Chemar

Hi Mary we felt the effect was cumulative...the more time in the pool the longer the resultant tic increase. It reached the point where my son developed hives as soon as he came in contact with chlorinated water (even from the faucets!) epsom baths definitely helped...but we ensured we had faucet filters to clear the chlorine from the tub water too!

Hi just wanted to mention that where omega 3 is anti-inflammatory, Omega 6 actually PROMOTES inflammation which I would think is something you want to avoid in a PANDAS child?

glad to hear things going so well Mary chlorine is one of my son's biggest tic triggers...so much so that he made the choice to stop swimming in chlorinated pools years ago because the tic storm after was just not worth it to him. It got so bad that he would tic and get hives breaking out, even when he tried to rinse off quickly after being in the pool

try Caryn's website as she has lots of great recipes etc there http://healthy-family.org/caryn

Hi honestly, if he is allergic to corn I wouldnt go near it there are many products out there that dont use corn (or its multiple "byproducts")and one can have a very balanced and versatile diet without it what are you wanting to add that has to have corn?

Hi not knowing why your son has tics it is hard to make any comment on what supps are most important as it really does depend on the underlying condition that is causing the tics as my son has TS tics, that is all I can feel confident to comment on from our experience

Jens have you tried green tea or a pure chai? my son finds both really good and the caffeine in them does not seem to cause tic waxing for him if he goes near coffee or caffeinated soda, he tics a lot!

no experience with TMG here at all but it sounds to me like you are having a bad reaction to it...especially as you say this happened before when you took it my son is very happy with the samE, tho I have heard that some young people can get irritable on it and may do better on methionine alone or even possibly N acetyl cysteine my son takes the samE with some inositol

Hi have you ever been checked for possible Crohn's Disease?

following on the advice faith gave you re candida... are you giving a probiotic? I would hope the doctor who prescribed the abx advised you to also give probiotics at least 3 hrs after or before the abx it is also possible that the tics increased because of what is known as "die off" when the antibiotic kills the bacteria and they release toxins. this is known as "herxing" or Herxheimer reaction... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheimer_reaction

I personally think making your own is best 2 tbsp Epsom salts in a saucer of hot water. dissolve and mix well into 1/4 cup aquaphor cream

Hi Letscope I just wanted to point out again that using magnesium and VitB6 is *NOT* homeopathic. I explained on your intro thread what the difference between homeopathy and naturopathy is I am glad you state the medication you are on is working...tho a little confused, as on your other introductory thread you indicated you are STILL having very high anxiety and still stuttering very much??

best let Wikipedia explain it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofeedback

Hi deby as many on the PANDAS forum can attest...it is sometimes necessary to use a different antibiotic. You had posted that he was improving on one, and then it was changed to another and the improvement stopped. to me that would sound like the 2nd antibiotic is not the one he should be on! it is absolutely a very wise thing to also be looking at other potential triggers for his tics. but treating an underlying infection correctly is also important, IF there is proof that the infection exists.

Hi Letscope what I wrote about is NOT homeopathic remedies!!! homeopathy is when the remedy contains minute amounts of the substance that would normally cause the symptoms I wrote of *nutrition* and diet and supplements....which are not in any way the same as homeopathy just wanted to be sure you dont remain confused on that as naturopathic treatment is *very* different from homeopathic treatment!

Hi and welcome many of the TS patients represented here have had a lot of benefit from extra magnesium and a lot use Natural Calm, a powdered "ionic" magnesium citrate supplement that makes a very calming drink, soothing in general and very beneficial in reducing tics. it comes in a number of forms as part of the Natural Vitality range http://www.iherb.com/Search?kw=natural+calm another really helpful way to relax and reduce tics is by taking tub soaks (2 cups, tub warm water, soak 20 min) or footbaths with Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate) my son is now 20yo and had very intense tics and OCD/anxiety when younger, but has had almost 10 years of really mild symptoms from careful "clean" diet (avoids artificial/chemical food additives) and correct supplements, with primarily the extra magnesium for tics and natural serotonin boosters for the OCD/anxiety stuff. He likes samE and Inositol best at present for that. an amino acid, l-carnitine, is sometimes found to be helpful for vocal tics, which stuttering falls into I do hope your parents will become more informed so that they can be of support to you. here is a good "overview" of TS in case they may be inclined to read it http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/

oh absolutely! when I say "true" TS is genetic, I dont exclude environmental and other triggers as also being *very* causative in the manifestation of TS symptoms people who have TS likely inherited the genes that make them more susceptible to those triggers.... I know there is a belief that perhaps the switch on of the TS is most often seen in boys in the pre or pubertal years because of the dopaminergic effect of the androgenic steroid hormones. But many kids manifest earlier than that , (and a very very few after 18yo) so that, plus the clear evidence in our TS kids, shows there are many factors that work togetherwith that genetic predisposition to manifest the TS symptoms

Hi John I personally do think it a misnomer to call stims tics....I would think some stims may be tics but not all stims are tics nor are all tics stims...at least the way I understand it for someone with TS, they often experience an almost mysterious waxing and waning of tics, and where one can frequently find triggers for waxing tics...many times there is just no clearly defined trigger or stimulating factor I know some classify TS as being on the autism spectrum and yes, there are areas of overlap, but true TS is a genetic condition related to a malfunction of the dopaminergic system, so usually TS people are triggered by anything that elevates dopamine we have a poster on the separate PANDAS forum here, peglem, whose daughter has Autism and PANDAS and so she may be able to give some insight there.

no experience with hypnotherapy here Deby and I wouldnt expect it to help for TS tics as they are *involuntary* and *neurological* so not something that I feel could be altered by hypno I can see where it may benefit the underlying stress tho I am a bit confused as I thought your child was found to be PANDAS? and so it is unlikely again that you can hypnotize someone with an infection triggered symptom and make the symptom go away..... however, again, if it is more the anxiety issues etc that you are looking to treat, perhaps that could help. But I personally think it unlikely that a PANDAS child can be helped very much by being hypnotized JMHO

Karen, just click on the drop down menu next to Sheila's name to the left of her post ...there you will see the option to "send a message"

hi it depends on the type of tic ie the root cause of the tics ....tics from TS are believed caused by malfunctioning in the basal ganglia/dopamine receptors. Tics caused by other issues have different neurological mechanisms at work my TS son has sensory integration dysfunction and reacts to certain sensory stimuli....but not necessarily by increased tics

hi Deby just wanted to let you know the date of this thread is from 2008 and Heather hasnt posted here since so you may not get a reply

I am not sure who this is posted to as my son has never been on penicillin augmentin??? He has penicillin allergy

Hi I think you may have misunderstood my post I mentioned that my son also has Crohn's Disease and that is autoimmune and inflammatory, so therefore we need to modulate and not boost his immune system, as well as limit anything that promotes inflammation altho TS tics may be related to immuno issues, and possibly inflammation too, as yet there is no clear evidence that it is autoimmune.

Hi and welcome 5HTP was like a miracle for my son when he was in a severe state with disabling tourettic OCD At that time l-tryptophan was still not FDA approved, but I have heard from many satisfied users since however, different people react differently to both 5HTP and l-tryptophan and some people just cannot tolerate them. When my son tried the 5HTP again some years later, he got very edgy on it. So even within an individual it can have varied effects Inositol is a B vitamin that has been found very helpful with OCD so you may want to discuss this with your physicians. Also methionine and samE can help, and some people also like NAC looking at your supp list, it did occur to me that the taurine is rather high? we were told to give only 500mg a day...but perhaps your son needs more. Have you tried Epsom Salts baths (magnesium sulfate?) They are really helpful to relax tics and the sulfates also help with detox I have a link in my signature below on what we did to help my son