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.

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Meeting My First Person with TS Continued....

Well the girl I met on campus who also has TS didn't messae me back. I don't think she will which is a little disappointing just because it would have been really neat to get to know her better. She seems like a really neat person, but I just don't think she is interested in getting to know me better right now. Oh well. I have my camp family and my cousin and that's more than enough for me. I will see my camp friends very soon! In less than two months which is so exciting! To know that they are here for me is always the best :) and to know that I will have an amazing time at camp next year too with my cousin there as well is something I am really looking forward too! 

 Maybe sometime the girl I met on campus will talk more with me later or maybe we somehow will get to know each other better, maybe she just needs to think about it for a little while. I don't know what she's thinking or why she isn't wanting to be open/ why she doesn't want to respond to my message, but I am going to try to let it go, which is hard because of my OCD but I am really going to try to. I have people in my life who love and care about me, I have amazing friends who care about me too. I just have to think about them and things will be alright :)