My child started taking medication and has developed tics. What
do I do? Can't find what you're looking for? Our health
information specialists are here to help. Contact us at
800-233-4050 or online. A relatively uncommon side effect of
psychostimulant medications is the unmasking of latent tics --
the medical term for involuntary motor movements, such as eye
blinking, shrugging and clearing of the throat. Psychostimulant
medications can facilitate the emergence of a tic disorder in
susceptible individuals. Often, but not always, the tic will
disappear when the medication is stopped. For many youth with
ADHD, vocal tics (throat clearing, sniffing, or coughing beyond
what is normal) or motor tics (blinking, facial grimacing,
shrugging, or head-turning) will occur as a time-limited
phenomenon. The medications may bring them to notice earlier, or
make them more prominent than they would be without medication,
but they often eventually go away, even while the individual is
still on medication. Tourette's syndrome