rcwang

Yes, it is in correlation to the offender. Only when she has milk products she usually gets that motor tic. We are pretty cautious about the milk. Since I make her lunch/ snacks and monitor her breakfast/dinner we can do without it. We read all labels, avoid lots of bread based meals, and she reads all her labels before she eats. Funny you mentioned the squeak sound, because mine is doing that too now as well as the cough. Caroline thanks for the info. We had removed food coloring along time ago as much as possible. I think some things set everyone off differently.

Carolyn, Just curious which foods causes your cough / clearing throat. That is the one tic I can't seem to get rid of. I thought it was environmental in a way. Thanks!

Via the elimination diet, we found milk to be the main culprit. In fact, we went out to breakfast this morning and she had something that we thought did not have milk (but it did). The same motor and verbal tics that she had 9 months ago that was due to milk came out again. I know because I track the reactions in my journal. So, it will probably last about 4 days until it clears her system. The neurologist said she is still mild and supports our approach. I need to go to the pediatrian for the test and other blood work. If I can not get it there, I can order the test. Anyone know which company is the best for the IGg test? As for the metals, we eat banana, apples, pears which are suppose to bind to the excess metals. I found this book called "the food doctor" by ian marber really useful. It is on amazon if you can't find it locally. Of course I'm not a nutritionist so I am sure there are more food that would help also. I just know what seems to work for us so far. If you suspect corn and have not done the elimination diet yet, you are probably right. As his mom, you know them best and I would trust your intuition on it. I would say sit down with your son and have the talk. If he is OK with it, then take all highly allergic foods out for 1 - 2 weeks. We ate alot of rice and stirfried foods then. If some tics stop then you know something you took out may be the culprit. Add one at a time every four days and track it. Then you know what is suspect. Save the corn for last to add back and see if the tics are still gone. I am not going to kid you.. it was really hard. I read hundreds of labels. But... sticking to fresh fruits and vegetable, rice, and no nitrate meats for meals makes it easier. Our allergist told us he is almost positive she was not allergic to milk. He was probably right that she is not allergic to it (ie no hives,etc) but she IS definately intolerant of something in it (casein probably). Also as a side note, for us, during the 2 week detox period, she got worse in some ways before she got better. I think she had to clear it all out of her system and her body was reacting to not having the stimulus food. By the end of the first week, she was feeling better.

Hi Faith, Thank you for your info. My understanding also is that IGg is suppose to be some kind of indication of a "intolerance" to the food or irritant. So are you saying that the higher the number, the more histamine reaction her immune system is generating? Thus, that is a possible allergen. I am going to search more on the web to find out more info before we see the neurologist tomorrow. I am all for the test just to find out and get peace of mind. It is good to know the test you mentioned will explain the results so I will bring that up with the doctor tomorrow. As for our approach, let me first explain what we saw in our daughter. She was 6 years old and having vocal tics, verbal repetition, motor tics with her hands, obsessive compulsive hand washing, anxiety, hyperactivity all at the same time. Some of the tics started as young as age 3, but really escalated at age 6. We noticed that they become stronger with the spring and summer months. We decided to try this more natural approach instead of medicine immediately because we have heard of the side effects of some of the medicine. With research, my conclusions were that if we reduce taxing the immune system, the nerves will calm down. Also, I believe this genetic disorder deals with the nerve transmissions (synapse) not reaching the next nerve cell. Thus, the brain keeps sending the signal (ie to clear her throat), but the response from the throat is not getting back to the brain that it already did it's command. This is similar to the preschool game "telephone" where the message from the first person is not the same when the last person hears it. Our first step was to eliminate all artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives, and nitrates from our diet. We tried to go organic as much as possible. The hyperactivity and obsessive compulsive stopped. Second was the elimination diet. We eliminated all the common food allergies at one time: milk, nuts, eggs, citrus fruits, wheat, chocolate, seafood. We did this for 2 weeks to detox her completely. This was extremely difficult but worth it since we had to build up her immune system again. The motor tics and the verbal repetition stopped. This was GREAT since I was hearing the same word every day about 400 times. Every 4 days we added one restricted food back in. If no reaction, then it stayed. If there was a flair up, then it was gone forever. I kept a daily journal to track her reactions. Third we went to the allergist. From the scratch test we identified other allergies and dust mites was the main one. No real food allergies were found, but we found a few she was intolerant of via the elimination diet. We got all those dust mite covers and went crazy trying to get it out of the house as much as possible. Within days, the vocal tics lessened. Fourthly, we added magnesium (natural calm), flax oil, and more vitamin c to supplement her. I replaced the flouride multivitamins from her old pediatrician with a vegetarian whole food based one (natures plus.. only if your child is not allergic to citrus fruits). I got the ok from her dentist. She will do the annual flouride at the dental office and brushes with a flouride toothpaste, but at least she is not eating it anymore. This helped to lessen her colds and reduce the anxiety and vocal tics more. Fifth, I threw away all the nonstick pans and spatulas. Now I only cook with stainless steel and bamboo spatulas. I try not to microwave as much as possible. We also took her to a chinese nerve doctor to help clear any blocked nerves (kind of like accupuncture without the needles). Now we try to keep a balanced organic diet highlighting magnesium rich foods (spinach, nuts, kiwi, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.), essential fatty acids (flax, fish, acai) amino acids, minerals, immune builders, and foods that eliminate toxins and metals from the body. I taught her not to eat the same foods everyday (ie not the same cereal every morning, not the same fruit every day, etc.) so she can get a balance in her diet. I pack her lunch and make dinner most of the time to control what is in the food. I think this also helps to keep her from getting a reaction from some foods that she may be allergic to, but we do not know about. Knock on wood, now she only has very little vocal tics and some anxiety. This is 85% better than it was before. She is tops of her class and very social. With this pollen season upon us, I notice the tics getting more frequent so that is why I am concerned about the IGg test. She did not test positive to any pollen in the scratch test, but I know it is something in the air. I pray that it does not get worse like last year. I hope this helps. I got tons of help from reading these forums, the ACN book, and nutrition books. Thank you to everyone who posts. It is so hard to find people who understand what I am talking about. I know it sounds like a ton of work. I know you know it is. But... so totally worth it! My daughter is the best trooper because she embraced the approach. She was supportive of it from ground one because she saw how improved she had become and wanted to get better. Now she reads all the labels so she knows what she can have and is learning what foods have what vitamins, minerals, etc and what it will do for her.

Samsmom, I understand your frustration with the doctors, but it really IS just finding the right ones that are open to hearing your ideas. Our pediatrician was regarded as one of the best in the State with a Stellar reputation. She was wonderful in all the sense of the word, except... she was not open to trying our ideas of natural methods of nutrition, diet, allergy control. Basically, she did not believe it would make a difference and I sat in her office and CRIED!! One good thing after our pushing, she finally refered us to a good neurologist who is totally supportive of our natural choice and helps us to monitor our daughter. In the end, we found another pediatrician. It is our children and we have to make the best decision we can for them. Going through this is hard enough and we need to surround ourselves with support.

Good day. I have a 7 year old daughter with TS. With the help of this forum and the ACN book, we have been able to minimize her TS by 85%. With the onset of spring, we notice that her Tics become stronger than in the fall and winter. I suspect that there is some kind of environmental irritant (pollen or something) that is aggrevating her allergy. She already had allergy testing, but not the IGg test. Her allergist would not give her that test since he did not agree it would help any. He says it show whether she has ever been exposed to something (ie if she had milk, she would have IGg level ). Thus, it would only show what she has eaten or breathed her entire life. That does not make sense to me. Her neurologist is open to giving her the test, but he does not know how it will help us in relation to the TICS. Please advise how we use this test to determine what she is intolerant of. Thanks!!

Thanks so much for updating your post. We see the allergist tomorrow who seems open to the idea that allergies can affect tics. I have already noticed that her tics are aggrevated when she is exposed to certain foods and environmental things (ie. milk, tomatoes, and dust mites, msg and high sugar amounts). I will bring the list to our appointment tomorrow for the doctor to work with. Thanks so much for your help!!!

Good day. I am new to this, so please forgive the lack of knowledge. My daughter is 6 1/2 years old and we know that she has a TIC disorder and probably Tourettes (since my husbands family has a history, we know the signs). We have an appointment to see the Pediatric Neurologist (the earliest was in October). In the meanwhile, we had her take the skin scratch test. She only tested positive for dustmites, cats, and tomatoes. She tested negative for dairy, but I have had her on an elimination diet and noticed dairy makes her tic like crazy. Needless to say, I do not feel confident with the scratch test done. I am having a hard time convincing the doctors to give her these other tests. Which ones should I push the doctors for? Also, should I just do all the ones you mentioned without the doctors signature? Who will read the results for me or are they self explanatory. As a side note, the elimination diet.. do you usually see immediate results when reintroduced and is one week enough time. Thanks for any comments.