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Question 38: last year
my 6 yr old son started to roll his eyes alot this time of year, but
then it seem to stop. when we asked the doctor he said that it was
nothing to worry about and if you did not point it out it will most
likely go away, and it did.now he is 7 yrd old and it started again
and seems to be worse, and just yesterday I noticed he was pushing
his bottom lip out like a pout as well. I would like to know what
kind of doctor I should take him to so he can be looked at properly.
I am worried that this could be a serious medical condition, and I
don,t want to waste any time. I am very concerned please let me know
what you think. K.S., Il, USA
Good
evening K.S.:
Your son is fortunate to have an attentive and concerned parent monitoring
his symptoms. It would be a good idea to keep a log of the symptoms
you see -- what they all are, when they appear, how frequent they are,
factors that increase or decrease them, and how long they last. Also,
you may wish to try and 'catch' some of these symptoms on videotape.
If this turns out to be Tourette Syndrome, it is not uncommon for symptoms
to disappear in the doctor's office. A professional not familiar with
this syndrome may not know this, leading to his dismissing your concerns
and you wasting valuable time.
In terms of what kind of doctor to see, there are a number of professionals
that can diagnose disorders -- psychologists, and also medical doctors
(psychiatrists, neurologists, and pediatricians for example). Since
the diagnosis of a number of disorders involves the elimination of competing
potential diagnoses, your son may end up being referred to more than
one doctor. This way each specialist can either confirm or dismiss the
diagnoses (s)he specializes in.
I am not familiar with health care in Illinois, but in Ontario one requires
a referral from a family doctor to see a medical specialist (i.e. psychiatrist,
neurologist, pediatrician) but not for a psychologist. Hence it may
be faster and easier to initially approach a psychologist for assessment.
I hope this helps K.S.! All the best to you and your son. If this IS
Tourette Syndrome (I of course could not say without more information
and without an in-person assessment, but the age and progression in
tics you describe do fit the pattern) I encourage you to use my site
to learn about the disorder and find resources. Education makes all
the difference in the world with Tourette Syndrome, making a fairly
non-serious diagnosis that much more benign!
