juls

He once grabbed a white board and drew me a picture of a "normal brain"- his version had patterned, orderly lines. Then he drew his brain going through an explosion- he scribbled hard all over it so it looked like chaos. It usually happens when he is overwhelmed and trying to think of something or do school work. When it happens he can not think straight and needs to chill out.

Yes, thanks so very much! I found it too and just finished reading it. The link between tics, nontraditional ocd (or tourettic ocd), ADHD and sensory processing disorder fits very closely for my son. For us the ADHD and the sensory processing difficulties have almost disappeared. The tics and the tourettic ocd wax and wane. My son also describes "brain explosions" from time to time. These really overwhelm him. I wish I knew what these were and how to stop them...

Thanks! I'll look him up.

My son has had tics for four years (usually verbal tics) but with supplements they are usually pretty controlled. But certain things trigger him to do an odd arm movement. For instance, when someone points at something it causes this arm movement. (It also causes my son to yell at the person to stop pointing.) Yesterday he told me that seeing the leftover glue from a sticker that is hard to remove also causes the same movement. He furiously picks to get the sticky stuff off so that the "tic" stops. Once the problem is solved the "tic" is solved. Is this an obsession? A compulsion? My son calls it a tic but I don't think it fits the definition. I never see classic OCD but I sometimes see this stuff. Comments? Juls

Well I am trying to get him in with a pediatric endocrinologist. Interesting about the BPA in plastics, I was just reading about that in a different context. It seems that precocious puberty is much more common in girls. Thanks for the replies- I'll take more if anyone has ideas. Juls

Hi Folks, I took my 9 yr old son to the doctor today and clearly their are signs of puberty. He has hit a huge growth spurt (97% now) and towers over his classmates at school. He also is growing pubic hair and has had body odor (this has been going on for a while). His older brother (age 11) has none of these things. He has also lost more teeth than his older brother. I am very concerned that he is hitting puberty so early. He is immature for his age. The doctor told me he may also end up being short and unfortunately this kid is already obese and has a huge body frame- he needs all the height he can get! We have been pretty successful at controlling his TS with supplements but now I'm wondering if its something that I am giving him that is causing high testosterone. Here's what we use: SAM-e 200 mg L Tryptophan- 500 mg Mag Taurinate- 166 mg L Taurine- 850 mg Acetyl L Carnitine 500 mg Gaba- 200 mg Zinc- 50 mg Vit C- 1000 mg Fish oil- 1000 mg of omegas Theanine- 200 mg IP 6- 1000 mg Inositol- 2000 mg Melatonin- 2 mg I have been googling for a bit and see that precocious puberty does seem to happen more frequently with autistic kids and he is mildly on the spectrum. Why do these kids have to have all the troubles???? Thanks for any insights, Juls

Hi folks, my son has benefited tremendously from your insight over the years, and I'm looking for guidance again. He is nine and has had mild Tourettes for the last five years. After experimenting with supplements, we have eliminated his tics except for the summer months (I think chlorine or sun screen is the issue in the summer). His tics start mid-June and usually end around November. Nonetheless, even his "bad" months are very tolerable with just a mild verbal tic and occasionally some arm movements. Today ,however, he told me that he has a new problem and it's been going on for three weeks (I had no idea). He says he must say "Thank you Jesus" in his mind over and over, eight million times a day. Poor kid told me that he knows prayer is good but he thinks this is bad and he wants it to stop. Up until now he has never has classic OCD, just some "stuckness"- where he gets locked on something he has to get or has to do and thinks about it until he gets its. But these are not repeated things like this prayer and they are not unwanted thoughts. Right before this new manifestation, I ran out of Magnesium Taurinate and had to buy a new brand before our vacation. That has been the only supplement change. I will be buying the old brand tonight and I hope that that makes the difference for him. But I wanted to know if anyone has suggestions for supplements that might stop a repeated thought like this prayer. The only other change in his life that I can think of was that he had bronchitis and ended a course of antibiotics about two weeks prior to this new problem. I have been giving him probiotics though. Thanks in advance! Juls

I give 2 capsules a day, one in the AM and one in the PM. My son is also 9 but weighs 99lbs. Actually, I'm glad you made me reevaluate this right now. My guy is tic free because of his supplements from October through mid-June. The tics come back in June and last through the summer even with his supplements though. We've had this pattern for several years. I'm pretty sure that swimming in our chlorinated community pool is the culprit, but he loves to swim and his summer tics are not too bad (mostly a verbal squeak). The OT and the exercise from swimming outweigh the negative of the tics in his case, so we let him swim. Nonetheless, I think I will up his Magnesium Taurinate to three capsules for the summer. I had been on a mission to decrease the number of supplements he takes, because he gets sick of swallowing so much. I had him dropped from 20 pills down to 13 but in the summer he clearly needs more support. As for other Magnesium, he also takes espom salt baths after swimming and sometimes drinks Calm. Juls

Yes, this is what we have been using for a while. It seems to work well for us. Juls

Thanks for catching my mistake, you are all correct, I shouldn't be giving the IP-6 with food or with the other supplements! As far as why I am using it, I believe I chose IP-6 after initially using Inositol and reading that IP-6 was the better choice. I made the switch a while ago and I have been looking tonight to find my source, I believe it may have been recommended in one of Dr. Amy Yasko's publications. I was using it primarily for anxiety/OCD but by giving it incorrectly it may be doing unintended harm. Thanks for catching this mistake. Juls

I've been following this board for about three years and have learned a ton but I don't post much. My son started with tics four years ago when he was five. He also has some mild OCD and the tendency to get "stuck" or obsess on the things he loves (currently Webkinz for instance). He can also be a difficult kid to manage at times. Supplements have done wonders for his tics but less for his OCD and mood and sometimes he would get really tired of swallowing so many pills each day. After tweaking and experimenting over time I have him down to this regiment and it has been working extremely well for a period of months now, so I though I would share: AM Before Food (2 pills) Sam-E 200 mg L-Tryptophan w/B-6 500 mg - this has been fabulous for his mood AM With Food (8 pills) IP-6 500 mg Efa Gold Mood Aid w/vit E -500mg EPA Omega 3 Magnesium Taurinate -83mg of Mag and 891 mg of L-Taurine L Taurine- 850 mg Acetyl L carnitine- 500 mg zinc- 50 mg Vit C -500mg Vit B complex - various amounts Vit C 500 mg PM With Food (3 pills) IP-6 500 mg Efa Gold Mood Aid w/vit E -500mg EPA Omega 3 Magnesium Taurinate -83mg of Mag and 891 mg of L-Taurine PM Bedtime (1 pill) Melatonin 1 mg As for diet, we have moved to mostly organic foods and we limit artificial stuff as much as we can, but at this point we are not vigilant. I have played around with GFCF but not had results. I have noticed that his tics are often made worse by chlorine water and swim season is a about to start so we may have a regression (we did last year). Currently however, we have been tic free for months with minimal OCD, and a mild level of fixations. Best of all is the cheerful mood. He is down to 14 pills a day and at one point he was over 20. When I first began researching I looked at Bonnie's program and was put off at how many pills would need o be swallowed. Instead, I moved slowly adding things a bit at a time until one day I made a direct comparison between what we were doing and Bonnie's plan. I was shocked to see that I was almost replicating her program and my son was now swallowing 20+ pills. We were having a lot of success with tics but needed to focus on mood. My son was also very weary of all the pills. That's when I added the L-Tryptophan and began reducing his load to what I felt were probably the most essential I may next eliminate the 850 L Taurine and see if that is tolerated and then possibly do the Sam-E and the zinc every other day. Clearly every child is different, but I wanted to encourage folks to keep plugging away and tweaking to find what works best. I am so grateful that we are where we are right now and I am deeply thankful for the resources of this board. Juls

I'm a regular reader of this site but I rarely post. My son (age 8) has TS and some of the issues that accompany it. When I first found this site a few years back I learned of Bonnie's vitamins but felt I could never get my son to take all those pills. I also wasn't ready for the expense. But slowly I began to add supplements to my sons life based on what I was reading. I was fueled by the results I was getting. At this point my son swallows 20 supplements a day and his tics are extremely mild, nonexistent on most days in fact. He is very compliant with taking these supplements because he has seem the results. Just recently I looked at Bonnie's vitamins again and did an excel spreadsheet to compare what I was using to her program. I was shocked to see how close the lists were! The amount of supplements to swallow was almost identical too. Over time, I had come up with a very similar program for my son. Based on this I'd have to say that starting with Bonnie's supplements might be a great place to begin. As for doctors I can't help. We've seen many doctors but none that I feel have the knowledge I am looking for. I keep pursuing this though. We have cleaned up our diet as well, but we still have a long way to go. My son LOVES food and strongly resists diet changes. After the new year I am going to remove dairy for a few weeks and see what happens. I think extreme diet changes will be a huge challenge for us as this kid is prone to sneaking food. I have no doubt it is what he needs- not for the tics but for his other issues- but I'm not sure I'm ready for the huge battle that this is likely to bring about. So keep up your research and take baby steps if you have too. You can make a difference in your son's life (and maybe you husband's too). I know the info is quite overwhelming but I'm sure glad it's available! Juls

One huge area that I wish I could resolve with my son is his muscle tone. My son is very large for his age- both tall and big boned. He is also very, very strong. But his body is like dead weight. When he rests his arm on me it's so heavy. He has been dead weight since he was an infant. He also has trouble with his body in space. I used to joke that his head was like a bowling ball and it would inevitably bang into me almost daily when he was small enough to sit on my lap. He's a bit floppy, but not as much as I would expect. He loves to bang into thing or press against things because he is under sensitive. He is like bam-bam on the Flintstones. Do any of your TS kids fit this description? Anyway to help this dead weight issue? We've done OT but this problem hasn't gone away? I think it's a neurological issue. Are there supplements that could help? Juls

My sons tics were at there worst a year ago. He was clearing his throat all the time and loosing his voice from it. His arm tic was also bad at this time. The severity of the tics was becoming very worrisome to me. We played around with supplements adding them bit by bit. In January I added L-Carnitine along with vitamin C to what we already had in place and the tics all disappeared quickly. It was amazing! This was tested in March when he stopped all supplements for three days and all the tics came back strong until he was back on the supplements for two weeks. Then the tics disappeared again until summer time when they came back mildly. I think chlorine is the trigger but he loves to swim so I'm not willing to stop the swimming. Here it is Oct and the tics have still not disappeared, but they are so very, very mild compared to when he is off the supplements. They are not a big concern at this point. I do still tweak his supplements in hopes of lessening some of his OCD tendencies and mood issues.

Thanks, that was exactly what I was wondering. I had just read a book about TS that talked about how the tics change and I was curious why our were so static. Perhaps this is not uncommon when meds are not used. Juls