motor tics and unvaccinated 4yo

[luvmytwo]

Has anyone dealt with this? Even if your child is vaccinated; I am just trying to search for clues as to why my 4yo has developed upper body twitches and tics in the past 5 weeks.
We do not have a family history of Tourettes, and his neurologist really has no idea why he has them. I have been reading alot about tics online to get more familiar with them.
A friend of mine suggested I try to look into the possiblility of him not having had any vaccines, and maybe catching a virus or something that is causing this. This friend does not vaccinate at all either.

Should I have any concerns about tetanus?

[luvmytwo]

I just read a little on tetanus and it has me a little worried.

DS tics include shrugging his shoulders, tipping his head back as if to look at the sky, twitching his eyes and moving his nose (as if it was itching due to allergies).
I don't recall him ever cutting or puncturing himself but he does play in the dirt alot. This all started at the beginning of April.
His personality is the same; he plays, eats, and does all his normal stuff day to day. It is just that he has these tics that he'll do every minute or so; sometimes he'll go a few minutes without any.

Should I call my ped. and ask her about this tomorrow? We have seen alot of dr. in the past 2 weeks; they have asked about his vaccine status and I say he has had none. I have not been questioned about this at all.

[luminesce]

No, you don't need to be concerned with Tetanus at all.

ETA: BTW, I wouldn't even begin to associate this disorder with being un-vaccinated.

How is his diet? Does he get enough magnesium? (It can be hard to get enough via diet.) Iron? Has he ever been screened for lead poisoning? (I'd probably do this just to be sure.)

I'd probably start researching a good starting dosage of a magnesium supplement (and maybe B6) for a 4 year old.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19087826
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19284553?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles& logdbfrom=pubmed
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h470850116534118/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9857546

Overall though, I think tics are fairly common in children. He may outgrow it.

[luvmytwo]

Thanks Serenitii,

I will look at the links you posted. I could not sleep last night at all. I should have waited until today to look it up. What makes you think it couldn't be tetanus? The definitions I was reading were so matter of fact, there was no detail on what to really look for. I lost all my saved vaccine websites I had when we switched computers. Do you have any vaccine website suggestions?

DS has an MRI this Friday, I have been seeing doctors for the last 3 weeks with no answers. I have read about tics and am just hoping that that is all it is. I know most of the doctors want to rule other things out; but this waiting is just agonizing.

Another friend did mention lead; and magnesium pops up all the time. I will look into those.