Well, we had a round of acupuncture today. And Tarzan, nasty little swinging behemoth that he is, has decided he likes it in Stink’s body. No amount of needles could get him to find another spot to “Ah ah ah.”
That all said, Stink’s warble is very light. I have to practice what I’m always preaching to you: This too shall pass.
Do I think acupuncture works? Yes I do. I think he is doing waaaaaay better because of it, combined with a healthy diet. But he has T.S., which means some days he’s just going to tic.
I’d like to use this opportunity to encourage some of you newer moms. It might seem like you’ve figured out T.S.. Perhaps you started a new diet and suddenly all the tics go away for a month. You might convince yourself that you have escaped the clutches of those nasty buggers.
But then they make their return. And you are NOT happy.
Which I get.
But after doing this for five years, I can promise you that it does get easier. Not only will you become more accepting of what you can’t change, but you’ll change the things you can, and have the wisdom to know the difference. That’s the motto around these here parts!
In other news, my son got a haircut tonight.
Combined with shooting some hoops with me in the front yard, I’ve decided he looks like a tween and it’s freaking me out. He loves the game suddenly, and though he’s mostly long legs and wonky dribbles, I’m thrilled he found something physical other than the Wii to look forward to. Time will tell if he finds it fun enough to take on a class or two.
Keeping it short tonight. I have a bit of work to do for my kids’ school, as well as plan on getting to bed at a decent hour. Apparently eight hours of sleep does a world of good when it comes to remaining balanced. That, and writing. I got writing done today at Topanga T’s!
Come to think of it, despite a few more tics, life is feeling pretty darn good these days. I even found a shirt for $1.99 that I just adore. I’ll be wearing it tomorrow. It’s black and white striped with a bit of a puffed sleeve. I kind of look like a Double D Prisoner from the 80’s. I’ll take it.
Love you all.
PS: Anyone else out there find it would be easier to stop tics than keep a little boy’s socks clean?
Happily Ticked Off 
Haven’t found the magic bullet for stopping tics but the sock dilemma, I solved two years ago- BLACK SOCKS!
My 17 daughter had her first acupuncture yesterday. She was in such a panic about the needles that I should have known it would not go well. Whenever she feels a pain of any sort she makes it into a tic. So, as she was laying there feeling a needle go into her back she starts her tummy tic causing the needle to press against her spine. She did this without the acupuncturists knowledge. By night time she was all tingly and faint feeling. She didn’t sleep all night needing to tic where her body was hurting. Needless to say, no school today. Tourettes and tics have not gotten easier for her or for me. I’m trying hard to teach her that even though she has this, life goes on and you have to learn to deal with it. It’s a hard lesson for her and for me.
@ Joy – Black socks. Genius.
@ Sallygk – Oh, no! I’m bummed about that. Are you not going to try it again? I wouldn’t blame you, but still. That is disappointing. I feel this personal sense of wanting to help. I don’t want to come off like this TS stuff is easy – we all have different severities. Still, I wish there was a way to figure out how to help your daughter. Are you on meds or any diet?
I definitely get PTTD, often sending myself into a tailspin thinking a tic has returned (or a new one is developing)…good term, I like it!
I have two questions for ts mommas… 1) Have any others of you found that while diet doesn’t make a big difference, anxiety/excitement levels and (often related) time of year are tic triggers? Josh has had both of his more intense tic cycles right before Christmas the last two years. So far it has waned after the holidays. However other similar events (birthdays, starting school, etc) haven’t been triggers.
2) How has your child’s diagnosis affected your plans for your family? I’m thinking specifically of the debate over having more kids… I’d love another child, but I worry about the stress that puts on the family (ie will this potentially make Josh’s life harder and his tics worse, will I have less time to devote to encouraging him in his journey, etc). I also really worry about compounding my own stress levels. As it is I worry about Josh, about his brother developing ts, etc. I really worry that maybe the “next one” will have a more severe case. But the other part of me feels I’m thinking so short term. My husband has mild ts and has a great life. I’d certainly never tell my boys not to have kids “just in case they have ts”…never!
Anyway, just love to hear some thoughts.
What a cute kid! We hope to see you on the TSParentsOnline blog again soon. Ever since you posted imploring people to write more, we have had SO many posts! It’s been great. Hope you get a chance to check it out!
@ Erin
I totally see a correlation between my son’s tics and Christmas, as well as his birthday (last year more than this year). That is the only time I have been able to make a connection between something and the tics (I tried diet/supplements and for us, going off didn’t make any difference in his ticcing). Last year (and this year, but less noticeable), he was so excited and anxious about getting the things on his X-Mas list, which caused an increase in his verbal noises. There was about a 75% decrease the day after X-mas, and then as the days went on, they decreased even more. Same thing with b-day. He is very mild (knock on wood), so I rarely even notice them anymore.