This will have to be a quick post as they all have been, because time is as precious as always. The hacking/throat-clearing thing has gone on since March. Reflecting, there were a few things which may have spurred it but of course none of them are obvious causes. At that time we took him off an anti-psychotic medication which can help with repetitive behaviors. It didn't help with ANYTHING that was obvious or intended which for me was increased attention that would aid in speech development: I just want this kid to talk! Instead, it had a common side effect of increasing appetite which resulted in behaviors of digging in the refrigerator and garbage. Also, at that time we went gluten-free and the season started changing. Any of these things could be the culprit for the tic of throat-clearing.
So we let it drive us crazy for awhile then tried joining him mimicking the behavior and then trying to be internally okay with it and ignoring it. None of these made it stop. Eventually, I had his blood drawn to check strep titers to rule out PANDAS, a Tourette's kind of deal with throat-clearing being a common thread, and hit a dead end there. On our car ride to the National Autism Conference a few weeks ago, it was 90+ degrees and we hit stop and go traffic over and over again, and the throat-clearing happened over and over again. It was really irritating so every time he did it we told him to "STOP!" or "Don't do THAT!". Every time we made this request you wouldn't hear it for a little while. And then I had the realization that throat-clearing isn't like burping or sneezing or farting; it's a choice! Even IF you have mucus issues, you can simply SWALLOW! Even if you have mucus issues, it's not something that would make you make this LOUD NOISE constantly throughout the day. Who does that?! So we were on to him when you wouldn't hear it after we asked him to quit. We are super-consistent with this request and the behavior is MUCH LESS! It happens a few times throughout the day instead of many times per minute.
He was starting to spit into his hand when he did it and I noticed the clear mucus in his hand. So there IS something there, but I certainly don't want the spitting to happen or for it to go beyond that. All the time, I hear about kids who can't communicate who spit....spit at their caretakers, spit and play with it, etc. NO THANKS!
I started giving him a homeopathic remedy for mucus and I'll just have to trust that that helps, but nonetheless the mucus is still there. I notice him swallowing hard a lot. Yesterday, we had an appointment at an ENT and the doctor said nothing jumped out at him as a problem and that everyone produces a half-quart of mucus daily! He prescribed Precavid, an acid-blocker, generally given to people with acid reflux. I did try Tums many moons back and I told him I was giving him digestive enzymes. He just shook his head. We talked about food allergies a bit and he said it was all experimental. I seriously get tired of regular old doctors just giving a med to mask a problem and not paying much attention to the underlying issue. Anyhow, that's where a homeopath would be useful. That's where winning the Lotto would be useful as insurance doesn't pay for that. So I get the prescription and start reading about it on-line, and I read that it has caused many behavior issues such as waking in the middle of the night and hyper-activity. These are both issues we've been there done that with with Clark and we aren't going back. I read about natural remedies and sure enough digestive enzymes are one that will help (if this is EVEN the issue!) so he's NOT getting the drug and I will keep on keepin' on with what we're doing with diet and behavior modification. And so it goes.....
So we let it drive us crazy for awhile then tried joining him mimicking the behavior and then trying to be internally okay with it and ignoring it. None of these made it stop. Eventually, I had his blood drawn to check strep titers to rule out PANDAS, a Tourette's kind of deal with throat-clearing being a common thread, and hit a dead end there. On our car ride to the National Autism Conference a few weeks ago, it was 90+ degrees and we hit stop and go traffic over and over again, and the throat-clearing happened over and over again. It was really irritating so every time he did it we told him to "STOP!" or "Don't do THAT!". Every time we made this request you wouldn't hear it for a little while. And then I had the realization that throat-clearing isn't like burping or sneezing or farting; it's a choice! Even IF you have mucus issues, you can simply SWALLOW! Even if you have mucus issues, it's not something that would make you make this LOUD NOISE constantly throughout the day. Who does that?! So we were on to him when you wouldn't hear it after we asked him to quit. We are super-consistent with this request and the behavior is MUCH LESS! It happens a few times throughout the day instead of many times per minute.
He was starting to spit into his hand when he did it and I noticed the clear mucus in his hand. So there IS something there, but I certainly don't want the spitting to happen or for it to go beyond that. All the time, I hear about kids who can't communicate who spit....spit at their caretakers, spit and play with it, etc. NO THANKS!
I started giving him a homeopathic remedy for mucus and I'll just have to trust that that helps, but nonetheless the mucus is still there. I notice him swallowing hard a lot. Yesterday, we had an appointment at an ENT and the doctor said nothing jumped out at him as a problem and that everyone produces a half-quart of mucus daily! He prescribed Precavid, an acid-blocker, generally given to people with acid reflux. I did try Tums many moons back and I told him I was giving him digestive enzymes. He just shook his head. We talked about food allergies a bit and he said it was all experimental. I seriously get tired of regular old doctors just giving a med to mask a problem and not paying much attention to the underlying issue. Anyhow, that's where a homeopath would be useful. That's where winning the Lotto would be useful as insurance doesn't pay for that. So I get the prescription and start reading about it on-line, and I read that it has caused many behavior issues such as waking in the middle of the night and hyper-activity. These are both issues we've been there done that with with Clark and we aren't going back. I read about natural remedies and sure enough digestive enzymes are one that will help (if this is EVEN the issue!) so he's NOT getting the drug and I will keep on keepin' on with what we're doing with diet and behavior modification. And so it goes.....
