Tic? Stim? Seizure?? Hi there, I haven't been on in awhile. However, after reading your post thought I would log on to respond because my son has started a new tic while eating. We just saw the neurologist last week who watched our video (make sure you bring to your appt.). My son rolls his eyes upward while eating. I was told yes, it was a tic. I talk to him when he does it and he responds normally.  The neuro told me that because he is responding to me and answering my questions it's not a seizure. Have you tried to talk to him while he is doing this and see if he responds or if it takes him awhile to respond to your question while doing it? That will be something your dr will probably ask.  I am not sure why this tic happens while eating but maybe it's got to do with the sensitivies in the mouth, low tone, etc.  My son has some low tone in his mouth, which creates mouthing stims and is a bit drooly when focusing on a task. I was also told not to anything about the tic (if it is one for your son), to just ignore and hopefully he will outgrow or it may change to one less obvious. Tics like stims change frequently. Drawing attention to it can make it worse so as hard as it is try to ignore. I would definitely try  speaking to him and see his response and get that on tape. I spoke on tape through the whole thing and the neuro immediately said no, no need to test for seizures he is not spaced out during it, he is responding normally to you when you speak with him. Hope this helps a bit, I know how grueling it is to wait for an appointment, they can't come quick enough and always such a wait. I do not know, but want to congratulate you on filming it! He doesn't seem to have control over doing it... and often seems irritated by it (you'll see a scared look in his eyes afterwards).  I am pretty sure its involuntary and not immitating something he's seen before.  He does always do the eye widening thing with it... but I am not sure about the arm movements I'll have to pay more attention.  He does it frequently... probably did it a good 50 times yesterday... although ti does come in spurts.  Thanks for the link... I'll definitely check it out!   seems like some type of tic, you may want to show your video clip to the doc I don't think its car sick because it happens places beyond the car... he does it at home, in therapy, at school, etc. He does have reflux.... takes prevacid for that but still flares up.  He has a history of Standifers (posturing from reflux pain) as well as tics and questionable absence seizures.  He had a normal short EEG and an abnormal 24+ hour EEG that showed slowing but no epilepic discharges. ETA... here's another video of him doing it at lunch today... brown144239902.7666898148 do you think he struggles with getting car sick? What about reflux? or gas pains? He is really cute! What about hiccups?  I ALWAYS get the hiccups with the first sip of soda that I take. Is he having swallowing issues for some reason? Maybe the choking you talked about was not actually from what he is doing-but a seperate thing and the actions he takes while eating are to keep from choking? kwim? sensitive gag reflex or low muscle tone in his mouth which my dd has low muscle tone all throughout her body.  I did have to watch the video several time to see what you were talking about [QUOTE=drmomtojoe]Does the type of food have anything to do with it?  It looks like he was eating apples in both videos.[/QUOTE] It doesn't seem to... he's eating apples in one and a rice cake in the other.  I've seen him do it with hot dogs, cantalope, pancakes... it really doesn't seem to matter.  He does it without eating too so I am not sure its really food related. Does the type of food have anything to do with it?  It looks like he was eating apples in both videos. When he did it with food in his mouth, it reminded me of how people react when food is too hot.  Maybe he saw someone doing that, or did it himself once when the food was too hot?  Sometimes that kind of minor episode can leave quite an impression, it might have seemed pretty chaotic and alarming to see Mommy reacting to burning her mouth, for example. Is the eye widening and arm movement always present when he does that breathing thing?  At least it doesn't seem to last long or result in any confusion or frustration.  Definitely worth doing some more observing and discussing it with the neurologist. This link might be helpful: http://p069.ezboard.com/ftourettesyndromenowwhatfrm5.showMes sage?topicID=134.topic - "Tourettes vs. Autism:  Stims, stereotypies and tics", a collection of resources from tables and information from various medical sources, gathered by a member of the Tourette's Syndrome Message Board. Good luck with everything. Matthew has this new "thing" he's doing and I can't for the life of me figure out what on earth it is.  Any ideas??  Here's a video of it... and another... He does it MOST while eating and while in the car... but does it at other times too.  Its been going on for over 2 months now.  We are ahving issues with him chocking when he does it while eating... it scares the bejeebers out of me because he'll turn purple inhaling food doing that.  Anyone's child do anything similar or have ANY ideas what he might be doing??  We see the Neurologist on April 28th so I definitely intend to show him.
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