with ADD, tics and medications? My son has just been diagnosed with ADD inattentive type and he has had a mild facial tic for about a year. There were other tics that would come and go. He has just started a low dose of Concerta 18mg and has been on it for 2 weeks. The past few days we have seen the tics increase. Also, we have not seen much chage in his attention span. We are trying to make things easier, not harder for him. We will be seeing his psychologist on Monday, but can anyone tell me their experiences with ADD, tics and meds? Will the tics subside to pre-med levels? Should we try something else? I think the Dr. perscribed a low dose to get started with, he said it would most likely need to be increased

Thanks for the help, Laura

Wow. That IS low.

I know when my son had tics with Respiridol, it was because he was having a neurologic reaction to it. It could be that chemically, your son may not be able to take strattera for the same reason. The doc told me that my son will never be able to take compazine for nausea either because it will probably do the same thing to him. I guess they're made the same or something. The brain and body chemistry is weird....

My son had terrible tics on all the different stimulants. He did start off with some baseline tics, but they were intermittent, and the stims made him much worse and also anxious and depressed.

We finally, after seeing a psychiatrist, got him on guanfacine, which is a much nicer drug than clonidine, very few side effects,if any, in most kids, and stops the impulsivity and hyperactivity of the adhd and lets the kids be normal without making them nervous zombies like the stimulants. Worth a try!

If you are treating adhd, impulsive/hyperactive type, with tics or with tics that develop on stimulants, please try using guanfacine, similar to clonidine but much more effective, helps with organization and decreases the activity and impulsiveness, can be dosed 2 or 3 times a day.

If you are treating add, mostly inattentive type, I am not sure if guanfacine willhelp as much , but you could try it, but strattera often helps these kids and is known to decrease tics in most kids on it.

good luck.

my 6 yr old son, has been on straterra for 3 months and now has facial tic, I read here at this post that many of you have seen the same...can you tell me how long, after disciontinuing the meds , that the tic went away?? and was it gone for good?

thanks

Your son may be over medicated. What is the dosage?

18 mg....once a day at night..he was prescibed 25....so I think if anything he was under medicated...we chose to get 18 after consultation as we felt he did better on 18..the 25 mg starter packs start with 18, then go to 25...on 25 he was too tired and crankyMy daughter's tic is driving me insane because I am ADHD too. She just moves her tongue sideways all day. She does it really fast and it is driving me nuts. I took her off of the Conerta because of it. She is also on Clonodine but she is still hyper. She gets up at 3:00 a.m. and turns her bedroom light on, wakes up her sister and wants to play (loudly).

My 7-year old son ADD (inattentive type) started Dexedrine and developed a coughing tic. Then it was a blinking tic. But it sure made him do a lot better in school. But we felt terrible about the tic, so we took him off the meds. Started again, and the tic came back.

He said to me he wanted to try school w/o meds, because the tic was distracting him. So that's where we are now. The teachers have to re-focus him (a lot), but he's doing ok. (though not sure about the friends dept.)

Now I'm about to try some alternative med., like Omega 3 and such. BTW, no meds, and it looks like he's doing a lot of sniffing... like a borderline tic.

I have a 16 yr old son with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder. Sometimes the tics are reactions to meds. He was on Respiridol (probably misspelled) and had tics and severe muscle stiffness. It got to the point that it was painful for him. We had to take him off of the med and put him on Abilify. Recently, he was changed to Zyprexa for the bipolar, but it is making him VERY tired. We are still on the hunt for the right med for the bipolar.

As far as the ADHD meds go, PLEASE, DO NOT give your child ANY med that is a stimulent (adderal, ritalin, concerta) without knowing FOR SURE they are not bipolar(manic depressive). The stimulent will increase the bipolar symptoms which will be hell for you and your child. Please discuss this with your psychiatrist. And PLEASE make sure your going to a psychiatrist, not just your pediatrician. We did that for several years and found out he was on the wrong combination AND over medicated!

I forgot to add, tics may be from being over medicated. When my son was on ritalin when he was 6, he had tics and would twist his tongue and twirl his hair to the point of making bald spots. We were told, years later, after coming off of ritalin at age 7 and off of adderal at age 14, that he was over medicated.I don't have tics naturally. Before my doctor ever started me on meds she explained that they can cause tics so to keep an eye on my behavior and call her if I develope any problems. Luckily I didn't but apparently anyone can get tics from the meds not just someone who already had the problem.Was curious if anyone had similar prob? Recently took 7 yr old son off Concerta (27 mg) two weeks ago. He NEVER had any tics before and now has a shoulder shrugging tic that has not gone away. It is freaking us out completely and now the dr is saying he might have tourettes syndrome. Any reason to panic? Will these go away??

I have also read that low manesium, zinc, and B6 can make tics more likely to surface with meds. I don't have links, but you might do a search for more info so you could consider supplementing with vitamins.

don't worry to much yet, my son also had tics on concerta, and 3 days after we took him off they went away , for good...now trying other meds..we have appt next month at amen clinic in DC, we hear great things abnout thew brain imaging..chk them out at www.amenclinic.com

will post my findings after we get done..good luck

Hi there-

Try not to worry....my dd developed a "throat clearing" tic about a week into being on Adderall XR 5 mg. At first, I thought it was due to a cold she had, but then when the cold went away, she still had it. Within one day of taking her off the Adderall, the tic went away.

We had other problems with the Ritalin (depression and moodiness) so we are now trying Straterra...we're hoping that this will be it.

Good luck-

Suzi

[QUOTE=jsk8'smom]

Hello,

Thanks for the help, Laura

[/QUOTE]

My 10 year old son has ADHD with tics too. He's a blinker and a sniffer. But, as many of you have said, the tics come and go. We are just beginning our search for the right medicine. I have not heard of this Guanfacine, but it sounds good. Any other input on meds? The information is just so overwhelming.

I have wondered if I should take my son to see someone about depression, but have not done so. I always thought it was either one or the other: ADHD or depression. I didn't realize it could be a combintation of the two.

My son is also on strattera for 5 weeks now. He was on concerta but stopped 2 weeks ago. he's been making noises, blowing noises, humming constantly. I dont know if its the meds that's doing that. he always likes to hum even before meds but now it worse, especially the blowing noises. The MD just recently increased his strattera so I'm hoping these noises will go away.

I thought strattera is not supposed to cause tics?!