Pilbara

My son is 8 turning 9 this year. His tics started to show in 2015 at aged 7 but on reflection he had a hard eye tic earlier. It's now been over 12 months so officially he meets the diagnosis for TS. We have no history of tics in our family, however my father and aunt both have an obsessive compulsion for things to reach a certain number. I won't call it OCD because it has no impact on their life.

My son has had both verbal and motor tics such as: eye blink, teeth chomp, various facial twitches in different areas (the eyebrow one was very cute), neck roll, neck vertical flipping back and forth, hard head turn to the right, shoulder shrug, hand clapping, then the hand clap and double thumbs up. Verbally he has had high yelping, "ah" sound, "oh cool" "ok ok", stuttering and various word repeating. It's always evolving, they come and go and something new turns up.

I was the frantic mother when the tics arrived, everything I found on the internet and you tube all made me believe that worse was yet to come. I was extremely afraid of what lied in front of us. Then I found this site and ACN. Totally life changing. I read Sheila Book "Natural Treatment for Tics and Tourette's" (a must read for anyone new to tics) and we started our journey into investigation.

I work with a Naturopath and armed with all the information I had gathered I turned up and said what I wanted investigated and what I believe may assist to lessen the severity of the tics. So hair analysis showed toxic levels of Aluminium (which lodges in the central nervous system and brain. He was deficient in Zinc and other essential minerals, which often happens when heavy metals are in the system. No allergens. Below is what we have done in our home and our supplement routine (they may be useful for others in Australia)and most of these are in power form. All of these are added to a juice in the morning and afternoon.

CalmX (Metagenics) which has magnesium, Taurine, Glutamine, various B vitamins plus others

Mineral Essentials (Metagenics), speaks for itself.

Multicare for Kids (Metagenics) Multivitamin

Chelatox (Orthoplex) to detox from Aluminium (tablet I crush)

Gut Relief (Nutritiion Care)

Probiotic (Neways) you need a good brand with over 20 billion.

Nerve formula (naturopath herbal liquid)

Bowel & Liver tonic (naturopath herbal liquid)

In the home:

Chemical free - it's very easy to do these days as there are so many alternatives on the market and vinegar in great. We avoid any exposure to pesticides and artificial deodorants commonly found in homes.

Food - always organic where possible, meat is organic grass fed where possible. We avoid some food such as corn syrup and MSG which are triggers. Others things like artificial flavours and preservatives, I try and reduce the best I can for simple health reasons, but they don't seem to be triggers as such.

Air Purifiers in the home - yes the home can be a very toxic environment, cleaning the air is good for the whole family. Our house was new when the tics started and you can read about the dangers of Volatile Organic Compound in your home, it's everywhere.

Replaced all cookware (glass is best and I found Neoflam which I'm currently using).

I'm happy to say that today my son's tics are hardly noticeable. Most people don't even know he has TS. I see the occasional tic, but they are minor, are not constant and don't have any impact on his life. He also has a learning disorder, Irlen Syndrome, as a comorbid condition.

I can honestly say I am thankful for my son's TS. If not for him and his body's inability to cope with the modern world, I never would have questioned how we live, what we use, what we eat. It has been such a learning experience that has truly opened my eyes for the better.

I hope sharing this story helps others new to TIC know that things can get better, that each child's journey is different and will required a different approach, but there is hope and many have found similar success.