TIC MYOCLONIC JERK

  Please help cause my daughter has been diagnosed with Tic Myoclonic Jerk. Can you explain what this condition means?
  Is there anyone out there who has common experience regarding this condition? Please help. I also need to know the symptoms and available treatment.
  Thank you.
  Desperate Mom.
Dear Vasanthe:
I am sorry to hear of your daughter's tic problem.  How old is your daughter?  Are there any sounds that your daughter makes repetitively, such as grunts, or clearing her throat?  When these symptoms are together, motor and vocal tics, and last more than 6 months we say the child has tourette's syndrome.  However, just motor tics alone do not indicate tourette's syndrome, just motor tics.  Have you seen your pediatric neurologist yet?  Has she started medication, such as clonidine?  Tic have a wide spectrum, both in duration and frequency.  The same tic may be episodic, meaning that it will come and go but not change in it's expression.  However, the most common occuring type of tic is when it changes in it's expression.  Such as a myoclonic jerk type tic will change into a facial tic or something else.  By the way, the myoclonic jerk was not associated with any EEG changes, was it?  (Just trying to make sure that epilepsy has been ruled out).  Tic can last for a lifetime, or be limited and disappear by the
time an individual reaches their early twenties or late teenage years.  The natural course of the common motor tic is that it will increase in frequency and intensity during the early-to-middle teenage years and then decrease over time.  But, each person is alittle different and this may vary as I have indicated.  Medication will usually not alter the length of time a tic will be present, only decrease the frequency of the tic.  Best of luck.  Let us know if we can help you in any way.  Sorry for the delay.  I have been ill.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS