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Seasonal tics


crazy

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It appears that every year around this time my sons tics flare up for about 2 months. He has an eye roll, facial twitch, and a new one which is sort of a neck/ head turn. He is 16 and hates having tics. They are somewhat mild the rest of the year. I figured he would outgrow them but I guess I was wrong. The flare up are difficult because peers have no idea why he starts doing this out of nowhere. He has a mild mold allergy and mold count is really high at this time of the year. I believe it's a combination of allergy and starting the school year. How do most people deal with tics caused by environmental allergies? He does take Trokendi for the tics which makes a huge difference. He takes Zyrtec for allergies. What helps for other people?

 

I want to try to help him with these next 2 months. I'm thinking I need to get him back to accupunture which seemed to help. Every time he has a flare up my anxiety elevates , I hurt for my son, it's been a tough year in general. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!

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  • 1 month later...

@crazy,

We are facing the same with our 10 year old. This is his 3 year year of eye tics around end of Aug/beginning of Sept. Two years ago, they went away in January when it got really cold in NY. Last year we did gluten free diet right away and they went away in 2 weeks. This year we did the magnesium & B^ complex addition. Giving him the Natural vitality kids Calm and pure magesium oil on his feet at night. After a few weeks, they started to subside but not completely disappear. This past weekend went strong again. Not sure what to do now. We started the dairy free diet now and hope that helps. We know how you are feeling. Hurt for him so badly.

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HI NYDAD2014 and crazy.

 

It sounds like you both have a good approach in trying to find the reasons for your boys' tics. A number of things can be involved with flares, including a reaction to seasonal allergies. But there are other possibilities as well.

 

If there is a mold issue as crazy indicated, it is important to avoid exposure as much as possible and use a quality air purifier in the home and bedroom.Make sure the home and school are free of mold.

 

An increase in tics can be caused by many triggers. It's good to experiment with diet and basic nutrients as you are doing. But please also be sure that there are no toxic products being used in the home, or in homes the kids visit. That includes things like plug-ins, Fabreeze, chlorine products, scented laundry products, etc. Personal products (like aftershave) for the 16 year old should also be natural. Cars should not have scented items as are often used.

 

Keep a log each day, starting with how the boys are when they wake up, how they are after a shower, after breakfast, after school, after playing sports, etc.

 

If tics are not better in the morning than when they went to bed, there could be something in the bedroom that is aggravating tics.

 

Make sure no artificial flavors or colors are being consumed. Preservatives also bother many.

 

Have you considered the items listed in this article http://latitudes.org/finding-triggers-for-tics-a-must-read/ ?

 

Some kids have a candida yeast overgrowth that affects the gut and in return, the brain, and need to be treated for that. Sugary foods feed this. If it is an underlying problem, addressing it can make a big different. It often occurs along with a mold allergy.

 

I would consider seeing an environmental physician or other integrative doctor to get some help in sorting things out.

 

Thanks for posting and we hope you will stay in touch as you find answers.

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Hi Sheila,

Thank you for your response. Our home doesn't have a mold issue, at least we don't think so. Hepa filter purifier in his room and living room, plus hepa filter for the heatling/cooling central air system. Ever since he was a toddler, we have always had these. We do have a dog and cat, but he's always been around them since he was born. Plus, since last years flare up, besides the dietary changes (GF, no artifical colors, flavors,) we also made changes so there aren't any toxic chemicals around. Only organic soaps and cleaners. No plug ins, scented candles...etc.

This is why the flare up this year was so puzzling.

 

He wakes up with no tic for about 1-2 hours then slowly he begins to show.

Yes we used this list http://latitudes.org/finding-triggers-for-tics-a-must-read/ last year to help us with all of our changes.

 

FYI...I just purchased your book "Natural treatments for Tics and Tourette's" to further assist us.

 

If he has been on probiotic of 2 years, will candida yeast still be an issue. He doesn't have any of the symptoms.

 

Will look into the environmental physician. Never heard of them.

 

We didn't take to swim class this week, and the tics seem to be slowing down.

 

Thanks for your input and advice. Will surely keep you posted on this progess.

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  • 6 months later...

Hello Sheila,

Taking your advice, we have an appointment with functional/environmental physician tomorrow for our son. The tic that started in September did go away beginning of January, like clockwork.

However, a new tic surfaced a few weeks ago, right around the beginning of the pollen season. Very slight head shoulder shrug,

What kind of tests should i request from the physician?  heavy metals?  RAST OR ELISA?

Any guidance will be appreciated. Tks.

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Hi NYDad, I hope the appointment is useful. With an environmental physician, they are often allergists and will probably lead you in the direction of what should be tested. (However, I don't know if this person is an allergist or not.)

That said, many doctors now prefer ImmunoCAP testing or the  ELISA test to RAST testing, even though they can result in false positives. Your doctor may have a particular preference.

Some environmental physicians will rely on skin testing (different from the typical skin prick test) and that can often be very helpful. 

Approaches by functional medicine doctors usually include a number of lab tests, the specifics of which they will determine based on the clinical history you share with them. I wouldn't think you need to  jump to heavy metal testing right away -- unless the doctor sees a reason for this. A nutritional analysis would be fairly common. Again, I'd let the doctor lead the way after you describe the hypersensitivities you have noted..

I hope you will let us know how things go and what you learn. Wishing you all the best with it! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Sheila,

The visit went very well.  She took her time and listened to us explain the last few years with our son.  Her diagnosis was that allergies were major component in his tics, considering they tend to flare up seasonally.  Instead of sending us to other tests, she  recommended LDA therapy, which we jumped at right away.  Not many doctors have or offer this therapy. 

He took his first shot same day and after a few days, tic was gone.  Not sure if the shot did the trick, but we will continue the therapy for at least a year.  Shot every 2 months. Will surely keep you posted.  Thanks again for your guidance. Hope others can look into the LDA therapy and talk to their doctors.

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Hi. Any luck or new advice on this one?  I have a 7 year old who started his tics about 4 years ago (I have chronicled with videos). They mostly occur when eating! They also seem to be seasonal - starting in August, stopping around December/January, although now in June, we are noticing again. It has been 4 years of this. Currently, it is the worst when he eats something super yummy - like a lollipop or gummies but it has always been with all foods. Now when he eats a lollipop, he scrunches his eyes so tight the whole time - it seems painful. Also happens with gummies and icecream but happens with food in general and to a lesser extent at other times. Now, I am a nutrition fanatic - and my son eats 90% healthy (all whole grains - oats/rice/whole wheat bread, all nuts/seeds, eggs/turkey, veggies, fruits, dairy) but I do give him a small treat each day. When he was 3 it was a sniffle eye twitch cough combo - which became kind of hard to bear. It was only noticeable at school for a week or so this year and again, is mainly at meals with all foods. It does seem to come for 6 months and then leave. We finally saw a neurologist after 4 years who just confirmed what I knew. He eats the same diet throughout the year - so I have a hard time believing it could be gluten or dairy. He drinks a lot of plain kefir with honey. He eats tons of seeds/nuts and other foods with magnesium. I have logged the first episode when he was 3 - in April 2013 - over a year after we had been in our house so I don't think it would be a mold issue. It is still fairly minor and easy enough to ignore although he now notices that he needs to scrunch his eyes so tight. Thoughts?  Any luck with acupuncture?

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Hi, here is what I did after reading numerous topics online on TICs and Triggers and patterns in TICs etc. My daughter , now 9, starting her first symtoms of TICs 4 years ago. Very seasonal in the sense that they would start in April\May and go for couple weeks and then completely gone. we ignored it pretty much each time until this April  (2017). This time, I noted dates as well as to when first symptom started and what were the patterns. I was getting tired of our dear doctors telling me that this is a neurological disorder and most kids outgrow these and so and so forth. I needed answers as to what is causing these TICS and how I can help my child.


I started charting symptoms, dates and severity etc for 4 weeks or so. Short story is - My child's allergy testing came all negative however I kept seeing symptoms that would go up on severity on days when certain pollen counts would go up so was very convinced that seasonal allergies \ "Sensitivity" had a lot to do with this for sure.


Did some more research and found a local "well rated" Chiropractor in my area. I took my child for Allergy Testing with her and also did some chiropracic work. My child's symptoms were eye rolls from one side to bottom one side. always one directional. so I knew there were two things going - 1. There is a Trigger for this TIC. 2. TIC occurs in only one area of child's body...this time eyes..


TIC had a trigger which would occur in a body part that had weakness to a degree. UPon more checks, we found the following-


My child had sensitivities to the following-


1. Ragweed pollen, Oaks Pollen


2. Aluminum (bad)


3. Mold as well


4. Food colors (bad)

 

 

This is what we did -


Removed Milk products from our diets, no tinned foods (as aluminum ), no foods with food colors at all.


STarted morning smoothies - Kale, spinach, pumpkin seeds, almonds, lots of fresh organic fruits.

 

 

For eyes- we used RETAIN eye drops as my child's eyes were getting DRY rather so histamines would not work.


After 2 weeks , all TICS gone completely.


We also, switched her to organic fruit plan based natural mutlivitamins.


Here is what I suggest -

 

 

1. Check for sensitivities. Find a good chiropractor.


2. Go for all natural diet and eliminate food triggers for sure. you will see the results for sure.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

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I am also stopping FLU vaccines starting this year as her symptoms did start showing right after taking the SHOTS. We also started MIN TRAN and lymp-node ii tonic as suggested by my child's chiropractor and everything is back to normal for us now. Its the toxins in our bodies cause these TICs and why certain parts have symptoms depends on weakness in that area,

 Check eyes checked as well as my child had somewhat dry eyes and so using RETAIN eye drops gave a big relief as well.

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