Question:

Kathryn Taubert schreef: But I’ve had to learn how to manage my time, AND my energy, > to do it. > I require a LOT of sleep. I insist on quiet at least part of my day. I > have to spend some "down time" each day which I consider as necessary for > my health and welfare as breathing. I limit my activities based upon my > "energy reserves."

I am so glad to read this, I recognize this SO MUCH!!  I have been thinking for like 15 years now that I am lazy, the last time I started to realize that maybe it is allso because of the TS. I do not tic 30.000 times a day, I think (never counted it) but in many ways I am still like a small child (I am 32).  You know who a child is exhausted after a fun day? That’s me. My blood has been checked almost every year because I was so tired, they never found anything. Now I am working part-time and I have a lot of time I can do what  I want, and that is good for me. Thank you Kat, you made me very happy sharing this Tanja from Holland

Response:

Tanja en/of Gerben <ghoek…@worldonline.nl> wrote: >Thank you Kat, you made me very happy sharing this >Tanja from Holland

Tanja, it’s hard for people who don’t tic to realize just how tiring it is. You aren’t lazy. You probably expend many times more energy than people without TS, so that you have good REASON to be tired sooner. I’m glad this helped you. You aren’t lazy. Just the opposite. Put a person without TS in YOUR shoes for a week, and I suspect you’d come out very far ahead on the "energy" scale. You’ve lived with this most of your life. A person just starting out (like a child, for instance), would have a hard time adjusting. But it can be managed. Sometimes, you just have to allow yourself to do what you know is best for you. KAT in CT

Response:

Thnaks rw…I needed to hear that again… espec. re: the processing info. I’ve really been trying to be attentive lately to what my son is doing and when his behaviors increase…I’m finding that my son is the opposite…after a paticularly stressful situation he loves to OCD big time….filing and sorting papers he has hoarded….it seems to help him organize his world. Susan/hyper-grrrl – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -In article <6l6lnk$o3…@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, rwpor…@vcu.edu wrote: > In article <01bd88b3$ccac2840$3831f8ce@ss>, >   "Barbara L." <linder…@king.igs.net> wrote: > > Hi..my son has an appointment with a Child Neurologist on June 8th. I > > believe he may have TS. But my question today is….is it commaon for a > > child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. > > Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has > > skyrocketed!! Is this common? > > Plwase don’t laugh at my question..I am very concerned. > > Barbara L. > I am becoming more and more convinced that "laziness" may be an illusion. > Some people who have TS tend to have more tics when stressed.  Some people in > your everyday experience tend to get all hyper and grouchy or mean when having > to deal with increased stress.  I think some people tend to slow down to a > standstill when under stress.  I don’t see stress as just something that > happens when dealing with a tense situation; I see stress as "having to > mentally process information".  In this way, if you are doing something for > the first time, there is stress.  If you are doing more of the same thing than > you did before, there is stress.  If you tend to be introverted and suddenly > find yourself having to deal with a crowd of people there is stress.  If you > are doing lots of things, each of which requires some attention, there is > stress.  If you have limited processing resources for something, in order to > mentally deal with that thing you are going to have to take processing away > from something else, and then maybe when you’re finished you will have to do > nothing for a while to recuperate and charge up your batteries (wet cell in > the case of the brain?… unless you have a dry wit and then?…)  So, > laziness may have something to do with the fact that your son is stressed and > that’s how he reacts (sorta like being in shock after someone you love dies or > after you lose a job where you have to mentally deal with it and you are left > drained and unable to function and you slow down to a standstill and maybe > even can’t get out of bed), if his tics have increased I would suspect > something is going on, even if it is nothing more than the stress of maturing. >  We need to realize that everyone is different and has had different > experiences so that what is stressful for one person may not be stressful for > others and how one person reacts to stress may not be how others react.  (This > model helps explain a lot of things about my family both growing up and in the > present so if it’s wrong, don’t tell me!  oh,… and by the way… I think > many people with Asperger Syndrome have that "laziness" trait). > —–== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==—– > http://www.dejanews.com/   Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

Response:

Barbara L. wrote: > Hi..my son has an appointment with a Child Neurologist on June 8th. I > believe he may have TS. But my question today is….is it commaon for a > child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. > Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has > skyrocketed!! Is this common?

Barbara, I believe my child has TS as well, but he has never been tested. I talked to the pediatrician about it but she said she couldn’t tell since he wasn’t ticcing at the moment (doesn’t it always work that way?). Anyway, what exactly is the neurologist going to test for? and how? Please let me know, I am very interested. BTW, my son is 5 1/2 years old and is not lazy. In fact, his motor is in Hyper-drive. He is very, very busy. Gail

Response:

In article <6l8pjp$11u…@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>,   BWHM…@prodigy.com (Kathryn Taubert) wrote: > Tanja, it’s hard for people who don’t tic to realize just how tiring it > is. You aren’t lazy. You probably expend many times more energy than > people without TS, so that you have good REASON to be tired sooner. > I’m glad this helped you. You aren’t lazy. Just the opposite. Put a > person without TS in YOUR shoes for a week, and I suspect you’d come out > very far ahead on the "energy" scale. You’ve lived with this most of your > life. A person just starting out (like a child, for instance), would have > a hard time adjusting.

But there are many who have this same "lazyness" label who don’t tic and who don’t expend a lot of energy trying not to tic.  While that may be a major factor for some, I think that there are other less obvious ones (perhaps even allergies play a part). —–== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==—– http://www.dejanews.com/   Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

Response:

>But there are many who have this same "lazyness" label who don’t tic and who >don’t expend a lot of energy trying not to tic.  

Yep. Which is precisely why we need to define "lazy", determine by whose standards these people are being judged, and identify other possible causes for their behavior. It could be a host of things, including something as simple as they aren’t interested in the task at hand, and don’t see any point to doing it. Depression. Allergies. Fatigue. Anger/passive aggression. Boredom. Some kind of illness. biorhythms. sunspots S.A.D. you name it. KAT In CT

Response:

Kathryn Taubert <BWHM…@prodigy.com> wrote in article <6lgir9$15k…@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>… > >But there are many who have this same "lazyness" label who don’t tic and > who > >don’t expend a lot of energy trying not to tic.   > Yep. Which is precisely why we need to define "lazy", determine by whose > standards these people are being judged, and identify other possible > causes for their behavior. It could be a host of things, including > something as simple as they aren’t interested in the task at hand, and > don’t see any point to doing it. > Depression. > Allergies.

<snipped> To this day, I still cringe when I hear the word lazy.  I have suffered most of my life from undx Asthma and Depression (I am 37). I was finally dx w/both within the past year.  Despite making excellent grades in school and taking over much of the housework and sibling-sitting responsibilities as a young teen, I was still called "dog lazy" and "worthless as (udders) on a bull" by my father who couldn’t understand why I needed to sleep every chance I could.  I have tried very hard to understand my children’s needs for rest and ‘down time’ and not judge them by my standards. Singer

Response:

and of course ‘el nino’ Susan – wheezing my way through spring In article <6lgir9$15k…@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>,   BWHM…@prodigy.com (Kathryn Taubert) wrote: It could be a host of things, including > something as simple as they aren’t interested in the task at hand, and > don’t see any point to doing it. > Depression. > Allergies. > Fatigue. > Anger/passive aggression. > Boredom. > Some kind of illness. > biorhythms. > sunspots > S.A.D. > you name it. > KAT In CT

—–== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==—– http://www.dejanews.com/   Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

Response:

Hi..my son has an appointment with a Child Neurologist on June 8th. I believe he may have TS. But my question today is….is it commaon for a child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has skyrocketed!! Is this common? Plwase don’t laugh at my question..I am very concerned. Barbara L.

Response:

>.is it commaon for a >child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. >Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has >skyrocketed!! Is this common?

Barbara, if you can give us some examples of what you mean when you say "lazy," it will be easier for us to tell if this behavior might be related to OC or attention deficit tendencies or another underlying issue, for example.  Can you tell us more?   By the way, did you make sure the child neurologist has ample experience with TS (did he/she tell you how many TS clients he/she has worked with, etc. ???)  Welcome, BB2

Response:

"Barbara L." <linder…@king.igs.net> wrote: >Hi..my son has an appointment with a Child Neurologist on June 8th. I >believe he may have TS. But my question today is….is it commaon for a >child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. >Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has >skyrocketed!! Is this common? >Plwase don’t laugh at my question..I am very concerned. >Barbara L.

NObody’s laughing here, Barbara. My first thought at reading this is that it’s possible that your son is exhausted. He may be trying to "stop" his tics. Or hide them. Or keep the otherwise "out of sight." Or, in addition to one or more of the aforementioned, the frequency, duration, and forcefulness of the tics he has is wearing him out. I have moderately severe TS. I tic probably about 30,000 per day, every day, 365 days a year. In spite of that, I’ve led a successful life, by all measures. But I’ve had to learn how to manage my time, AND my energy, to do it. I require a LOT of sleep. I insist on quiet at least part of my day. I have to spend some "down time" each day which I consider as necessary for my health and welfare as breathing. I limit my activities based upon my "energy reserves." And I pretty well dictate what I do, when, and with whom, according to what I know I can handle and how. WHen I was working full time, I’d spend at least one day on the weekends doing absolutely as little as possible. Not having small children, I was able to accomplish this fairly easily!! I’ve learned to manage my tics so that most people have NO idea I’m ticcing, much less 30,000 times a day. I’ve learned to manage my time so that I can accomplish more in my "good hours" (between 7 and noon) than most people can in an entire day. I’m suggesting that ONE of the possible reasons for your son’s latest behavior is the concern he has about it, the physical demands it makes upon his body and his mind, and the fact that he may have a "different" schedule than you do, which he needs to learn, and you need to help him with. Unfortunately, when you’re a kid, you are often at the mercy of the needs/schedules of others around you more than us adults, and it makes life more difficult. It’s also possible that he’s depressed. Depression reduces energy levels. He may not be getting enough sleep. Or, there may be something else entirely going on. Consider all these things. And keep us posted. KAT in CT

Response:

In article <01bd88b3$ccac2840$3831f8ce@ss>,   "Barbara L." <linder…@king.igs.net> wrote: > Hi..my son has an appointment with a Child Neurologist on June 8th. I > believe he may have TS. But my question today is….is it commaon for a > child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. > Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has > skyrocketed!! Is this common? > Plwase don’t laugh at my question..I am very concerned. > Barbara L.

I am becoming more and more convinced that "laziness" may be an illusion. Some people who have TS tend to have more tics when stressed.  Some people in your everyday experience tend to get all hyper and grouchy or mean when having to deal with increased stress.  I think some people tend to slow down to a standstill when under stress.  I don’t see stress as just something that happens when dealing with a tense situation; I see stress as "having to mentally process information".  In this way, if you are doing something for the first time, there is stress.  If you are doing more of the same thing than you did before, there is stress.  If you tend to be introverted and suddenly find yourself having to deal with a crowd of people there is stress.  If you are doing lots of things, each of which requires some attention, there is stress.  If you have limited processing resources for something, in order to mentally deal with that thing you are going to have to take processing away from something else, and then maybe when you’re finished you will have to do nothing for a while to recuperate and charge up your batteries (wet cell in the case of the brain?… unless you have a dry wit and then?…)  So, laziness may have something to do with the fact that your son is stressed and that’s how he reacts (sorta like being in shock after someone you love dies or after you lose a job where you have to mentally deal with it and you are left drained and unable to function and you slow down to a standstill and maybe even can’t get out of bed), if his tics have increased I would suspect something is going on, even if it is nothing more than the stress of maturing.  We need to realize that everyone is different and has had different experiences so that what is stressful for one person may not be stressful for others and how one person reacts to stress may not be how others react.  (This model helps explain a lot of things about my family both growing up and in the present so if it’s wrong, don’t tell me!  oh,… and by the way… I think many people with Asperger Syndrome have that "laziness" trait). —–== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==—– http://www.dejanews.com/   Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

Response:

I was just wondering about a similar experience with my 10 year old (not currently on any medication). Since his tics increased, he is flopping about saying he is tired a lot. Linda – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -BlessedBy2 wrote: > >.is it commaon for a > >child with TS to be unusually LAZY? My son has never been so lazy before. > >Now that his tics (motor, vocal) have increased, his laziness has > >skyrocketed!! Is this common? > Barbara, if you can give us some examples of what you mean when you say "lazy," > it will be easier for us to tell if this behavior might be related to OC or > attention deficit tendencies or another underlying issue, for example.  Can you > tell us more?   By the way, did you make sure the child neurologist has ample > experience with TS (did he/she tell you how many TS clients he/she has worked > with, etc. ???)  Welcome, BB2

Response:

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