Can childhood tics be cured?

Nowadays, many parents, due to their busy work, often neglect their children's health. They think that children are full of vitality and it is normal for them to do anything. Therefore, they do not take their children's frequent convulsions seriously. When parents find that their children's bodies twitch and twitch involuntarily even when they are quiet, they should consider that their children have tics. Tics are currently a common neurological disease. They are transient tic disorders that cause the patient's muscles to twitch. The incidence rate is relatively high and often occurs in preschool children. Boys are more common. Treatment requires a combination of nerve repair, psychological adjustment, and parental cooperation and guidance to ensure that the disease can be cured.

Treatment includes the following :

1. Psychological behavioral therapy

(1) Eliminate the cause: In children with transient tic disorders, especially those whose tics do not last long, it is often not difficult to find the cause during the behavioral interview. Triggers for young children are usually watching intense television or video programs, playing video games, or hearing or seeing frightening things. Therefore, it is crucial to find the trigger and eliminate it, which is also the treatment of tics from the root.

(2) Detailed analysis of psychological factors: The psychological factors of the child before the onset of the disease should be analyzed in detail to identify possible causes of the disease and then resolve them. Older children often develop tics due to accidents, family conflicts, or excessive academic pressure. For example, the adjustment of various contradictions, family conflicts, and the mental conflicts and tensions caused by excessive demands and coercion of parents and grandparents on children must be resolved. If there are school factors, you should contact the teacher to jointly resolve the issue. For factors that cannot be resolved, supportive psychotherapy should be given to help children analyze the mental causes and find the correct way to deal with them.

(3) Provide necessary guidance to parents: Explain the nature of the disease to the parents of the child and tell them not to panic. This can eliminate the reinforcement effect caused by the parents' excessive attention. Parents are often overly worried about tics. They should be made to understand the causes of tics and arrange their children's life, study and activities reasonably. Do not remind the child of his or her tic symptoms. Blaming and paying excessive attention to the child will make him more nervous, which is not conducive to controlling the tics. Instead, the child's tics should be ignored, which can gradually relieve the symptoms. In most patients, symptoms will disappear naturally after a few months. Help children eliminate inducements and provide a good and relaxed family environment.

Good results can be achieved by adopting muscle relaxation therapy and operational treatment methods. When children receive behavioral therapy, the cooperation of the children and their parents should be obtained, and the parents should be given necessary guidance to assist in the treatment.

2. Behavioral correction encourages children to control tics by themselves, adopts positive reinforcement methods such as rewarding them for their efforts to overcome and reduce tics, and uses relaxation methods to reduce children's mental stress. This is more effective for young children.

3. Drug treatment: Generally, tics do not require drug treatment. Drug treatment is only given when the tics significantly affect the child's movement and speech, and interfere with interpersonal relationships and classroom learning.

(1) Eliminate the causes: Tonsillitis, allergic conjunctivitis, rhinitis, upper respiratory tract infection, etc. are sometimes the causes of tics in children. Therefore, these diseases should be treated first.

(2) Haloperidol (HAL): can block dopamine receptors. The dosage is 0.02-0.05 mg/(kg·d), start with a small amount orally, 0.25 mg, twice a day. If it is ineffective, gradually increase the dosage until a satisfactory effect is achieved, so that the symptoms are controlled without side effects. Children can take up to 1 to 6 mg/d. This drug is prone to cause extrapyramidal side effects, among which acute dystonia and akathisia are the most common. Large doses can also cause myocardial damage. To prevent extrapyramidal side effects, scopolamine or antan can be used in combination.

(3) Diazepam (Valium) (1.25-2.5 mg, twice a day) or chlordiazepoxide (2.5-5 mg, twice a day) (2.5-5 mg, twice a day) can be added to children with severe anxiety.

This disease can heal itself or with treatment within a few months. Some children may suffer from the disease for several years.