Hi again Jasmine,
It's really good to see your post and read your update. You were having extremely difficult eye tics a while ago and then your eye tics settled and you were getting contacts. How'd that go? Were you able to keep wearing them? I often wondered about you around that time and if they were fine or if they exacerbated your eye tics again.

Parents. Well............

The weird thing about mothers (and fathers and carers and siblings and friends even) is that they're mothers!

The other weird thing is that despite all the information and knowledge they may have gained over the years about something, when that something is happening to their babies/children/teens/adult children, the old mother bear instinct takes over and despite everything, all that info and learning can just go zoom out the window.

That said, some people seem to equate tics with illness. As you know, tics wax and wane and the cycle is different from person to person etc.. She's seeing an exacerbation of your tics and by the sound of it she's gone into mother bear mode and wants to find "a reason", "a cause". People do it all the time. It's the way most humans get through life.

So maybe she's only doing this lately because she's equating your waxing cycle as if you have something wrong with you. As you said about the green tea. I mean, for some people it is possible that too much caffeine in some types of green tea could possibly get them a bit ticcy. You are the only one who would know and you did a trial by going off it and seeing if it made any difference. It didn't. That being said, there are of course situations where exacerbations of tics can be caused by environmental issues, e.g. GABHS/Strep, medications, illness of various types etc.. You'd know all that.

So... something I learned a very, very long time ago. Some people actually tic more when they're relaxed. People get shocked when they read that sometimes, but it's true.

It's not always about a trigger or a negative reaction. Lots of people tic way more when they are in a comfortable situation. Usually that's at home, but if for some reason they're not able to "let out" their tics, then they will most probably end up doing it in the privacy of their bedroom or somewhere on their own without the scrutiny of other people.

That's part of the reason why people have been advocating education about TS so much especially in the past 15 years. It's been totally misunderstood for so long. It's not always necessary to find a reason, to find a trigger, or to fix tics. You are a young adult now and you know your own body and its reactions better than anyone.

If my child was sad, or anxious or depressed or angry, then I'd be vigilent. Tics... well at your age, you're able to speak out and say "Mum, I'm OK". Maybe tell your Mum what you said in those two lines about how you are OK.

I don't remember if you've said here how she's reacted in the past to any waxing periods.