Need some Advice Please!! | ADHD Information

Hi all,

I am hoping that someone here can help me out with a few questions about my son. He is 6 years old and recently diagnosed. They tried Ritalin which seemed to do nothing. Then we tried Concerta which seemed to do nothing. They switched him to a stronger dose of Ritalin.

Within a week I noticed he started to have this involuntary head tick. Kinda of like small, quick continuous nods. I immediately took him off the Ritalin. He has also started doing this thing where it sounds like he is trying to get phlegm up. I took him to the doctor and there is NOTHING wrong with his throat so I have no idea why he is doing this. Doctor said that usually kids have the tic before the meds. He has never heard of the kids getting it from the meds (Lucky me huh?)

He also makes like a "gasp" noise all the time while watching TV as if startled non stop. He also is like "COOL!" "YEA!" at everything on TV. He never did all of these things before the meds. I try so hard to be patient with him but the throat thing drives me nuts!

I just wondered if anyone has had any experience with any of these things happening with their kids. I really want to get him help but nothing has worked so far. (He has a neurology appointment. 1st avaliable was November which I thought was a joke)

Thanks in advance for any help! MomInOhio39701.7198726852the only way to know if the meds are casuing the tics is to go off them for a time. When my daughter is not taking stims she has no tics. HI and welcome to the board, and the life of a mother with a child with ADHD! It seems everything is a mystery and ever changing - thank goodness for this board.

I don't know about tics showing up after the medicine, but the stimulants can cause the tics to increase while they are taking the meds.

The tics are part of tourette's syndrome, which is part of the umbrella of ADHD, or ADHD is part of tourette's, I forget which.

My son makes all kinds of vocalizations - makes this "laugh" like he is testing out a laugh to himself, and he'll do things with his neck and tongue and all kinds of throat sounds. He is on no meds, and when he was on them, I didn't notice them being worse or anything. he's on prozac for anxiety/OCD, but not a stimulant.

You can read a few other posts and see some info about tics. The tics change over time so he may do some things now and not in the future, but he will be sure to add something to his repertoire after one goes away!

Best wishes, and hang in there!

Hi,

This is what I have been told for what it's worth. Stimulants can cause tics. Your son is young so maybe this would have crept up in later years without stims but now that he has taken stims it may have brought it on earlier. If a child has a tic it is not an indication of Tourettes. Tourettes takes about a year to diagnois because many many children can have a tic (ones who are not on stims) and it can come and go for no reason. I believe also that to have Tourettes a vocal tic must be present. My son had tics on Vyvanse and no tics on Ritalin LA (knock on wood).His doc said a tic can take a week or two to pass after discontinuing the stim that is causing the tic. It's funny how one stim can cause a tic and another one doesn't. Also, son's doc stops med that appears to be causing the tic. Some docs have a wait and see attitude. Doc feels strongly that it COULD be permante and that it's not worth the possibility.

Thanks for the information Tweety.

Diane... He is still doing it and he IS off the meds. I took him off immediately when I noticed him doing it.
yes so probably not casued by the stim, just made worse. Stimulant meds can increase anxiety and increased anxiety will usually increase tics. Glad you have the neurology appointment, they'll be able to help you sort this out. It is always such a  long wait for specialists. Try to keep a log going over the next month or so while your waiting for your appointment, it may help to look back when you do go see them.

My little guy just started on Wellbutrin this morning.  We finished his first grade year on Ritalin and he did get this throaty thing like a nervous habit, he also did this squinting his eyes thing and huffing to himself, but they seemed more like nervous habits than tics (except the eye thing I think was more tic-like) anyhow, the stopped pretty soon after school eneded and he was off the meds.   He finally gained some weight and seemed much happier off the Ritalin.  After summer ended, I had him on Focus Formula and Bright Spark by Nature Remedies or something like that, the herbal stuff, and it hardly touched his ADHD after 4 weeks.  His mood improved for a couple of weeks then he had some major meltdowns, thus the Wellbutrin. 

Has anyone had any experience with Wellbutrin for children??  I know they usually don't prescribe it to kids so it's got me worried but he has these depressive anxiety episodes that are just so heartbreaking we had to do something. 

MY DAUGHTER TOOK wELLBUTRIN SUCCESFULLY. rEALLY HELPED HER ANXIETY AND A lot OF HER adhd SYMTPOMS. hER MAIN thing is severe inaatention though adn it wasnt enough for focus so we added a stimulant to it, but it caused dizziness so we ended up going a different route. The Wellbutrin was fine though.