Chemar

According to my references (I just went and checked again) it is possible for candida, which is generally found in the digestive tract, to infect other organ systems, especially in immuno-compromised individuals, or those who have been exposed to antibiotics. quoting- In other situations is can also grow in the skin, eyes, genital area, and mouth

Hi Claire it was hard at first but we simply dont use any preserved food anymore.... also, after our naturopath gave us a lesson on the toxins carried in pork flesh....it was easy to say bye bye to bacon.... which we all really used to love! Pigs dont eliminate the same way other animals do. Nuff said.

sodium nitrate/nitrite is a food preservative. We avoid anything that has it or other preservatives in. Aged cheese is cheese that is "mature"......so gorgonzola and roquefort (blue cheese) would be ...err....very mature My family dont like "smelly" cheese, except for Parmesan grated on pasta. I believe mozzarrella is mildest, followed by Gouda and mild cheddar. In general the smellier the more aged!!

one of the insiduous things about candida is that it can thrive in so many of the body's organ systems.....as long as it has food, moisture and warmth....it grows! Even newborns can have it suddenly flare up as thrush in their mouths!! And of course the genital variety is the most common one. It may well be that your son didnt have the intestinal yeast Claire....but that it was growing in his urinary tract instead. That was why our naturopath insisted on Blood Tests for Candida as he felt that was the only surefire way to ascertain it's presence. In that excellent book "The Yeast Syndrome" by John trowbridge and Morton Walker, they claim that a large majority of our known illnesses can be attributed to yeast somewhere in our bodies. I even know of some alcoholics who were able to quit drinking by eliminating the yeast that was causing them to crave the alcohol!!

if that is the line you are referring to, I just dont quite translate it the same way, efgh! That does not say to me that waxing and waning cycles are "normally 3 months"...maybe I am missing something? In all honesty, I just dont see how they can even make the statement they have...my son has had waxing for a day or two and then has sometimes had a tic last months!!!!! To us, waxing and waning is far more synonymous with the coming and going of various tics, rather than the total stopping or starting of tics per se.

efgh I think if someone could put a finger on waxing and waning cycles they would be our hero forever. I dont know where you read about "normal" 3 month cycles? but I have never heard anything like that. In answer to your main question to me YES my son still waxes and wanes and still has trigger reactions.....howver, the tics are now MILD (a few vocal sounds like "EH!" or "UH" and very slight simple motor tics...shoulder twitch, slight facial grimace ) Before , his tics were very complex and often painful, even the vocal ones, and he had coprolalia, palilalia,echolalia........you name it, if it was in the TS spectrum of symptoms, he had it. If he eats MSG or coloring it gets more intense, and when he is ill or stressed it gets to be more frequent, and of longer duration too. However, even in a mild and waning phase, he does have tics every day, sometimes not noticeable to anyone but himself....HE HAS TOURETTE SYNDROME remember...not just transient tics. I asked my husband and he agrees that he has tics every day too, even if just a muscle tightening or somthing else that simple.

Good point Jennifer. My son really handles chocolate well too.....and we also use mainly dark and only good companies, organic pure etc.

Hi efgh I dont believe that mozarella cheese would be considered aged.... My son certainly doesnt have what I would classify a HYPER brain....that isnt how I understand the mechanisms underlying TS.....it is the dopaminergic system that is the underlying issue. I can see where kids with comorbid ADHD would because of the functional hyperactivity. The only "sedative" that my son tolerates is chamomille...... and the only thing that helps him sleep is his 5HTP when we tried the melatonin, valerian, passiflora......all made him tic more and restless/groggy. However, others have found relief from melatonin(eg Claire's son on the low dose) and Passiflora (egmy husband and friends with TS kids) I know only bad reports on valerian. Anyway, I am not aware of the research underlying the "sedatives" feeding yeast....my understanding has always been that they thrived mainly on sugars, or when we kill off the good bacteria by antibiotics and bad diet. However, I see in this article that he refers to toxic sedative chemicals .....yeast produces toxins in the body and these result in fatigue, exhaustion, sluggishness, poor concentration etc etc...I feel he is referring far more to the avoidance of foods that contain sedatives that would STIMULATE the yeast to produce more of it's toxins Still, I think this case study is very interesting, PRIMARILY for it's results on the improvement of the boy's TS/OCD symptoms with yeast elimination.

Just to clarify.......St John'sWort and 5HTP both raise seratonin and so they should only be used in combination with a physician's guidance, or at minimal dose for both. My son DOES take the two together ....he uses the SJW in the morning(300mg capsule which delivers 0.9mg of the active ingredient, Hypericin) and then takes 50mg of 5HTP at night. this doseage and combination was recommended by our physician, as the 5HTP made my son drowsy when taking it in the morning .... his recommendation was that if one is using the two combined, each should be started at minimal dose and then can be gradually elevated till the right effect is achieved. in my son's case, the minimum dose of each worked fine...but eliminating either one reduced the positive effect of the other. It is specifically the combination of 5HTP OR St John's Wort WITH SSRI prescription drugs that is VERY DANGEROUS as it causes seratonin spiking...... as to the other excellent suggestions made in Claire's post.....VERY worth looking into...specifically mold, heavy metal toxicity, candida (yeast) overgrowth, pesticide or other chemical toxicity, excessive dustmite exposure and...the old nasties...artificial food coloring, artificial sweeteners and MSG...... all of these are known to us as triggers not just for my son's tics, but also to his OCD

efgh the problem with malt is that it is known to promote candida growth I found a really good article the other day on yeast and tourette syndromen and this docotr specifically mentions barley malt as something to eliminate while treating yeast in a young TS patient http://www.nutritioninstitute.com/Tourette...s_Syndrome.html

I am just heading out so cant post long, but, seeing as you havent found the sam-e or GABA helpful.....maybe try the Inositol(500mg/day) it is the most widely used supp for OCD and interacts well with 5HTP Good to take VitB6 and zinc with it.......some brands come with B6 added if the sam-e didnt help....maybe the pure methinine will? back later

Dear Ronna Reading your precious experience with answered prayer was so wonderfully inspiring. It also made me remember when my son was going thru that year of crisis after crisis, and I would sometimes be driving in the car having just dropped a sad and despondent boy at school, so worried, so afraid.........I sometimes had to pull the car off the road as the tears were blocking my vision. well, I usually have the car radio turned to z88.3..our local "Positive Hits" station( http://www.zradio.org/ )............ and on one day...when I was sooooooo low ....as I was sitting there crying and saying over and over "Oh God, please help my son!" .......I heard the Mark Schultz song "He's my son" for the first time.........a prayer song he wrote when his own son was desperately ill...........something happened in my heart that day and I truly did hand the burdon for my son, with of all my fear and worry and anxiety and sorrow over to the Lord...."Cast your cares upon Him, because He cares for you!"(1 Peter 5:7) I called our church office right then on my cellphone, and asked the Pastor to pray with me on the phone and from that day on, things began to turn around. I had been carrying the load myself before that, but when I truly trusted God to intervene, He did!! Shortly after that my son came to a different place in his relationship with the Lord too....instead of feeling like he was being punished and made to suffer unfairly, and that God couldnt love him if he had allowed this to happen to him.......well, he humbled himself and accepted that he was "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps139:14) and acknowledged that " ...... all things work together for good to those who love God.....(Rom8:28) Everything changed then! He had the raction to Zyprexa and came of all meds and started the supps etc and look where we are today! But, more than just the physical and emotional restoration that I have seen in my son....it is the spiritual that has been the source of his strength in life.... many of you know how he went on that Youth Mission trip to Nicaragua to build and orphanage last summer and that he does Homeless Ministry.....they make sandwiches and collect clothes etc to give to the streetkids in the downtown parks here on Saturday nights. This summer they are going on an inner city ministry to Philadelphia. He is overflowing with caring and compassion for other kids who are suffering in anyway, and wants to spend his life helping kids. That day when I cried my heart out before God by the side of the road....little did I know the dramatic effect that my prayer was going to have on my son's life. What a Faithful and Mighty God we serve!! For anyone who hasnt heard it, and is agonising over their loved one suffering...do try to get hold of that song by mark Shultz called "He's my son" here are the lyrics for now

efgh my kids went YUCK when I tried Carob! I know some people really like it tho.

Hi Searching SO glad you have also found benefit in using the 5HTP How much are you taking per day My son takes 50mg (14yo, 145lbs) but I belive it is ok to go up to 100mg. It is also beneficial to take Inositol and GABA and either SAM-e or Methionine....they each work differently and seem to help my son thru the spectrum of things resulting from OCD......all are available at health stores...the SAM-e is sometimes pricey which is why we have used NOW brand Methionine instead. You can read up on them all at iherb's encyclopedia http://www.iherb.com/hs.html keep us posted as to how things are going...... do you find you are sleeping well since starting the 5HTP? all the best to you.

MSG in Doritos.........BIG TIME TIC TRIGGER

Frank you can also get Ginko in tablets My son uses those

Hi Heather you wont see the "edit" on any one else's posts...only your own. If you werent signed in on that other one, you cant edit it but you could email Sheila and just tell her the words you want edited.....as the moderater I THINK she can edit our posts or even the entire thread dont worry about it tho....

hi efgh I am not fully up on the biochemistry of chocolate so this is just based on my limited knowledge...... Why be concerned about caffeine in chocolate? as ONE ounce of milk chocolate contains the same amount of caffeine found in a cup of decaffeinated coffee! There is slightly more theobromine than caffeine (similar family) but one would have to eat a ton of chocolate to feel that stimulant effect! I give my son the dark chocolate mailnly because it contains less SUGAR and fats and other additives than most milk chocolates do....my son tolerates dairy well so that is not the reason I choose dark over milk. Dark chocolate does contain more good stuff IMHO, and also increases seratonin, albeit minimally. Too much chocolate can have a negative effect by also increasing dopamine, and that is not good for tics. Also, my family just tends to prefer the taste of dark choc... I like Ghirardelli best for purity and quality.

Claire I am going to dig up some research that i did on scientific experiments showing the effectiveness of prayer in healing......it is awesome stuff! I am very busy with work at present but will post it as soon as I can I went to see "The Passion of The Christ" last weekend and, although i too was nervous as I struggle to even read or hear about violence......... however, although it was heart-wrenchingly painful to watch some scenes...still, i know it didnt even come close to portraying the full agony of it all........and the effect on me was profound. I came away strengthened and inspired, and with a depth of renewed Faith. I know there has been criticism in a number of areas...but I found it very accurate re Scripture. My husband is Jewish, tho Messianic...and so I also was sensitive to the criticism in that area....but it was IMHO unfounded, as it has to be understood in the light of Scripture and the fulfilment of God's Covenant with Israel. I would highly recommend the film.

Remember to take your vitamins every day Thank you so much for starting this thread Ronna! I know with certainty that PRAYER has definitely been the BEST MEDICINE for my family

Claire I am happy to chat with you about this anytime....you have my email Claire & Heather It is a good idea to delete specific references to injurious tics....auto suggestion is a big problem for some. efgh I dont have the connection with Duncan's website on this....he does seminars and TSA articles and that is where I have the info on....just to clarify...the coping skills are ones that my son & I devised ourselves...i didnt get that info from Dr.Dunc...what he alerted me to was the fact that trying to make a TS/OCD person suppress can result in even worse stuff...one of the things he points out always is that when a person is forced to suppress tics, OCD, or rage, or frustration, or depression/anxiety etc bursts out. I have clearly seen that with my son he is very kind in replying to emails and so you could ask him for his input as to your specific situation.

Bonnie G has frequently posted on BrainTalk about the importance of maintaining the correct ratio of calcium & magnesium....I dont have the time to do it right now as i am working, but a search there nwould probably bring up the info

Hi Heather I feel for what you have described as it is so scary when there is injury. I am wording my posts in relation to all this very carefully as I dont want to create triggers for anyone. I firmly believe that Haldol played a part in inducing the self injurious compulsive tics, as the serious incident I mentioned in that other thread happened just one month after he started Haldol......and then the addition of Luvox which the docs insisted on when he was released from the hospital truly made things far worse. I would be happy to discuss the actual details of the tics/OCD stuff that was so alarming but would prefer email....I am very wary of too much detail on a board that is read by people for whom things can be triggers. Soft mouthguards and wads of bubblegum are good ways of insulating teeth. Gloves are great for covering hands and nails, and socks,bandages, bandaids etc can be used to insulate other parts of the body. When the need arose, My son wore soft cotton gloves(bought at marching band uniform supplier) for a couple of of weeks...it was so sweet as initially when other kids would ask him why he wore gloves, he would simply say "cos I do! arent they cool?" They just accepted that and he wasnt teased or anything. I bought a number of pairs and would keep them well washed . This was all 4 years ago. Some parents use chin guards, others pad headboards....there are many ways of coping when those kinds of tics or OCDs surface....... from my experience, the most important thing is to try to help without acting distressed....for my son...after the horror of the hospital experience (he developed severe infection because of the bite)...he actually was the one who would come up with the protective ideas...gosh! now that i am thinking back...there were so many!! (I confess i try not to think back to those days too often) But even the knowledge of how bad things could get, wasnt enough to stop those compulsions and tics from still developing. he HAD TO do them, and begged me to understand. I later learned from the psychiatrist who helped him go off the meds and onto the 5HTP (the man was a life-saver!) that a lot of what was happening was that my son was using those tics/compulsions to induce endorphin surges in his brain, which produced a euphoric state. Something about the medication mix was making him crave this endorphin rush. he was initially also given d-phenylalanine to provide these endorphins naturally, and then started the 50mg 5HTP once he was fully withdrawn from Luvox. I hope I am answering clearly enough for you Heather. As i say, i am very willing to continue this in more detail via email if you want to contact me. ALL of these kinds of severe tics/compulsions just disappeared when he came off the meds and it is now over 3 years since he started the 5HTP, and the other supps. yes, he still has tics...but very mild, even when they are waxing...and his OCD still shows in peculiar ways, like organizing things and needing things to be "just right" etc etc.....but nothing alarming....for which this mom is soooooooo very thankful.

Hi Jennifer......just wanted to say sorry we hijacked your thread and got off topic.....we all have a tendency to jump around with our topics dont we Shows again what a great place this is for open converstaion and shared experiences and info back to Body Bio....I know there are many people following your progress there