The dose needed differs with each individual, so doctors often start at a low dose that is slowly increased until benefits are found. Haldol is usually the first medication to be tried. The most frequently used are clonidine (Catapres), haloperidol (Haldol), guanfacine (Tenex), and pimozide (Orap). There are no medications that will cure a tic disorder, but some will suppress it. Treatment is often considered necessary only if the frequency and intensity of the tics result in aching or tired muscles, your child is teased about them, or the tics last longer than a year. Since some tics come and go over many months but eventually stop, don’t rush into treatment. If your child is having a problem with tics, discuss it with your physician. In some cases, there is an urge to utter obscenities. These vocal tics might include clicks, grunts, yelps, barks, coughs, or words. Often there is a strong family history of the disorder. In its extreme form, the combination of multiple body tics with vocal tics is called Tourette’s syndrome or Tourette’s Disorder. If the pattern of tics lasts for weeks or months but not beyond a year, it is called Transient Tic Disorder if a pattern persists beyond a year, it is called Chronic Motor Tic Disorder. Physicians classify tics by the length of time they last. Other tics affect the arms and hands, resulting in jerking hands, arms, and finger movements, or clenching fists. Tics most commonly appear in the face and head, as grimacing, puckering of forehead, raising eyebrows, blinking eyelids, winking, wrinkling nose, trembling nostrils, twitching mouth, twisting neck, looking sideways, or head rolling. Vocal tics range from throat-clearing sounds to more complex vocalizations and speech. Motor tics range from simple, abrupt movements, such as eye blinking, head jerking, or shoulder shrugging, to more complex purposeful-appearing behaviors - facial expressions or gestures of the arms or head. Tics may be expressed through muscle activity (motor tics), or by vocal sounds (vocal tics). A parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other relative might have a history of a tic disorder. They are not present during sleep and may be less apparent during activity. Stress can increase the frequency and intensity of tics. Often, the diagnosis cannot be established until you and your doctor review the complete clinical picture. When tic behaviors begin, it may be difficult to know that they are tics. Motor tics often start between the ages of five and nine. Tics can be voluntarily suppressed briefly however, they eventually reappear. They can occur singly or together, in an orchestrated pattern, and may vary in frequency and in intensity. Tics tend to happen in spurts and, at times, have a convulsion-like characteristic. These are usually of brief duration, lasting no more than a second. Tics ExplainedĪ tic is a sudden, repetitive movement, gesture, or utterance that typically mimics some aspect of normal behavior. Only you and your physician can decide whether to stop the ADHD medication (and deal with the behavioral issues this will cause) or to add additional medication to control the tics. In some cases, he or she may refer you to a neurologist. ADHD medication side effects stop after the medication is discontinued, so in many instances, these tics go away after the child stops taking their ADHD medication.ĭo not try to address stimulant-induced tics or a tic disorder on your own. In addition, tics can be a side effect of taking ADHD medications, such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and the mixed amphetamine salts ( Adderall). If a child has tics and ADHD, taking ADD medication will make it worse more than half the time. ![]() Statistics show that as many as 50 percent of children with ADHD may also have a tic disorder. What complicates the clinical picture is that some children diagnosed with ADHD have an underlying tic disorder that is not apparent until it is brought out by the medication. We agreed to stop the medication until we could meet and discuss things. “We traded in one problem for another,” Joseph’s mom said. ![]() ![]() Yet the medication, it seemed, caused him to blink his eyes. Without it, he would occasionally run around the classroom and call out to his friend. Joseph was taking Ritalin for his attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD). ![]() He had come home from school upset because some of the kids teased him about his habit of blinking his eyes every couple of minutes.
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