Hi Hudsmom,

Thank you for your compassion. Most people have NO IDEA how TS can affect a person's life or ruin it if not treated with love, lots of therapy and even meds if it is severe enough.

I understand your concerns about the med clonidine or any med that is said to help with TS. I was taking it a few months ago (my third time to try it) but had to stop due to it making my blood pressure go to low.

The clonidine helps most people control their tics (LIKE ME) but some have problems with it long term (LIKE ME).

I have lived with severe Gilles TS for over 40 years. I'm no doctor by any means but I have been there and done that so to speak when it comes to treating TS.

There are not many meds that I have not been on to date.

Anytime you have a question and would like to hear opinions from someone that has taken a drug or tried certain type therapies just let me know and I will help in any way I can.

To a child TS can be especially cruel. A child has to deal with other children and as we all know children can be very cruel by nature to other children especially if a child stands out from the crowd such as your son does with TS. Even if his TS is mild children pick up on it like a red flag in a cotton field.

My childhood was the worst time in my life. Certain things that happened during that time that caused me mental issues for many, many years and because of it I still have problems dealing with them even now.

I'm so very sorry to hear he has TS. I hope it is a mild case and that he is one of the (lucky) many that (as they call it) "out grows it" by his late teens to early 20's. Most do and I hope he is one of them.

If you do not mind me asking:

1. how old is your son?
2. Was he born with TS? If not, how old at first symptom?
3. What was his first symptom?
4. What type TS does he have? Is it Gilles?
5. Does he have vocal tics? Does he curse during said tics?
6. Did he develop the OCD and anxiety after or at same time of TS?
7. If the OCD and Anxiety came after, which one came first OCD or Anxiety?
8. Besides the TS, which issue is worse on him, OCD or Anxiety?
9. Is his anxiety and OCD worse after he has physical or vocal tics or do they stay the same whether he has tics or not?
10. How long does his anxiety last on average when it flares up?
11. When he has anxiety how does it manifest itself normally? Does he become angry, have a hard time breathing, pace the floor, pull at his clothes or even want to take his clothes off?
12. It almost goes without saying but does he have any friends (non-relatives) that he is comfortable with while he is ticking? Very important!

A lot of doctors think that all TS sufferers automatically have OCD, anxiety, depression and a whole list of other things when in fact some people can have TS and have none of those if the TS is mild enough and caught early enough and given proper treatment.

Having said that most all TS sufferers with develop other issues such as general anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, depression and other behavioral issues if it is left untreated as a byproduct of what they go through in daily life. Especially in children simply for the reasons I stated earlier.

You can take an otherwise healthy child and put them in a situation where other children make fun of them at any cost and that child WILL develop some form of affective disorder if it goes on long enough.

Anyway, I'm sure you are well aware of all of this but it saddens my heart to know there are children suffering with this.

There is hope though as this day and time more and more people are seeing TS for what it is instead of a freak show the way they did when I was a child.

I only wish the ssa treated TS sufferers the same as they do a person with depression, bipolar or what ever.

It seems that no matter how severe TS is the ssa does not like to accept it as being a disability unless said person has several other issues as well.

Rake