{"id":219,"date":"2011-12-02T12:22:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T17:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/?p=219"},"modified":"2011-12-02T12:22:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T17:22:02","slug":"son-mom-discover-ts-after-hearing-about-tourette-on-oprah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/son-mom-discover-ts-after-hearing-about-tourette-on-oprah\/","title":{"rendered":"Son, mom discover TS after hearing about Tourette on Oprah"},"content":{"rendered":"
When my son was first born, I noticed he startled a lot, cried a LOT, didn’t sleep well and didn’t latch on properly for nursing. He cried almost constantly. We thought he had colic, but nothing helped. If we held him upright, he would bump his face against our chest like he was rooting, but he wasn’t hungry.<\/p>\n
I tried everything I could think of to try to make him feel better and sleep…nothing helped. He had to be held constantly, otherwise he (and I) wouldn’t get any sleep. He would only sleep for an hour or two at a time. I tried switching to formula — didn’t help. I tried soy formula — didn’t help.<\/p>\n
At seven weeks, I tried lactose-free formula. Finally some relief!!! No more constant crying! He still wasn’t sleeping much; though, he would take very short naps if I was holding him or if we were in the car and moving. If the car stopped, he woke up and cried.<\/p>\n
Between ages 1 and 2 he would get very angry about having his diaper changed, he would kick and hit. By the time he was 3 he was getting angry about a lot of things. Most of his anger was directed at his father.\u00a0I knew this was more than just the “terrible twos.”<\/p>\n
I started doing some research, and I thought maybe he had sensory issues or Asperger’s, but he didn’t have enough of the symptoms. I noticed he was blinking his eyes a lot. He had allergies, so I attributed it to that. Then he started sniffing, but he didn’t have a runny nose. Next was a shoulder shrug and spreading his fingers.<\/p>\n
When I asked him why he\u00a0kept doing these things, he said he didn’t know. The rage was increasing, and\u00a0every day was a struggle to get him dressed and out the door. Socks and shoes were a MAJOR issue. We could never get them to feel right for him.<\/p>\n
By the time he was 4, he was becoming very picky about what he would eat. If it didn’t look right or smell right\u00a0to him he wouldn’t eat it. We decided to try a therapist for some help with his anger problem. We went to three different ones, and none of their ideas helped. He could care less about stars on charts or rewards.<\/p>\n
I started researching again and came upon Tourette’s Syndrome. I didn’t know much about it, no one on either side of the family has it.\u00a0 I was fortunate enough to have a local support group and attended a few meetings. The more I learned, the more I was convinced that he had TS.<\/p>\n