If you don’t have a support group, find one. I am telling you, I have a group of 10 ladies that save my butt on a daily basis and make me laugh.
What I love is when a thread gets started – often when someone is in a dark/panicky moment – that reminds me of something I used to do. Perhaps you used to do it also, or still do it.
It involves Googling.
All hours of the night.
Crazy, mad Googling… hoping to find some miracle cure for twitches, tics and butt itches. The thing is, like a bad case of OCD, you are never satisfied with the results. You are always checking and re checking and often times, in the end, you find yourself worse than before you started, not to mention exhausted.
Here’s something one of my oldest Twitch and Bitch members advised to a newbie who was fearing the future for her 6 year old boy. It just made me laugh.
Kristine….STOP GOOGLING NOW!!! It really does nothing but make you more upset. Really…stop!!
You are in Australia right? Linda use to post here a lot…and correct me if I am wrong, Andrea..but I swear that her son was 13 yrs old…his tics never got worse and I thought that the last time she posted she said his friends asked if he even still had it..because they were so mild.
You will not ready stories like that online…..really…the good ones …..so shut the computer off! DO IT!
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Happily Ticked Off 
You are SO right. My kid’s very first pediatrician said this upon my first visit with my brand new baby: Please don’t google. Call me as many times as you want with as many questions as you have but PLEASE don’t google. I had no idea why he was so adamant. And I didn’t really listen. I googled. And googled. For years. Until the anxiety nearly killed me. I’m a recovering googler. Because the temptation does return from time to time. But on most days I can fight off the googler demons.
I too am a googler and it has caused me so much anxiety and worry about what is going to happen to my child. Why do we not hear about the kids who out grow their tics? If my child is so lucky to be one of those children I will be shouting it from the roof top and telling everyone who is worried about their own child. I am going to challenge myself right now that the only website I will read about tics is this one.
Go Corrie, go! What kind of tics is your child displaying? How can this website be of support to you via suppressing tics or just getting through it? I can promise you that I was a wreck when Stink (not his real name) was diagnosed 6 years ago. It has gotten a bit worse – more constant (noises and twitches) but all still very very manageable. I have heard that 90% of people grow out of their symptoms. I am determined to really support Stink’s “gifts” and not his “flaws” and in doing so, raise a confident kid that tics can’t get to. I support you, too! I’m open to topics always. Andrea
My son is 9 1/2 and ever since he turned 9 his tics are much more constant and he had so many more. He has a lot of vocal tics at the moment (sniff, click, blowing air out his nose, throat clear, fffffff, sqeak). He also pushes his shoulder back and flicks his hair and sniffs his fingers/hands. ugh! He had 3 bouts of strep this year and seems to have some seasonal allergies too. He has started CBiT with a therapist and when he does his breathing technique he actually has no tics but it’s virtually impossible for him to focus on doing it all day. He has an amazing doctor and a wonderful therapist. He currently has not been disgnosed with any co-morbid conditions and does fine in school. He has a lot of friends. I just constantly worry that he is almost at the age where it is going to get worse and I am petrified what worse is. He is the most loveable, silly, creative, funny child and I love him for each and every one of those things. I just pray that he is a lucky one whose tics go away. Andrea, I need some of your ability to see humor in all aspects of life instead of always being the negative Nelly 😦
Corrie, I feel your pain. Same with Stink. His really kicked up when he turned 9. It’s the whole puberty thing. This week it’s been super strong head shaking. I want to say it’s all the computer (one hour on Fri/Sat/Sunday and 15 min. / day IF all homework is done and he does not argue or cajole us. But I don’t think it is that. I think it’s the hormones. I think it’s awesome that your boy has a great therapist and a ton of friends. Do his tics bug him? Is he on meds of any kind? No co-morbid condition with it is awesome. I sometimes find the ADD in Stink more of a frustration than the tics, hence he is on Intuniv for that. It was a lifesaver for the whole family. I have a daughter, too, and it’s so important that she never feel like Stink’s personality – which really is larger than life – run the show. You are not negative Nelly. You are a mom. I will post on humor later this week if not tonight! Hang tight and keep coming back. We are here for you.
I’m new to all of this tic stuff and I’m googling all hours of the night because I have panic attacks at night! my son is almost eight and he started a few months ago. I now realize he was doing very minor ticks for years but now it’s including his legs and a kind of dance and a penis tap!! Arrrr I’m starting to be able to laugh now when I say that. But of course had an MRI and 7 vials of blood drawn which all came back normal. I was praying for Lyme or PANDAS. So I just came across this website and you made me laugh and cry at the same time! I need a support system because I feel like my life changed over night and my reality is soooo different now. Took him off of dairy 3 days ago and I have noticed great improvement unless its just a coincidence. Do I need to sign up to be a member or how do I get your daily blogs? Is this a group based in a certain location? Thank you so much!!!!
Theresa
I found this by googling. My son has had tics since kindergarten (he will be 9 in October) and was always very matter-of-fact when kids would ask him why he blinked so much – he would just reply that he has a tic and can’t help it. But the tic has evolved over the past couple weeks into a vocal one – a little laugh that he sometimes will start doing every 5 seconds. Also I’ve noticed a little bit of a shoulder-roll/neck jerk with it sometimes. School starts on Tuesday and I’m sick out of my mind with worry because this will be the the tic that is disruptive. I’ve got an appointment with a neurologist, but couldn’t get in for about 3 weeks. Googling last night we saw the link between gluten and tics and the one between video games and tics. So now I’m literally up crying on the couch at 5:30 this morning at the thought of having to totally switch our diet around to GF to see if that helps and at the thought of severely restricting my son’s video game usage. My son has never been a sporty kid – HATES sports – and LOVES video games. My husband doesn’t see why I’m so upset, because if it’s what we need to do to help him then we just do it. But to my son it will be a REALLY big deal. Sigh.
How do I go about finding a support group online?
I’m a googled too!! But I have found some very useful info. A book on amazon called “Natural Treatments for tics and Tourette’s. ” by Sheila J Rogers From this book I found a lot of children have a magnesium deficiency. I put my son on lifetime magnesium with calcium and 90% of his tics went away. We took him off recently to see what would happen and with in two days they were back full force. Back on and within two days my calm boy is back. He still has some shoulder shrugs but not the crazy dance and hop and restlessness he did have. It’s important to do two parts calcium to one part magnesium for better absorption. I also have found large quantities of dairy like ice cream or yogurt aggravates things.
Googling has been frightening and enlightening!! Depends on the day! I too would love a support group because I’m up in the night with angxiety over this whole thing!!
Good luck ladies, lets all stick together!
@ Julie – I just emailed you! @ Theresa – Yes! My son needs to go back on magnesium! His tics are up again and he is off all his supplements because I got lazy. Plus he’s eating a ton of dairy which needs to end. Sigh. As far as support groups go, I have a small one with 12 members I started. I am not taking any more new people now or it’s not intimate. But I am also taking requests and putting people together in bunches. Can I add you to the list? You can all join up together and chat. Or, if you want to wait six months, I’m going to launch a membership site where I moderate a whole bunch of groups, bring in speakers, do podcasts, etc. but I’m finishing my book first. This membership site will have a modest fee as it’s going to take a lot of time to set up but no one has to join! I will still always write for free here. Thinking of you! Andrea
Ugh – it must have gone to spam and I didn’t notice when I deleted because I didn’t get the email! Can you try again? Sorry!!
I re-sent it. If you have gmail, I think there’s a spam folder also if you want to check it. If not, and I’m being bossy,I’m sorry. I wrote again!