My 11 year old daughter has just recently developed to the point that I plan to take her to the dr to see about meds for her head/neck tics. she was diagnosed in 2007, and until this point, it has not caused her any pains. Now that is not the case. I sure hope the meds you all have mentioned work for your kids. All the reports of side effects I hear makes me so leary to put her on them, yet the successful reports atleast give me some hope that we can find some relief for her.---albanymom

So today I learn he has not taken the Focalin for 3 days because he likes his sleep and eating. Two of the things that he cant do taking these meds. He starts school monday and today we met the teachers. I am encouraged by the high school teachers. Maybe better than the middle school teachers. They did seem to have a better understanding of TS and tics than middle school staff. They seem to care more, than again its the beginning of the year, ha. So for now, no meds. I cant force him to take this stuff when it causes problems for him. We will see how the beginning of the yr goes. He did do great today, hardly any tics and he was nervous for this surprise meeting. We can only hope huh!!!

We seen the Dr yesterday and have decided to keep him on the 0.25mg dose until the 15th. Much to my surprise we have seen a marked improvement in his tics and he says he feels better, no pain. I was surprised such a small dose worked so well so quickly. The 2 Drs we see told us haldol is the drug of choice for children with TS but they let us explore other options first, such as clonidine, as I was and still am afraid of the side effects.What is comforting is that side effects are usually seen at high does, 5 to10 mg/day, over long periods of tome,10 to 20yrs, in schizophrenics. My son will be on a low dose for the next couple of years to get him "through the worst of it" which is during puberty. As well, they do verbal and physical tests at every visit and compare to the results to his last visit so that they can catch any negative side effects as soon as they start, such as muscle ridgitity or any involuntary movements. I feel like we have made the right decision, especially now that I hear him tell me he feels better, but I still find it scarey, he's my baby. Take care, hope things are going well for the rest of you.

it would be great if our kids did grow out of ts after puberty, but my son is 18 and still battling with tics and we see no sign of improvement. The worrying part about medications is, if they have to stay on them for many years, what is going to happen to their health. Its' scary.

Our dr told us there is no studies for long term effects on kids taking these meds.
I know from last school year he cant function without help of meds. I asked at the school meeting if he can carry the small bottle of Rescue Remedy in his pocket to use if needed and they said no. These kids can not even carry cough drops on them. He hates going to the clinic for tylenol when his braces get tightened once a month so he wont ask for a few drops of RR during the day. The Focalin did not seem to make the tics any worse at the 10mg dose he was on .
When does your kids go back to school where you live?

We were told the same by our Dr, no studies on long term effects. Not very comforting! My son goes back to school in the first week of Sept, right after Labour day.
What is the rescue remedy you spoke of?

Melanie, Rescue remedy is a all natural drop to calm the nerves. You can get it thru the internet vitimin shop. I just googled it to find it. I learned about it thru this site i think. He says it does chill him out alittle and even makes his head feel alittle fuzzy for a few mins. That does scare me but the teachers did say it seemed to help him. I would like him to hide it in his pocket but that would get him into trouble. What grade is your son in? How does he do in school?

He is going into gr 5 this year. We medicated him the summer before gr2 and up until this last yr he has never had any problems in school. The adhd and ts got worse last fall when puberty started early ...yay! So last yr in gr 4 we had many med changes and his teacher was not pleased with him at all. I kept stressing to the school to keep in mind that he was an excellent student before the med changes and to just help get him through this and I was positive we would see that great little boy again once the changes were made and the doses were adjusted, I just wasted my breath, his teacher flat out told me she could not handle his disruptions to her classroom.He spent more time in the office than in class and fell behind in math. Long story short we had him assessed because he fell so far behind and the teacher had us believing that he was falling behind because he simply couldn't do the work . In the end he scored above average in every area except math. We knew that he sat at the back of the class facing away from the other kids but when I protested their methods they assured me it was so he could focus better on his work. Well, he did not meet outcomes on his report card that term. What really happened was that he was set at a desk at the back of the room, facing away from the other kids and allowed to listen to his ipod or do whatever he pleased instead of the teacher or someone, anyone providing extra help. She just wanted him out of her hair. The school psychologist basically told the school that he has no learning difficulties he just needed extra help to get through the tough times of med changes. She really went to bat for us and it felt great! It became very obvious that his teacher just pushed him aside and did nothing to help him. Even his math improved once they provided extra help so he could catch up His Dad & I had been meeting with the school and after the assessment started to make some noise and things began to improve during the last month. The woman should not be teaching, you would shake your head in disbelief if I told you even half of the stuff she did!!!!! So now his meds are regulated and he is back to himself. He as a new teacher in September and he is actually looking forward to school again. His last report card was much better and we are looking forward to a much better school year! A good school/teacher is so important!

Wow, if you are lucky enough to get the right meds and they help be thankful. My son says he cant sleep or eat when on them so isnt going to take them. I told him we need to talk to the dr about non stimulants.
I had sort of the same problem with the middle school. But he had several teachers saying he could do the work but didnt apply himself. He tried pay attention and was, just like your son, distuptive in class liking the attention of being the class clown. It was his way of not being the dumb kid in class, just the funny one. I am very worried about class starting tomorrow because he not on any meds to help his focas. I will call the dr to get a new script of non stimulate drug to try. Dr did say it does not work as good as the stimulants but anything is better than nothing. When the ESE speicalist spent the first week of summer school working one on one with him and he was not able to focas longer than 5 mins, she said he really tried, but was just not able to do it and was suprised he did as well in school at all. Wish us luck tomorrow....

clonazapem seems to work well, wiht fewer side effects. As one person sadi-keep away from Clonidine-not just for blod pressure, but extreme drowsiness.

giannamaria :- I recently put my son on clonazepam after he said he just couldn't cope any longer with his tourettes. He is only on 0.5mg so far I don't see much reduction in tics. I worry about this drug as it is highly addictive and supposed to be hell to withdraw from. What dosage are you saying helps with tics??

We also tried clonidine and although we did see some improvement it was not great. Not enough to keep him comfortable. He didn't experience any side effects on clonidine, which was nice, but I have to admit haldol is working better.