Florida

Sometimes we forget that it's much easier to focus on the good than focus on the bad and get all stressed and freaked out. Teach your kids to focus on the good and then give them a sharp stick to poke you with...

At the age of 25 I was advised by 3 doctors that I get a hysterectomy because of severe endometrosis. They said I would never get pregnant because my womb was all scar tissue inside and out as was my bladder. I didn't have the surgery. 5 years later surprise surprise! I was pregnant and had a beautiful baby girl. 5 years after that the doctors told me that my uterus was prolapsed and other nasty things... and that I would probably never get pregnant again. 1 month after I was told that, I found out I was pregnant again. Had a beautiful baby boy at the age of 37. She's 18 and he's 14 next month. They have been the most wonderful joy of my whole 50 years. Even with all the hyperactivity, allergies and tics. I thank God everyday for them. My husband has never been diagnosed for TS but I believe he is. I have my own strange habits also. My father is OCD and my mother is paranoid schizophrenic. I still believe my kids are a gift from God. I believe they are very happy to be here too. I believe in miracles... but I don't trust doctors too much...

When my son had the bad tic episode, I noticed he was ticcing in his sleep also. Has anyone else noticed tics while sleeping?

My son was complaining about pain in his neck and his eyes but that was after a horrible ticcing episode. Does your son have tics while he is asleep?

It's good that the chiropractor is helping. I mis-understood your post.

Just wanted to mention that putting stuff in your kids bath can cause urinary tract irritations and infections. Bubble bath, perfumed and colored soaps can be very irritating to some. Even Epsom salts. Eating and drinking sugary stuff and caffiene is bad too. You can get cranberry in pill form without the sugar but you need to drink a lot of water with them. Grapefruit seed extract works wonders for bladder and urinary tract infections.

We don't have insurance and I can't afford a chiropractor for my son. Doctor visits in our family are for emergency only. I remember having growing pains. My daughter had terrible growing pains in her legs. I know other mothers who have kids who suffer growing pains during growth spurts. It can't all be due to "un-even legs" because it does pass when growing stops. No offense, but why are you having your children treated for something by a chiropractor who claims there is "no such thing as" the thing he is treating? Our doctor said that sometimes it's a case of bones growing faster than the ligaments and such. They do catch up eventually and stretching exercises do help also. Zinc is supposed to help too.

Hi Patty, I have or had no idea if he is deficient in b vitamins or zinc. I only came here and saw that many were taking those supplements with good results so I figured that they couldn't hurt to try and I did have some on hand. Only the Spring Valley brand sold at Walmart though. Sublingual B=Complex 1 dropper full and I break a 50 mg zinc tablet in half since he is already taking a daily vitamin for teens with 15 mg zinc and I give him 1 1000 mg Omega 3 Fish Oil softgel. He'll be 14 next month and seems to be having a very fast growth spurt right now, and having alot of growing pains, so he may be lacking in something... seems like he grew a couple of inches overnight... and can throw me up in the air and catch me. He has also been slow at getting his adult teeth and some more of them have been coming in lately. I have no idea if this has anything to do with the horrible tic episode.

It's been about a week now since I started giving my son B-Complex sublingual liquid, fish oil and zinc. Today he hasn't had one tic and he seems really happy about that. He is taking the supplements without me having to make him. He said he gets a good buzzing feeling in his head when he takes the B-complex and he doesn't feel as tired as he had been feeling.

Anal rententive is probably just a Freudian term for what is now called OCD. I like the sound of OCD better but still don't like labeling people. Even the stress of normal life can bring about odd behavior. Undue stress, diet, allergies... lots of things can affect our behavior including bad experiences and fear of the unknown. If what you are experiencing is affecting your life in a bad way, I would suggest seeking out natural remedies and counseling before using prescription drugs. Sometimes the side effects of those are worse than the problems that you begin with.

What you said about desires and thoughts being totally different is so true. Everyone has un-wanted thoughts... even non OCD people. Unwanted thoughts don't necessarily have to be sexual either. No one here seems to be acting out their "unwanted" thoughts, just obsessing over having them. Perhaps just understanding that "unwanted thoughts are not desires" may help some with the imagined shame of having them.

If your son will drink V-8 juice it's good at hiding bad tasting meds.

Hi Florida mom, Diet is so important for kids and it seems like almost every food geared towards kids is bad for them. Unless you have your daughter tested for allergies it's hard to know what and what not to feed her. The biggest culprits I have found so far are "artificial food colorings" (not sugar), "deli meats or processed meats", "MSG", "artificial sweetners" & "processed cheese". Even if kids can tolerate these "foods", they are not good for them. These are a good bunch to cut out altogether. Start keeping a log of everything you feed her and how she acts afterward. Dairy is fine for my kids although I try to buy organic products. It's hard keeping small children on a healthy diet so you might have to get creative. Try to include your daughter in the "fun" preparation of her food and make it look "pretty" with colorful veggies and fruits. Be prepared for a big mess...

Hi Calicat, Sometimes when worrying about my kids I've looked back to remember all the strange "habits" I had as a child (some remaining) and I've always thought my husband has TS although he's never been diagnosed. Most everyone I know has admitted to some kind of odd behavior at one time or another... so many that if someone tells me they have no seemingly odd habits... I will think that they are truly odd... What a boring world this would be if we were all "normal".

Hi Patty, I sometimes talk to myself when I'm alone. I don't think it's neurological as it's not a constant or compulsive thing. Usually it's when I'm stressed out and trying to sort things out in my head. Sometimes I'm just talkin' to God.

Thanks for the warning Jeff. He is so much better today. Only a slight ticcing in his face now... nothing compared to the last week! I'm watching him closely and if it gets bad again I'll try some flax oil or something else recommended here. I was absolutely desperate when I started him on the vitamins and fish oil the other night. I don't think it could have gotten much worse.

Deleted what I posted 2 times...

Thanks Chemar He brushed with baking soda last night and he didn't have a problem. I started giving him fish oil and B-complex sublingual liquid yesterday AND 25 mg of zinc along with his multi-vitamin. He's still ticcing non-stop but not as severe or as painful as it was. He's breathing and sleeping better.

My daughter is almost 19 now. She was really hyper when she was little and I noticed myself she would get really bad after eating certain foods, so I started cutting those things out of her diet and she started getting better. I started hearing things from other mom's then who were also starting to use diet to control ADHD symtoms. She has many food allergies and also allergies to certain antibiotics and drugs and even a latex allergy that we found out when she had to put rubber bands on her braces. She is also sensitive to sunlight and breaks out in a rash wherever she is exposed but that goes away in a couple of hours. This is the worst tic episode he has ever had. I am troubled by the pain he has from them. A couple years ago he had a couple months where he had a really bad facial tic that was pretty constant, but then he was better for a long time and now this... He seemed a little better today but it seemed to get worse again around evening time. He's dealing with it a little better. He read some stuff here and found out he was not alone and not crazy. He sometimes just spins and talks alot and makes funny noises but that doesn't seem to bother him... or anyone else. I'm a stay a home mom and home school so there's not a fitting into the school scene issue. I let most things just be since stress seems to make things worse. My daughter takes care of her own self now and my son is very good at staying away from things he knows he is allergic to. There was absolutely no way I was going to put my kids on prescription drugs. Who knows what they will do to the mind of a growing child. My little brother was put on Ritalin for years and I believe that it damaged him in many ways. Thanks for the welcome ~Florida

Very interesting stuff. My son has TS and OCD. He is home schooled and spends much time on the computer and playing video games and they don't seem to have any adverse affects on him. Although when he goes to a movie theater it aggravates him terribly... and this is before the screen or movie starts up. Movie theaters are cleaned regularly with strong cleaning chemicals and sprayed regularly with pesticides. When my son was small he would have undiagnosed seizures every time we had the house sprayed for bugs. Schools in Florida have carpeted classrooms that are also sprayed regularly with pesticides and cleaned with harsh chemicals. Is it any wonder kids have a hard time concentrating?

Hello people. I found this forum last night when I was at my wits end. My 14 year old son has TS and OCD. For a couple of days he has been suffering from violent tics in his whole body. He was in so much pain in his eyes and neck last night and said he couldn't breath right. I tried to make him go to bed but he started crying (which he never does) and said that he was afraid that his body would "break" from the violent twitching and said that the night before while he was brushing his teeth was when the most horrible tics began. He also said he though he might be going crazy. Nevertheless... I told him to brush his teeth and go to bed. Same thing happened again. He is usually OCD about taking care of his teeth but soon as he started brushing his body went crazy. He started having breathing problems so I gave him 2 benadryl tablets. Finally he went to sleep about 4am (still twitching violently). It's weird that he has been basically tic free in his face for about a year or so... unless he comes in contact with pesticides, even walking through the aisle of a store that sells them. Strong perfumes in soaps, shampoos and cleaning products also affect him, as well as food additives like MSG & food colorings. I did put some new flea medicine called "Revolution" on 4 of our cats the other day and this is basically when the tics began again. Perhaps toothpaste could be another culprit? He was allergic to ASL (a cheap detergent foaming agent) in most every toothpaste (gives him horrible canker sores) so I switched him to "Biotene" toothpaste that is ASL free but this is the toothpaste he was having the whole body violent tic reaction to, from his forehead down to his toes. I'm going to have him stay away from the cats and brush his teeth with baking soda from now on. I do not want to have him taking drugs. He is an outgoing intelligent and artistically brilliant kid and I don't want that altered. His older sister suffered from only a facial tic which stress seemed to aggravate from the age of about 5 until she was 13. After cutting out processed foods, red food coloring and MSG she hasn't had one in almost 6 years. I'm going to also try some of the vitamins and stuff mentioned here. Thank you. ~Florida