MotherCop

With all that was going on after my son’s official diagnosis, things had finally started to become a little easier with learning some of his likes, dislikes, and what triggers his sensory disorder. He began to communicate through gestures when he wanted something to drink. He would bring his empty sippy cups to me or any other adult. The yellow rim around his sippy cup represented pediasure, and the red—water or juice.

He would pull me from the bed by the hand and lead me to the door where he would place my hand on the doorknob if he wants it open. Unfortunately—he gestures nothing else, but I am more than elated for his accomplishments and continue to celebrate his potential to comprehend. There it was—that radiant sun of ours, supplying the littlest bit of hope through those dark clouds.

“Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation”

-Bernie S. Siegel

Getting ready for work early one morning—I heard a loud gasp for air coming from down the hallway. I immediately dropped my toothbrush and sprinted to my bedroom where I left my two-year-old asleep. I examined his motionless body carefully—still sound asleep as I knew I last left him. Probably just my imagination—I thought to myself.

 As I was about to turn away, I saw his full little eyes tore open, his tiny little body shrugged, and his mouth gape ajar—releasing that dreaded sound that made my heart skip a beat.

After the dreadful tune, his eyes closed as if they were on a timer and he laid motionless once again. I—stopped—breathing—immediately! Frozen with fright and hesitation. “Did he just struggle to breathe?” My uncertainty went into a frenzy. Mom! Go get Mom, now! I hurried to her so that she can witness what it is that I was seeing to make some sort of sense of it. We stood there for a minute but nothing happened anymore. I started pleading my case as to why I was so frantic but whatever it was, she thought that it was done and gone away with until he did it again, and then again, and again—in the space of three seconds.

“Rush him to the hospital” she screams, “he’s having an asthma attack!” I grabbed my baby up and scurried to my car. “I’ll pack an overnight bag and bring it to the hospital, I’ll be right behind you.” She yells from a distance.

I prayed my entire ride to the hospital. I told the nurses at the front desk what was happening and they rushed him straight to the back for attention. The nurse came in as he was still in the manner of gasping for air which led them to conduct an emergency oxygen test on him. Luckily but bewildering enough, the test came back normal and ruled out asthma. His gasps were one every eight seconds now, but still, they could not tell me what was wrong with my son even after conducting an emergency x-ray on him.  

“To be honest we’ve never seen it before,” one of the nurses said standing beside the Doctor. They took off his shirt and pointed to his chest area explaining how the retractions would occur if it was indeed an asthma attack. They also pointed to his neck, showing me the area that would retract the most during intense breathing.

His vitals were checked and a quick observation conducted led the Doctor to explain to me that “It’s just something that he’s doing for comfort, given his condition of Autism”. And they discharged us. I didn’t know what else to do.

A nurse escorting us out whispered, “I do believe that your son may have tics.” I stopped and faced her with a terrible look “Excuse me? You believe that my child has what?” “No, no no! Not the ones on animals” she dismisses my misconstrued thought immediately, “Tics Disorder” she says…”search it up, then speak with his pediatrician about it.” And that was my first time ever hearing about Tics Disorder.

I did follow up with his pediatrician who couldn’t catch her breath when I shared my experience of that morning with her. She confirmed that it is indeed Tics disorder that my son had developed and that it was nothing to worry about.

Why did he develop it? We may never know, but what we do know is that Tics Disorder is associated with co-occurring neurobehavioral disorders/challenges like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and much more.

My son has ticked every single day from that eventful day, but I’ve realized that it’s prevalent when he is awaking from his slumber, retiring to sleep, and most alarming—during his sleep. So, it still often startles me throughout the night at times.

WHAT IS TICS DISORDER?

Tics Disorder is a form of Tourette’s Syndrome, which is a condition that affects the nervous system. Tics cause involuntary movements or sounds that people do repeatedly that can interfere with their daily functions and activities. There are different types of tics and levels of complexities such as:

• Motor Tics- Rapid eye blinking, shoulder shrugging, jumping, sniffing, etc.
• Vocal Tics- Throat clearing, barking, grunting, repeating a word, echolalia, cursing, swearing, etc.

If you or anyone you know appear to be experiencing any of the listed symptoms, make an appointment with your health care provider for further assessment and direction.