Tic Log 12/2/13

Since i've been on Clonidine for a little more than a week now, I decided I should start tracking my tics and other symptoms as well as my sleep. I find it hard from day to day to realize if my tics are getting better or worse and what the general trend is, so I figured I would be able to see the general trend better if I started tracking it and writing it down on the blog. So this post will be my first entry for tracking my tics and other symptoms.This is my second day of tic logging. 


Monday 12/2/13: First day back to school after thanksgiving break. First day back in the swing of things can be stressful for me. Change is always stressful for me. Tic triggers of being in class and with friends are back. Also I have a paper due on Wednesday and a test on Thursday. Last week of classes before reading week and then more exams. 

Night before: Took Clonidine at 11:15ish. Took about 15 minutes to fall asleep. (Wow! I am loving it!) 

Morning: Eye tics, head tics, sniffling (Mild tics) 

Afternoon: Head jerks, whistling, eye tics, facial tics, some hitting tics (hitting the side of the table, my arm, and my chest) in poetry class. Poetry class is a trigger for me because it is a small class of 10 people and small classes are always triggers for me because they are stressful and there are less people so I feel like my tics are more noticeable in this setting and like people are staring. (Moderate to bad tics)

During and after poetry class I was really tired and had a headache. I don't know if this is because of the Clonidine or what, but I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing. I was so tired and ticcy that I had to miss my third class of the day and I went back to my dorm room and slept. I slept from 2:50 to about 4:00. When I woke up I was no loner tired.
 
Evening: I tabled with my friend Nat (a blog nickname) for selling candy grams for our sorority. Head tics, eye tics, and a few vocal tics, some wheezing/coughing tics on my way to and from tabling. Now back in my room my tics have calmed down. (Mild to moderate tics) 

Developmental Psychology- My Development Thanks to the Help of my Baby Book

Developmental Psychology- The Baby Logs of A Now 20 Year Old with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, and Sensory Processing Disorder):

 All of the information I am about to give was documented in my baby book and is taken from memory (which can be fallible) or from stories. All of this information was written and documented. Everything in parentheses is my own commentary. Parts that are boded and highlighted are parts that may be slightly abnormal or may relate to Tourette's, OCD, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, etc.   

Birth:
My mother's pregnancy: good-no problems- uneventful pregnancy.

Weight: 6lbs 7oz
Length: 20 Inches
Color of eyes: Blue/grey
Color of hair: Brown
Distinguishing characteristics: beautiful baby

First days: 

How mom first felt when she held you: She loved holding you and did not want to put you down and you screamed when we put you down. I think we held you the entire 1st month.

Dad's comments: He thought you did not get your mom's disposition. (When I asked my mom what this meant she said "It was because you were screaming all the time. You didn't sleep. You were a difficult baby"

Doctor's comments:

Sleep: Recommended further look for sleep problems. Still waking 1 or 2 times at night at 6 months.  (my own research found that At 6-9 months most babies now sleep for nine or ten hours at night, it means –  a sign that the baby is good sleeper. But if the baby isn't yet sleeping at least five or six hours straight, it isn't uncommon and is not abnormal. Many babies still wake up at night for feedings in the 6- to 9-month stage) 

General doctors comments: At 9 mos Dr thinks she will walk at 10 mos. He thinks she will be thin! He was impressed when she waved bye to him. At 1 year thinks development is very good!  

Allergies:

Dust mites- 5 1/2 years old. Found out not allergic ti dust mites at 10 years old. (The reason they took me to get tested for allergies at ages 5-10 was because I was sniffling so much, I now think that the sniffling was most likely a tic. Sniffing has been one of my main tics for a very long time although I'm not sure how far back it goes. I know for sure it was a tic at 16 but before that it is really just speculation. This seems to suggest the sniffing tic may have started at 5 1/2 years old.) 

Developmental milestones: 

Sleeps through the night: By around 6 months old consistently 

Smiles: Began to smile more at 6 to 7 weeks (my research- on time, normal development) 

Turns over: Did this two times by 4 months (normal) 

Crawls: Started at 6 1/2 mos, 7 1/2 months really crawled (advanced. started crawling before most babies. Most babies crawl at 9 mos) 

Sits unsupported: Very well by 6/2 mos (normal, most babies sit unsupported by 6 mos) 

Stands up alone: Pulls to stand alone by 7 1/2 mos. At 10 mos, rises to a stand without pulling up. (advanced, started standing alone before most babies. Most babies stand with help at 8 mos) 

Walks: 1 year old (normal) 

Holds a cup: Does well by 9 mos, sippy cup. Will not drink milk from a cup. Tried at 1 year. ( I was very particular about drinking my milk from a bottle. This may be slightly different than most children, saything that this might be the rigidity of OCD or sensory processing disorder may be a stretch, but I don't know)  

Says a word: Said Dada at 7 1/2 mos. We think she says duck at 9 months + keys, shoes, and dog at 10 mos (normal) 

Speaks a sentence: Makes two word combos at 17 1/2 mos. At 19 1/2 mos says "mommy daddy work" +
"tractor man are you?" (where are you?). At 21 1/2 mos says "I like that one". (normal) ( advanced 2 word sentences usually happen at 24 mos) 

At ten and a half months, you play patty cake, show where your ear is and pants when asked what a dog says. (normal if not advanced!) 

First Haircut: 

You did not want to sit in the booster. You sat in my lap. You were afraid of the cape so they had to take it off (sensory issue?? maybe??). After all of that you were happy and stopped crying. You smiled at yourself in the mirror when they cut your hair. 

Other: 

Fascinated with tops of containers and tags of toys. Loves to look through plastic blow up toy. (Not sure if this fascination is normal? I was also fascinated with dogs) 

Conclusion: I may have had some quirks due to sensory issues and tics too, but overall I was a very normally developing child and in some areas I was advanced such as in the area of language. 

Developmental Psychology- The Baby Logs of A Now 20 Year Old with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, and Sensory Processing Disorder)

Hey everyone! So as you guys may or may not know, I'm a Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology major in college and I am particularly fascinated with Developmental Psychology and Neuro-Developmental Disorders. Yesterday I found something that fascinated the Neuropscyhologist in me! Two of my own day to day baby logs written by different babysitters. Knowing that I was born with the genes for Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, Sensory Processing Disorder, these baby logs and the patterns they show about the development of a child with these disorders is fascinating to me. So I have decided that I am going to type up the logs that mention anything about my behavior for my own future professional reference and for anyone else (psychologists, parents, researchers, etc) who may be interested in the development of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Stay tuned shortly for the first baby log posts! In addition to the original baby log notes that were taken, I am also going to type up my own commentary on it based on developmental psychologist and the normal vs abnormal development of a child

Tic Log 12/1/13

Since i've been on Clonidine for a little more than a week now, I decided I should start tracking my tics and other symptoms as well as my sleep. I find it hard from day to day to realize if my tics are getting better or worse and what the general trend is, so I figured I would be able to see the general trend better if I started tracking it and writing it down on the blog. So this post will be my first entry for tracking my tics and other symptoms.

Sunday 12/1 (Last day of Thanksgiving break) (at home) (Note: my tics tend to be more mild on breaks while i'm home because there is generally less stress, less tic triggers, and less OCD triggers, etc.)

Night before: Took Clonidine at 11:15, asleep by 12ish, took about 30 minutes to fall asleep.

Morning: Woke up at 10:50am, had sniffling tics in the morning and a few facial and shoulder tics (mild tics)

Afternoon: Ate lunch with my Grandma at IHop, a few facial, leg, and shoulder tics at lunch (mild tics)

Evening: Coming back from visiting other Grandma riding in passenger seat of car: leg muscle tightening tics, eye rolling tics, facial tics (mild tics)

Later evening: Back at the dorms: facial tics, head jerks, vocal tics (intensification of tics, moderate tics)

My First Week on Clonidine

Well it's been a little bit since I've given an update so I figured it was update time! I've now been on the pill form Clonidine for 1 full week. For the first week I was just on half of a pill and I switched to taking the full pill last night. So now I'll be taking the full pill, I probably should check on how many mg that is, at night 30 minutes before bed. So far its really been helping me sleep. Most nights it takes me at least an hour if not two or three hours to full asleep because of my tics. I am just moving and thrashing about so much in bed usually that I can't fall asleep. Nighttime is a huge tic trigger for me. Now though for the past week on this medication its never taken me more than 15 minutes to fall asleep! I love it!

It's so nice not having to spend three hours ticcing in bed before I finally fall asleep from pure exhaustion. It's so nice not having to dread bedtime. I can once again enjoy sleep!

The medicine isn't really having an effect on my tics during the day yet, but it is making me tired enough at bedtime to make my tics settle down and allow me to go to bed.

My neurologist said it would probably be at least a month before the medicine had much impact on my daytime tics, so for now I'm just taking the Clonidine and enjoying my new ability to fall asleep quickly and have good restful sleep.

I have had one side effect which was an issue with my digestive system/stomach, but I can take another medication to relieve that side effect so that it isn't a problem. Besides that I haven't had any really bad side effects or anything yet and I hope it stays that way so I can stay on this medicine and keep getting the sleep benefits :)

Trying out Clonidine for my Tics!

So my Neurologist appointment today went really well! Everyone was so nice. I felt very much taken care of and like everyone was really paying attention to my questions, concerns, etc. The first neurologist who was studying with my main neurologist came in first with a medical student. She was so kind and warm. She was also genuinely curious and interested in me as a patient. She asked me questions, listened to me, and took the opportunity to learn more about Tourette's. She wanted to hear all about what my tics are, and asked me lots of questions like what my tics are, what they are triggered by, if they ever hurt me or cause soreness, etc. She was so nice about it, telling the med student when it was time for me to list my tics "This is the most interesting part of the interview because talking about it brings all the tics out, so feel free to tic away" like it was the most normal thing in the world! I did end up ticcing quite a fair amount in the office but she made me feel so comfortable about it that it was no big deal.

Then when she had to do the neurological exam part she said she would have to look in my eyes but not to worry about blinking. So when I did my blinking tic while she was looking in my eyes she nodded her head and kindly waited and then looked at my eyes again with her flashlight.

Then my main neurologist came in with his nurse as well. So there were 4 medical professionals standing around me. It made me feel a bit overwhelmed but also like they all cared about me as a patient enough to be there.

So my neurologist listened to how I was particularly having trouble sleeping and suggested that instead of the clonodine patch that I try the pill form. He told me there really wasn't much of a difference between the patch and the pill (they are the same medication) and that the pill would actually probably help me more because it's effects would be stronger and if I took it at night before I went to bed it would make me tired which would help me sleep. So since he is the doctor and I trust him, I went with the Clonodine pill form. So now I am on Clonodine. Wow, I never thought I would ever say that.

I in fact just took my first pill! I am supposed to talk half of a pill for a week and then switch to taking the full pill. I take it 30 minutes before bed time so that it will make me tired and help me sleep but my neurologist says the sleepiness should ware off during the day time when I wake up.

I will continue to keep you guys updated on my medication situation. How many of you guys have been on Clonodine? Did it help with your tics? I know it is helping my cousin a lot!

My Neuro Appointment Tomorrow

Well tomorrow is my appointment with my neurologist. Ironically having had Tourette's since I was three years old and having been diagnosed for about 3 years now this will only be my second time seeing my neurologist. The first and only time I have seen him as a patient was when he diagnosed me about three years ago. Now I am looking into meds, specifically the clonodine patch that worked so well with so few side effects for my cousin. I'm nervous but also hopefully. What would it be like to lay down in bed to sleep and be still? I have never felt that feeling, and I there is a small part of me that holds the hope that I may soon feel that. Only a small part because I don't want to get my hopes up if it doesn't work out. I will update you guys soon on how my neuro appointment goes. At least my mom is being supportive about my decision to try medication.

On a side note my newest decision as of the moment is that I want to study to be a Pediatric Neuropsycologist who works in a hospital setting with children who have either epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, or neuropsycatric/ neurodevelopmental disorders.