mommyof2

Hello Well first I must say for a few days I was so excited. My ds (10) was tic free and I was so happy. for the past 7 years he tics everyday...changing from on to another and recently getting more severe. We had him to the doctor and he said he had complex tic disorder...suggested fish oil or flax seed along with the the B6, Natural calm, and grape seed extract pill We give him each day. He also suggested the melatonin 3mg which really relaxed some tics but found he had no energy to play ball and being a pitcher he needs the speed so we stopped it for a bit. The other day I gave him a half a tablet and the next day my husband took him out for ball practice and again no energy. We will try this again when his season is over for baseball is a big part of him. But as i said the past few days it was none other then his usual tapping his hand on his leg, which is not as obvious as his head shaking, nodding, neck jerking and other hand expressions. I took him for a cranial sacral therapy treatment on monday which I had scheduled for weeks and hated to cancel, figured it would be helping him hitting his leg... Monday night we had a little head jerking...we were home tuesday and he played some gamecube and watched some tv...that night all started again. He was on the Fishoil/falxseed oil mixture vitamin for about a week...not sure if that could be the effect of them or not. When he first started them, the tics did slow down. My real question to you all is I read of the Epson salt baths... how do you give these, about how much salt should you use, and do you fill the tub so their body is completely covered (silly I know) not sure if they should be covered all except head... How long do you usually have them sit in them. And how often do you do them, nightly or as needed. Thanks for any help Mary

Thanks for responding... I should get this next week and will have to check it out. I have used the Melatonin for 2 nights now My ds is so ready for bed now and says he sleeps better. He was going through a bad session of tics with head shaking and nodding as well as lots of hand movements--hitting his leg with his fists.... after the first night the shaking his head stopped...we just have the nodding..he also has been having a facial tic with moving his head forward and smiling... which I told him is okay at least he is smiling at me Mary

good afternoon all I finally made an appt with our doctor to go over my sons tics. i have taken him for cranial sacral therapy and the lady suggested an mri for him to be sure that nothing is going on in his head causing him to go from one tic to another as she gets one to stop another one starts. We went today for his mri and awaiting results. He also suggested trying fish oil or flax seed. I found this on iherb.com with both oils in it.. .did anyone ever try this before: here is the link http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?c=1&pid=2637 He also suggested giving him melatoma sp? to help promote a sounder sleep...it takes him awhile to fall asleep and he is always up early...i know this is normal for kids but with his condition more sleep is good. Right now he is doing alot of head nodding and shaking....and LOTS of facial gestures and jerking his arms---hitting himself on the leg... He has been so lucky through gradeschool with his friends overlooking it all.... 2 days before school was out he got his first mean comment from a girl in his class and it really hurt him. He starts a new school next year and hoping these kids are as kind. I know he started ticing more when he found out that his two bestest friends were put in other groups so when he goes to the intermediate school he will not see them at school anymore...I don't understand why teachers feel it is so important to keep friends separated, can see if they are trouble makers but he is a good kid, good grades and good manners... as are his friends. They know he does better when he is comfortable... but guess they don't think of that when placing kids. Anyways just wondered fi anyone tried these gels or not...waiting on my order to come mary

Thanks for all you inputs...really appreciate it. Oh my the pancake syrup...wow i will have to keep track of that...funny thing is during school I made my son eggs and mini pancakes 2 times a weeks and home made pancakes 2 times and blueberry muffins once. I have been lazy this summer and letting him just eat cereal, oatmeal or poptarts. He love the syrup and when he has eggs he even puts it on them. I had not noticed alot of outburst this summer at the sound of No and thought he was finally growing up...funny thing Monday he had eggs for lunch at my moms with syrup and on Tuesday and Wednesday I made pancakes and eggs at home and all three days we had a big explosion at the sound of bed or a No...wierd.. I will have to try the epson salt baths more often, we did once but he usually likes to get showers. I had done the Cranial Sacral for a while but it was really expensive and when we started to do it with the chiropractic and cranial to be able to run it through my insurance, but still had to pay 60.00 per treatment...I did not see any changes, seemed worse at times. I also do the sitting down after a blowup and explain to him what the blowup cost him, usually punished from something he enjoys, and how much better it would have been to just do what he was asked, such as turn off the tv or time for bed...but i haven't given up still try. I will have to check the inositol and see if that helps at all. again thanks mary

good morning. i have been reading and see that as i always thought, stress is a big factor on tics. My son puts himself under way to much stress and I do find the tics escalade when he is having happy excitement as well. We started him on Natural Calm with Calcium, B6 and grape seed extract. we also give him a Vitamin C tablet each day and took his chewable multivitamin away-not sure if the artifical colors had something to do with it. He i s a very good eater and drinks a glass of V8 fusion each day to get extra fruit and vegetables. And happily have seen some good results. He is not completely tic free but I am able to watch him for a span of time and see his beautiful calm face. He does lift his eyes a bit her and there but does not scrunch up his face like he used to. He was constantly having a tic. Now my question is have you found a herb or product that would help him get his anxiety down a notch. he is a very excitable child, good and bad. I know the Natural calm works for this but wasn't sure if there was something else that had good results also. I would just love to find a way to teach him to deal with the everyday stress he feels, you know like his sister at him and wanting to do things he doesn't...he just bursts into tears or just yells... i explain to him it is not worth getting so excited but next time all over again. Thanks for any input and THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE INFORMATION SO FAR...MY HUSBAND AND I ARE SO HAPPY TO SEE THE CHANGES WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR... Mary

Hello Quetion again....... I am thinking of taking my son for another treatment and wondered how often those of you that go do go. When I started the lady said i will see a difference after one treatment then after that she wanted me to come weekly then eventually biweekly and then monthly...the treatments are expensive so i can't quit do that ...wondered if it is a waste to go if we only go about a month and a half or so apart. Thanks mary

Thanks alot...I will have to order that next time I order it. he has never had any kidney stones so hopefully he won't have a problem with it. Thanks for letting me know. mary

Hello I started the Kids Calm on my son...just wondered how long until you guys see a difference. I know some medicines take a bit to get through the system. I am not seeing any change lately but it has been less than a week. I was just curious if this was something that happens quickly. Also my husband started to use this when he saw it could help with tiredness, not that the fact he doesn't sit still is why he is tired, and he gets some bad headaches. I know they sell just the natural but i hated to buy another until this was used...is this mixture helping him or is it to mild, just for kids Thanks Mary

Thanks everone...yes he does like V8, actually we just started to get the new V8 wtih the fruit and the orange flavor. I just put it in and stirred it up real good and he gulped it down quickly. My husband even tried it...I want to get the adult strenght next time for him, he gets migranes and it might help that. He is still using this while we have it, just makes it stronger than we do for our son. Thanks again for your help mary

Hello I thought I read a thread, can't find it now, on other options to mix this with. I just got this yesterday and mixed it iwth the water but my son did not like it and had a hard time to get it down and had a tummy ache after. I was giving him the magnesium capsles and would open them and mix in his yogurt can this be donw with this also or does it need to be with water to make it work best. Thanks for any help Mary

Hello and welcome I am new to this forum but wanted to suggest something that helped my son. He is 9, he started having minor tics(which we thought were habits) at about 4 or so. they were simple things like blinking, mouth stretching, hand smelling...just enough to make us wonder why are you doing this. Then about a year ago I noticed the arms and shoulders going. We took him for cranial sacral therapy through a massage therapist and all the body twitches stopped. Now we just have facial tics and lately he started a sqeaking noise. I noticed when I took him for the treatments the facial would relax for a few days but when we started to do chiropractic and cranial together to save some money by using our insurance, he would not have the same results. He started the eyes looking up and over, they would tell me he is going through a cycle. I do want to take him again soon just for the cranial sacral therapy and see if it helps the noises...I ask him why he is doing them and he says his throat is tight, which she can do mouth work on hm and it does help. I just recently ordered the kids calm I read about on here and hoping that helps once we start. I have been using magnesium capsles and mixing it with his yogurt but have not seen a change, only done it for about 2 weeks so maybe it takes a bit to get in his system Hope this helps for now...i am sure someone wtih more experience will be along soon with advice Mary

Hello Okay I was reading and reading and now have a question. What is this bonach supplement I have been reading about and is it possible to find magnesium taurine at a gnc store or is it just the oxide there? Is it best just to use the natural calm, i think it is called for a 9 year old or should it be the kids calm? I have been giving my son the magnesium capsules and open them and miss it in his yogurt. But we have only done this for a few days and didn't realize there is a differentce, I have the oxide so that probably isn't helping... Is there a good multivitamin our there that has the supplements needed or should i keep with the one I have that has flouride in that we have perscribed from his doctor. I am not sure what all is in it for I lost my paper that came from the prescription company and it is not on the bottle. thanks for any help you can give me and sorry for all the questions Mary

Hello again...I posted on Friday but it didn't show so i will try again.. First thanks for the warm welcome...It is comforting to know I have place to come with people who understand the problem. I did notice from reading that i started to give him the Mag. but it was the oxide so I am going to either try and find the other kind or try the kid calm vitamins. I will just keep working with him and see where this all goes to. he has been making this nose and when i ask him about it he says his throat feels tight so I might make him another Cranial Sacral Therapy appointment and see if she can loosen it up, I know she did stuff in his mouth before and he said he noticed a change. i am going to try her at her office instead of through the chiropractic because that is when i noticed less success.... maybe it was just timing but we will see. Again thanks for your welcome and for the enormous amount of information on this site. Mary

Hello Everyone I just recently came across you site from a book i bought on tics. I have been dealing with these for so many years now and don't know what to do for my son. He started at about 3 or 4, is 9 now. It started out frist by smelling hands, blinking, mouth stretching. We always thought they were habits and would try and get him to stop and he would just to lead to something else. I really noticed something was wrong within the last year when i would watch him playing and would see him strugging shoulders and moving arms wierd. We took him for Cranial Sacral treatments and all the body jerks stopped but his facial tics will not. He seemed to get some relief from the facial tics for a few days but then would start up. It was getting expensive and the lady doing these had me going through the chiropractic office and only paying a copay but it ended up i had to pay a co pay for the chiropractic and her and it was more than her treatement. My son hated going to the chiropractic, said he didn't like being popped. Also it was at the point of no change at all in him after the treatments and they would just keep saying it is a cycle, for me a really expensive one...60.00 and they wanted to see him every 2-3 weeks. Well I am now trying Magnesium capsles we had from a GNC store. He can't swallow them so i open them and mix with yogurt. Read somewhere yogurt is good to take with these pills. I can't imagine it to be a food allergy because he had these for so many years and his diet changes alot with his likes. We limit him on soda, only caffeine free and only when we go out to eat which is not often or if his dad or i drink one we give him a small amount. I am also not a big one on lots of junk food. Evening snacks are using pretzels or cheese nips. Try and limit chocolate. He is not a big Tv person, only watches some sports and once in awhile watches a little tv before bed but lately TV is barely on and his tics are just as active. he plays a game boy very seldon and that is about it for video games. I did buy him a cd with calming music and tell him to listen to it about 15 minutes before he falls asleep. Haven't seen much effect from that yet. I know the boy puts way to much stress on himself, way to hard on himself....example he is a baseball player and can pitch a perfect inning and come up to bat and strike out and says he is a lousy ball player. His father and I both are very supportive of him and let him know how proud we are of him...doesn't help. I think this summer i am going to take him to the doctor to do an allergy test. I know he does get cold like symptons in spring and fall, not really bad but there might be something there. well sorry for going on and on but if feels good to have someone to talk to. I just am so frustrated. Oh and did I mention now I hear tiny sounds coming from him. Nothing really loud but very distracting to me and his father. I just hope he doesn't do this in school and disturb his classmates...maybe i am just to sensative. any suggestions Mary