We have three daughters. The oldest (27) and the youngest (almost 14) have Tourette. The middle one (24) who actually had issues with strep and had severe Scarlett Fever as a small child is the only one of our children who doesn't have Tourette Syndrome. I investigated PANDAS on my own and through both our Pediatric Neuroligists, and although there is plenty of data that viral or bacterial infections can exaserbate exisiting tic disorders, there isn't a lot of peer reviewed data that these types of infections can cause them.
Most children have strep several times during childhood, most do not develop tic disorders. In our family, my husband had Tourette (severe in childhood and adolescence and mild symptoms since he got out of his early teens) and I have OCD and severe chronic migraines, so there is a familial line there. However, when investigating our family history, many of my husband's family members vehemently denied TS symptoms, but we have found out later that many of them have it, and many in my family deny OCD and yet many of them have this condition. Sadly, many people will deny having a disorder or lie about other family members having disorders.
Simply because "A hapened then B happened" does not always mean that "A caused B." I found myself off course too many times when our now 27 year old dd first displayed TS, I used all kinds of ineffective "natural" remedies, beleived relationships between "A and B" that had NO relationship and in the long run, I wasted a lot of time chasing wild geese, when I could have been pursuing avenues that could actually help my daughter.
With our youngest, who also have TS, we use a Pediatric Neurologist, and use supportive home therapy, such as Magnesium Oil and a back massager. We also use prescription meds, as we found, at least in our situations that using purely Natural remedies was not helpful and wasted a lot of time and plenty of money that we could have used pursuing our daughter's illness from a peer reviewed, well tested, proven medical perspective.
It took me years to come to this realization, I wish I had learned earlier, as I was not only wasting MY time, but was wasting my daughter's childhood looking for answers and "cures" in all the wrong places.
Our oldest dd is now off all her meds and her TS has stabilized to a livable level, however, she needed prescription meds for years just to function and be able to be comfortable and not in pain, My husband takes no meds either, except for some OTC pain meds when his tics cause severe muscle pain. But, he took no meds as a child and his childhood was awful from the TS.
I hope you find some things that help your children. No one regimen will help all people with the same condition, and what works for one person may not work for an other. If I can just save one family from going around in circles like we did, wasting time our daughter did not have because we "didnt' want to put our child on drugs" then I will be happy.
Also, simply because few people in your families admit to also have TS doesn't mean that no one has it. Many people have mild TS and don't know it and some refuse to discuss it. Also, it is not uncommon for TS to appear in a child who has no hereditary predisposition to it.
We have found, with over 50 year of Tourette history (my dh showed sx in toddlerhood) in our family and more than 26 years battling it with our own children, that medical science has a lot of good to offer children and others who are suffering from this most debilitating condition.
Your mileage may vary. Good luck. I hope your children have some sucess and fewer tics in the near future.
