quietly clearing your throat

[Guest huey261163]

My name is Huey, i have a ten year old daughter called Keeley,she seems to be quietly clearing her throat whilst watching TV, and it has been noticed at school by her friend who sits next to her.Is their any thing to worry about and if so what would be my first step thank you.

[Ashley]

My name is Huey, i have a ten year old daughter called Keeley,she seems to be quietly clearing her throat whilst watching TV, and it has been noticed at school by her friend who sits next to her.Is their any thing to worry about and if so what would be my first step thank you.

17317[/snapback]

Hi Huey,

I am not a TS expert and hopefully others will be able to offer an informed comment at a later stage. Is the thraot clearing the only symptom you have spotted so far?

Have you spoke to her about it? If it is TS then if she feels it is noticable and others are aware of it then she will try and stop doing it, which will in fact maybe make it worse. It could be just one of those childhood things of course and that she may well grow out of it.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge of TS will respond shortly.

[catherine]

Hi huey

Keeley's throat clearing does sound like a 'tic' but having such a tic in isolation does not necessarily mean it will develop into Tourettes . It is actually very common for children to have tics which often disappear over time. These are called transient tics. Sometimes the tic does persevere and it can become chronic in nature. Only really if Keeley started developing multiple tics such as neck jerking/stretching, leg or abdominal tics etc would I start to think about Tourettes. Even then they have to be present for over a year.

So really it is helpful to look upon tics as sitting on a spectrum which at one end is labelled 'simple isolated tic' and at the other is labelled 'Tourettes Syndrome'. Keely appears to be very much at the mild end of this spectrum. Of course it is important to keep vigilant to any developments, but hopefully this tic will fade of its own accord.

Sometimes Keeley's throat clearing may be in response to anxiety, I don't know whether this is the case? Whatever, I think the best thing you could do is just to play it down and not make her self conscious of the 'habit'. She cannot help it so even if it becomes irritating try not to tell her off. I used to be told off and it just made it worse and affected my confidence.

If anything develops I would suggest you keep a diary of events. If you do ever have to have it looked into in the future this will be a real help.

But for the moment, it does sound like a simple vocal tic so I wouldn't worry about Tourettes at this stage. I hope this reassures you a little

My apologies for the delayed reply but my internet was down all yesterday so I wasn't able to log on. Sorry.

Take care

Catherine

[Guest huey261163]

thank you to Ashie and Catherine for their help, i will keep an eye on Keeley.ps Keeley does tend to straighten all the cushions on the furniture,but she only does this 2or 3 times a week.

[Guest sylvia]

I am 29 years old and have been clearing my throat for along time. I go in my spells when I do it more. Also my sis clears her throat alot. I don't think it's a big prolem though. I notice I do it more if I am nervious so I don't know if its a tic or not. I can kinda control it, I used to do it more when I smoked. It could be allery related I know if I have phlem in my throat I'll do it more. Hope this helps.

[catherine]

Thanks for that info sylvia. The fact your throat clearing worsens with anxiety suggests it could be a little nervous tic, the sort of simple and perhaps chronic tic which can persevere. I know what you mean about being able to have some sort of control over it, and again this is very common in tics. The comparison is often made with an itch which you can prevent yourself scratching for so long but then the urge becomes intolerable

I'm not sure what your experience is but if you've reached adulthood without it developing further, there shouldn't be any danger of it ever developing into Tourettes. Medics vary a little (I think between the USA and Europe) with some saying the age of onset must be before 18, others 21.

Tics, even simple ones can be very annoying to the sufferer (and sometimes their friends and family )

Catherine :blushing: