How to cure a nervous tic in a child: doctor's advice

Has your baby started coughing frequently, rubbing his nose, blinking his eyes, or constantly twitching his shoulders? At the same time, neither the ENT nor the ophthalmologist notice any pathologies? Most likely, the child has developed a condition such as a nervous tic. There is no need to panic: this is quite a common occurrence for children 3-6 years old. According to statistics, at this age, tics to one degree or another are found in every fourth child. What are the nervous tics in children, how to distinguish them from other diseases and whether they need to be treated nootropics, we were told by an infectious disease doctor practicing EBM (evidence based medicine, medicine) Evgeny Shcherbina.

Why does a child have nervous tics

A nervous tic in medicine is described as follows: these are obsessive involuntary and monotonous movements that occur in a person in a particular muscle group. Tics are found in adults - and in this case, they may indicate some pathology in the nervous system. But nervous tics in children are most often a safe phenomenon and due to the peculiarities of development. During the period of active knowledge of the world (from 3 to 5-6 years old), the child absorbs a tremendous amount of new information. To assimilate and process this information,

child's brain produces many different neurotransmitters. Their number is not always balanced: sometimes a child may have more activating (or fewer inhibitory) neurons than he needs. In this case, neurotransmitters can cause involuntary muscle contraction, which, in fact, is called a nervous tic.

“According to the type of their manifestation, tics are divided into motor and vocal tics. Motor tics are associated with movement: blinking and blinking, obsessive scratching of the nose or ears, twitching of the nose, twitching of the shoulders. Vocal tics are associated with breathing: these are humming, sniffing, throat clearing or short-term, monotonous dry cough tremors, ”Yevgeny Shcherbina enumerates.

What is the cause of nervous tics in a child

“This problem is often encountered in children of preschool and school age,” the expert continues. - Boys are most susceptible to her, but she also does not bypass girls. Individual episodes of tics last from several days to a year, and pass with the maturation of the subcortical parts of the brain, which most often ends by seven to eight years. At the same time, it happens that episodes of tics come back again even after they have completely disappeared. "

Having heard the diagnosis "nervous tic", each mother begins to delve into the anamnesis. Most often, parents blame themselves for having "brought" the child to such a state (excessive exactingness, family scandals, excessive workload at school). “In some cases, this all takes place,” notes Evgeny Shcherbina. - But in the same way, tics in a child can occur against the background of complete well-being in the family. This is a feature of the nervous system of the child with which he was born. Often it is genetically determined, so do not be surprised if the grandmother remembers that the child's father had the same problem in childhood. The main thing that parents should remember: tics are not caused by worms, herpes viruses, staphylococcus in the nasopharynx, vitamin deficiencies, cancer or autoimmune diseases. "

How to tell if a child has a nervous tic

Often, mothers mistake a nervous tic for a sign of some kind of serious illness. For example, a motor tic in the form of obsessive blinking is "carried" to the optometrist, suspecting vision problems. A vocal tic in the form of a dry cough is confused with respiratory diseases and bypasses all otolaryngologists in the city in order to find chronic healed bronchitis in the baby. It's good if the list of doctors includes a competent expert who will refer the mother and child to a neurologist. Because in fact, a nervous tic can be detected with the naked eye.

“One of the main differences between a nervous tic and other diseases is that it goes away in a dream,” explains Evgeny Shcherbina. - If a child who coughs during the day sleeps well at night, exclude any respiratory diseases. The same is with motor tics: if the child does not flinch at night, his shoulders or nose do not twitch, or his eyes are closed, then this is definitely a tic disorder. During the day, tics can go away when the child is very keen or busy with what he loves. For example, while watching cartoons, he may not blink at all. "

Another sign of a nervous tic: it may not last long, but it can be controlled. If you ask your child not to blink or sniff, he may well cope with it for a while with an effort of will. In this case, tics can "migrate" over the body of the child, changing their appearance and location. If yesterday the baby's right eye trembled, today he may well jerk his shoulder or shake his head. This is not a sign of a new disease, but just a new attack of the "old" tic. It's just that the neurotransmitters this time got to a different muscle group.

Is it necessary to treat nervous tics

Nervous tics in a child, first of all, frighten the parents. Thoughts that "this will remain forever" drive my mother to neurologists, neuropathologists and psychiatrists. Most often, the child is not prescribed anything. For one simple reason: in most cases, children of preschool and primary school age have transient (temporary, transitional) tics. “This is the most common type of tic disorder that occurs in a child for less than a year, and in adolescence age passes on its own without treatment with nootropics, valerian or other sedatives, ”explains Evgeny Shcherbina.

All you can do if your child has transient tics is to do nothing. “If the manifestations of tics do not interfere with the child, then they should not interfere with the parents,” Yevgeny Shcherbina emphasizes. - Pay as little attention as possible to tic attacks. Do not tug at your child by forcing him not to blink, cough, or wrinkle his nose. The less emphasis you put on this disorder, showing the child to all the doctors in your city, the faster the reflex will fade away, because he will not have constant reinforcement. "

When do parents of children with tics really need to see a doctor? Evgeny Shcherbina identifies several situations that may require diagnosis and treatment:

• multiple nervous tics, have a pronounced character, clearly progress and interfere with the normal lifestyle of the child
• tic disorder has passed into a chronic stage: nervous tics of one type (motor or vocal) last more than a year with interruptions of no more than 3 months
• the child has a suspicion of Tourette's syndrome: like chronic tic disorder, it lasts longer years with interruptions no longer than 3 months, but with a combination of several motor tics and at least one vocal tic. Tourette's syndrome is often accompanied by obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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