Hi wendy,
Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups!

I'm really sorry to read what's going on for your son and I imagine it would be quite frightening and worrying for him and for you.

Tics vary a lot. People can have dystonic tics that tend to be a bit different from regular tics. They're usually slower and more sustained than regular motor tics, but they would not cause him to have the vision problems and what he describes as "brain going blank".

I'm not really understanding why the Tic Disorders Specialist would think these episodes are tic/ocd related, but then again I'm not a tic disorder specialist. I mean, if he was counting or ruminating over something or even attempting to suppress tics or "getting stuck", why would he have the vision problems - "blurry and black". Plus 10 minutes is an awfully long time to be in this type of state.

Has he had an AEEG? Ambulatory. Usually for 24hrs. I was just wondering about that because his other EEGs may not have been done when he was experiencing the episode.

Some medications as far as I know can cause catatonic symptoms in some people and people on Autism spectrum are often extremely sensitive to certain medications.

What medication is he on right now?

There's quite a bit in the medical literature regarding occurrance of catatonia in the Autism spectrum. It's not uncommon. Have you looked in PubMed at all or checked some of the national autism sites. There are references that might help.

Because he has a number of different diagnoses comorbid to autism, it might be making it more difficult for the doctors to sort out, but it certainly doesn't sound very good and the less time it takes to sort it out the better especially if he's suddenly regressing in his social and academic life.

So, sorry about the long post, but if he was my son (and I have adult son on autism spectrum who has comorbid conditions including Tics, obsessive compulsive behaviours, attention difficulties. NO seizures.) I'd...

Check into the medications and if they can actually cause catatonia
I'd check out the literature regarding catatonia and Autism
- catatonia and autism and stress (you mentioned anxiety)
I'd talk to the doctors about whether an AEEG would be worthwhile. (seizures not uncommon in autism)

I'd do it all as fast as possible.

Autism Speaks.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/201...ated-catatonia
Does Our Teen Have Autism-related Catatonia?
Dr R Robinson
Jan 3, 2014


take care there