ADHD and Tics

[browneyedgirl9]

I know there has been some posts on here in the past from a number of mom's with children diagnosed with ADHD... I wanted to see if anyone has also experienced tics?

Backstory: DS is almost 9 and was diagnosed at 6yo with ADHD combined. He has been on a stimulant medication since 6.5 years old (methylphenidate). The medicine has worked great and he has been doing amazing in school. We have had to steadily increase dosing over the past 2 years. We started to notice a little tic around age 7ish. It was small and not very noticable and was a little extra "puff" of air he would do when breathing. This has transformed starting in mid-november to a more constant and louder vocal tic of a throat clearing sound. He says he can't stop and can't control it. It's increased dramatically in frequency as well. We met with the doctor and the suggestion was we change to a non stimulant medication to see if this could cause a decrease in the frequency of the tic.

Has anyone experienced a tic in their child or a tic being increased as a side effect to medication? Or a tic in combination of a ADHD diagnosis?

[tealblue]

Ds (age 10) has adhd and is on a stimulant. He’s cycled through tics with and without medication.

He’s done throat clearing, something similar to your puff of air thing, nail biting and peeling, when he was a baby he had some hand stimming (he’s also recently diagnosed with ASD).

We have never tried any non stimulants as I don’t want to risk ruining the decent behavior we have with the stimulant he’s on.

[macmars45]

My autisc DS6 developed a throat clearing tic in Oct/Nov of this year. The throat clearing has gotten progressively louder. He has no control over it and hates that he does it. His classroom teacher mentioned www.tichelper.com/ might be a program the school would pay for and his speech teacher or the school counselor would implement. She said she'd reach out to the principal to see if it was an option. So maybe something like that would help?

[mrsGreeko]

My oldest developed tics when she was 14. Most likely hers were TikTok tics. In Fall of 2020 and inexplicably high number of teen girls were diagnosed with tic disorders after they were trending on TikTok. Anyway, her psych put her on guanfacine. It worked remarkably well (unsurprising given the root cause). Guanfacine is one of the non-stimulant meds prescribed for ADHD and it helps with impulsivity. She was later diagnosed with ADHD at almost 16 and now is on a stimulant and off the guanfacine. I have read that the stimulant meds can make tics worse. Also, tics are common in that age range regardless of ADHD meds.

I would want to know if both a stimulant and non-stimulant together was an option because I didn’t think the non-stimulant alone did enough for ADHD symptoms for my kid and my other kid with ADHD wouldn’t be able to function at all without the stimulants.

[beerlover]

My close friend's 13 year old is on ADHD medication (not sure which one) and has a throat clearing/cough-like tic frequently.

[wesleycrusher]

DS is 10 with ADHD, on a stimulant (Adderall XR and IR), and has transient tics. He had transient tics since a very young age, well before he was medicated for ADHD. He also did the breathing tic like you describe (that's his most common one), but also blinking and most recently facial grimacing. His doctor says that Adderall is one of the worst stimulants to be on with tics, but methylphenidate did not work for him at all. The doctor talked about possibly switching to vyvanse if tics continued, so we have that as a back-up. It has a smoother controlled release which could help- not sure if your son in on instant release methylphenidate or something long acting like concerta? maybe that could be an option.  For tics, DS has taken clonidine (didn't seem to help) and now is on guanfacine which seems to be helping. DS is 10 and the tics don't bother him, but he is old enough to realize that other people notice, so he's asked to be on meds for tics.

The tics will get worse, or kind of be "set off" mostly by lack of sleep- a lot of times in the summer when he comes home from sleep away camp for the week he'll have started again with the tics- I think due to lack of sleep there. Recently we had to spend the night in the ER with him (hurt his hip) and that one night of missed sleep set off the tics pretty badly which is when he asked about going back on a med for them (that's when the doctor gave the guanfacine). I actually this morning asked him about the tics- I said I wasn't noticing them since he started the med, and he told me they happen only like once or twice a day now.

[twilightmv]

DS is 10 and on adderall, and his most common tic is the throat clearing.

[genet313]

DD is almost 8 and on guanfacine for ADHD combined type. Her tics vary from throat clearing, mouth stretching, eye blinking, verbalizing. None are what I considered severe but they can be severe at times. Usually exacerbated by stress or anxiety and they come and go so we just try to ignore them and let it work itself out, so to speak.

[edwardo123]

My 13 year old takes Concerta. She goes through phases of throat clearing and/or rubbing her hands together. Her tics show up when she is stressed or anxious, which is awesome in middle school.

[redheadbaker]

DS has ADHD and has had a variety of tics over the years--we noticed tics as early as 2, he was diagnosed with ADHD at age 6. Now he's 11, and on Vyvanse.

He used to rub his blankie over his upper lip. Then he would make this sort of strong but short humming noise through his nose. More recently it was a short "hmm" after every couple of words while talking.

We notice them both with and without medication.

[browneyedgirl9]

Thank you everyone!