Does this sound like Tourettes for my 9 year old

[hell1971]

Hey my daughter has had an anxiety disorder since a baby, last year she sufferred depression and developed a tic of touching herself, ie pressing her hand against her as if she is unconfortable down below on her privates, a year on and she still does this every few minutes around two months ago she started clearing her throught which she does every few minutes or so, she is in therapy again for her anxiety and she was given an anti anxiety medication for the first time a few weeks ago, since then her therapist and teachers and of course us have noticed that they are more frequent and more intense. Reading everything I can I now beleive she could have tourettes, so far her therapist has said he thinks it is a tic related to her anxiety. If anyone has any idea wether this is the case or what is the difference between an anxiety tic and a tourettes tic I would greatly appreciate it. And what can I do, I have seen her suffer so badly over the years and now this, it seems so unfair, so far she has not been teased about it but they are both becoming so prominant now I am affraid it is just a matter of time before this starts. Does it even matter about geting a diagnosis, either way? lots of questions sorry

[cassbazos]

Sounds like she may have it, but the only way to be sure would be to take her to see a neurologist.  That is how I found out that I have mild TS.

[hell1971]

Thank you so much for responding, no I am not the sort of person to give up, I have been fighting for her for years, she is a fabulous girl, I have bipolar ( just diagnosed ) so it makes me even more sure that she has a biological disorder, I beleive she has tourettes and bipolar but they do not want to diagnos bipolar yet, I actually just want them to give her the right treatment so she can stop sufferring. I think she needs the diagnosis so she can understand why she does the things she does, I think it would help with her self esteem. thanks i will read the article.

[Kmbop]

It sounds like it certainly could be.

I am 19 years old, and I have it, I'm a boy. It is much more common in boys than in girls. I would reccomend that you don't give up(doesn't sound like you plan on it). Go to as many doctors as you need to in order to get a diagnosis. It may not be TS. I know that anxiety, ADD, ADHD, OCD and TS usually but not always occur at the same time, I have all five. Luckily mine have been fairly minor, and have gotten better as I have gotten older, though again this is not always the case. The biggest thing is that the biggest effects are not always the ones that you can see, as she is probably holding them in a bit(it is possible)(but not sustainable over long periods of time) which is tiring.

There are medications out there, but the side effects can be overwhelming and not always worth it, for me it was not, I never took any meds for it.

If it turns out she does have it, the best thing that I did, and she can do is talk to her class about it. Ask the teacher if she can get up and give a little presentation about it. It may be a tad scary, but the most empowering thing you can do is talk about it, it isn't something you should have to hide. It is commonly thought that it is dopamine in the brain firing off rapidly, oftentimes it goes along with creativity, I am a musician, and know many kids with it who take sanctuary in art(drawing, painting ect.)

here is a super in depth article about it.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1182258-overview

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

[Malaksharif]

hi there
actually am not familiar with that disorder but i found a site where they are advertising a book,,,,,,take a look maybe it is good for you,,,they talk about dealing with this disorder by diet and no meds

www.endmytics.org