Motor Tic's in 7yr old son

[Onemagicmummy]

My 7yr old son as pretty recentaly started displaying at least 5 seperate motor tics.

Eye Scrunching: Started in Late september/early october, took him to optitians, his eyes are fine, a slight bit short sighted in left eye but not enought to require glasses.

Tummy Crunching: we thought his complaints of a "sore tummy" were a tummy bug, he was still complaining after a week so i took him to Dr's, she examined him agreed it was just a bug and just to wait it out. this was about 3 weeks ago. He did say that "my body is doing it anf i dont like it, i want it to stop"

Just last week he came home from school and within 15 minutes he was twitching badly, rolling his sholders, rolling his head, and twitching his arms up almost like how a T-Rex stands. i took some video footage of him.

we took him to see a GP last week, i let DS1 talk. he told Dr hius tummy and his arms were scrunching and he didnt like it and wanted it to stop. i showed the Dr the video and he said he would refer to a Pedi.

The school initialy dismissed my concerns but since then say they have noticed it too.

Called Dr's today to check up on the referal (they lost 2 of hubbys so i wanted to keep on top) and the Dr had not put it in the list, so they did it today and with in the hour i got a call saying the "Choose and Book" was done. so i go pick up the letter and get it sorted. he has an appointment for the 4th March. untill then we are in limbo land, the poor boy is complaining of back,neck, arm and tummy pain. he now has a warm water bottle to sleep with to help ease his overtaxed muscles but somenights that doesnt work so i have to give him paracetamol

Does anyone else have experinace of this kind of thing?


Thanks

Kiz

[arniflora]

Hi Kiz,

I'm sorry this is happening to your son. I know it is frustrating and annoying, to say the least. I'm just a mom (read: no medical expertise in this matter!), and my experience is not as severe as yours. My son seems to have occasional eye tics, with sometimes his mouth "attached" meaning it moves when his eyes do. He is only 5 and he hasn't said anything about them and they don't seem to bother him, so I am just "ignoring" it, yet keeping aware.

I had done some research when his first started, and I remember something that might be useful for your son. Basically it is to consciously "retrain" the body to do the opposite of what the tic is doing. So, for example, when your sons shoulders raise up, encourage him to "push" his shoulders down - not with his hands, but to lower his shoulders. It's called "habit reversal." I found this link helpful, but at the very least it's a starting point. http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles..._behavior_diso


Between now and your appt. in March, notice as much as you can (and/or ask your son to notice) when and where it happens. I know that stress can be a trigger for tics, but one can have tics without stressors, too. Write down your observations as well as any questions that come up, so that when you do see the dr. you will have specific info to work with.

Good luck and know that you're not alone!