Chronic Tics A Potential Red Flag
Nervous Habit May Be Sign Of Bigger Problem

Reported By the thebakersfieldchannel.com
http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/health/2508176/detail.html

Does your child blink a lot? It may not be a vision problem.

If your child has what looks like nothing more than a nervous habit,
you may want to take it more seriously. A new study shows that
chronic tics are more common than once thought and they may be a red
flag for a bigger problem.

Frankie Baliva loves playing video games.


His brother, Santino, would much rather play street hockey.

But the two have one thing in common, Tourette's syndrome, a
disorder noted for its tics.

Both boys were diagnosed around age 6.

"In the beginning I would go into a store and they would be swearing
at me and I'd have 50 people looking at me like 'why am I not doing
anything,'" recalled their father, Chris Baliva.

Dr. Donna Palumbo explained that "the swearing tic is called
coprolalia, so it really is a true tic."

The swearing tic is rare, but according to new research by Palumbo
at the University of Rochester, NY, tics in general are grossly
underdiagnosed.

"In our epidemiologic study we found rates of almost 19 percent of
kids in a school-age population who had tics in a regular classroom
setting," Palumbo said.

That's important for parents and teachers to know. Fifty percent of
the time, kids with chronic tics also have attention deficit
disorder (ADHD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

"All three of those things can significantly impact school
functioning," Palumbo said.

Life hasn't been easy for the Balivas. The boys take medications to
suppress their tics and treat the associating ADHD and OCD.

"I have found with my kids that it just wasn't medication, it was
behavioral therapy also to cope," Baliva said. "Because there is no
magic pill. With the doctors and the medications that they've had, I
think that they're going to do ok."

Eye blinking and throat clearing are two of the more common tics.
Others include nose twitching, head jerks, sniffing, humming, and
shoulder shrugs. The swearing tic that involves the shouting of
obscenities accounts for 5 percent of Tourette tics.

Reported By the thebakersfieldchannel.com
http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/health/2508176/detail.html


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