cara615

Another update. Things were going so well for a couple of days after the HANDLE therapy and now they are out of control! my son has started a full out scream vocal tick and its constant. He also has a grunt and yelp and his normal sound that I can not describe. He vascillates between all of them. I am not sure why it has gotten so intense? Could it be detox from the gluten free diet? Its been 3 weeks now on the diet and his behavior has been nothing short of amazing. He is doing great in school, less frustration, more engagement, happy, etc. Except the tics are worse??? Can any one explain this? Maybe its allergies? I have noticed that he still has excema so obviously we have not eliminated what is causing the excema. I am very distraught over this as his tics never really bothered me much until I realized that we may be dealing with TS. once I had that in my head, everything has gotten much worse.

One more thing, if its not TS then what else could it be? Please don't tell me one of those degenerative neurological diseases. I asked my pediatrician about that and she told me that those are so very rare. Should we be testing to rule those out?

I have a funny feeling its not TS either. But if we went to a neuro he would give us a diagnosis of TS since my son has had motor and verbal tics for over a year. HANDLE was $400 - definitely not prohibitive. We get a 1 week, 3 week and 6 week follow up. I do the exercises on him everyday. My son is not on the spectrum. He does have SPD to a mild degree though. I just can't believe and hope its not a cooincidence that on the very day I started the HANDLE exercises, his tics diminshed drastically. Very interesting and I will check into the other posts on this site. Thanks.

Wanted to give an update on our journey. We are currently on glutamine, probiotic, cod liver oil and GLA with a gluten free diet. Behavior has improved. Less sensory, more engaged, les frustrated and less anxiety. His teacher even commented on the improvements! The tics, however are still there throughout the day. Mostly vocal right now but I see he tries to suppress his head jerk by sticking his hand up to his neck and rubbing it. We added Magnesium glycinate to the mix and the tics got worse. This mag was prescribed to us by our homeopathic MD. Since I had tried mag/cal with him before and his tics got worse then, I was assuming it would be the same situation. I was right. So we going to stop the mag. But here is where it gets pretty interesting. I met for a consult with a HANDLE practitioner this past weekend. She evaluated my son for about 2 hours. The next day I went back and she taught me about 15 different neurological exercises to perform on my son throughout the day, everyday. I started them after practicing them all on myself for one day. The exercises are so simple it seems as if you aren't really doing much. Its kind of hard to believe that these exercises would ever have any sort of effect on the brain. But oh,,,,,,, Within 3 days my son is now back to playing with his friends on the playground after school (he had stopped and was preferring to play alone) and the tics have decreased dramatically. His teacher came up to me and said, "whatever you are doing, keep it up!". I asked the HANDLE practitioner if its possible to see results this quickly and she said it is possible. Yesterday was a recital in school where they had to get up and sing and I think he was nervous all day because yesterday he was ticcing a lot. But today i can count on one had the number of tics he has had. Is this a fluke? Could HANDLE be the answer?

I will tell you that he would complain of a stomach ache after every single meal. Yesterday we had no gluten and there were not any stomach aches. We are still on dairy and so far no tummy issues. Today is day 2 of the glutamine/probiotic/fish oil. 2 more days and I add in Mag/taurine. Cautiously optimistic as I have already seen a lessening of tics. Although it could be unrelated....

We had a lengthy appointment with our new holistic/integrative medicine pediatrician yesterday. She did some chinese medicine testing on my son. It came up as digestive/spleen/bladder which is his immune system. She is suspecting leaky gut caused by a food sensitivity. But more testing still needs to be done. We will be testing for food sensitivities, heavy metals, candida, and everything else under the sun. For now she has recommended that we start on glutamine and a heavy duty probiotic (for gu repair), protein supplement, magnesium + taurine, carnitine (brain), and GLA for metabolism because he came up iodine deficient. In addition an omega 3 supplement (which we already do everyday). I am to introduce 1 supplement every 3 days to make sure there are no adverse effects. Today we started with the glutamine and the probiotic (since we have been doing a probiotic already). We also have to slowly go gluten free. I am also trying to go low dairy as well but its hard as my son is so tiny and needs as many calories as he can get. Today has been day 1 and we had eggs and bacon with a side of organic yogurt and OJ for breakfast. Organic grass fed hotdog and gluten free white bread with apple sauce for lunch. Snacks were gluten free cheddar crackers. I need to get my son to drink a smoothie this way he can get all he supplements at once and not notice them. i have been preparing him about the smoothies, Hopefully he will comply. He is 5 and a terrible eater. I mean TERRIBLE. the doctor says that she is seeing A LOT of this leaky gut and kids with sensory issues, tics and many disorders along the autism spectrum. She thinks there is a huge connection. However, she says each case is very individual and that there is no set cocktail of supplements that will help each child. So we are going to have to "play" around until we get the right recipe. Hopefully all the testing will lead us in the right direction. I am relying on a lot of prayer as well. .

Thanks Chemar, we have only given him 1/8th of a tsp for 4 days with good results. i was thinking of keeping him on it until schools out and then let the summer take its course. Not sure how to wean down from 1/8th of a tsp but I will try. As for the Magnesium, maybe he does not need the calcium. Maybe I just need to give him magnesium alone. I have the name of a great holistic pediatrician that I am going to take him to. I need to be under a physicians care with all these supplements and his regular pediatrician can only help so much. At first she said GABA was great! But when I asked her how long can I give it to him for she did not know. That post from Dr wellness is scary because he mentions that after coming off of GABA the body becomes deficient in it! makes me think i could be hurting him by evn giving it to him. i would rather get the whole magnesium supplement correct because that IS something I can give him long term without harmful side effects. Have you heard of cases where just Magnesium alone or magnesium Taurate helped better than the one with calcium? By the way, thank you for consistenly answering all my questions

It is Magnesium (as citrate) 720mgs in a serving (115mg as elemental), calcium (as citrate) 1200mg (252mg elemental), Vit D 400IU and Boron (as citrate) 750mcg. its by tropical oasis. I am seeing an upsurge in the frequency of his tics since I gave it to him this morning. Not sure if I should try again tomorrow or just discontinue. As for the GABA, that really seemed to calm him down what are the side effects of long term use?

I started my son on Mag/calcium supplement today. There is 720mg in a table spoon and I gave him less than a tsp. I am seeing an uptick in the tics this morning. Not sure if this is to be expected. Should I keep at it? Does it take time before it starts lessening the tics? Right now he has a vocal tic that I can't even try to explain with words, its like a rolling of the tongue noise. I do realize the potential that it may not do anything for him but I am trying to he hopeful. Should I add in tic tamer with the Mag/cal? Is that too much for him?

Chemar - I also read your protocol and see you did use GABA!! But only for anxiety and for a short while. my son has tons of anxiety and he picks his cuticles constantly. I don't necessarily link picking cuticles with tics but i do know it falls into the self injurious behavior bucket. Cole does not exhibit any other OCD like behaviors so I am not quick to call this OCD either. I think its due to his anxiety level. With all that said, is there a health risk with using the GABA for long periods of time? I am seeing positive results so I hope I don't have to stop. Our magnesium supplement is coming in the mail today so I am very exited to try it. I hope we see increased progress. i may sound positive in my posts but I am extremely worried about Cole and am finding myself in a bit of a depression ever since I have gained clarity about his sensory issues and tics. I have been taking GABA too and I find its very relaxing for me as well. Also, how can you determine if tics are severe moderate or mild? And if Cole's tics are mild now does that mean they will get more severe? I have read that they will but was wondering if there were other situations where they remained the same... thanks for your insight Cara

Chemar, thanks for posting. I am so glad that you found success with holistic therapies. How well were you able to manage his symptoms througout his childhood? Did he have adverse social affects or was he able to manage his symptoms to a point where others did not take notice? How is he doing now? They say that in many cases TS tends to subside as one psses through adolescense, was this true for your son?

Hi I'm cara, mom of 5 year old twin boys. My son Cole is showing lots of sensory issues and has been having motor and vocal tics for over a year. I could take him to a neuro an get a diagnosis for TS if I wanted to but I am choosing to hold off. His tics are not affecting his daily life. Whats affecting him is his anxiety level and sensory issues. I am embarking (thanks in part to reading tons of stuff on this forum) on a holistic approach to heal Cole. I don't want to label him just yet. I want to treat his symptoms by getting to the root of the issue and hopefully healing him through diet/supplements and neuro exercises. I know this is a journey and will take time but I must say that I have already had some success with GABA. He has taken it for 4 days and the number and frequency of his tics has gone way down. Even his teacher said that she has seen a "different" child in class because his frustration levels have dimished markedly. Has anyone else seen this or used GABA? We have done a Bioscan on Cole which tests hi hair and skin for a host of things such as heavy metals, candida,toxins, nutrient deficiencies, etc. We will know results in a week. I will keep you posted on what comes back as we will be treating each issue through diet and supplements. We are also starting OT and possibly HANDLE therapy as well. With sensory issues, these exercises can be amazing at regulating a childs nervous system. I don't know the exact cause of Cole's tics. If its TS then I am sure its genetics but i turly believe that we can minimize the effects of this disorder by healing the nervous system. i am committed to creating this for my son. i have seen with my own eyes, children that have ben healed holistically and I have read testimonies from people that have done this. I think its possible. You all may think I am nuts for holding off on the diagnosis. I would just rather wait and see how Kindergarten goes this September before I rush to get an IEP. If he needs one, I will be the first to get one (our school will give him one of he has TS) but if I can heal his nervous system first then we are ahead of the game. So, I'm just saying hi and I am praying that there are lots of you that have seen success with holistic healing. All the best Cara